that in rural Uttar Pradesh (UP), only about one-fourth of women delivered their last child in an institution.a In 2005 the Janani Suraksha Yojana ( JSY) was launched as an intervention to address the barriers to institutional delivery, through the introduction of community-based women volunteers called Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). Women in rural areas in low performing states ar...

Introduction Introduction of comprehensive framework for community-based monitoring (CBM) and planning at various levels of the public health system has been one of the most significant policy initiatives under the national rural health mission. One of the key considerations while introducing this large-scale social experiment was to fill the accountability deficit of the public health system b...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of diabetes has been shown to be socially patterned but the direction of the association in low-income countries and among migrant populations in Europe has varied in the literature. This study examined the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and diabetes in Ghanaians in Europe and in Ghana. METHODS Data were derived from the multicentre Research on Obes...

Owing to its unique nutritional and immunological characteristics, breast milk is the most important food source for infants. But, children are at greater risk for exposure to environmental toxicants from breast milk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of environmental pollution on essential and toxic element contents of breast milk and determine the risky locations in our popu...

270 to develop and maintain networks of nontraditional service providers to compensate for this lack of access; however, many agencies are unaware of each others’ roles in maintaining the health of the community. A novel method of building and evaluating mental health service networks was trailed in rural New South Wales. Methods: Workshops providing education and support for agencies involved ...

OBJECTIVE This study's objective was to determine whether students' learning experiences, as measured by the improvement in students' perceived competence in several clinical areas, varied by the preceptorship county's rurality. METHODS Rural preceptorship experiences from 1990 to 2003 were assessed using pre- and post-preceptorship questionnaires regarding students' perceived levels of compe...

INTRODUCTION This paper quantifies the proportion of family physicians in rural practice and, in particular, initial rural practice. It examines differences between graduates of Canadian and international medical schools. METHODS The Canadian Medical Association postal code master file was used to determine the distribution in rural practice of Canadian and international medical school gradua...

In 2004 the Argyll and Clyde health board established the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service to support its rural community hospitals. This article describes both why the service was established and its aims. This service covers a geographically extensive area, with approximately 85,000 people living in remote locations. Rural general practitioners in six community hospitals provide initial pa...

Background: The activity concentrations of some radionuclides in soil samples collected from 20 locations in 8 major towns in Oyo State, Southwestern Nigeria have been determined by gamma-ray spectrometry technique. Materials and Methods: The activity concentrations were determined using high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector (Canberra Industries Inc.). The outdoor absorbed dose rates in air at ...

BACKGROUND Little is known regarding destinations and distances necessary for independent community ambulation after enactment of the Americans with Disability Act. OBJECTIVE To qualitatively describe community locations visited by older adults and to determine ambulation distance required to visit these locations. DESIGN Descriptive study. METHODS Nineteen subjects, 65 years or older and...