Background: Hypertension (HTN) is the leading risk factor for death and disability globally and disproportionately impacts low-and middle-income countries. HTN is present in 25% of urban and 10% of rural subjects in India. Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of pre-HTN and HTN among the attendants of patients at a rural tertiary care institute of Haryana.Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. A total of 309 attendants of patients were enrolled for this study. Diagnosis of pre-HTN and HTN was done on the basis of seventh joined national committee guidelines. Data were collected on a semi-structured proforma and were analysed by using R software.Results: The prevalence of pre-HTN and HTN was 18.4% and 21.4% respectively. Both the pre-HTN and HTN were significantly higher in males (p=0.002) and in the age group of 45 to 55 years (p<0.001). The multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that sex, age >55 years and BMI >23 kg/m2 were significantly associated with pre-HTN and HTN.Conclusions: The prevalence of both prehypertension and hypertension is high in rural Haryana. This makes the people of this area vulnerable to several chronic diseases. The findings warrant urgent measures to lower the risk factors in rural communities. So, programs are needed to improve the surveillance systems and implementation of community based screening programs for early detection of hypertension.

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Introduction: Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) is an important intervention included by WHO as essential elements of antenatal care package. It is often delivered to pregnant women through their active participation by health care provider during antenatal care or initiated/followed up through visits to the homes of pregnant women by community health workers. Objectives: To determine the knowledge and practice regarding BPCR and to identify factors associated with it among rural pregnant women. Method: Cross-sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area of Community Medicine Department of a medical teaching institutes. A total of 210 pregnant women who were in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy were selected by simple random sampling and interviewed for data collection. Results: Mean age of study subjects was 24.14 + 3.88 years.The highest number of women was in the age group of 20-29 years (84.8%). More than half (57.6%) mothers had observed at least two or more components of BPCR. Maximum number of females had identified facility for delivery (63.8%) followed by transportation (60.9%). Identification of potential blood donor by mothers was low (14.3%). Bleeding was most commonly identified danger symptom in all three phases of child bearing. Knowledge regarding danger signs was significantly associated with birth preparedness. Conclusion: In the present study, practice of all components of BPCR by mothers was very low. Bleeding was the most commonly identified danger symptom during all three phases i.e., pregnancy, child birth and after birth.Knowledge regarding other danger signs was highly inadequate.