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Background: Hypertension and Diabetes comprises a major part as precursor of crucial diseases like cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are cause of death of around 17 million people per year globally, which includes 30% of total deaths. Methods: The present study was conducted to observe the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among health care worker groups, in different health care centres at Bajag block of Dindori district & Indian council of Medical Research- National Institute for research in Tribal Health (ICMR-NIRTH) Jabalpur during the study period from January 2022 to June 2022. The participants were subjected to anthropometric measurements, Blood pressure & blood glucose level measurements and they also responded to the detailed questionnaire. Results: The 95 health care workers including nurses, technicians, ASHA workers, ANMs, which were assessed in the present study have shown 14.7% diabetes and 38% hypertension. Conclusions: The present study is important step towards the wellbeing of health workers as very few efforts were made to observe the prevalence of NCDs in health workers of rural areas.

This article aimed to understand the menstrual acquaintance, practices and hygiene care of underprivileged women living in difficult terrine. The PVTGs tribes have low literacy and poor socio-economic condition. The study has focused to find out the existing personnel health hygiene by way of the use of sanitary pad and fronting with social stigmas during the menstrual period. Community based cross-sectional study was conducted in all three PVTGs Baiga, Bharia, and Saharia women of Madhya Pradesh. Data collection was done in 2019-20 in selected district Dindori, Chhindwara and Sheopur. A total 302 women were interviewed on menstrual hygiene practices and related issues who were in reproductive age (15-49 years). The related relevant information’s was collected by female trained investigators through structured questionnaire schedule by conducted interview method after obtained consent. Care of menstrual hygiene as use of sanitary pad (absorbent) was found 11.2% among women. Inequality of the use of sanitary pad was seen lower (6%) in Baiga women in comparison considerably higher (17.6%) in Bharia and (10.4%) in Saharia women. Disposing the used absorbent at outside the village were found significantly higher (44.8%), (pUse of hygiene absorbent during menstruation period was found comparatively very low (11.2%) among tribal women in comparison to national average. The tribal women are having greater risk of own health and her forthcoming baby. Appropriate IEC campaign program on awareness for menstrual hygiene care among women and easily availability of sanitary pad will be upholding of superior menstrual hygiene which correlated to health of mother and reproductive care.

The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) has been implemented in public health facilities. This study assessed the perspective of private physicians (PPs) on adopting the core strategies of the IHCI in Bhopal district of Madhya Pradesh. A semi‐structured interview was purposely applied to 30 PPs to obtain their opinions on standardized hypertension treatment protocols, patient‐centered services, and easy‐to‐use information system in their private practices. Verbatim data were recorded and analyzed thematically. Only 11 PPs followed the state hypertension treatment protocol. Among the remaining 19 PPs, the major reasons for not adopting protocol were (1) limited availability of single component hypertension drugs, (2) preferences for fixed dose combinations (FDCs), and (3) fear of either losing patients due to a lack of immediate blood pressure control or causing drug‐related adverse effects. None of the interviewed doctors had resources to provide patient‐centered care and use a digital health information system. Overall, the interviewed doctors identified that free supply of hypertension treatment protocol drugs, inclusion of FDCs in treatment protocol, increasing number of staff for follow‐up visits, and patient education, IT‐based solutions for patient records, employee incentives, and need for national data sharing policies are the key actions to accelerate the adoption of IHCI strategies in the private sector. This exploratory qualitative study suggests that engagement of private sector in the IHCI is feasible. Plans to expand the IHCI to the private sector should consider ensuring the wider availability of hypertension treatment protocol drugs and developing a simple user‐friendly digital platform for patient monitoring.

Objectives:The most important risk factor of cardiovascular disease is hypertension and high salt intake contributes to high blood pressure. However, to prevent iodine deficiency disorders, the iodisation of salt is a proven strategy. So, on one hand, we suggest people reduced salt consumption but on the other hand, we also fear an increase in the prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders. In the present study, we investigated the possibility of salt intake at WHO recommended levels resulting in higher or lower iodine status in India by assessing the urinary iodine status and its relation with blood pressure.Design:It was a cross-sectional study.Setting:It was a community-based study.Participants:We collected 24-hour urine samples for estimation of iodine concentrations in urine from 411 adult hypertensives in the Mandla district of central India. Urinary iodine was estimated using Thermo ORION make ion-selective electrodes.Results:The median urinary iodine excretion was 162·6 mcg/l. Interestingly 371 (90·26 %) subjects were observed with > 200 mcg/l urinary iodine concentration level indicating iodine sufficiency. Individuals with high urine Na significantly had high blood pressure as compared with individuals with low urinary Na excretion (P < 0·01). There is a higher probability of high urine iodine levels among individuals with higher urine Na levels.Conclusion:The study revealed that 90 % of the population were excreting excessive iodine in urine, which is more than adequate iodine uptake. This excess uptake enables a scope for reduction in salt intake to control hypertension.

Background Malaria is a major public health problem in India and accounts for about 88% of malaria burden in South-East Asia. India alone accounted for 2% of total malaria cases globally. Anti-malarial drug resistance is one of the major problems for malaria control and elimination programme. Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is the first-line treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum in north eastern states of India since 2013 after confirming the resistance against sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. In the present study, therapeutic efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and k13 polymorphism was assessed in uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. Methods This study was conducted at four community health centres located in Koraput district of Odisha, Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh and Gondia district of Maharashtra state. Patients with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria were administered with fixed dose combination (6 doses) of artemether-lumefantrine for 3 days and clinical and parasitological response was recorded up to 28 days as per World Health Organization protocol. Nucleotide sequencing of msp1 and msp2 gene was performed to differentiate between recrudescence and reinfection. Amplification and sequencing of k13 propeller gene region covering codon 450–680 was also carried out to identify the polymorphism. Results A total 376 malaria patients who fulfilled the enrolment criteria as well as consented for the study were enrolled. Total 356 patients were followed up successfully up to 28 days. Overall, the adequate clinical and parasitological response was 98.9% and 99.4% with and without PCR correction respectively. No case of early treatment failure was observed. However, four cases (1.1%) of late parasitological failure were found from the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Genotyping of msp1 and msp2 confirmed 2 cases each of recrudescence and reinfection, respectively. Mutation analysis of k13 propeller gene showed one non-synonymous mutation Q613H in one isolate from Bastar. Conclusions The study results showed that artemether-lumefantrine is highly effective in the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria among all age groups. No functional mutation in k13 was found in the study area. The data from this study will be helpful in implementation of artemether-lumefantrine in case of treatment failure by artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.

Background: Reproductive tract infection (RTI) is a serious public health problem particularly among the women in reproductive age group. Tribal women particularly living in high altitude cold areas are more vulnerable to these infections as availability of water for domestic purpose is scarce hence affects personal hygiene.Methods: A door to door survey was conducted by canvassing a pre-designed interview schedule for capturing the reported symptoms of RTI among 494 women in the age group 15-49 years in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.Results: Around 26% of the respondents reported one or the other symptoms of RTI experienced by them during three months preceding the survey. The reported symptoms were mostly related to discharge.Conclusions: The study is carried out among women of high-altitude tribal areas of Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, where such data/information is not available. Maintenance of personal hygiene is poor, more than one-fourth women had one or the other symptoms of RTI. Lower economic status and personal hygiene practices are strongly associated with RTI. The findings of the study will draw attention of Scientists, Program managers to address the issues for qualitative improvement of female population of the area. Need to sensitise the masses on the issues of RTI and strengthen its outreach health services in the district.

Objective The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine association of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) T786C polymorphism with the susceptibility of acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease patients. Methods Meta-analysis was conducted by pooling the results of 5 eligible studies that were retrieved from Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Science Direct and Google Scholar. Results After carrying out the meta-analysis of pooled samples, no significant association of eNOS T786C polymorphism with acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease patients was identified. There was moderate to high degree of heterogeneity in the data in all the genotypic and allelic models. There was no publication bias as evident from Egger's test. No subgroup analysis was made due to lack of sufficient data. Conclusion The present study deliberates the T786C eNOS gene polymorphism is not a significant risk factor for the acute chest syndrome in sickle cell disease patients.