Impact of training on awareness and Knowledge of Birth Defects among Community Health Workers in tribal district of Maharashtra, India.

OBJECTIVE: Early identification, referrals and timely treatment is crucial to improve the outcome of Birth Defects (BDs). The role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in India is largely fulfilled by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) who can play an important role in community-based reporting and referrals of BDs in newborn. In the study area, ASHAs have been previously trained for identification of BDs under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK); however, reporting through them was found to be sub-optimal. METHODS: To strengthen the community based reporting of BDs through ASHAs, audio visual based training was provided to 1225 ASHAs in 6 tribal blocks of Palghar district in Maharashtra, India. The change in knowledge about BDs before and after training among 1023 participants was analyzed using paired sample t test & McNemar test. RESULTS: Findings reveal a significant increase in the knowledge of participants with regards to prevention, risk factors and identification of BDs after intervention as compared to before intervention. DISCUSSION: The study suggests that audio-visual based refresher training increased knowledge of ASHAs with respect to identification, prevention and risk factors of BDs which may eventually improve reporting and referrals of BDs at community level.

DABCO Catalyzed Green and Efficient Synthesis of 2-Amino-4H-Pyrans and Their Biological Evaluation as Antimicrobial and Anticancer Agents.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The present method is simple, green and highly efficient for the synthesis of 2-amino-4H-pyran derivatives which are achieved by a one pot three component cyclocondensation of aldehyde, malanonitrile and ethyl acetoacetate or methyl acetoacetate using DABCO under solvent free with grinding conditions at room temperature. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Some of the synthesized compounds were screened for their antimicrobial and antifungal activity. The study shows that these compounds show good antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, eight of the synthesized compounds were selected for screening of their anticancer activity against human astrocytoma-glioblastoma cell line (U373MG). Some of the compounds show good anticancer activity. RESULT: Grinding synthesis of 2-amino-4H-pyran derivatives catalyzed by DABCO with various aromatic aldehydes under solvent-free conditions at room temperature was examined. The obtained compounds (22 entries) were well synthesized in good to excellent yields. CONCLUSION: The present method is simple, rapid, and most efficient green protocol for the synthesis of 2-amino-4H-pyran derivatives using highly inexpensive and easily available DABCO as an efficient catalyst under grinding and solvent free condition at room temperature.