The introduction of varicella vaccine in the universal immunisation programme of India may help to prevent these outbreaks; however, the cost-benefit analysis needs to be carried out before making such policies.

BackgroundMicroteaching is an efficient teaching tool to improve skills. Until now, its use is very limited in the health sector. A pilot study was carried out to improve the quality of home-based postnatal care by microteaching of health workers (HWs) and ascertain its feasibility for supportive supervision.MethodsAll (n=12) the HWs catering to a population of ~0.1 million were video recorded while performing home-based postnatal check up in Chandigarh from August 2013 to December 2014. After each round, HWs were shown their videos and trained in the facility and at home. Video recordings, assessments followed by training, continued until HWs acquired the intended skills. A pretested structured checklist based on the national home-based postnatal care guidelines was used for recording and assessing of postnatal skills. A score “0” given for no task, “1” for incorrectly done or partially done task, and “2” for correct task. The average score of each round was calculated and compared.ResultsThe overall skill assessment score improved from 0.64 to 1.76, newborn examination skill from 0.52 to 1.63, maternal examination from 0.54 to 1.62, and counseling from 1.01 to 1.85 after three rounds of video recording. The proportion of HWs carrying a thermometer increased from 21% to 100%. Second and third rounds of video recording and microteaching were successfully carried out by the program supervisors.ConclusionThis was the first study to report on the effective use of microteaching in improving home-based postnatal care skills of the health care workers and its feasibility for supportive supervision.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. It has various complications. Risk factor control is effective way of prevention. Current study was conducted to know demographic profile including risk factors related to diabetes mellitus in patients attending a tertiary health care institute of Rajasthan.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted for the duration of six months. In the study 623 diabetes mellitus type 2 patients were included and subjected to evaluation of various demographic parameters and risk factors like age, sex, economic status, area of residence, obesity, hypertension (HTN), lack of exercise, smoking, dyslipidemia and positive family history.Results: Mean age of diabetic population was 62 years. Male-female, urban-rural ratios were nearly 1:1 and 3:2 respectively. Nearly 7 % patients were found to be below poverty line (BPL). On risk factor evaluation of 623 diabetic patients it was found that 598 (96%) patients had lack of exercise, 406 (65.2%) patients had age more than 60 years, 394 (63.2%) patients had dyslipidemia, 210 (33.7%) patients were smoker as per the mentioned criteria, 144 (23.1%) patients were obese, 118 (19%) patients had HTN before emergence of DM and 90 (14.4%) patients had positive family history.Conclusions: High prevalence of risk factors in Indian community is alarming. Health education, promotion of exercise, favourable life style, dietary modification, cessation of smoking, screening programmes for early detection of derange blood pressure, blood sugar, lipid profile can be effective prevention strategies.

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