Head and neck cancer burden in India: an analysis from published data of 37 population-based cancer registries.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a major public health problem in India. This article presents the HNC burden in different regions of India. The published population-based cancer registries (PBCRs) data from the National Cancer Registry Programme, Bengaluru, and the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, India, were utilised. The 37 PBCRs were divided into six regions including central, east, north, northeast, west and south. The age-standardised incidence rate of HNC was 25.9 (95% CI 25.7-26.1) and 8.0 (95% CI 7.9-8.1) per 100,000 population, respectively, in males and females. HNC accounted for about 26% of all cancer cases in males and 8% in females. The risk of developing HNC was 1 in 33 for males and 1 in 107 for females. The northeastern registries reported the highest incidence rate 31.7 per 100,000 population in males followed by northern (28.5), central (28.3), western (24.4), southern (23.9) and eastern (18.3). In females, the incidence was in the range of 6.2-10.1 per 100,000 population. For all PBCRs together, the HNC burden was two to three times higher in the age group 60+ as compared to 20-39 years. The HNC burden in India is higher than in the USA, UK, Australia, Africa and Brazil. The PBCRs from the south-east Asia region such as the Colombo district, Sri Lanka, as well as Siraha, Saptari, Dhanusha and Mohattari - Nepal have also reported a high burden of HNC. All regions reported mouth as a leading cancer site followed by tongue, larynx, hypopharynx and tonsil except the northeastern region registries where hypopharynx was the top leading cancer. The burden of other sites of HNC is low. Raising awareness of the disease and associated risk factors, providing early detection services, as well as easy access to diagnosis and treatment are required. The government should focus on building the infrastructure and capacity building to control this disease.

Pediatric Cancer Burden in Different Regions of India: Analysis of Published Data From 33 Population-Based Cancer Registries.

OBJECTIVE: To provide the regional pediatric cancer (age-group 0-14 years) burden and pattern in India utilizing published data of population-based cancer registries established under the National Cancer Registry Programme and Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. METHODS: Based on the geographic locations, the population-based cancer registries were categorized into six regions. The age-specific incidence rate was calculated using the number of pediatric cancer cases and population in the respective age-group. Age-standardized incidence rate per million and 95% CI were calculated. RESULTS: In India, 2% of all cases were pediatric cancer. The age-standardized incidence rate (95% CI) for boys and girls is 95.1 (94.3-95.9) and 65.5 (64.8-66.2) per million population, respectively. Registries from northern India reported the highest rate; while the lowest rate was in northeastern India. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to establish pediatric cancer registries in different regions of India to know the accurate pediatric cancer burden.

Effectiveness of health promoting schools: A comparative health profile assessment of higher as compared to low accredited schools in Chandigarh, Union Territory of North India.

OBJECTIVES: To assess and classify all private and government schools located in a northern city of India for accreditation as health promoting schools and comparative health profile assessment of selected higher accredited schools with lower accredited and non-accredited schools. DESIGN: Quasi experimental study with pre and post assessment with comparison of higher with lower accredited schools. SETTINGS: The current study was conducted in 206 schools of Chandigarh City of Northern India. Comparative health profile assessment was undertaken in 8 schools with 754 children from higher accredited (platinum, gold, silver) and 8 schools with 700 children from lower accredited (bronze) and non-accredited (below bronze) schools. INTERVENTIONS: Multicomponent and multilevel intervention was undertaken with self-quality improvement by schools with help of a manual of accreditation of school as health promoting schools. Key intervention included capacity building, technical visits, supportive supervision, sensitization of policymakers and key stakeholders, implementation of policy initiatives, use of social media, technical support and monitoring of activities. OUTCOMES: Accreditation levels (bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels) as health promoting schools after pre and post intervention. RESULTS: Out of 206 schools, 203 participated in the baseline assessment and 204 in the endline assessment. The response rate was 99%. Two schools which refused participation were excluded and not assessed. Schools (N = 17) which participated in the 2011-2013 study were excluded from analysis. There was a statistically difference (p = 0.01) in the improvement of accreditation level of the baseline and endline assessment after intervention(p<0.05). Overall, the proportion of schools at the gold level increased from 1(0.5%) in 2016 to 71(38%). Silver level from 9(5%) to 57 (31%) of schools after intervention. The response rate in health profile assessment in higher(8) and lower(8) accredited schools was 95.9% and 92.7% respectively. The health profile of children higher accreditation level schools (N = 754) were found better in hygiene practices protective factors (peer support at school, parental or guardian supervision), handling stress and less prone to injury as compared to lower accreditation level schools (N = 700),(p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The health promoting school programme was found to be feasible and effective and lead to significant improvement in accreditation level as compared to baseline assessment after continuous self-quality improvement by schools(p<0.05). The health profile of children studying in higher accredited schools was better as compared to lower accredited schools.

Need of Palliative Care Services in Rural Area of Northern India.

BACKGROUND: Palliative care is comprehensive care that provides symptomatic relief and enhances the quality of life for people experiencing serious health-related suffering. There is an increasing need for palliative care services in India. Estimates for population requiring these services are essential in order to meet the increasing need for palliative care services. OBJECTIVES: The objective was to assess the proportion of population requiring and receiving palliative care services. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. The study was carried out in the village, Dhanas, Chandigarh. All the residents residing in the selected rural area were included in the study. Tools used for data collection were a screening questionnaire consisting of three questions, a sociodemographic sheet, a clinical profile, the Barthel Index of activities of daily living (ADL), and a pain rating scale. Analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 19 (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19.0.: IBM Corp). RESULTS: A total of 10,021 people from 884 households were screened in the study. The results revealed that the prevalence of need for palliative care services was 2/1000 population. None of the 19 participants with unmet palliative care needs were receiving any home- or institutional-based palliative care services at the time of assessment. Nearly, one-fourth of the participants had total dependency on caregivers for ADL. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that there is a need of palliative care services in the studied rural community of Chandigarh. These data can be used for planning and implementing community-based palliative care services in the studied area.

Cost effectiveness of mHealth intervention by community health workers for reducing maternal and newborn mortality in rural Uttar Pradesh, India.

BACKGROUND: A variety of mobile-based health technologies (mHealth) have been developed for use by community health workers to augment their performance. One such mHealth intervention-ReMiND program, was implemented in a poor performing district of India. Despite some research on the extent of its effectiveness, there is significant dearth of evidence on cost-effectiveness of such mHealth interventions. In this paper we evaluated the incremental cost per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted as a result of ReMiND intervention as compared to routine maternal and child health programs without ReMiND. METHODS: A decision tree was parameterized on MS-Excel spreadsheet to estimate the change in DALYs and cost as a result of implementing ReMiND intervention compared with routine care, from both health system and societal perspective. A time horizon of 10 years starting from base year of 2011 was considered appropriate to cover all costs and effects comprehensively. All costs, including those during start-up and implementation phase, besides other costs on the health system or households were estimated. Consequences were measured as part of an impact assessment study which used a quasi-experimental design. Proximal outputs in terms of changes in service coverage were modelled to estimate maternal and infant illnesses and deaths averted, and DALYs averted in Uttar Pradesh state of India. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis was undertaken to account for parameter uncertainties. RESULTS: Cumulatively, from year 2011 to 2020, implementation of ReMiND intervention in UP would result in a reduction of 312 maternal and 149,468 neonatal deaths. This implies that ReMiND program led to a reduction of 0.2% maternal and 5.3% neonatal deaths. Overall, ReMiND is a cost saving intervention from societal perspective. From health system perspective, ReMiND incurs an incremental cost of INR 12,993 (USD 205) per DALY averted and INR 371,577 (USD 5865) per death averted. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, findings of our study suggest strongly that the mHealth intervention as part of ReMiND program is cost saving from a societal perspective and should be considered for replication elsewhere in other states.

Effectiveness of targeting the health promotion settings for non-communicable disease control in low/middle-income countries: systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Settings-based approaches to health promotion, involving holistic and multidisciplinary methods, which integrate action across risk factors are important. Major advantage of focusing on these settings is the continuous and intensive contact with the participant. Despite the apparent advantages of addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) using targeted interventions for several developed country settings, a relative lack of evidence of effectiveness of such interventions in low/middle-income countries has led to poor allocation of resources towards these interventions. The focus is therefore on the settings rather than any one condition, and we therefore expect the findings to generalise to NCD prevention and control efforts. We intend to estimate the effectiveness of targeted interventions in low/middle-income countries. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will search PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database, OVID, WHO Library and The Cochrane Library from the year 2000 to March 2018 without language restrictions. Study designs to be included will be randomised controlled trials. The primary outcome of effectiveness will be the percentage change in population having different behavioural risk factors. Subgroup analyses will be performed, and sensitivity analyses will be conducted to assess the robustness of the findings. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical issues are foreseen. The Institute Ethics Committee of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research approved the doctoral research protocol under which this review is being done. Dissemination will be done by submitting scientific articles to academic peer-reviewed journals. We will present the results at relevant conferences and meetings. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42016042647; Pre-results.

Alarmingly high prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension in North India-results from a large cross-sectional STEPS survey.

OBJECTIVES: The study was primarily aimed at estimating the prevalence of hypertension and pre-hypertension and the risk factors of hypertension in the North Indian state of Punjab. It also aimed at assessing the magnitude of undiagnosed cases of hypertension in the community and ascertaining the blood pressure control status of those on treatment. METHODS: A non-communicable disease risk factor survey (based on WHO-STEPS approach) was done in the state of Punjab, India in a multistage stratified sample of 5127 individuals. The study subjects were administered the WHO STEPS-questionnaire and also underwent anthropometric and blood pressure measurements. RESULTS: Overall prevalence of HTN among the study participants was found out to be 40.1% (95% CI: 38.8-41.5%) whereas prevalence of pre-hypertension, isolated diastolic and isolated systolic hypertension were 40.8% (39.5-42.2%), 9.2% (8.4-10.0%) and 6.5% (5.9-7.2%) respectively. Age group (45-69 years), male gender, social group, marital status, alcohol use, obesity and salt intake (> = 5 gms/day) were the risk factors significantly associated with HTN. Among all persons with HTN, only 30.1% were known case of HTN or on treatment, among whom nearly 61% had controlled blood pressure. Patients with uncontrolled BP were more frequently male, obese patients, with sedentary lifestyle and patients with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: The study reported alarmingly high prevalence of hypertension, especially of undiagnosed or untreated cases amongst the adult population, a significant proportion of whom have uncontrolled blood pressure levels. This indicates the need for systematic screening and awareness program to identify the undiagnosed cases in the community and offer early treatment and regular follow up.

Impact of m-health application used by community health volunteers on improving utilisation of maternal, new-born and child health care services in a rural area of Uttar Pradesh, India.

OBJECTIVE: To raise the quality of counselling by community health volunteers resulting in improved uptake of maternal, neonatal and child health services (MNCH), an m-health application was introduced under a project named 'Reducing Maternal and Newborn Deaths (ReMiND)' in district Kaushambi in India. We report the impact of this project on coverage of key MNCH services. METHODS: A pre- and post-quasi-experimental design was undertaken to assess the impact of intervention. This project was introduced in two community development blocks in Kaushambi district in 2012. Two other blocks from the same district were selected as controls after matching for coverage of two indicators at baseline - antenatal care and institutional deliveries. The Annual Health Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2011 served as pre-intervention data, whereas a household survey in four blocks of Kaushambi district in 2015 provided post-intervention coverage of key services. Propensity score matched samples from intervention and control areas in pre-intervention and post-intervention periods were analysed using difference-in-difference method to estimate the impact of ReMiND project. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant increase in coverage of iron-folic acid supplementation (12.58%), self-reporting of complication during pregnancy (13.11%) and after delivery (19.6%) in the intervention area. The coverage of three or more antenatal care visits, tetanus toxoid vaccination, full antenatal care and ambulance usage increased in intervention area by 10.3%, 4.28%, 1.1% and 2.06%, respectively; however, the changes were statistically insignificant. CONCLUSION: Three of eight services which were targeted for improvement under ReMiND project registered a significant improvement as result of m-health intervention.

Is Focus on Prevention Missing in National Health Programs? A Situation Analysis of IEC/BCC/Health Promotion Activities in a District Setting of Punjab and Haryana.

CONTEXT: Health promotion (HP) has been an integral part of all national programs although it has been a low priority in India, which has resulted in a failure to achieve the desired results. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Situation analysis of information education communication (IEC)/behavior change communication (BCC)/HP activities within the existing national health programs was undertaken in the district of Hoshiarpur in Punjab and the district of Ambala in Haryana during 2013-14. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Facility-based assessments were done by conducting in-depth interviews with stakeholders, program officers, medical officers, health workers, and counselors. Household survey (332 individuals) and exit interview (102 interviews) were conducted to assess the knowledge of the community regarding key risk factors. RESULTS: There was a high vacancy in the mass media division with 40% (2 out of 5) and 89% (8 out of 9) of the sanctioned positions vacant in Hoshiarpur and Ambala, respectively, with low capacity of staff and budget. There was no annual calendar, logbook of activities with poor recording of IEC material received and disseminated. The knowledge of community members regarding key risk factors such as tobacco use, salt intake, blood pressure level, anemia, and tuberculosis was 77.3%, 26.4%, 16.4%, 32.7%, and 91.8%, respectively, in the district of Ambala as compared to 77.5%, 37.5%, 33.3%, 25.8%, and 88.3%, respectively, in the district of Hoshiarpur. The village health and sanitation committee (VHSC) in the district of Hoshiarpur and village level core committee (VLCC) in the district of Ambala were found to be nonfunctional with no Iec/Bcc activities in the covered villages in the last month. Monitoring and supervision of Iec/Bcc activities were poor in both the districts. CONCLUSIONS: Iec/Bcc/HP is a neglected area in national health programs in the selected districts with inadequate budget, human resources with poor implementation, and requires strengthening for better implementation of the national health programs.

Inequity in access to inpatient healthcare services for non-communicable diseases in India and the role of out-of-pocket payments.

BACKGROUND.: Growing evidence suggests that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) result in considerable economic burden for individuals and households. With the poor facing a greater burden of NCDs than the rich in India, we undertook this study to analyse the horizontal equity in utilization and vertical equity in out-of-pocket expenditure for NCD care. METHODS.: We used data of 1 4 large Indian states from the National Sample Survey 60th round to compute hospitalization rates for NCDs. Mean per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) was computed and used as a proxy measure for socioeconomic status. Out-of-pocket payment as a proportion of MPCE was estimated by wealth quintile (Q) to assess the vertical equity in payments. Concentration index (CoI) was computed to measure the extent of equity, and its 95% confidence interval was estimated to assess statistical significance. RESULTS.: Overall, NCD hospitalizations in public facilities in India were used more by the poor (Col -0.041 ), while the rich used proportionately more services in the private sector (CoI 0.174). Out-of-pocket expenditure in public facilities was consistently lower than that in private facilities in urban and rural areas. The mean out-of-pocket expenditure for inpatient services for NCDs was found to be more among the rich in both public (Q5 ₹13 016, Q1 ₹4197) and private (Q5 ₹22 974, Q1 ₹8225) facilities. CONCLUSION.: Public facilities are utilized more by poorer individuals. Strengthening the capacity of the public sector to deliver NCD care is required to meet equitable outcomes.

Impact assessment and cost-effectiveness of m-health application used by community health workers for maternal, newborn and child health care services in rural Uttar Pradesh, India: a study protocol.

BACKGROUND: An m-health application has been developed and implemented with community health workers to improve their counseling in a rural area of India. The ultimate aim was to generate demand and improve utilization of key maternal, neonatal, and child health services. The present study aims to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of this project. METHODS/DESIGN: A pre-post quasi-experimental design with a control group will be used to undertake difference in differences analysis for assessing the impact of intervention. The Annual Health Survey (2011) will provide pre-intervention data, and a household survey will be carried out to provide post-intervention data.Two community development blocks where the intervention was introduced will be treated as intervention blocks while two controls blocks are selected after matching with intervention blocks on three indicators: average number of antenatal care checkups, percentage of women receiving three or more antenatal checkups, and percentage of institutional deliveries. Two categories of beneficiaries will be interviewed in both areas: women with a child between 29 days and 6 months and women with a child between 12 and 23 months. Propensity score matched samples from intervention and control areas in pre-post periods will be analyzed using the difference in differences method to estimate the impact of intervention in utilization of key services.Bottom-up costing methods will be used to assess the cost of implementing intervention. A decision model will estimate long-term effects of improved health services utilization on mortality, morbidity, and disability. Cost-effectiveness will be assessed in terms of incremental cost per disability-adjusted life year averted and cost per unit increase in composite service coverage in intervention versus control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The study will generate significant evidence on impact of the m-health intervention for maternal, neonatal, and child services and on the cost of scaling up m-health technology for accredited social health activists in India.

Developing and implementing an accreditation system for health promoting schools in Northern India: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The "Health Promoting School" (HPS) is a holistic and comprehensive approach to integrating health promotion within the community. At the time of conducting this study, there was no organized accreditation system for HPS in India. We therefore developed an accreditation system for HPSs using support from key stakeholders and implemented this system in HPS in Chandigarh territory, India. METHODS: A desk review was undertaken to review HPS accreditation processes used in other countries. An HPS accreditation manual was drafted after discussions with key stakeholders. Seventeen schools (eight government and nine private) were included in the study. A workshop was held with school principals and teachers and other key stakeholders, during which parameters, domains and an accreditation checklist were discussed and finalized. The process of accreditation of these 17 schools was initiated in 2011 according to the accreditation manual. HPSs were encouraged to undertake activities to increase their accreditation grade and were reassessed in 2013 to monitor progress. Each school was graded on the basis of the accreditation scores obtained. RESULTS: The accreditation manual featured an accreditation checklist, with parameters, scores and domains. It categorized accreditation into four levels: bronze, silver, gold and platinum (each level having its own specific criteria and mandate). In 2011, more than half (52.9%) of the schools belonged to the bronze level and only 23.5% were at the gold level. Improvements were observed upon reassessment after 2 years (2013), with 76.4% of schools at the gold level and only 11.8% at bronze. CONCLUSIONS: The HPS accreditation system is feasible in school settings and was well implemented in the schools of Chandigarh. Improvements in accreditation scores between 2011 and 2013 suggest that the system may be effective in increasing levels of health promotion in communities.

Epidemiological trends of RF/RHD in school children of Shimla in north India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: There are no active surveillance studies reported from South East Asian Region to document the impact of change in socio-economic state on the prevalence of rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease (RF/RHD) in children. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the epidemiological trends of RF/RHD in school children of Shimla city and adjoining suburbs in north India and its association with change in socio-economic status. METHODS: Active surveillance studies were conducted in 2007-2008 in urban and rural areas of Shimla, and 15145 school children, aged 5-15 yr were included and identical screening methodology as used in earlier similar survey conducted in 1992-1993 was used. The study samples were selected from schools of Shimla city and adjoining rural areas by multistage stratified cluster sampling method in both survey studies. After a relevant history and clinical examination by trained doctor, echocardiographic evaluation of suspected cases was done. An updated Jones (1992) criterion was used to diagnose cases of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and identical 2D-morphological and Doppler criteria were used to diagnose RHD in both the survey studies. The socio-economic and healthcare transitions of study area were assessed during the study interval period. RESULTS: Time trends of prevalence of RF/RHD revealed about five-fold decline from 2.98/1000 (95% C.I. 2.24-3.72/1000) in 1992-1993 to 0.59/1000 (95% C.I. 0.22-0.96/1000) in 2007-2008. (P<0.0001). While the prevalence of ARF and RHD with recurrence of activity was 0.176/1000 and 0.53/1000, respectively in 1992-1993, no case of RF was recorded in 2007-2008 study. Prevalence of RF/RHD was about two- fold higher in rural school children than urban school children in both the survey studies (4.42/1000 vs. 2.12/1000) and (0.88/1000 vs. 0.41/1000), respectively. The indices of socio-economic development revealed substantial improvement during this interim period. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of RF/RHD has declined by five-fold over last 15 yr and appears to be largely contributed by improvement in socio-economic status and healthcare delivery systems. However, the role of change in the rheumatogenic characteristics of the streptococcal stains in the study area over a period of time in decline of RF/RHD cannot be ruled out. Policy interventions to improve living standards, existing healthcare facilities and awareness can go a long way in reducing the morbidity and mortality burden of RF/RHD in developing countries.

Socioeconomic inequality in the prevalence of smoking and smokeless tobacco use in India.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco consumption has been identified as the single biggest cause of inequality in morbidity and mortality. Understanding pattern of socioeconomic equalities in tobacco consumption in India will help in designing targeted public health control measures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nationally representative data from the India Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) conducted in 2009-2010 was analyzed. The survey provided information on 69,030 respondents aged 15 years and above. Data were analyzed according to regions for estimating prevalence of current tobacco consumption (both smoking and smokeless) across wealth quintiles. Multiple logistic regression analysis predicted the impact of socioeconomic determinants on both forms of current tobacco consumption adjusting for other socio-demographic variables. RESULTS: Trends of smoking and smokeless tobacco consumption across wealth quintiles were significant in different regions of India. Higher prevalence of smoking and smokeless tobacco consumption was observed in the medium wealth quintiles. Risk of tobacco consumption among the poorest compared to the richest quintile was 1.6 times higher for smoking and 3.1 times higher for smokeless forms. Declining odds ratios of both forms of tobacco consumption with rising education were visible across regions. Poverty was a strong predictor in north and south Indian region for smoking and in all regions for smokeless tobacco use. CONCLUSIONS: Poverty and poor education are strong risk factors for both forms of tobacco consumption in India. Public health policies, therefore, need to be targeted towards the poor and uneducated.

Integrated healthy workplace model: An experience from North Indian industry.

BACKGROUND: Keeping in view of rapid industrialization and growing Indian economy, there has been a substantial increase in the workforce in India. Currently there is no organized workplace model for promoting health of industrial workers in India. OBJECTIVE: To develop and implement a healthy workplace model in three industrial settings of North India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An operations research was conducted for 12 months in purposively selected three industries of Chandigarh. In phase I, a multi-stakeholder workshop was conducted to finalize the components and tools for the healthy workplace model. NCD risk factors were assessed in 947 employees in these three industries. In phase II, the healthy workplace model was implemented on pilot basis for a period of 12 months in these three industries to finalize the model. FINDINGS: Healthy workplace committee with involvement of representatives of management, labor union and research organization was formed in three industries. Various tools like comprehensive and rapid healthy workplace assessment forms, NCD work-lite format for risk factors surveillance and monitoring and evaluation format were developed. The prevalence of tobacco use, ever alcoholics was found to be 17.8% and 47%, respectively. Around one-third (28%) of employees complained of back pain in the past 12 months. Healthy workplace model with focus on three key components (physical environment, psychosocial work environment, and promoting healthy habits) was developed, implemented on pilot basis, and finalized based on experience in participating industries. A stepwise approach for model with a core, expanded, and optional components were also suggested. An accreditation system is also required for promoting healthy workplace program. CONCLUSION: Integrated healthy workplace model is feasible, could be implemented in industrial setting in northern India and needs to be pilot tested in other parts of the country.

Performance of audio-assisted confidential voting interview for assessment of sexual behavior among young adults in Chandigarh Union Territory.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chandigarh Union Territory to evaluate the performance of an audio-assisted confidential voting interview (AVI), for assessing the sexual behavior among young adults aged 20 - 34 years. Using systematic random sampling 625 males and 630 females were interviewed alternately, either by AVI or by face-to-face interview (FFI). More men revealed having sex with men in AVI (2.6%) than FFI (0.6%) (P 0.06). Women reported having sex with non-regular partners more often in AVI (4.8%) compared to FFI (0.3%) (P < 0.001). AVI performed better than FFI for eliciting sensitive sexual behaviors.

Persisting malnutrition in Chandigarh: decadal underweight trends and impact of ICDS program.

Decline in malnutrition levels has been dismal since the 1990s. We ascertained decadal trend in childhood nutritional status between 1997 and 2007 in Chandigarh, India and assessed impact of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) on childhood undernutrition. A total of 803 under-five children, 547 children between 12-23 months age, and 218 women with an infant child were recruited for the study. Findings of present study were compared with another methodologically similar study (1997) from Chandigarh and Reproductive and Child Health Rapid Household Survey (1998) to draw decadal trends. Prevalence of underweight among under-five children remained almost stagnant in the last one decade from 51.6%; (1997) to 50.4%; (2007). There was insignificant difference (P=0.3) in prevalence of underweight among children registered under ICDS program (52.1%;) and those not registered (48.4%;) in 2007. Other health and service provision indicators had mixed results in the past decade. Health services utilization was poorest in urban slums.

Adverse reproductive and child health outcomes among people living near highly toxic waste water drains in Punjab, India.

BACKGROUND: Environmental influence plays a major role in determining health status of individuals. Punjab has been reported as having a high degree of water pollution due to heavy metals from untreated industrial effluent discharge and high pesticide consumption in agriculture. The present study ascertained the association of heavy metal and pesticide exposure on reproductive and child health outcomes in Punjab, India. METHODS: A cross-sectional community-based survey was conducted in which 1904 women in reproductive age group and 1762 children below 12 years of age from 35 villages in three districts of Punjab were interviewed on a semistructured schedule for systemic and general health morbidities. Medical doctors conducted a clinical examination and review of records where relevant. Out of 35 study villages, 25 served as target (exposed) and 10 as non-target (less exposed or reference). Effluent, ground and surface water, fodder, vegetables and milk (bovine and human) samples were tested for chemical composition, heavy metals and pesticides. RESULTS: Spontaneous abortion (20.6 per 1000 live births) and premature births (6.7 per 1000 live births) were significantly higher in area affected by heavy metal and pesticide pollution (p<0.05). Stillbirths were about five times higher as compared with a meta-analysis for South Asian countries. A larger proportion of children in target area were reported to have delayed milestones, language delay, blue line in the gums, mottling of teeth and gastrointestinal morbidities (p<0.05). Mercury was found in more than permissible limits (MPL) in 84.4% samples from the target area. Heptachlor, chlorpyriphos, beta-endosulfan, dimethoate and aldrin were found to be more than MPL in 23.9%, 21.7%, 19.6%, 6.5% and 6.5% ground water samples respectively. CONCLUSION: Although no direct association could be established in this study, heavy metal and pesticide exposure may be potential risk factors for adverse reproductive and child health outcomes.

Pilot testing of WHO child growth standards in Chandigarh: implications for India's child health programmes.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of underweight as calculated from Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) growth curves (based on the Harvard scale) and the new WHO Child Growth Standards. METHODS: We randomly selected 806 children under 6 years of age from 45 primary anganwadi (childcare) centres in Chandigarh, Punjab, India, that were chosen through multistage stratified random sampling. Children were weighed, and their weight for age was calculated using IAP curves and WHO growth references. Nutritional status according to the WHO Child Growth Standards was analysed using WHO Anthro statistical software (beta version, 17 February 2006). The chi2 test was used to determine statistical significance at the 0.05 significance level. FINDINGS: The prevalence of underweight (Z score less than -2) in the first 6 months of life was nearly 1.6 times higher when calculated in accordance with the new WHO standards rather than IAP growth curves. For all ages combined, the estimated prevalence of underweight was 1.4 times higher when IAP standards instead of the new WHO standards were used. Similarly, the prevalence of underweight in both sexes combined was 14.5% higher when IAP standards rather than the new WHO growth standards were applied (P < 0.001). By contrast, severe malnutrition estimated for both sexes were 3.8 times higher when the new WHO standards were used in place of IAP standards (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The new WHO growth standards will project a lower prevalence of overall underweight children and provide superior growth tracking than IAP standards, especially in the first 6 months of life and among severely malnourished children.