Background and Objective:Children spend most of their time in schools and are vulnerable to injuries and mild ailments, hence requiring first-aid care. School teacher can provide immediate first-aid care in the absence of any health professional. This study assesses first-aid facilities within school premises and assessment of teachers on first aid training.Methods:A cross sectional study was conducted from July-December 2017, participants were full time school teachers of both public and private sectors at both primary and secondary levels, having a minimum of one year experience. Questionnaire was filled on one to one basis by taking oral interview.Results:Out of 209 teachers, 72.7% were from private sector. Stomachache was the most common medical incident (82.29%) requiring first-aid care in schools. First aid box was available in all schools but its contents were not satisfactory. Sick bay was not found in any school. 68.42% of teachers were not trained in first-aid management because of lack of opportunity, however 56% were willing to enroll in any first aid training and majority (91.38%) considered it essential for their professional life.Conclusion:First aid facilities at various schools of Karachi and availability of trained teachers who can provide first aid care is unsatisfactory.

Objectives: This study aims to test the association between diabetes and tuberculosis. Methods: It is a matched case control study conducted in tertiary care hospitals in 2019-2020. Cases and controls were 144 each, selected on the basis of an odds ratio of 2 at 95% confidence interval with a significance level of 5%. Cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were selected through consecutive sampling technique, either visiting OPD or admitted in hospital. Controls were taken from the general population and frequency matching was done based on age, gender and socioeconomic status. Data was collected through structured questionnaire after taking written consent. Data was analyzed on SPSS version 23. Binary Logistic regression model was applied for finding association between the risk factors and the disease. P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of all cases and controls, 45% and 20% were diabetics respectively. The association between the risk factors and tuberculosis was estimated by univariate analysis, positive association was found between diabetes and tuberculosis (OR= 3.32), a high frequency of diabetes in cases as compared to controls were observed with a highly significant p- value (<0.001). Conclusions: This study provides evidence for a strong positive association between tuberculosis and diabetes. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.3.3274 How to cite this:Khalid N, Ahmad F, Qureshi FM. Association amid the comorbidity of Diabetes Mellitus in patients of Active Tuberculosis in Pakistan: A matched case control study. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(3):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.3.3274 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Objectives: To find the association between consanguinity and frequency of b-thalassemia and to assess the knowledge of parents regarding disease as well as inclination towards premarital carrier screening  (PMCS), pre natal diagnosis, pre conception genetic counseling. Study Design: A retrospective cohort study. Setting: Patients with beta thalassemia attending Fatimid Foundation and PNS Shifa Hospital, Karachi. Period: Six Months July – December, 2017. Materials and Methods: Data was collected by pre tested questionnaire which include basic demographic profile, frequency of consanguineous marriages and knowledge regarding disease from parents of children suffering from thalassemia. The study was approved by ethical review committee. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi square test was applied. Results: Data was collected from 200 study participants including parents of thalassemia. Males were 52% and 48% were the females. 78.5% were relatives (p=0.001) out of these related, first degree relatives were 61% and 17.5% were distant relatives (p 0.009). Only 25% were aware of genetic counseling, 65% know that thalassemia had genetic mode of transmission (p=0.005), 24% were aware of screening modalities available for thalassemic patients (p=0.001). About 63.55% agreed that premarital screening can prevent thalassemia (p=0.001), majority (83%) of parents were not aware of pre natal diagnosis of thalassemia (p=0.001) more than half of study participants (52%) were still in favor of cousin marriages in future. Conclusion: Thalassemia was found most prevalent among first degree familial relatives. Parents have inadequate knowledge regarding disease. Lack of knowledge and trends consanguineous marriages are strong contributory factor for causation of disease.

Background: Family planning includes knowledge, services, attitude, policies and practices which enable individuals to decide whether they want to have child and allow them to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Pakistan with population of 195.390 million with estimated population growth rate as 1.89 is the sixth most populous country in the world. Our objectives were to assess the total demand of family planning, contraceptive prevalence rate, unmet need for family planning and factors associated with unmet need of family planning among women of reproductive age group. Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study on 355 females of reproductive age attending the out-patient department as patient or attendant. Data were collected using structured questionnaire after the participants' verbal consent. Results: The prevalence of unmet need was 34%. The proportion of unmet need for spacing was 63.6% and for limiters it was found to be 36.3%. Contraceptive prevalence rate was 57%. Total demand for family planning was 92.1%.Almost all study participant had knowledge regarding at least one method of contraception. Unmet need of family planning was found to be significantly associated with age and education status of women. High unmet need was there in women with low education status (p=0.047) and older age group (p=0.003). Main reasons for not using contraceptive was family opposition both family and husband (66.9), and fear of side effects (17.3%). Conclusion: More than one third females had unmet need which strongly points towards the strong influence of various socio demographic factors contributing towards the unmet need.

Background: Diverse factors influence the career choice of undergraduate medical students. This study was carried out to identify career preferences and factors influencing their selection among undergraduate medical students Methods: The descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among under graduate students. Final MBBS medical students (84) were interviewed. They were interviewed for career preference after finishing medical school and then for reasons of choosing a specific specialty. All information gathered was on voluntary basis. Anonymity and confidentiality was maintained. The study was approved by the college ethical review committee Results: Out of total 84 students 61 (72.6%, males & females) decided about the specialty in final year while 23 (27.4%, males & females) were undecided in choosing their specialty. Among those who have decided in males (n=13) Internal Medicine was the first choice with 68.4% (n=13), general surgery 63% (n=12) followed by Pediatrics 31.6% (n=7). Among females n=31, internal medicine was the first choice with 59% (n=31), Pediatrics 38% (n=16) followed by Family Medicine 38% (n=16) and General Surgery 35% (n=15). Regarding factors influencing choice of specialty personal interest is the top factor in males & females with 72%(n=44), content of specialty 16% (n=10), role model and close interaction with patients15% (n=9), financial reward ranks fourth13% (n=8) and intellectual challenge & desire practice setting 11.5% (n=7). Among undecided for specialty (males & females) n=23, most of the students are of the opinion that insufficient information is the top most reason (56%) n=13, followed by lack of guidance (43%) n =10, lack of role model (39%) n=9 is the third leading factor for being undecided. Conclusion: The trend of preferring Clinical over Basic Sciences is evident in the study. Interestingly Family medicine was also a preferred specialty among females. In improving the health outcomes Pakistan needs Family physicians trained to provide low cost services at community level.