Impact of Chronic Drought on Nutritional Status of the Community in Drought affected areas in India

Background: Communities affected by chronic drought conditions face a wide variety of challenges including an adverse effect on their nutritional status. The Government of India, during the year 2002-03, declared nine States viz., Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Orissa as drought affected. Material and Methods: At the request of Department of Agriculture, Government of India, a rapid community based cross-sectional study was carried out adopting multistage random sampling procedure with the objective to assess the nutritional status of community in these nine chronic drought affected states in India. Results: In general, the intakes of all the nutrients were grossly deficit as against their RDAs. The nutrition intervention programmes initiated by the Government of India, in general, contributed to meet the daily requirement of staples like cereals & millets in most of the States. Conclusion: In drought-affected areas, where the level of famine impact is unknown, an early rapid assessment of the nutritional status and the health needs of the population are critical to estimate the degree of impact to plan timely and appropriate interventions

Effect of public-private partnership in treatment of sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, India

Background & Objectives: Providing sexually transmitted infection (STI) services to female sex workers (FSWs) in rural and resource constrained settings is a challenge. This paper describes an approach to address this challenge through a partnership with government health facilities, and examines the effect of this partnership on the utilization of STI services by FSWs in Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods: Partnerships were formed with 46 government clinics located in rural areas for providing STI treatment to FSWs in 2007. Government health facilities were supported by local and State level non-government organizations (NGOs) through provision of medicines, training of medical staff, outreach in the communities, and other coordination activities. Data from programme monitoring and behaviour tracking survey were used to examine the accessibility and acceptability in utilization of STI services from partnership clinics. Results: The number of FSWs accessing services at the partnership clinics increased from 1627 in 2007 to over 15,000 in 2010. The average number of annual visits by FSWs to these clinics in 2010 was 3.4. In opinion surveys, the majority of FSWs accessing services at the partnership clinics expressed confidence that they would continue to receive effective services from the government facilities even if the programme terminates. The overall attitude of FSWs to visit government clinics was more positive among FSWs from partnership clinic areas compared to those from non-partnership clinic areas. Interpretation & Conclusions: The partnership mechanism between the NGO-supported HIV prevention programme and government clinic facilities appeared to be a promising opportunity to provide timely and accessible STI services for FSWs living in rural and remote areas

Diet, nutrition and cardiac risk factor profile of tribal migrant population in an urban slum in India

Migration of tribal population to urban areas may increase the risk of non-communicable chronic diseases. In this study an attempt was made to explore the risk factors influencing cardio vascular disease, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes among the tribal migrants living in urban areas. A population based cross sectional study was carried out on tribal migrants (n=138 men, n=137 women aged ≥30 years) of low economic status, living in an urban slum (Kondapur) of Hyderabad, Telangana, India.  Blood lipids, glucose, homocysteine, glycated Haemoglobin, blood pressure and nutritional biochemical markers such as serum albumin, serum protein, Vitamin-D and haemoglobin were examined in a subsample of tribal migrants. The prevalence of overweight in men and women was 35.3% and 32.4% while general obesity was 14.3% and 24.3% respectively. In addition, high concentration of total cholesterol, low density lipo proteins (LDL), triglycerides, homocysteine and glycosylated haemoglobin in the study population was also observed.  Duration of stay had no significant association with overweight and obesity. Majority of tribal migrants did not meet at least 50% of RDI of micro-nutrients such as iron (80-84%), vitamin A (81-83%) and riboflavin (67-84%). Similar finding was observed with food groups such as leafy vegetables (84-91%), milk and milk products. However, the consumption of fat and protein was found to be ≥70% of RDA indicating transition in diet pattern. The present study shows urban life style and diets may predispose to higher incidence of diabetes, hypertension and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease among tribal migrants living in urban areas

Utilization of maternal health services by the migrant population living in the non-notified slums of Hyderabad city, India

Background: Despite increase in accessibility and utilization of maternal health services in the state of Telangana, penetration of these services in vulnerable communities is inadequate. Aims & Objectives: To understand the determinants of utilization of reproductive health services by migrant population living in non-notified slums of Hyderabad city in the Indian state of Telangana. Material & Methods: It is a community based cross sectional study of 761 rural to urban internal migrant mothers with a child of less than 2 years of age residing for a period minimum of 30 days and not more than 10 years. Information was collected for socio demographic details, antenatal care and child delivery. Results: Mothers receiving at least 4 antenatal care visits and institutional deliveries in migrants was 69.6% and 69% respectively, compared to 85.8% and 97% in general population of Hyderabad city. The likelihood of mothers receiving adequate care is 6.7 times higher in mothers with secondary education compared to formal education. The likelihood of institutional delivery is 7.8 times higher in mothers availing adequate antenatal care versus inadequate care and 2.2 times higher in mothers with secondary education versus formal education. Conclusion: Utilization of antenatal care services and promotion of institutional deliveries can be improved by acting on the supply side barriers such as health care infrastructure and demand side barriers such as indirect consumer costs, financial constraints and community engagemen

Community advocacy groups as a means to address the social environment of female sex workers: A case study in Andhra Pradesh, India

Background: To examine the association between the presence of community advocacy groups (CAGs) and female sex workers’ (FSWs) access to social entitlements and outcomes of police advocacy. Methods: Data were used from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010–2011 among 1,986 FSWs and 104 NGO outreach workers from five districts of Andhra Pradesh. FSWs were recruited using a probability-based sampling from 104 primary sampling units (PSUs). A PSU is a geographical area covered by one outreach worker and is expected to have an active CAG as per community mobilisation efforts. The presence of active CAGs was defined as the presence of an active committee or advocacy group in the area (PSU). Outcome indicators included acquisition of different social entitlements and measures of police response as reported by FSWs. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations. Results: Areas with active CAGs compared with their counterparts had a significantly higher mean number of FSWs linked to ration cards (12.8 vs 6.8; p \u3c 0.01), bank accounts (9.3 vs 5.9; p = 0.05) and health insurance (13.1 vs 7.0; p = 0.02). A significantly higher percentage of FSWs from areas with active CAGs as compared with others reported that the police treat them more fairly now than a year before (79.7% vs 70.3%; p \u3c 0.05) and the police explained the reasons for arrest when arrested the last time (95.7% vs 87%; p \u3c 0.05). Conclusion: FSWs from areas with active CAGs were more likely to access certain social entitlements and to receive a fair response from the police, highlighting the contributions of CAGs in community mobilisation

Setting the agenda for diabetes research in the state of Qatar

Abstract Background The burden of non‐communicable diseases, including diabetes, is high in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Qatar (a MENA country) has a high prevalence of diabetes (16.7%). Over the past 20 years, Qatar has made significant investment to establish a biomedical research infrastructure. This article documents the processes adopted for the development of a national diabetes research agenda for Qatar. Methods To develop the diabetes research agenda, a three‐step process was adopted. First, a bibliometric analysis of diabetes‐related research publications was conducted to understand current research and funding patterns. Second, through in‐depth interviews and a national consultative workshop, the challenges associated with diabetes research and their potential solutions were documented. Third, an expert team assimilated the recommendations to finalise the diabetes research agenda for the State of Qatar. Results A steadily increasing number of diabetes research publications and collaboration with researchers from 48 different countries was noted. Aetiological research (49%), mainly from cohort studies, dominated research publications. The national diabetes research agenda prioritised five research areas focused on diabetes prevention, early detection, reversal, treatment development and evaluation and system research for improved outcomes. Under each area, a set of research questions were identified to guide the research community to align their research interests with high‐priority research in diabetes. Conclusion The national research agenda development process has uncovered some important knowledge gaps and outlined the most impactful areas for diabetes research. Achievement of the objectives of the research agenda requires enhanced collaboration among the research community, sustained research funding and enabling a robust regulatory framework

Setting the agenda for diabetes research in the state of Qatar

Publication status: PublishedBackground: The burden of non‐communicable diseases, including diabetes, is high in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Qatar (a MENA country) has a high prevalence of diabetes (16.7%). Over the past 20 years, Qatar has made significant investment to establish a biomedical research infrastructure. This article documents the processes adopted for the development of a national diabetes research agenda for Qatar. Methods: To develop the diabetes research agenda, a three‐step process was adopted. First, a bibliometric analysis of diabetes‐related research publications was conducted to understand current research and funding patterns. Second, through in‐depth interviews and a national consultative workshop, the challenges associated with diabetes research and their potential solutions were documented. Third, an expert team assimilated the recommendations to finalise the diabetes research agenda for the State of Qatar. Results: A steadily increasing number of diabetes research publications and collaboration with researchers from 48 different countries was noted. Aetiological research (49%), mainly from cohort studies, dominated research publications. The national diabetes research agenda prioritised five research areas focused on diabetes prevention, early detection, reversal, treatment development and evaluation and system research for improved outcomes. Under each area, a set of research questions were identified to guide the research community to align their research interests with high‐priority research in diabetes. Conclusion: The national research agenda development process has uncovered some important knowledge gaps and outlined the most impactful areas for diabetes research. Achievement of the objectives of the research agenda requires enhanced collaboration among the research community, sustained research funding and enabling a robust regulatory framework