Handwashing: a household social vaccine against COVID 19 and multiple communicable diseases

Handwashing is the most cost-effective measure for prevention of a wide spectrum of diseases from respiratory, intestinal, soil transmitted helminthiasis, health-care associated illness to infection with pandemic potential like SARS, MERS and COVID 19. Experts view that handwashing can be the greatest investment in the mankind as it reduces under nutrition, morbidity, mortality and paves way for growth, development, educational attainment of people and thereby achieving healthier communities. Though the evidence of handwashing on health is two centuries old but change in human behaviour seems critical in both developing and developed countries. Hand hygiene is rarely practiced during crucial moments and even rarely soap is used. Therefore emphasis should be given towards a societal shift in behaviour change among children, caretakers and people of all age groups. Every school, community and hospital should be provided with Safe water, Sanitation and adequate Hygiene (WASH) services. Hand hygiene to be given top priority in national health plans by which millions of unnecessary deaths and burden on health care system can be avoided. Nevertheless under the looming threat of the current COVID 19 pandemic, where the exact epidemiology is still evolving and a vaccine doesn’t seem feasible as an immediate measure to control the disease, handwashing should be considered as a ‘social vaccine’ for everyone at every household level

Revamped vaccination policy in India, need of the hour

The unprecedented COVID pandemic has caused catastrophic loss all over the world. India has faced a flabbergasting second COVID wave. The current COVID mutant strain is more virulent and has become a variant of concern (VOC) with its high infectivity rate. The current second wave is more detrimental when compared to the first wave, where its transmissibility is high, affecting the younger generation, and even the mortality rate is high. Currently, there is no specific treatment against COVID-19. The health care workers (HCW’s) have been fighting the pandemic tirelessly since the beginning of the pandemic, and many were affected, and severe loss of HCWs occurred. The only ray of hope in fighting against this deadly virus is vaccination. Studies have shown that COVID vaccination is effective in preventing the severity of the disease. Hence vaccination is now is the need of the hour. COVID vaccination has to be taken rampant with vaccinating every citizen of the country in the current crisis. The government of India should make serious efforts that vaccination is available and accessible to everyone. With every citizen being vaccinated, one can flatten the current wave and also can prevent further outbreaks

Busting of myths and misconceptions about breast feeding during COVID-19 pandemic and its societal importance: a brisk review

COVID-19 considered as a public health emergency of International concern and thus a pandemic with the explosive increase rate of infection worldwide and at the same time, the healthcare system is struggling for survival and the government is striving to regain the trust of the population. According to the WHO, mothers with COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 can breastfeed their babies as long as they take appropriate precautions. Although creating awareness and providing adequate information to the mother and general public about breastfeeding benefits, still people believe in several myths and misconceptions due to fear of the COVID-19 pandemic. These personal beliefs, misconceptions, myths, and cultural practices can have a negative impact on breastfeeding which may discourage breastfeeding practice among women. This brisk review intends to compile the latest available evidence about myths, cultural practices preventing breastfeeding during COVID 19 pandemic. We searched works of literature related to breast feeding during COVID -19 published between December 2019, and August 2020, in website archive of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, World Health Organization (WHO), Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICE), journal repositories such as Google Scholar, Pub Med, Science Direct, newspaper article etc. We identified 30 studies that met the search criteria for inclusion in the review. The evidence presented here related to the common believes may alleviate the potential source of anxiety related to COVID-19 breast feeding issues who are still dependant on the societal misconception  not the evidence

COVID-19 pandemic: a narrative review on legislative and regulatory framework in India for disaster and epidemic

Public health legislation plays an important role in the containment of any epidemic or pandemic. During a pandemic, it might be necessary to override the existing laws or (individual) human rights for the containment of the pandemic. The objective of the study is to review the legal framework pertaining to COVID-19 pandemic preparedness in India. This study has been done as an unsystematic narrative review where various legislations were assembled from electronic data base, websites from various legislative and Ministries and discussion with experts. Owing to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus Government of India announced nationwide lockdown on 24th March, 2020.  For proper implementation of lockdown measures various legislative laws belonging to different ministries is required. There are two pioneer acts namely The Epidemic disease act of 1897 and The Disaster management act of 2005. Under these two acts the government has laid down various rules and regulations that have to be followed during lockdown. This article describes the need for the law in a crisis like this and various legislations that have been implemented during lockdown

Physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing of urban population during the COVID-19 lockdown phases: a cross-sectional study

Background: COVID 19 pandemic created immense mental & physical agony among human beings worldwide. The present study was conducted to assess the physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing of young adults and the elderly, during the lock-down phase of COVID-19. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 227 healthy adults in Bhubaneswar, capital of Odisha. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire pertaining to the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of participants. Results: During the lockdown, around two-thirds (65.4%) of the participants reported feeling helpless. The elderly felt more helpless than the young adults. One-third (73, 32.6%) of the participants experienced health issues during the lockdown period. The majority of the study participants (83.8%) mentioned that their family members shared tasks during lockdown which was a very positive sign observed in this study. Faith in God for the elderly and family support for the young adults made them mentally stronger. Conclusion: Managing pandemic needs a multipronged approach. But focusing on psychosocial health will prevent future unseen mental health pandemics and improve the resilience of mankind

Epidemic of undernutrition during COVID-19 pandemic

Undernutrition continues to be a major public health challenge for ages. Under-five age children are still at risk of undernutrition even though there exist many policies and programs at various levels. The lower–middle-income countries (LMIC) struggle hard to combat the undernutrition epidemic. The unprecedented advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the existing undernutrition scenario. This article reviews the burden and impact of the COVID-19 on undernutrition among children. Necessary measures have to be taken to mitigate the crisis and thereby reduce the risks due to morbidity and mortality related to undernutrition. A manual search of relevant data has been taken from the website of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Ministry Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), government of India. (GOI). A search of relevant publications was done through electronic databases such as PUBMED

Yellow fever vaccination: should India have more centres?

Yellow fever is endemic in rural areas of West Africa & South America and has never been reported in India. Except for the causative organism, all other factors responsible for transmission do exist in India. Case fatality rate is very high and there is no cure for Yellow Fever. Prevention through vaccination is the only available option to decrease morbidity & mortality. As per guidelines established by MoHFW, vaccination is mandatory for all travellers moving to or coming from YF endemic countries. Due to increase in international travel, a larger number of people from various parts of India require Yellow Fever vaccination and the demand will continue to increase in future. In India, there are only 27 locations in 10 states and 2 UTs which have the facility to vaccinate for Yellow Fever. People of many states have to cover a large distance for the vaccination. There is an urgent need to increase the number of sites. With the operationalization of various institutes under MoH&FW, there is an opportunity to create the network, closer to the potential travellers

Vaccines, A key towards health of travellers

Globally a surge in international travel has been seen. It has led to importation and establishment of disease causing organisms in a previously naive area resulting in onset of epidemics and increase in size of the endemic area. Vaccines are available for some diseases and are considered as one of the best method to prevent diseases. There are vaccines which are routinely recommended for all irrespective of travel and few vaccines e.g., Yellow fever, Meningococcal and OPV are mandatory for travellers as part of International Health Regulation. Vaccination of travellers provides benefit in two ways i.e. protection of individuals and thereby protecting the population of entire country

Diagnostic dilemma in catching anaemia early

Anaemia is major health problem in our country and the foremost cause of disability. The non-specific clinical signs together with lack of knowledge among people are a hindrance for people seeking early care for this disease. Palmar pallor in children for diagnosing anaemia is anaemia has shown to have low sensitivity. Laboratory estimation of haemoglobin levels still are the diagnostic modality of choice in most primary care settings. There are numerous methods based on different principles to estimate haemoglobin. Each method has its own merit and demerit and has to be used appropriately based on that. Some methods like Hemoglobin colour scale have shown have good result to replace Sahli's method but more validation is required. HemoCue also can be used for secondary and tertiary care health institution. A strong political commitment and dedication is required for overcoming operational issues in early diagnosis of anaemia

India steps ahead to curb anemia: Anemia Mukt Bharat

Anemia is a major public health problem in India affecting over half of population in almost all age groups. It has devastating effect on human health and affects the socio-economic development. Government has devised several programs like National Nutritional Anemia Control Program (NNACP), Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS), National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI) etc to combat anemia. The facts remain that in spite of all the programs, no marked improvement has been noticed in the magnitude of anemia. A holistic approach is required with special emphasis on community awareness about consequences of anaemia and benefits of Iron Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, uninterrupted supply availability of Iron folic Acid tablets and syrups, hard to reach areas and monitoring and review system to find out adequacy in terms of participation and frequency of meetings and problem-solving in NIP