Effect of Dietary Diversity on the Nutritional Status in Pregnant Women and in Turn its Effect on Birth Weight of the Baby

Background: Nutrient intake is important to the well-being of pregnant women and the fetus. Most of the previous studies points nutrition status based on energy and protein intake. However there are few studies indicate the use of dietary diversity as a marker of assessing the nutrition status. Healthy diets include the most diverse foods, and balance in eating food provides maternal and fetal health and reduces the prevalence of Low birthweight. Objectives: The objectives of the present study are to find out the association between Dietary diversity score with the nutrition status of the Pregnant Women (Gestational weight gain and nutritional anaemia.) And to find out the effects of gestational weight gain and nutritional anemia on the birth weight of the baby. Methods: An Institutional ethical clearance was obtained and the present Hospital based study was carried out in the OBG department of tertiary care centre of North Karnataka between December 2019 to February 2020. Sample size was estimated to be 120. Results: In the present study, a total of 120 women participated in the study. The Mean age of the study participants was 25.2±3.4, and the study found mean DDS was 7.04±1.58, with the scores ranging from 3 to 12. Association between the Dietary diversity score (DDS) and birthweight of the baby was found to be statistically significant (p=0.03) There is a statistically significant difference in DDS mean score between anaemic and normal pregnant women (p=0.007). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between Gestational weight gain and birth weight of the baby (p=0.03). There were positive correlation between the DDS and the Birthweight and Gestational weight gain, though it was statistically non-significant. Conclusion: Nutrition education for pregnant women should include the facts about the different food groups, it advantages will help to include diverse food items in their diet. Keywords: Dietary diversity score, Gestational weight gain, Birth weigh

Health seeking behaviour among the farm house residents in Vijayapura district, Karnataka. A Cross sectional study

Background: Health seeking behaviour as defined by Kasl and Cobb is any activity undertaken by individuals who perceive themselves to have a health problem or to be ill for the purpose of finding an appropriate remedy. More often than not, a country has a mixture of both public and private health care systems to ensure an equitable distribution of quality health care. Objectives: To identify the health seeking behavior and distance travelled to access the health care among the farm house residents. Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among the farm house residents in rural areas of Vijayapura district. A Sample of 450 farm house residents were interviewed by prestructured proferma containing information regarding socio demographic profile, health seeking behaviour and distance travelled to access the health care among the farm house residents. PSUs were selected with probability proportional to size sampling and 5 households in a selected PSU were selected by random sampling. All characteristics were summarized descriptively, Chi-square (?2) test was employed to determine the significance of differences. Results: Majority of the participants took treatment from government hospital followed by private practitioner when they are sick and majority of participants travelled between 1-5KM. (61.3%) and for the past illness it was (33.2%). Conclusion: The present study concludes that availability of government health facility constitute about (93.8%) compared to private (6.2%)

Cultural practices related to postnatal care: A hospital-based study

Introduction: Culture is a learned behavior consisting of customs, beliefs, laws, religion etc acquired through generation, which has a profound influence on health and disease. Most of the cultural practice are based on centuries of keen observation, trial and error. These cultural practices and beliefs are not the same throughout India. with vast variations in language, food habits, dress, economics condition, tradition, beliefs. It has also absorbed, adopted and adapted outside cultures and influences, which have merged into Indian society. Not all customs and beliefs are harmful, some of them have positive values while others may be useless or positively harmful to mother health. Hence an understanding of various traditional postnatal care practices is therefore essential ,if effective behavior change strategies are to be developed and help the planners to formulate effective intervention strategies and provide timely assistance to the mothers. Therefore the present study is undertaken to know the cultural practices related postnatal care of mother in north Karnataka state. Objectives: (1) To explore the traditional belief and practices related to postnatal care. (2) To provide health education to all postnatal mothers regarding harmful practices. Methodology: Study design: cross sectional study. Study period; 2 months. Study population; All the postnatal mothers during the study period were included in study Sample size; Based on Hospital records and considering the frequency of delivery occurring in the BLDEU shri BMPMC,vijayapura ,a minimum of 200 postnatal mothers (purposive sampling)will be interviewed during the study period. Statisistical test; proportion, chi-square test

Knowledge about HIV/AIDS among First Year Medical Students

Objectives: To study the awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS among the students. Material and Methods: A Cross sectional study was done among 141 students. The information was collected form them within 2-3 weeks of admission using pre-test semi structured questionnaire. Result: All students were aware of AIDS in terms of its definition and modes of transmission. About prevention and cure no significant difference was found between boys & girls. Conclusion: Incomplete knowledge about sign & symptoms of HIV/AIDS among the respondents