Branding of Tourist Destination: A Case Study of Manipur in India

AbstractManipur is a state situated in the Eastern-most corner of Northeast India. The state shares borders with other Northeastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam and the neighbouring country of Myanmar. Manipur has conducive Agro-Climatic Conditions for fruits and vegetables. It has also a good connectivity and link with South East Asian countries. It has supportive vegetation for various medicinal and aromatic plants. It also has a good transport infrastructure and effective air connectivity with major cities of the country including Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore etc. Manipur has various unique and beautiful tourist destinations which attract a large number of tourists not only from within the country but also from abroad. The state is surrounded by green verdant hills with salubrious weather. It offers a variety of attractions for tourists including lakes, parks, historical places, gardens, waterfalls, mountains etc. This paper is an attempt to identify the branding components of Manipur as a differentiated tourist destination. It has adopted the destination branding model adapted from (from Saarinen 1997; Ooi 2001; Iliachenko 2005). The paper is exploratory in nature. In order to achieve the objectives, the cases of various attractive tourist destinations in Manipur have been taken into account. Moreover the SWOT analysis has also been used for better analysis. The findings of the study reveals that branding is an important element in identifying and differentiating tourist destinations in order to attract a large number of tourists from all over the globe. It also plays an important role in promoting the destination in a unique way.Keywords: Branding, Destinations, Manipur, Promotion &Tourist

Size estimation of injecting drug users (IDU) using multiplier method in five Districts of India

The HIV epidemic in Manipur, the highest HIV prevalence state of India, is primarily driven by injecting drug use. Reliable estimate of population size of injecting drug users (IDU) is critical for aiding HIV prevention program in the state to combat drug driven HIV epidemic. The study described multiplier method, an indirect technique of estimation of IDU size in five districts of Manipur, India making use of existing records of rapid intervention and care (RIAC) programs. Number of IDUs who accessed RIAC services during the past 12 months was taken as the benchmark data for the size estimation. The benchmark data were then multiplied by the inverse of the proportion of the IDUs who reported having accessed RIAC services during the same period to derive the sizes of IDU population in each study districts. The estimated sizes of IDU population in five districts were: 7353 (95% CI: 6759-8123) in Imphal West, 5806 (95% CI: 5635-6054) in Imphal East, 3816 (95% CI: 3571-4139) in Thoubal, 2615 (95% CI: 2528-2731) in Churachandpur and 2137 (95% CI: 1979-2343) in Bishenpur district. Multiplier method seems to be a feasible indirect technique which can be applied to estimate of IDU population using existing data from intervention programs in settings like Manipur where reliable size estimation of IDU population is lacking

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women in a public hospital in northern Mexico

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in pregnant women represents a risk for congenital disease. There is scarce information about the epidemiology of T. gondii infection in pregnant women in Mexico. Therefore, we sought to determine the prevalence of T. gondii infection and associated socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics in a population of pregnant women of Durango City, Mexico. METHODS: Three hundred and forty three women seeking prenatal care in a public hospital of Durango City in Mexico were examined for T. gondii infection. All women were tested for anti-T. gondii IgM and IgG antibodies by using IMx Toxo IgM and IMx Toxo IgG 2.0 kits (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL, USA), respectively. Socio-demographic, clinical and behavioural characteristics from each participant were also obtained. RESULTS: Twenty one out of the 343 (6.1%) women had IgG anti-T. gondii antibodies. None of the 343 women had IgM anti-T. gondii antibodies. Multivariate analysis using logic regression showed that T. gondii infection was associated with living in a house with soil floor (adjusted OR = 7.16; 95% CI: 1.39–36.84), residing outside of Durango State (adjusted OR = 4.25; 95% CI: 1.72–10.49), and turkey meat consumption (adjusted OR = 3.85; 95% CI: 1.30–11.44). Other characteristics as cat contact, gardening, and food preferences did not show any association with T. gondii infection. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of T. gondii infection in pregnant women of Durango City is low as compared with those reported in other regions of Mexico and the majority of other countries. Poor housing conditions as soil floors, residing in other Mexican States, and turkey meat consumption might contribute to acquire T. gondii infection

Seroprevalence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus type-2 infection among pregnant women in Northeast India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections that facilitate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition by over two fold or more. The development of HSV-2 control methods as a measure to control HIV epidemic in high HSV-2/HIV areas has become a priority. Two out of the six high HIV prevalent states of India are located in the Northeastern region of India. Due to lack of documented HSV-2 studies from this part of the country; there was a need for estimating the seroprevalence and risk factors of HSV-2 infection in this defined population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pregnant women (n = 1640) aged18 years and above attending antenatal clinics of tertiary referral hospitals in five Northeastern states of India were screened for type specific HSV-2 IgG antibodies. Blood samples were collected from all the participants after conducting interviews. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositivity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection was 8.7% (142/1640; 95% CI 7.3-10.0) with a highest prevalence of 15.0% (46/307; 95% CI 11.0-19.0) in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Higher seroprevalence was observed with increasing age (Adj. Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.9 for 22-25 years old, AOR 2.29 for > 29 years old). The risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositives were multiple sex partners (AOR 2.5, <it>p </it>= 0.04), condom non-user's (AOR 4.7, p <it><</it>0.001), early coitarchal age (age of first intercourse) 'less than 18 years' (AOR 9.6, <it>p = </it>0.04), middle income group (AOR 2.1, <it>p = </it>0.001) compared to low income group and low level of education (AOR 3.7, <it>p = </it>0.02) compared to higher education. HSV-2 seropositivity was higher among Christians (12.6%) compared to Muslims (3.8%). The most frequent clinical symptoms among HSV-2 seropositives were excess vaginal discharge in last one year (53.5%, 76/142) and pelvic pain (26.1%, 37/142). While among subjects with genital ulcers, HSV-2 seroprevalence was 36.8% (7/19).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection among pregnant women of Northeast India is relatively low. The generation of awareness among high risk groups may have played key role to limit the infection. The role of vaccination against HSV-2 in near future and elimination of HSV-2 viral shedding along with genital tract inflammation in high HIV/HSV-2 areas may be an option for initiating successful intervention strategies to reduce the transmission and acquisition of HIV infection in Northeast India.</p