BackgroundGlobally, dental caries is categorized in the list of public health problems in preschool children. In India, lack of availability and affordability of oral health enhances the cost of treatment and care. Empowering community workers like anganwadi workers (AWWs) in oral health, and providing basic oral health awareness to the mothers through them can be feasible model. So, the present study was conducted to evaluate the short-term impact of Oral Hygiene Training Package (OHTP) to AWWs on improving oral hygiene of preschool children.MethodsThis before and after comparison field trial was done in Anganwadi centres (AWCs) of Chandigarh city, India. 534 children aged 36-72 months attending 21 AWCs were examined before and after imparting trainings to AWWs. OHTP was administered to AWWs, which consisted of power-point presentation and demonstrated the skills like proper brushing technique, plaque disclosure, flossing technique, gum massaging etc. The AWWs later imparted training to mothers in their respective AWCs. Post intervention data was collected after three months.Outcome measures were improvement in oral health status (plaque, debris, gingival health), oral habits (brushing, rinsing) and decrease in caries activity (Snyder test).ResultsPrevalence of dental caries was found to be 48.3%. Only 4.1% of the population reported brushing twice which increased significantly to 9.9% post-intervention (p = 0.000). There was a significant decrease in debris (78.3% to 54.1%), and stage-1 plaque (75.5 to 66.5%) in the oral cavity. Caries activity by Snyder’s test decreased from 48.2% to 31.2% (p = 0.01) post-intervention.ConclusionsControlled trials of using AWWs to improve oral hygiene appear to be justified.Trial registrationCTRI/2012/07/002786

Background. The available health information on websites should be reliable and accurate in order to make informed decisions by community. This study was done to assess the quality and readability of health information websites on World Wide Web in India. Methods. This cross-sectional study was carried out in June 2014. The key words “Health” and “Information” were used on search engines “Google” and “Yahoo.” Out of 50 websites (25 from each search engines), after exclusion, 32 websites were evaluated. LIDA tool was used to assess the quality whereas the readability was assessed using Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), and SMOG. Results. Forty percent of websites (n = 13) were sponsored by government. Health On the Net Code of Conduct (HONcode) certification was present on 50% (n = 16) of websites. The mean LIDA score (74.31) was average. Only 3 websites scored high on LIDA score. Only five had readability scores at recommended sixth-grade level. Conclusion. Most health information websites had average quality especially in terms of usability and reliability and were written at high readability levels. Efforts are needed to develop the health information websites which can help general population in informed decision making.

Background: The content and nature of media reports could influence suicide prevention measures. Aim: To evaluate contemporary online media reports’ compliance with guidelines for responsible reporting of suicidal acts from Indian resources. Methods: We included English and Hindi articles for reports concerning suicide, published by local and national media sources for 30 consecutive days from the day of death of a celebrity by alleged suicide. The search was performed in Google News with predefined search queries and selection criteria. Two independent investigators did data extraction. Subsequently, each news report was assessed against guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide by the WHO and the Press Council of India. Results: We identified 295 articles (Hindi n =  172, English n =  123). Results showed more than 80% of the media reports deviated from at least one criterion of the recommendations. A maximum breach was seen in the news article’s headlines, sensational reportage and detailed suicide methods description. Significant differences were seen in the quality of English and Hindi reporting and reporting celebrity and noncelebrity suicide. Additional items revealed were reporting suicide pacts, linking multiple suicides in a single news report, allowing user-generated threads and linking Religion and suicide. Conclusion: Measures are required to implement reporting recommendations in the framework of a national suicide prevention strategy.