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ObjectiveHub and spoke model has been used across industries to augment peripheral services by centralising key resources. This exercise evaluated the feasibility of whether such a model can be developed and implemented for quality improvement across rural and urban settings in India with support from a network for quality improvement.MethodsThis model was implemented using support from the state and district administration. Medical colleges were designated as hubs and the secondary and primary care facilities as spokes. Training in quality improvement (QI) was done using WHO’s point of care quality improvement methodology. Identified personnel from hubs were also trained as mentors. Both network mentors (from QI network) and hub-mentors (from medical colleges) undertook mentoring visits to their allotted facilities. Each of the participating facility completed their QI projects with support from mentors.ResultsTwo QI training workshops and two experience sharing sessions were conducted for implementing the model. A total of 34 mentoring visits were undertaken by network mentors instead of planned 14 visits and rural hub-mentors could undertake only four visits against planned 18 visits. Ten QI projects were successfully completed by teams, 80% of these projects started during the initial intensive phase of mentoring. The projects ranged from 3 to 10 months with median duration being 5 months.DiscussionVarious components of a health system must work in synergy to sustain improvements in quality of care. Quality networks and collaboratives can play a significant role in creating this synergy. Active participation of district and state administration is a critical factor to produce a culture of quality in the health system.

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Rapid urbanization accompanied by land use changes is affecting biodiversity worldwide specifically avian diversity. In the present study, the interactions of avian diversity with vegetation area were evaluated using geospatial technologies at different locations of Ludhiana city from April 2019 to March 2020. Integration of observations was done to analyze the avian diversity in relation to habitat components. Bird surveys conducted have recorded 46 bird species. There were 44 tree and 14 shrub species recorded, with vegetation and buildup area being the key determinants of diversity. Urban locations with balanced buildup area and vegetation were observed to support bird species diversity.

The present study attempts to know about awareness of farmers towards products and services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh state has been taken up with the objective wasto study the farmers awareness towards products and services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendra’s in Rayalaseema region, Andhra Pradesh 2020-21. The primary data on awareness towards products and services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendras were collected from farmers randomly from four districts of in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh state with pretested questionnaire. The study also attempted to examine farmers’ perceptions of three main aspects of Rythu Bharosa Kendras: general aspects of RBKs, products sold by RBKs, and services offered by RBKs. In this connection, frequency, percentage, mean, weighted average score method and chi-square test were employed. The results of the study also indicated that the awareness of farmers towards products and services was high for statements like like staff available at RBK for guidance, availability of agri inputs (seeds, fertilizers etc.) and e-karshak services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendras. Overall awareness of farmers towards products and services offered by Rythu Bharosa Kendras was medium level among 51 per cent of the farmers, high among 32 per cent of the farmers and 17 per cent of the farmers were having low level of awareness.