Search

Background: The long-term control of the pandemic COVID-19 pandemic hinges on the uptake of vaccine and high immunization uptake is critical. Vaccine hesitancy is one of the top 10 threats to global health. Hesitancy will be a challenge to curbing this pandemic.Methods: A cross‐sectional study was done among the population in Jhansi where data was collected through an online questionnaire using Google forms and was distributed using social media platforms. Total of 220 data was collected.Results: 80.2% of the respondents were willing to get vaccinated. 78.9% of the respondents have taken previous vaccinations by the government. 70 of them trust government health care departments and media (82.2%) is the least trusted platform regarding vaccination. Majority agreed to the perceived benefits of COVID-19. 80.3% were willing to take free vaccination. 46.9% were willing to pay for COVID vaccine.Conclusions: The scenario in Jhansi was positive towards the vaccination drive and majority of them were willing to get vaccinated. But strategies must be made effective in terms of elevating the barriers to vaccination.

Background: The concept of unmet need for family planning points to the gap between some women’s reproductive intentions and their contraceptive behaviour.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 19 to March 20 in rural Jhansi. 520 married women (15-49 years) were interviewed by house to house survey.Results: Out of 520 participants 124 (23.8%) had unmet need, out of them 73 (14.03%) had unmet need for spacing births and 41 (9.8%) of the participants had unmet need for limiting births.Conclusions: The unmet need for contraceptives was 23.8% in the study which is much higher compared to NFHS-4 data for urban UP (19.6%), and it has to be taken in to consideration by policy makers.

Background: The prevalence of hypertension is on a rise in India, both in urban and rural areas. Hypertension is reported to be the fourth contributor to premature death in developed countries and the seventh in developing countries. Aims and objectives was to find out the prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension among persons above 18 years of age in rural area of Jhansi and to assess the association of different risk factors with pre-hypertension and hypertension.Methods: Study was conducted in the field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, MLB Medical College, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Total 1100 participants were collected by house to house visit. Chi square and multivariate logistic analysis were used to assess the association.Results: Prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension was 24.2% and 19.3% respectively in our study. The factors identified as increasing the risk of developing hypertension were increasing age, family history of hypertension, inadequate physical activity, excess salt intake, tobacco consumption, alcoholism, BMI >25 kg//m2, less consumption of fruits and vegetables.Conclusions: Awareness of the hypertension status among hypertensive cases, counselling of the pre-hypertensives and hypertensives on lifestyle modification as well as regular treatment of antihypertensive medicine were key recommendations to prevent hypertension.

Introduction: Today, the world faces double burden of malnutrition that includes both under nutrition and overweight, especially in developing countries. Malnutrition, especially in adolescent and young women, not only effects the growth and development in this generation but also in the next. This study has been designed with the objectives to assess the nutritional status and various socio-demographic variables in the adolescent population and their association with nutritional status of the adolescents in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Material and Methods: The study was carried out during November 2013 to October 2014 in higher secondary schools in urban area of district Ghaziabad by Department of Community Medicine, Santosh Medical College, Ghaziabad. Multistage sampling technique was used. 50 subjects from each school were questioned with self-administered well-designed pre-tested and close-ended questionnaire. Data was coded and transferred to a master chart and simple and association tables were prepared and analysed with appropriate statistical tests like Chi-square test with Yates correction. Results: It was found that out of the total 550 adolescents, the majority of the adolescents (64%) were male while females added up to 36% of the total. The association between age and nutritional status of adolescents was statistically insignificant. The association between socio-economic status and nutritional status of adolescents was statistically insignificant.

Background: Internet addiction is known by many other terms such as pathological internet use or problematic internet use. It is an issue of growing concern specially in the youth of our country. Besides causing physical problems like headache, backache, neck pain, vision problems and insomnia, it can also cause problems in an individual’s social relationships and personal life.Objectives: 1. To assess the prevalence of internet addiction and 2. To find the association of socio-demographic factors with internet addiction.Methods: Young’s Internet Addiction Test was used to measure the prevalence of internet addiction among 402 study participants. Their socio-demographic profile was also obtained via a different questionnaire after obtaining the consent from the students themselves. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.Results: Out of total 402 participants 235 (58.45%) were males and 167 (41.55%) were females. Score of 80 and above (out of 100) was obtained in 13 (3.23%) students and the score between 50 to 79 was observed in 25 (6.21%) students. It was significantly higher in male students.Conclusion: With changing lifestyles, youths are becoming more inclined towards internet which when taken to the level of addiction can cause various health and social issues. It is relatively a newer kind of addiction that is developing in the youth of today. De-addiction centers are being established in many cities in our country to face this problem.Keywords: Internet Addiction, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, MBBS Students

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) proposed that the age limit of 10–19 years be used to identify as the adolescent age. According to the WHO, adolescents constitute about one-fifth of the world population, and in India, they constitute about 21% of the total population. Most of the surveys show that health status of adolescent girls is at suboptimal level. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess nutritional status and morbidity pattern among the adolescent girls and to suggest measures for the improvement of health status of adolescent girls. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 250 adolescent schoolgirls in rural and urban field practice area of Jhansi school from January 2017 to July 2014. Results: Among the various morbidities, eye problem was seen in maximum number of adolescent girls. Eye problem was present in 44.8% of adolescent girls followed by respiratory 14.7% and ear 13.06% disease. Skin disease was present in 3.2% of adolescent girls, which was more in rural girls 6.7% than in urban girls 1.7%, may be due to better hygienic practice in urban schoolgirls. Conclusion: Rural background, low socioeconomic status, illiteracy, birth rate and order, income, and number of members in a family have shown to be significant determinants of morbidity pattern in the adolescent girls.