ABSTRACT
Context: Climate change is the biggest global health threat and also the greatest health opportunity of the 21st century. Five warmest years among the last 140 years occurred between 2015 and 2019. Limited information is available regarding the knowledge and practices of medical students towards climate change, especially in India. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two medical colleges of Karimnagar city from January 2021 to July 2021 involving MBBS and Post-graduate students as study participants. Methods and Material: 903 undergraduate and post-graduate medical students who consented for the study were included. A pre-structured questionnaire was used. Statistical Analysis Used: Data is presented in frequencies and proportions with 95% confidence interval and Chi-square test is used as test of significance. Results: Poor knowledge regarding Sustainable Developmental Goal for climate action, Organisations dealing climate change and Government actions towards climate change were observed among study participants. Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (84%) were answered as the major health impacts of climate change. Majority (97.4%) of the participants agreed that 'human actions are also the cause for global warming'. Environment-friendly practices were observed significantly high among participants with adequate knowledge. Major (72%) source of learning about climate change was via internet. Conclusions: Our study found that major proportion of participants doesn't have environment-friendly practices. However, the participants with adequate knowledge about climate change were observed to have more eco-friendly practices compared to participants with inadequate knowledge.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Road traffic continues to be a major developmental issue and a public health concern. Road accidents in India kill almost 1.5 lakh people annually, and India accounts for almost 11% of the accident-related deaths in the world. Prevention of road traffic accidents is very crucial by creating awareness and taking proper measures toward road safety. AIMS: The aims of this study were to assess the knowledge about road safety regulations and to assess the attitude and practices regarding road safety regulations. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a pharmacy college. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Study participants were all 4 academic years' pharmacy students who know driving two- or four-wheeler motor vehicle. Data were collected from a sample of 132 by predesigned pretested semi-structured questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were presented in proportions with confidence interval using SPSS ver. 22. RESULTS: 81.1% of the participants knew the minimum age to obtain driving license. Only 16% follow the road signs strictly and 76% wear helmet for long-distance ride. Poor attitude was observed for wearing helmet for short-distance ride, pillion rider wearing helmet, and drink and drive. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of the participants were aware of road safety regulations. In spite of having positive attitude toward road safety measures by participants, they could not translate attitude into practice.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis discovered in ancient centuries still remains a major public health problem in India. Lack of awareness about the cause, risk factors, treatment and prevention of TB among rural people is a major challenge to be addressed to reduce disease transmission. AIMS: To assess the knowledge of TB among rural people. To assess the awareness about RNTCP services. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Cross-sectional study was conducted in six randomly selected villages attached to a medical college. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Houses were selected by systematic random sampling method and younger person was identified as study subject. Data were collected from a sample of 300 by predesigned pretested semi-structured questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were presented in proportions with confidence interval and Chi-square test was applied to find the association between variables by using SPSS ver. 23. RESULTS: The study showed that 79.6% knew that the cause of TB is bacteria. Majority of the participants 93.6% (95% CI: 90.3, 96.1) knew that TB primarily affects lungs. Subjects were aware of free diagnostic services (85.3%), free treatment services (89%) available in the govt setup. CONCLUSIONS: Although the awareness of symptoms, causative agent, mode of spread was reasonably good, knowledge on availability of DOTS centres, services offered through RNTCP is still poor among rural population.
