Background: Birth weight is an important indicator of new born growth, survival and psychosocial development. Globally, more than 20 million are born with low birth weight (LBW) and the prevalence of low birth weight in India is 20%. The study was conducted to find the proportion of low birth weight and the factors influencing the weight of the baby.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted at Gandhi hospital, Telangana from September to November, 2015 using a semi structured questionnaire among 204 postnatal mothers.Results: Out of 204 live births, 26% were found to be low birth weight. About 44.4% LBW babies are born to teenage mothers and 70% among the mothers with height less than 140 cms. Of the pre-term babies, nearly half of the babies (49.3%) were low birth weight. Around 30.3% of LBW was found with an inter-pregnancy interval of <2 years. About 41.2% of the mothers having complications had low birth weight babies.Conclusions: Nearly one fourth of the newborns were low birth weight. Gender of the child, socioeconomic status, education, gestational age, inter pregnancy interval, medical complications were found to affect the birth weight.

Introduction: The elderly population is growing much faster. Ageing is a global phenomenon and it is expected that by 2050 every country in the world will have substantial increase in population aged 60 years and above. Malnutrition is common among older people over 60 years of age. They are likely to experience morbidity, premature mortality, poor quality of life and reduced functional ability than normally nourished persons. Malnutrition increases health care costs, reduces productivity, and slows economic growth, which can perpetuate a cycle of poverty and ill-health. Hence combating malnutrition in all its forms is one of the greatest global health challenges. Objective: 1) To assess the nutritional status among elderly population in Hyderabad. 2) To assess the risk factors which are associated with malnutrition among elderly population. Method: A Cross sectional study was conducted in July - September 2021 among elderly persons aged 60 years and above residing in urban slums of Hyderabad. Considering the estimated prevalence of malnutrition among elderly population to be 14.5%, the sample size was calculated as 198 and was rounded off to 200. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel and analysed using Epi Info version 7.2.2.6. A predesigned, pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data. Malnutrition was assessed using Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Results: Among 200 participants, 52.5% were females. The mean age of the study population was 68.3 years. Among them 18% of the study participants were malnourished, 27% were at risk of malnutrition and 55% had normal nutritional status. Conclusion: Early diagnosis and prompt treatment of elderly people at high risk for malnutrition may improve their nutritional status and prognosis.

Background: Immunization is a process in which a person is made resistant to infectious disease, by the administration of vaccine. Immunization is averting an estimated 2-3 million deaths every year. Deaths among under 5 children from measles and its complication is the major killer worldwide. As per 2017 global coverage of measles is 89% and pentavalent (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) its 85%. Still 71 countries have yet to achieve global vaccine action plan (GVAP) target of 90% coverage of 3 doses of DTP. India is one among these countries with only 63.9% coverage, and the state of Telangana has coverage of 67.5% according to National family health survey-4 (NFHS-4) (2015-2016).Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 12-24 months age children, sample size of 199 is calculated by using the formula of 4pq/l2 and by considering the immunization coverage of 66.7% according to the NFHS-4 (2015-2016) of Telangana state and allowable absolute error of 7% and nonresponsive rate of 10%, simple random sampling technique was used and data collected by using semi-structured questionnaire, data was analysed using MS-office and OpenEpi.Results: Among 199 study population 136 children were Hindus and 53 were Muslims and 10 from other religion. Mean age and standard deviation of study population was 14±4.56. Among total population 72.9% (145) are completely immunized, 25% (50) are partially immunized 2.04% (4) are unimmunized.Conclusion: Immunization coverage was higher in the present study then the state of Telangana i.e., 67.5% as per NFHS-4.the rural population.

Background: According to WHO, responsiveness is an important goal of the health system, in addition to the two predominant goals of improving health and fairness of financing. Responsiveness includes non-medical aspects of health care. As the progress to universal health coverage is gaining pace, the present study has attempted to study the domains of responsiveness in the government and private health services and health care providers. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study for a period of 3 months in the households of the urban field practising area. Sampling technique was simple random sampling. Assuming the prevalence of 50% and allowable error of 5%, 400 households were surveyed. KISH table method was used at household level. Study tool was World Health Survey responsiveness module questionnaire for the eight responsiveness domains-prompt attention, dignity, communication, autonomy, confidentiality, choice, quality of basic facilities and social support (for inpatients). Results: The mean age (yrs) of the study subjects is 46.078±13.998. 68.25% (273) were males.31.75% (127) were females. 46.25% (185) were using government services and 53.75% (215) were using private services. The mean waiting time (min) in the public health facilities was 135.2±111.2 which was more than private facilities, 62.4±40.8. Conclusions: All the responsiveness domains (except confidentiality) were found to be positively associated (p<0.05) with the government health services. Proportion of people rating the responsiveness domains from most important to the least important showed prompt attention (52%) and dignity (30%) as the most important domains.