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Prevalence of needle stick injuries among nurses in a tertiary care hospital and their immediate responseContext: Needle stick injuries (NSIs) are wounds caused by needles in health care setup that accidentally puncture the skin and may result in exposure to blood or other body fl uids. NSI is a major occupational health and safety issue faced by health care professionals globally. Nurses have the highest rate of needle stick injury among health care workers. Aims: To determine the prevalence of needle stick injuries (NSIs) among the nurses, to determine the association between NSI and selected variables like age, marital status, years in service, educational qualifi cation and to assess the measures undertaken by the respondents after the NSI. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Imphal among nurses from October to November 2011. Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used. Chi square test was used to see the association and a P-value of <0.05 was taken as signifi cant. Results: The prevalence of NSI within the last one year was found to be 28.1% (N=86). Of them 49(46.5%) had two or more NSIs in the last one year. More than half of the NSIs occurred during intravenous (IV) injection, 16.3% during intramuscular (IM) injection and only 1.6% during recapping of the needle. Eighty three (96%) of them did not were gloves during NSI. Forty (46.5%) of them washed the injured part with water and soap as immediate measure. Thirty seven (43%) did not report it. Though 251(82%) knew about the free availability of Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) in the hospital, only 5(5.7%) took PEP. Conclusion: Needle stick injury is an important occupational health hazard among the nurses. Reporting to the concerned authorities, screening after NSI and promotion of safety measures should be greatly encouraged. Key words:Cross-sectional study, needle stick injuries, nurses, post-exposure prophylaxis, prevalence Original Article INTRODUCTIONNeedle stick injuries (NSIs) are wounds caused by needles used in health-care set-up that may accidentally puncture the skin resulting in exposure to blood or other body fl uids. NSI is a major occupational health and safety issue faced by health-care professionals globally. These events are of concern because of the risk of blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV). Despite their seriousness as a medical event, NSIs have been neglected, most go unreported and ICD-10 coding is not available. [1] World Health Organization, in its World Health Report 2002, reports that of 35 million health-care workers, 2 million experience percutaneous exposure to infectious diseases each year. Around 37.6% of hepatitis B, 39% of hepatitis C and 4.4% of HIV/acquired immunodefi ciency syndrome in healthcare workers around the world are due to NSIs. [2] NSIs are a common event in the health-care environment and these injuries may occur ...

Background The Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) has emphasized on the incidence-prevalence ratio (IPR) and incidence-mortality ratio (IMR) to measure the progress in HIV epidemic control. In this paper, we describe the status of epidemic control in India and in various states in terms of UNAIDS’s recommended metrices. Method The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) of India spearheads work on mathematical modelling to estimate HIV burden based on periodically conducted sentinel surveillance for providing guidance to program implementation and policymaking. Using the results of the latest round of HIV Estimations in 2019, IPR and IMR were calculated. Results National level IPR was 0.029 [0.022–0.037] in 2019 and ranged from 0.01 to 0.15 in various States and Union Territories (UTs). Corresponding Incidence-Mortality Ratio was at 0.881 [0.754–1.014] nationally and ranged between 0.20 and 12.90 across the States/UTs. Conclusions Based on UNAIDS recommended indicators for HIV epidemic control, namely IPR and IMR; national AIDS response in India appears on track. However, the program success is not uniform and significant heterogeneity as well as expanding epidemic was observed at the level of States or UTs. Reinforcing States/UTs specific and focused HIV prevention, testing and treatment initiatives may help in the attainment of 2030 Sustainable Development Goals of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

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Tobacco use is a global pandemic and is the leading cause of preventable death. Most of the deaths are occurring in the low and middle income countries. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and determinants of tobacco use among adults in an urban community. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted using face to face interviews on 403 individuals aged 18 years and above residing in an urban community of Imphal West, Manipur. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test was used for analysis. RESULTS: The prevalence of ever use of tobacco use was 66.3% and of which 95.5% were current users. Tobacco was used predominantly in smokeless form (zarda pan, khaini, gutkha) by 85% of the users. Smoked tobacco was used only by 15% of the users. The commonest influencing factor for tobacco use was peer pressure. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of tobacco use in this community was high. There is a need to develop effective health education and multifactorial tobacco quitting strategies with focus on help and support for those who wish to quit tobacco.

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