Objective: In Pakistan, among various cities, the rate of depression is reported to be between 60–70% medical students. This study was performed estimate prevalence and its factors students at Muhammad Medical College, MirpurKhas, Sindh, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional College Sindh. The tool a semitortured questionnaire comprising sociodemographic questions depression, anxiety, stress (DA...

BACKGROUND Pakistan has alarmingly high numbers of maternal mortality along with suboptimal care-seeking behaviour. It is essential to identify the barriers and facilitators that women and families encounter, when deciding to seek maternal care services. This study aimed to understand health-seeking patterns of pregnant women in rural Sindh, Pakistan. METHODS A qualitative study was undertake...

Background: During the past two decades there has been a sustained decline in child mortality; however, neonatal mortality has remained stagnant. Each year approximately 4 million babies are born asphyxiated resulting in 2 million neonatal deaths and intrapartum stillbirths. Almost all neonatal deaths occur in developing countries, where the majority is delivered at homes with negligible antena...

BACKGROUND Since a decade, low and middle income countries have a rising trend of contracting their primary healthcare services to NGOs. In Pakistan, public sector often lacks capacity to effectively & equitably manage the healthcare services. It led the government to outsource the administration of primary health care services to a semi-autonomous government entity i.e. Peoples' Primary Health...

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk factors of urinary tract infection in renal transplant recipients and its effect on graft function among transplanted patients visiting the outpatients department of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation. METHODS This cohort study was conducted at Transplantation department, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation Karachi. The period of the stud...

BACKGROUND Pakistan is one of the remaining 24 countries which have not yet achieved Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE), The country adopted high-risk approach for 56 out of 119 districts with country-wide Tetanus Toxoid (TT) provision in Routine Immunization (RI) during early 2000-2003. The TT's mass campaigns could only cover 13% of high risk districts for 2009- 2011, and mostly...

BACKGROUND Previous studies report association of contraceptives with moderate increase in urinary tract infection among sexually active premenopausal women. The aim of our study was to find out whether the use of hormonal contraceptives has any effect on microbiota of the vagina in the contraceptives users in Khairpur Sindh Pakistan. METHODS A prospective study in woman population of Khairpu...

BACKGROUND Pakistan has a high burden of maternal and newborn mortality, which would be largely preventable through appropriate antenatal and delivery care. While the influence of socio-economic status on institutional delivery is well established in the literature, relatively little is known about the relationship between the quality of antenatal care and institutional delivery. METHODS A ho...

Groundwater arsenic contamination has exponentially endangered the human life and complicated the efforts for obtaining and maintaining drinking water quality standards in Pakistan, particularly in the central and southern parts of the country. In the province of Sindh, groundwater arsenic concentration has reached up to 1100 μg/L against WHO limits of 10 μg/L. In the province of Punjab, over 2...

BACKGROUND Typhoid perforation of small intestine is one of the most common causes of bowel perforation in the developing countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, factors affecting prognosis, and optimal surgical management for typhoid perforation in Sindh. METHOD One hundred and thirty patients with typhoid perforation were included in the study from July 2005 to...