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Background: Being an important public health problem, increasing the awareness and changing the attitudes regarding hypertension among masses would definitely help in reducing its morbidity and mortality. The study was planned with the aim to study the knowledge, attitude, practices and the prevalence of hypertension and related different socio-demographic factors.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 adults aged above 18 years at an urban slum in Nagpur during January 2016 to June 2017. The collection of data and the measurement of the blood pressure were done as per protocol and analysis was done.Results: Among the total 280 study subjects, the majority of 149 (53%) participants were in the age group of 41 to 60 years and majority of 250 (89%) participants were from class IV and V. Among the study subjects, around 178 (64%) were tobacco and alcohol consumers. There was statistically significant association of hypertension with alcohol and tobacco consumption, physical activities at workplace, SES class and family history of hypertension amongst them. Though, 62% of the participants had good knowledge regarding hypertension, only 54% were having positive attitude regarding it. But barely 42.75% of the participants were actually practicing those healthy practices.Conclusions: This difference in knowledge and practices is expected to have its impact on the morbidity and mortality of hypertension amongst the masses. There seems to be an urgent need for providing diagnostic and treatment facilities at primary healthcare level, including the need of health education regarding risk factors causing hypertension.

Background: Malnutrition is silent emergency and it is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children in India. India is home for underweight children. Hence the present study attempt to assess the underweight status of 0-5 years children and to find out socio-demographic determinant with it in rural community of Maharashtra. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 281 children aged 0-5 years. The study was conducted rural health training centre, Barshi Takali district Akola which is field practicing area of Community Medicine Department of Government Medical College, Akola. The data was analyzed using Epi-info-6. Results: 24.9% children were in the age group of 24-35 months. 33.8% fathers were educated up to high secondary 21%. Under five children were underweight. The proportion of under-five children with under-weight showed significant association with education of father, breast feeding and diarrhoea. Conclusions: Father education, breast feeding practices and diarrhoea were the important determinant for underweight that were found in the study. The information education and communication (IEC) is needed to for preventing the occurrence of under-nutrition among 0-5 years children.

Malnutrition is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children under the age of 5 years in low and middle income countries like India. Children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are more likely to die than children without malnutrition. The anthropometric measurements of under 5 children have not been clearly assessed in Indian scenario. The objectives of study were to assess the anthropometric measurement, proportion of malnutrition among children aged 0-60 months and its correlation with socio-demographic factors with special reference to tribal population, in the Gondia district in Maharashtra. This study was a hospital-based observational study, conducted in GMC, Gondia. The WHO growth standards were used to calculate conventional indices of malnutrition (underweight, stunting and wasting) and composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF). Univariate, bivariate and multiple logistic regression analysis was also used to find out the correlates of malnutrition. The participants were universal sample of 72 children (9 tribal and 63 non-tribals) was included in this study selected from immunization OPD of tertiary care centre over the period of 2 months. Overall, the proportion of malnourished children (MAM) under the age of 5 years was 73.6% and SAM was 52.8%. The current study states that the proportion of underweight, stunting and wasting was 54.17%, 36.11% and 45.8% respectively. The factors as occupation of father, birth weight and weight gain during pregnancy were significantly associated with malnourished children. On multivariate regression, only birth weight was confirmed as statistically significant factor (P=0.001). When tribal and nontribal children are compared, factors as age of mother at first delivery, education, income and Socioeconomic status were found to be statistically significantly related to tribal population. Hence, it can be said that major cause for malnutrition in children was lower income group and early age of mother at first delivery due to cultural practices. A multi-sector approach is essential to address malnutrition in this part. There is a need for further studies not only focusing on anthropometry but also large scale multicentric studies for proper availability of data.