Background The study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of obstetric fistula in the rural area of the south eastern community of India and the training of community health workers for its prevention. Methods A population-based cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in the south eastern rural community of India. A total of 3939 women were included in the study and Probability proportional to size sampling was used in the study. Frequency distribution and logistic regression were computed to analyse the data using STATA version 11.2. Results Out of 3939 participants interviewed, 23.7% women reported obstetric fistula symptoms whereas after clinical diagnosis and speculum examination the obstetric morbidity pattern was: Obstetric fistula 0.3%, stress urinary incontinence 20.0%, pelvic inflammatory diseases 1.2%, uterine prolapse 1.4% and urinary tract infection 3.8%. The awareness level of the rural women regarding the obstetric fistula was assessed by a structured knowledge questionnaire and found to be very poor, hence community based fistula training was implemented among community health workers as a health system based strategy for its prevention. Obstetric fistula found to be more prevalent among women of poor educational level, low socioeconomic status, less no of antenatal visits, delay in accessing the emergency obstetric care and prolonged labour (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion Finding of the study indicated that the prevalence and risk of developing obstetric fistula was associated with less number of antenatal visits, prolonged labour, delay in timely intervention, delay in accessing emergency obstetric care and more number of movements from home to the delivery place. Finally, our study suggests that emphasis needs to be placed on training of community health workers to facilitate early screening for identification and referral of women with obstetric fistula.

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Aim:The menopause transition is experienced by women often involves troublesome symptoms due to changes in the level of reproductive hormones. Non-hormonal therapies are more commonly accepted by women than hormonal therapy for coping with the climacteric symptoms. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of yoga practice on menopausal symptoms, specific quality of life, and changes in hormonal levels among menopausal women. Method: A single-blinded randomized control trial was conducted among 80 participants aged 40 of 50 years and was randomly divided into two study arms, that is, Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) and brisk walking intervention, to find the effect on the hormonal changes and menopausal quality of life (measured by MENQOL tool). The significant improvements in the outcome measures were measured by using repeated measures analysis of variance and McNemar's test. Results: Significant improvements in the menopausal-specific quality of life were observed in the domain of vasomotor, psychosocial, and physical symptoms (p < 0.05). The antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) were significantly elevated after 1 year of regular practice of SKY compared to walking intervention (p < 0.05). In contrast, no significant improvement was observed in follicle-stimulating hormone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels. The women reported no adverse events after SKY practice or brisk walking. Conclusion:The study concluded that 1 year of SKY practice could be one of the preferred non-hormonal, lifestyle-modifying regimens for improving the overall quality of life in menopausal women.

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COVID-19 considered as a public health emergency of International concern and thus a pandemic with the explosive increase rate of infection worldwide and at the same time, the healthcare system is struggling for survival and the government is striving to regain the trust of the population. According to the WHO, mothers with COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 can breastfeed their babies as long as they take appropriate precautions. Although creating awareness and providing adequate information to the mother and general public about breastfeeding benefits, still people believe in several myths and misconceptions due to fear of the COVID-19 pandemic. These personal beliefs, misconceptions, myths, and cultural practices can have a negative impact on breastfeeding which may discourage breastfeeding practice among women. This brisk review intends to compile the latest available evidence about myths, cultural practices preventing breastfeeding during COVID 19 pandemic. We searched works of literature related to breast feeding during COVID -19 published between December 2019, and August 2020, in website archive of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, World Health Organization (WHO), Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICE), journal repositories such as Google Scholar, Pub Med, Science Direct, newspaper article etc. We identified 30 studies that met the search criteria for inclusion in the review. The evidence presented here related to the common believes may alleviate the potential source of anxiety related to COVID-19 breast feeding issues who are still dependant on the societal misconception  not the evidence.