► Main reasons among hospital HCW's included reaction of attendants to adverse outcomes, impatient behavior of patients and attendants, delay in care and lack of facilities ► Among ambulance workers, main reasons included delay in arrival and shifting of the patient and lack of facilities to provide good quality pre-hospital emergency care ► Among field healthcare workers, misconception of vaccines was the main reason. ► This study proposes interventions according to main reasons of violence.What do the findings imply?► The findings of the study provide directions for different healthcare settings on how to protect HCW's. ► The essential interventions required are increasing resources to provide good quality of care, introducing policies to improve responsiveness to patient's needs, training HCW's in communication and deescalation skills and introducing educational and regulatory measures to improve patient and attendant behavio AbsTrACTObjectives To determine the magnitude and determinants of violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) and to identify the predominant types and causes of violence experienced by them.Methodology A cross-sectional survey based on structured questionnaire adopted from previous surveys and qualitative data was conducted in 4 large cities and 12 districts in 3 provinces of Pakistan. The survey covered 8579 from all cadres of HCWs, including doctors, nurses, technicians, support staff, ambulance workers, vaccinators, lady health visitors, midwives and lady health workers (LHWs). The predictors of overall violence experienced, physical violence experienced and verbal violence experienced were separately analysed for tertiary care hospitals, secondary care hospitals, primary care hospitals and field-level HCWs. Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted ORs with 95% CIs for the association of different factors with the violence experienced. results More than one-third (38.4%) reported having experienced any form of violence in the last 6 months. Verbal violence was the most commonly experienced form (33.9%), followed by physical violence (6.6%). The main reasons for physical violence were death of patients (17.6%), serious condition of patients (16.6%) and delay in care (13.4%). Among the different types of field HCWs, emergency vehicle operators were significantly more likely to experience verbal violence compared with LHWs (adjusted OR=1.97; 95% CI 1.31 to 2.94; p=0.001). Among hospital HCWs, those working in private hospitals were significantly less likely to experience physical violence (adjusted OR=0.52; 95% CI 0.38 to 0.71; p=0.001) and verbal violence (adjusted OR=0.57; 95% CI 0.48 to 0.68

This work gives growth reference values at birth to 24 months of age for Pakistan based on upper middle class infants. Growth rate reference values are also included and they are given for various interval lengths. The growth was differently affected in infants living in three poorer areas; the stunting incidence at 24 months of age was 63% in periurban slum, 54% in the village and 26% in the urban slum. Less differences could be seen between the areas in weight for length. There was an age dependency in the incidence of reduced growth; a normal length gain was seen at birth to about six months of age, but they were highly reduced at 6 to 18 months of age. The weight gain was to some degree reduced during the first 12 months of life, followed by a catch-up growth period. The seasonal influence was also age dependent; weight was highly affected during the summer at birth to 24 months of age, but not in the winter. The seasonal effect in length was marginal at birth to 6 months, little at 6 to 12 months (although, constant below the normal) and large at 12 to 24 months of age. We did not see any seasonality of growth in the reference group. The incidence of reduced growth reflects the socio-economic differences in one restricted geographic area, i.e., in the city of Lahore, Pakistan.

A “nested” case‐control design was used to identify cases from a longitudinally followed cohort of 1236 newborns registered during 1984–1987, living in three socioeconomically different areas. The children had a length <–2SDS (standard deviation scores) at 6, 12, 24 and 60 mo of age using the NCHS reference. The controls were matched for gender, area and month of birth. A logistic regression analysis was used for determining the risk factors for stunting at each age. Postnatal linear growth was also examined in these two groups of children and body size was compared with the NCHS reference and that of upper‐middle‐class children (n= 240). At 6 mo of age, prematurity and duration of breastfeeding showed a significant association with stunting. At 12 mo, maternal height, birthweight and stunting at 6 mo, while at 24 mo, stunting at 6, 12 and 18 mo were identified as important factors. At 60 mo, no other factors besides previous stunting could be identified. The mean height reached at 60 mo showed a deficit of 6 and 13 cm for the controls and the cases, respectively, compared to the NCHS reference. Twenty‐eight percent of the children from the two poor areas who were stunted at 6 mo had improved by 60 mo of age. Conclusion: The risk factors for stunting varied at different ages, relating more to feeding at early ages and to previous stunting, predominantly at higher ages. The linear growth showed that faltering increased with age when cases and controls were treated separately. Recovery from stunting could also be demonstrated.

The aim was to study the impact of simple healthcare interventions in 0-24-month-old children living in rural communities outside Lahore, Pakistan. Newborns belonging to four birth cohorts were followed monthly from 0-24 months of age living in rural communities. Three cohorts were from the same village: Cohort A (1984-1987), n = 485; Cohort B (1990-1992), n = 544; and Cohort C (1995-1997), n = 518. A fourth, Cohort D, was from neighbouring villages (1995-1997), n = 444. Findings from Cohort A formed the basis of a healthcare programme, including promotion of optimal breastfeeding practices, advice on oral rehydration therapy, and continued feeding during diarrhoea. The outcome measures studied were time of initiation of breastfeeding, feeding of prelacteals, exclusive breastfeeding, diarrhoeal illnesses, and postnatal linear growth. The median time of initiation of breastfeeding decreased from 47 to 3 h and exclusive breastfeeding increased from 5 per cent in Cohort A to more than 80 per cent in the subsequent cohorts, at 1 month of age. No prelacteals were given to 34 per cent of newborns in later cohorts compared with 100 per cent in Cohort A. Diarrhoeal illnesses during the first 6 months had reduced significantly. Postnatal linear growth improved by about 3 cm in the later cohorts. Appropriate changes in breastfeeding practices through integrated and focused healthcare, especially antenatally, can reduce diarrhoeal illnesses, and sustain and improve linear growth in young children.

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges". American Psychiatric Association's defined ASD as "a single disorder that includes disorders that were previously considered separate-autism, Asperger's syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified". Objectives: To exploration of the coping strategies of mother who are the primary care giver of the family and children with ASD. This study correspondingly emphasized on the policy makers to bring this subject to the agenda for the training (Coping) and support (Insurance) of mothers and ASD children for special education needs (SEN) by the government. Study Design: Qualitative study. Methods: This research explored mothers coping practices with ASD children in Rawalpindi by means of qualitative study design phenomenology. Theoretical framework used were, life course perspective and social constructivism which will facilitate the complete process. Interview guide is made on the format suggested by Steinar Kvale. Data analysis will be done by two analytical techniques, grounded theory analysis. Results: The results of this study were categories which were generated were divided into two main parts positive/ healthy and negative/impaired coping strategies they are as follow:-Positive coping strategies. a) Integration b) Networking c) Religion. And the Negative coping strategies a) Avoidance b) Ignorance c) Isolation. Conclusion: Overall, findings indicated that mothers sorrow and grief associated with ASD is common in every mother. Mothers coped by educating themselves. Findings indicated feelings of shock, grief and acceptance were the part of mother's responses, on the discovery of their child's autism diagnosis. Findings indicated daily routines were not affected but the ASD child.