Objective To determine whether the imbalance in the sex ratio in India can be explained by less favourable treatment of girls in infancy. Design Analysis of results of verbal autopsy reports over a five year period. Setting Community health project in urban India. Main outcome measures Deaths from all causes in infants aged less than 1 year.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is characterized by a rapid phase of growth and development during which the requirement of nutrition and micronutrients is relatively high. Although there is a decreasing trend in the prevalence of undernutrition among adolescents, the current prevalence of undernutrition is still very high (41.9%). Adolescents with good nutrition knowledge are more likely to follow healthy eating habits. In the light of this, the current study was planned to assess the baseline nutrition-related knowledge of adolescent girls and the effectiveness of nutrition education material (flipchart) in increasing their nutrition-related knowledge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A school-based interventional study was conducted among adolescent girls of class 9 th of a school in an urban slum of Delhi. A structured pretested Knowledge Assessment Questionnaire consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions in Hindi with a maximum score of 10 was used. The intervention was a nutrition education session conducted by doctors of Community Health department using specially designed flipcharts covering important aspects of nutrition relevant for adolescent girls. A demonstration of food items and charts and flex material was also given. The total sample size was 265 adolescent girls. RESULTS: Baseline knowledge as assessed by mean pretest score was poor (3.698 ± 1.81). The students’ baseline knowledge was significantly associated with mother's educational status ( P = 0.024). There was a significant increase (mean difference was 1.7890 ± 0.1434) in the nutrition-related knowledge of the participants after the intervention ( P < 0.001). The proportion of students who improved, i.e., 147 (55.47%) was more than proportion who deteriorated (25 [9.43%]) after the educational session. This difference was found to be statistically significant ( P ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSION: Nutrition knowledge was found poor among school-going adolescent girls, which significantly improved after the nutrition education session.

No abstract

Introduction: Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack of fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence. Urban homeless people constitute the most marginalized and invisible category.Objective: To study the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of homeless living at one such "night shelter" in Delhi. Materials and Methods:In a conveniently chosen "night shelter" for homeless, 48 families were interviewed. Data was collected for 258 individuals. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, income, any addiction and self-reported health problems was collected. Results:The average number of family members was 5.38. 51.94% participants were adult. Dependency ratio was 88.32%. 91.8% of adult subjects were illiterate. Illiteracy was more common among adult females. 67.74% children were out of school with a higher proportion of females among these children (53.66%). 18.55% children were working to support their family income. Average daily per capita family income was Rs. 113.02 94. 2% including children were addicted to a tobacco-containing dentifrice. Addiction to tobacco or alcohol was common among adults of both sexes (63%). Conclusion:We observed that women and children form a sizable number among the homeless. Very little is known about the characteristics of this vulnerable population, which therefore requires urgent attention. Keywords IntroductionHomelessness is a condition in which people, especially in urban areas, do not have a regular and secure dwelling. Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack a fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence.1 The term homeless includes people whose primary night-time residence is a shelter at adhoc housing situation. Street-dwelling people and people spending their time in unoccupied buildings are also termed homeless.1 Recently, it is being increasingly recognized that population residing in temporary, insecure or physically ruined sub-standard accommodation is also considered as homeless. 1The legal definition of homeless varies from country to country.1 United Nations defines homeless households as those without shelter falling in the scope of living quarters.

No abstract