BACKGROUND Zinc treatment of childhood diarrhea has the potential to save 400,000 under-five lives per year in lesser developed countries. In 2004 the World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF revised their clinical management of childhood diarrhea guidelines to include zinc. The aim of this study was to monitor the impact of the first national campaign to scale up zinc treatment of childhood diar...

One-third of India’s urban population resides in slums and squatters, their vulnerability being characterized by poverty and powerlessness. Newborn care is sub-optimal among India’s urban poor, yet scarcely documented. Neonates born in urban poor settings are at high risk of death owing to multitudinous factors. This paper discusses the situation of neonatal care and survival among the urban po...

BACKGROUND Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) - largely the result of modifiable behavioral risks such as physical inactivity that gradually develop into physiological risks - are a main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Kenya, a nationally representative STEPwise survey of risk factors for NCDs established that 10.8% of Kenyans accumulated low levels of total physical activity. OB...

BACKGROUND Malnutrition continues to be a critical public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, in East Africa, 48 % of children under-five are stunted while 36 % are underweight. Poor health and poor nutrition are now more a characteristic of children living in the urban areas than of children in the rural areas. This is because the protective mechanism offered by the urban advant...

This study aimed to (i) examine the contextual influences of urban slum residency on infant mortality and child stunting over and above individual and household characteristics and (ii) identify factors that might modify any adverse effects. We obtained data from Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 45 countries between 2000 and 2009. The respondents were women (15-49 years) and their ch...

the cancerous spread of slum has been a rampant problem in urban areas worldwide. the acute shortage of housing facilities compels the poor to live in slums. proper rehabilitation is considered as a very essential remedial measure to provide better living environment to slum peoples. this study is an essential attempt to gauge the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program, which studies the cha...

Iodine is an essential element in the chemical structure of thyroid hormones. The human body requires around 150 g of iodine everyday, which works out to be a teaspoonful (5gm) over a life span of 70 years. Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of brain damage. The magnitude of IDD in India includes 167 million people at risk and goitre is being considered as important public health probl...

Introduction: Prophylactic primary immunization given in the first year of life against the vaccine preventable diseases (VPD’s) is an effective primary mode of prevention, wherein nearly 2-3 million lives are saved annually[1]Post-National Immunization Programme era has witnessed a dramatic decrease in the incidence of the VPD’s.Albeit active implementation of the programme, illiteracy, fear, ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM An adverse coronary risk profile has been reported amongst rural-to-urban migrant population living in urban slums undergoing stressful socio-economic transition. These individuals are likely to have low intakes of folic acid and vitamin B12, which may have an adverse impact on serum levels of homocysteine (Hcy). To test this hypothesis, we studied serum levels of Hcy in subj...