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Objective: To study whether disposable diapers decrease the incidence of neonatal infections compared with cloth diapers in a level II neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Method and Material: All neonates admitted to the NICU and having duration of stay >48 h were enrolled. Those babies with signs and symptoms of infection were screened with septic screen and/or blood culture. Results: The primary outcome of the study was incidence of probable sepsis. Of 253 babies enrolled in the study period, probable sepsis was present in 101 (39.9%) infants in the total study group and was higher in cloth diaper group as compared with disposable diaper group (p = 0.01). For an average NICU stay of 6 days, cloth diapers would cost Rs. 241 vs. Rs. 162 for disposable diaper for any infant. Conclusion: Usage of disposable diapers decrease the incidence of probable sepsis in babies admitted to NICU. It is also cost effective to use disposable diapers in the NICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microcredit programme initiated in the 1980s is celebrated by the Indian state and international development institutions as an ‘ideal’ poverty alleviation programme for women. It is based on the principle of activating self-help among women and is considered as being empowering. The period 1980–1990 defined a minimalist neo-liberal role of the state that allowed for the free working of the market and a belief that it will solve problems of poverty. Many have argued that the microcredit programme was influenced by this philosophy (Joseph, 2007; Swaminathan, 2007). In addition, that microcredit does not always have a positive impact on poverty alleviation because the official programme does not have the capacity to displace patriarchal structures that bind women (Goetz and Sengupta, 1996). By focusing only on ‘economic’ issues it fails to address the way deprivation of nutrition and health, increasing violence and insecurity are affecting women as economic actors. Without addressing these questions it is not possible for women to get empowered. In this paper I examine the inter-linkages between citizenship, gender and development by evaluating the design of a microcredit programme for women presented by a feminist rural womens organization called Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM) in Maharashtra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]