The neonatal mortality rate in India is amongst the highest in the world and skewed towards rural areas. Nonavailability of trained manpower along with poor healthcare infrastructure is one of the major hurdles in ensuring quality neonatal care. We reviewed case studies and relevant literature from low and middle income countries and documented alternative strategies that have proved to be favourable in improving neonatal health. The authors reiterate the fact that recruiting and retaining trained manpower in rural areas by all means is essential to improve the quality of neonatal care services. Besides this, other strategies such as training of local rural healthcare providers and traditional midwives, promoting home-based newborn care, and creating community awareness and mobilization also hold enough potential to influence the neonatal health positively and efforts should be made to implement them on a larger scale. More research is demanded for innovations such as “m-health” and public-private partnerships as they have been shown to offer potential in terms of improving the standards of care. The above proposed strategy is likely to reduce morbidity among neonatal survivors as well.

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Context:About 490 million cases of curable Reproductive Tract Infections (RTI) occur throughout the world, of which 79 million cases occur in India annually. Sexually Transmitted Infections/Reproductive Tract Infections (STI/RTI) confers a huge economic burden on the individual and the health system. Complications of RTI/STI are many, ranging from chronic pain syndrome to infertility. Most of these complications can be prevented by early diagnosis and treatment.Aims:To assess knowledge, attitude and practices on STI/RTIs among married women aged 15-45 years in rural Haryana.Setting and Design:Cross-sectional study, conducted in selected villages under the primary health centre Mandi, Sonepat, Haryana.Subjects and Methods:Systematic sampling was used to cover 10 villages. In each village, every tenth house was sampled, taking first house from the center of the village. Face-to-face interview was conducted using pretested questionnaire.Statistical Analysis Used:Descriptive statistics and results were described in percentages.Results:A total of 344 women were interviewed. About 44% women had never heard of STI/RTI. The prevalence of self-reported symptoms of STI/RTI was very high (60%). Only 40% of them opted for treatment and most common cause for not opting for treatment was that they considered it as a minor problem. Advice for use of condom during the treatment was received by only 20% of patients and only 26.5% of their husbands also received treatment.Conclusions:Overall knowledge, attitude and practices relating to STI/RTI among married women in rural Haryana was poor. The prevalence of self-reported STI/RTI was found to be high and treatment seeking behavior was poor.

Background:Sentinel surveillance reported high human immunodeficiency virus positivity rates among men who have sex with men. The current study has described the high-risk behavior and self-reported sexually transmitted infection(s) among self-identified men who have sex with men.Aims:The present study was to find out the extent of high-risk behavior and prevalence of self-reported sexually transmitted diseases among self-identified men who have sex with men, registered with selected nongovernmental organizations in Delhi.Materials and Methods:A facility-based cross-sectional study was done among 250 men who have sex with men during March 2009 to February 2010, through consecutive sampling strategy.Results:Majority (80%) were anal-receptive, received money for sex (61%) and were involved in all types of sexual intercourse with men (oral-86%, manual-97%, and anal-94%). Consistent condom use with male partner was low (46%), most common reason (52%) for not using condom was, that either the condoms were not available or the partner objected. Self-reported sexually transmitted infection(s) was 41% in the past 12 months.Conclusions:This study underscores the increased vulnerability of men who have sex with men of Delhi and need for sustained interventions.

Background and Objectives:Sexual health disorders are an important but less researched public health issue in India. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of sexual health disorders and their associated factors among adult men in a rural community of Haryana, India.Materials and Methods:A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adult men aged 18–60 years using a multistage stratified random sampling. Information pertaining to sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle and sexual practices, and self-reported sexual problems were collected. Sexual health disorders were defined based on International Statistical Classification of Diseases-10 classification of mental and behavioral disorders. Step-wise logistic regression was carried out to identify factors independently associated with sexual disorders.Results:At least one sexual health disorder was reported by 81% of the men. The most commonly reported disorder was self-perceived defect in semen (64.4%), followed by loss of libido (21%), masturbation guilt (20.8%), erectile dysfunction (5%), and premature ejaculation (4.6%). Factors significantly associated with sexual health disorders among all men were being never married (odds ratio = 2.04; 95% confidence interval: 1.51, 2.77), smoking (1.57; 1.16, 2.14), cannabis use (4.20; 1.68, 10.48), diabetes (2.40; 1.22, 4.73), and hypertension (3.17; 1.12, 8.92).Interpretation and Conclusions:A high burden of sexual health disorders was identified among the rural men. Wider recognition of this issue is needed among the health-care providers and policymakers.