Introduction:Nutritional anaemia in India is common morbidity seen in late adolescent and young female population. There are many conflicting opinions regarding dosage of iron folic acid supplementation for managing this simple nutritional deficiency disorder. Hence, this ‘Randomized Controlled Trial’ was undertaken in adolescent girls suffering from Iron Deficiency Anaemia visiting ‘Urban Health and Training Centre’ situated in urban slum area. The aim of this study was to assess the (a) Impact of weekly iron folic acid supplementation in comparison with daily iron supplementation for the management of Iron Deficiency Anaemia in adolescent girls visiting ‘Urban Health and Training Centre’; (b) Adverse drug reaction profile in ‘Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation’ and ‘Daily Iron Folic Acid Supplementation’ regimes; (c) Compliance profile for ‘Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation’ and ‘Daily Iron Folic Acid Supplementation’ regimes in adolescent girls.Methods and Material:Randomized controlled trial was conducted in adolescent girls visiting ‘Urban Health and Training Centre’ during the study period June, 2011 to October, 2012. The 120 anaemic (Haemoglobin < 12 gm%) adolescent girls (10-19 years) were distributed randomly by block randomization in two groups; one receiving daily Iron and Folic Acid supplementation and in other group receiving weekly Iron and Folic Acid supplementation for 3 months. All the study subjects were given de-worming (Albendazole 400 mg) and required health education separately. Both the groups were monitored for Haemoglobin estimation, compliance and adverse drug reactions, if any. Open-Epi Statistical Software was used for data analysis.Results:The mean age of study subjects in ‘Daily Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation’ and ‘Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation’ group was 13.48 and 13.55 years respectively. Their mean pre intervention Haemoglobin was 10.1±1.1 gm/dl and 10.4±1.1 gm/dl respectively. The mean rise in Haemoglobin after lean period of 1 month in respective groups was almost equal i.e. 1.0±0.7 gm/dl and 1.0±0.8 gm/dl. Adverse Drug Reactions were 8.3% in weekly regime as compared to 13.35% in daily regime, abdominal pain being the commonest adverse drug reaction seen. The compliance calculated as mean of unconsumed ‘Iron and Folic Acid’ tablets was 6.1±10.98 in ‘Daily Iron Folic Acid Supplementation’ group, while it was 1.3±3.15 in ‘Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation’ group (p=0.0012), making weekly regime more promising than daily regime with better treatment compliance.Conclusions:Weekly supplementation of ‘Iron and Folic Acid’ in ‘Iron Deficiency Anaemia’ patients is as good as daily supplementation with added benefits of less adverse reactions and better compliance.

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Medical colleges in India follow a curriculum with a large body of knowledge pertaining to basic sciences and clinical disciplines. Use of innovative techniques in teaching has certain advantages which include increasing teacher and learner enthusiasm and improving participation of the students. We combined the use of pre-/post-test in vertical integrated teaching to increase the effectiveness of the teaching process. An innovative vertical integrated teaching session was carried out for final MBBS students. A total of 35 students participated. A pre-test questionnaire was given to all the students to identify basic knowledge about the subject (HIV). Then the faculty conducted sessions on HIV, followed by a post-test questionnaire. This study revealed that students have improved their knowledge by the new teaching-learning method. The students were enthusiastic towards the new teaching-learning method. The faculty showed enthusiasm towards this new approach but were of the opinion that this method could be applicable only to selected topics. The teachers agreed that immediate feedback can be obtained from the students regarding acquisition of knowledge.

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.

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