Objective:To assess the role of various factors in determining prelacteal feeding in block R.S. Pura of district Jammu.Materials and Methods:A stratified two-stage design with villages as the primary sampling unit and lactating mothers as the secondary sampling unit. Villages were divided into different clusters on the basis of population and sampling units were selected by a simple random technique.Results:Giving prelacteal feed is almost universal with 88% of mothers feeding their children with prelacteal feeds. Income seemed to have significant effect on the preference of prelacteal feeds with low income groups showing lower preference for giving prelacteal feeds.Conclusion:The study showed, interalia, that a poor knowledge regarding infant feeding practice was prevalent among mothers.

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Background: Menopause poses a big challenge to the healthy aging of a woman. With growing emphasis on universal health coverage and improving quality of life, it is the need of hour to address the issues population of postmenopausal women to enhance our understanding of women’s experiences during menopause.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using non-probability purposive sampling and house-to-house visit in randomly selected villages falling under rural Health Block Kot-Bhalwal. 245 postmenopausal women were interviewed in accordance with pretested questionnaire consisting of Sociodemographic data and Greene Climacteric Scale.Results: Muscle and joint pains was the most common complaint (89.0%), followed by feeling tired or lacking in energy (87.4%), difficulty in sleeping (82.5%) and difficulty in concentrating (80.4%). Nearly three-fourth of the study participants reported to be suffering from Irritability (77.6%), feeling tense/nervous (77.5%), Headaches (76.7%), loss of interest in most things (75.9%), feeling unhappy or depressed (74.29%), sweating at night (73.47%), attacks of anxiety, panic (73.5%), pressure or tightness in head (72.6%), and feeling dizzy or faint (71.8%).Conclusions: A higher prevalence of menopausal symptoms was found. However, more research studies are needed to determine rural urban differences in prevalence and severity of the symptoms using a standardized tool on a larger sample in the community setting.

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Recent studies at national and regional level have shown that the prevalence of goiter in the region has declined to more 1,2 than half from previous levels. Yet, it constitutes a major public health problem in Jammu Province with total goiter 3,4 prevalence rate of 10-11.9%. This is higher than the Kashmir 5 Province as reported by Imtiaz A Bhat et al and Pandit 3 Mohammad et al. Monitoring and evaluation of the impact of programmes to control Iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) are crucial in order to ensure that interventions are both effective and safe. Current recommendations are that countries conduct a national survey on the status of IDD in populations every 3-5 6years. In 2008, 4 more districts were carved in Jammu Province hence the study was taken up by the authors to know the post iodization scenario in Jammu region. MethodsMultistage cross sectional study was done. In 1st stage; 3 Districts were chosen randomly out of 10 districts of Jammu province. In second stage, zone wise educational institutes were identified from the list procured from chief educational officer giving due representation to urban and rural areas. Thus, 7-10 coeducational schools were selected randomly from various zones. Using EPI 30 cluster sampling methodology 120 students with 20 students in each 6 age categories were 7 selected. The required sample size of 3600 students was calculated considering minimum prevalence of goiter at 10% with 10% allowable error (using formula 4pq/L2). All the BACKGROUND:Iodine Deficiency Disorders) is still a major public health problem in J&K as in other parts of country despite measures taken to combat it. Repeated surveys are only means to monitor the situation. OBJECTIVE:To study the present prevalence of goiter in various districts of Jammu province. METHODS:Using EPI 30 cluster methodology, 10800 school children (aged, 6-12 years) were selected from three randomly chosen districts of Jammu province. Subjects were clinically examined and graded for goiter as per joint WHO/UNICEF/ ICCIDD recommendations RESULTS: The goitre prevalence in three districts was observed to be 19.84% with a highest prevalence of 26.75% in Samba district (p = 0.0001). Understandably the prevalence of goitre in age group of 6-9 years was lower than that in 9-12 age group. ( (p=0.005) CONCLUSIONS: Total goiter prevalence rate remains to be at an unacceptable high rate. Preventive public health measures need to be augmented in area along with strengthening of monitoring and surveillance of IDD. JMS 2012;15(1):28-31.