Background: The immunization coverage is not uniform in India. In Karnataka, except for Uttar Kannada District (very high immunization coverage of 95%) and 14 districts that have shown a better immunization coverage (>85% coverage), the remaining 15 districts (including Bijapur District) have poor coverage. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2002 report on Bijapur district shows that only a little over one fourth of the children were fully immunized (25.8%). The state's fully vaccinated figure was more than two and a half times higher than that of the district. In this prevailing scenario, it becomes the need of the hour to find factors which influence routine immunization in Bijapur district, which will help the planners in implementing the immunization programme in a better way, to achieve >85% coverage.

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Background: Malnutrition is frequently part of a vicious cycle that includes poverty and disease Socio-economic and political changes that improve health and nutrition can break the cycle, as can specific nutrition and health interventions. Malnutrition in children is a multifactorial causation. Hence this study was conducted to assess the role of gender in the nutritional status of the under five children. Objective: To assess the nutritional status of under five children and its relationship with the gender of the child. Methods: A Cross Sectional Study was conducted across the ten Villages (2 Villages per Taluk) of Bijapur District from January 2013 to November 3013.A total of 1046 children (523 Males and 523 Females) were included in the study. WHO growth Charts was used to grade the severity of Malnutrition. Results: The overall prevalence of underweight among under five children was 43% (49.8 % male and 36.7% female). The association between underweight and gender was statistically significant. The overall prevalence of stunting among under five children was 38 % (40.1 % male and 35.9% female) and significantly associated with gender. The overall prevalence of wasting among children was 28.7 % (36.5 % male and 21.2 % female) and significantly associated with gender. Conclusions: The median height and weight for the majority of children were within the normal range of WHO 2006 growth charts. Though it is believed that male children are better and well-nourished than females, the finding in our study is contradictory which a positive sign is.

Objective:In this study, the various factors determining the out-of-pocket expenditure on child health care by households are discussed to answer the following questions: How much are households currently spending on child health care? Is there any role of socio-economic status of households on expenditure on child health care? What percentage of their income is spent on child health care and is it catastrophic?Materials and Methods:Four slums with a total a population of 7000 were selected for this study. Households where there is history of illness/ sickness in children under 5 years in last one month were included in the study.Results:There were a total of 218 episodes of child illness in the households. The household's belonging to socio- economic class I and II had higher spending on child's illness per episode as compared to households of socio- economic class III, IV, and V. Socioeconomic status was the key determinant of health care expenditure.Conclusion:In this study, it has been found that almost all the households suffered from catastrophic health expenditure.

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