ABSTRACT
Background: In India, on an average, 0.5-0.99 kg/person/day general solid waste is produced which is higher (i.e. 0.1-0.49 kg per person per day) than solid waste generated in low-income nations and lower than in developed countries (1.5 kg per day). The Government of India has issued guidelines for the management of a different kind of hospital waste from time to time including Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules in the year 2016 and is mandatorily applicable to all organizations including the hospitals. Objective: We conducted this study to assess the knowledge and awareness among nursing professionals regarding various provisions of solid waste management rules, 2016. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done on nursing professionals across all seniority and from various specialties and super specialty departments. A pretested questionnaire comprising 20 questions was used as a study tool. Results: There were a total of 550 participants. The mean knowledge count of the respondents was 9.487273 (1.00-14.00). The mean score was 59.3% of the overall achievable score. In the subgroup analysis, respondents above 60 years of age, married, females, urban residents, nursing sisters scored better than the middle-aged professionals, unmarried, males, rural residents, and staff nurses. Conclusions: This study has given insight into various domains of SWM rules, 2016 where nurses performed well and those where considerable gaps exist. The health care workers are more aware of biomedical waste (M&H) rules, and the solid waste management rules are new to them. It is recommended that the biomedical waste management training program must include training on general solid waste management rules.
ABSTRACT
The state of Himachal Pradesh is a known iodine deficiency endemic region since the last 40 years. The state government is supplying iodised salt to the district since 1970. No recent survey has been conducted on the prevalence of iodine deficiency from the district Kinnaur which is located at an average altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level. A total of 1094 children in the age group of 6-10 years were included in the study and clinically examined. The total goitre prevalence of 6.1% was found in the subjects studied. Urine samples were collected from 226 children and were analysed using standard laboratory procedures. It was found that the percentage of children with < 2 mcg/dl, 2-4.9 mcg/dl, 5-9.9 mcg/dl and 10 and above mcg/dl of urinary iodine excretion (UIE) level was 1.3, 5.8, 10.6 and 82.3 respectively. A total of 242 salt samples were collected and analysed using the standard iodometric titration method. Results showed that almost 90% of the families were consuming salt with an iodine content of 15 ppm and more which is the stipulated level of iodisation of salt. The findings of the study indicate that iodine nutrition is in the transition phase from iodine deficient to iodine sufficient. Findings revealed a need for further strengthening the monitoring of the quality of salt being distributed in Kinnaur to achieve elimination of iodine deficiency.
