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  • Johannessen posted an update 9 months ago

    Background Children are vulnerable to injuries, and childhood injury is a complex phenomenon precipitated by a set of factors. In India, the magnitude and nature of childhood injury are not clearly known owing to the absence of a proper injury surveillance system. However, in recent days few studies demonstrated a substantially high burden of childhood injury. Objectives To find out the prevalence, pattern, and the factors associated with injury among children of 0-14 years in the Siliguri city of West Bengal. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 780 children aged 0-14 years residing in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation area selected through cluster sampling technique (30 clusters [wards] with a cluster size of 26). Relevant data were collected by interviewing the mothers of children as respondents and was analyzed using SPSS software, binary logistic regression was applied to test the association between injury and other risk factors. Results Of total 780 children, 165 had reported a total of 220 injury events with an overall period prevalence of 21.2% and a mean of 0.28 injury events per child. Majority of injuries were superficial in nature (53.2%); due to fall (56.4%), extremities were mostly involved (62.3%), and 12.8% cases were moderate-to-severe grade. Under-five children were most vulnerable. Injury was significantly related to socioeconomic status, presence of siblings, outdoor activities, and the presence of supervising person during travelling. Conclusions Childhood injury is still highly prevalent in the area with its unique pattern and few preventable risk factors requiring a multifaceted comprehensive approach.Background For women living with HIV who do not want to become pregnant or who wish to delay pregnancy, contraception has the added public health benefit of reducing the number of infants who might acquire HIV. The unmet need for contraception must be addressed to prevent unintended pregnancies among HIV-positive women and consequently mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Objectives The objectives of this study were to assess the contraceptive usage and its various determinants and to find out the unmet need for family planning among HIV-positive women. Methods This was a cross-sectional descriptive hospital-based study conducted among 235 HIV-positive women attending the ART center of a medical college. Data were collected using a questionnaire-containing sociodemographic details, obstetric history, treatment information, contraceptive usage, and their fertility desires. Data analysis was performed using MS Excel and the SPSS version 20.0 using frequencies, Chi-squared test, and multiple logistic regression. Results The mean (standard deviation) age of the study participants was 28.8 (5.5) years. Majority (96.6%) of them were married and were illiterate (34.4%). The prevalence of unmet need for family planning was found to be 17%, and the prevalence of consistent contraceptive use was 74.5%. Tacrine The most common family planning method used by women was male condom. Not having HIV-positive children, HIV-negative partner, and discussing contraceptive with partner were observed to be significant predictor of consistent contraceptive use on multiple logistic regression. Conclusion There is a need to boost family planning counseling and address the unmet need and contraceptive use among HIV-infected women.Background Scrub typhus infection is endemic in India and reported to be the major cause for acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in humans. Periodic occurrence of scrub typhus cases and presence of pathogen in rodents were also reported in areas with human cases of scrub typhus in Puducherry. Objectives This study was carried out to screen Orientia tsutsugamushi in rodent/shrew reservoirs and vectors in villages of Puducherry with no reports of human scrub typhus cases. Methods This study was conducted during October 2017 to January 2018 in ten randomly selected villages in Puducherry. Rodents/shrews in the peridomestic area were trapped using Sherman traps. Screening of O. tsutsugamushi in rodents/shrews and mite vectors was done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Weil-Felix test was done to screen antibodies against O. tsutsugamushi in rodent serum samples. Results Among the 54 rodents trapped, Suncus murinus was the major small animal and Leptotrombidium deliense was the major mite species retrieved. PCR screening revealed pathogen positivity in 8 rodent blood and 3 pooled mite samples. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that Kato was the circulating serotype of O. tsutsugamushi. None of the rodent serum samples was tested positive for antibodies against O. tsutsugamushi by Weil-Felix test. Conclusions The presence of pathogen in both vectors and reservoir animal hosts imposes a risk for scrub typhus transmission to the inhabitants; hence, initiation of vector control measures before the start of winter is recommended in the study area. It is also recommended to screen scrub typhus in patients with undifferentiated acute febrile illness and AES.Background Cold chain equipments (CCEs) at health facilities (HFs) are an essential part of the immunization supply chain (ISC). The CCEs in government HFs of Delhi were never assessed using the World Health Organization-United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO-UNICEF) Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) tool except that of state vaccine store during National EVM assessment 2013. Objectives The objective of the study was to assess the CCEs and their management in government HFs using the WHO-UNICEF EVM tool in a district of Delhi. Methods The assessment was done during December 2017-March 2018 in one randomly selected district of Delhi. Sample size and site selection were done using the WHO EVM site selection tool. A total of 29 HFs were assessed along with District Vaccine Store. Questions on CCEs in EVM tool 1.0.9 were used for data collection. Results Out of 56 electrical CCEs, 8.9% were nonfunctional, 48.2% were noncompliant with WHO standards, 5.4% were not chlorofluorocarbon free, 4.7% did not have temperature monitoring device, and 18.8% did not have stabilizer. Eighty-six percent of passive containers were compliant with the WHO standards. The storage capacity of electrical vaccine storage equipment was insufficient in 3.4%, passive container capacity in 65.5%, and ice packs preparation and storage capacity in 24.1% of HFs. There was no planned preventive maintenance of CCEs and no standard operating procedures for emergency event management. Conclusion There was a shortage of vaccine storage, ice packs preparation and storage, and passive container capacity. Many CCEs used in ISC of assessed sites were noncompliant to the WHO standards. There was no PPM of CCEs and no guidelines for emergency event management.

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