Over the past few decades, marine conservation has become a global concern due to increasing anthropogenic activities in the vicinity of coastal areas, which has led to the development of the concept of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the conservation of marine ecology and its biodiversity. Conservation and acceptance of MPAs can only be achieved if coastal communities and fisherfolk are included as significant stakeholders because MPAs have direct relevance to their livelihood. To capture their acceptance towards the Gulf of Kachchh Marine National Park (MNP), Jamnagar, artisanal fisherfolk fishing in and around the MNP were surveyed to determine whether the presence of a well-managed MNP has any positive effects on the adjacent fishing communities since its establishment. The findings showed that the total fish catch was observed to increase over the years, but there has been a perceived decline in total catch in recent years. Similarly, while the total fish catch data recorded an increasing trend, discussions with the fisherfolk revealed a sharp decline in “catch per unit effort” in recent years. Fisherfolk from all sites showed interest in the development of the MNP and were keen to be involved in conservation planning and the management of the MNP.
Background:Hypertension is an commonly encountered disease which adversely affect all aspects of quality of life (QoL). The existing studies are confounded by the presence of multiple comorbidities and inclusion of elderly, which by themselves impairs the QoL. There is thus a need to study the impact of hypertension on QoL, in isolation. Method: This is a single center, prospective, intention to treat, observation study. The aim of the study is to evaluate the change in the QoL over six months, in newly diagnosed asymptomatic patients of hypertension. The tools used to assess the QoL included World Health Organisation's Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) and Short Form-36 (SF-36). Result: A total of 232 patients (172 males and 60 females) were enrolled in the study. The mean age was 44.66 years. A total of 102 patients (43.97%) had stage-1 and 130 patients (56.03%) had stage-2 hypertension. The female gender is associated with a higher likelihood of presentation with stage-2 hypertension. The male cohort had a better baseline QoL. The desired blood pressures was achieved in 40.52%. With therapy, the QoL improved significantly; sub-hoc analysis showed, the improvement was higher in males and those with stage-1 hypertension. There is an inverse relationship between the QoL and requirement for higher number of antihypertensive mediations. Conclusions: In patients with asymptomatic primary hypertension, treatment improves all aspects of QoL. The factors adversely affecting the QoL include female gender, higher stage of hypertension, poor blood pressure control and requirement of higher numbers of antihypertensive medicine.
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