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AIM: In India, RNTCP reports more male tuberculosis patients than female. In this study we aimed to find out the gender differences in clinical presentation and treatment outcome. METHOD: A record based study was conducted in Bhatar tuberculosis unit of Burdwan district among 758 registered tuberculosis patients of November 2010 to December 2011. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. RESULT: Male was 76.1%, female was 23.9% with male preponderance in each age group. In category I, majority of the male and female patients were new sputum smear positive. In category II, majority of the male and female patients belonged to relapse (35.8%) and other group (69.2%) respectively. Cure rate and treatment completion rate was more among males and females respectively. In category I, female defaulters were more, while in category II, male defaulter was higher. CONCLUSION: Integrated research is necessary to find out these differences that will be helpful in improving the efficacy of the programme. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2014; 13(2.000): 109-114]

Introduction: Tuberculosis differs clinically and radiologically in the geriatrics compared with young. Objective: The objective of the following study is to compare the profile and treatment outcome of geriatric and young tuberculosis patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of 58 tuberculosis patients seen from November 2010 to December 2011. Study period was October to December 2012 in tuberculosis unit of Burdwan district of West Bengal Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (version 19.0 Inc., IBM, Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Male populations were significantly more among geriatric patients. New smear positive sputum conversion and relapse cases were found more in the geriatric age group Overall, unfavorable outcome was significantly higher in geriatric compared with younger age population (33.3% vs. 17.8%). Conclusion: Geriatric and pediatric tuberculosis patients differ in diseases characteristics and outcome.

Lack of appropriate human resources planning is an important factor in the inefficient use of the public health facilities. Workforce projections can be improved by using objective methods of staffing needs based on the workload and actual work undertaken by workers, a guideline developed by Peter J. Shipp in collaboration with WHO—Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN). A cross-sectional study was carried out to estimate the nursing stuff requirement for the rural hospitals and provide a quantitative description of imbalances, if there is any, in the allocation at the district level during 2011. The average WISN turns out to be 0.35 for entire district, which means only 35% of the required nurses is available or 65% understaffed. So, there is an urgent need for more allocations and deployment of staff so that workload can be tackled and evenly distributed among all nursing personnel.

Background: In order to maintain the polio free status of India, it is vital to monitor the ongoing oral polio vaccination for international travellers. The aim of the study was to determine the status of oral polio vaccination program for international travellers from India to polio infected countries and to find out the determinants of deviation from proposed guidelines. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 101 International travellers from November 2014 to April 2015 at a designated Polio vaccination centre for international travellers in Kolkata. A pre-designed pre-tested schedule was used to collect oral polio vaccination related details. The travellers who gave consent were eligible for the study. Data was expressed in terms of mean, median, standard deviation etc. Association between variables was tested by Chi square test. Results: 32.7% of the travellers had inadequate gap between OPV & travel. Knowledge of gap between OPV and travel was perceived more from health centres and travel agencies than mass media. Inadequate gap was more among lower age group, males, those with information source as mass media, official purpose of visit, those with incorrect knowledge regarding the gap requirement and those who maintained at least four weeks gap between OPV and yellow fever vaccine. Conclusions: Wrong information from the source is responsible for wrong knowledge among the travellers which leads to inadequate gap between OPV and travel. It is crucial to increase awareness among the vaccinators and international travellers in order to contribute towards global polio eradication.