Community and Public Health Nursing

The leading causes for death among under-five children changes over a period of time but the cause diarrhea and ARI remains unchanged. India is the leading country in death due to pneumonia. Comparing to the last decade the under five mortality is reduced but it is still not the reduction which is expected. The still birth rate is 22/1000 total birth, perinatal mortality rate is 26/1000 live birth, neonatal mortality rate is 18/1000 live birth, post neonatal mortality rate is 19/1000 live birth, infant mortality rate is 40/1000 live birth, Underfive mortality rate is 48/1000 live birth. More than half of the causes for death can be preventable or treatable through safe childhood and effective neonatal care. The purpose of this review is to understand the present mortality rate and causes for this as well as to get clues for epidemiological research in future.

The prevalence of disability is growing due to population ageing and the global increase in chronic health conditions. Patterns of disability in a particular country are influenced by trends in health conditions and trends in environmental and other factors such as road traffic crashes, natural disasters, conflict, diet and substance abuse. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of disability among adult population. Quantitaive approach and descriptive cross sectional design was adopted for this study. The study was conducted among the adults who were residing in Maraimalai nagar. The sample size was 250. Non- probability purposive sampling technique was adopted. Census Questionnaire was to assess the prevalence of disability tool was used. The results of the present study revealed that, among the adult population, with respect to difficult in seeing, only 4 (1.6%) have always difficult in seeing. Considering the difficult in hearing, 4 (1.6%) persons always have difficult in hearing. Considering difficult in walking and climbing 32 (12.8%) have always difficult in walking. Regarding remembering and concentration 9 (3.6%) persons have most of the times difficult in remembrance and none of them have always difficult in concentration and remembrance. Considering the difficult in self-care 24 (9.6%) have always difficult in self-care. Considering the difficult in communication none of them reported difficult in communication.

Background: Rabies is endemic in most countries of the world including India.Rabies remains a problem in many parts of the world. In developing countries rabies is a major threat to public health and is responsible for numerous human deaths. Rabies occurs in all parts of India with the exception of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Approximately 33,000-40,000 human deaths occur every year. Objectives: To assess the pretest knowledge among high school children at selected high schools regarding prevention & control of rabies. To administer structured teaching programme to the high school children of selected high school regarding prevention & control of rabies. To assess the posttest knowledge among the high school children at selected high schools regarding prevention and control of Rabies. To determine the effectiveness of structured teaching programme in terms of gain in knowledge course. To know the association with pretest & posttest knowledge scores with selected demographic variables. Methodology: The research design selected for the study was a Pre-experimental one group pre- test and posttest design. A formal written permission was obtained from the higher authorities of the high school. The convenient sampling technique was used to select 60 high school children. In view of nature of the problem and to accomplish the objectives of the study a self administered questionnaire was prepared to assess the knowledge of high school children regarding prevention and control of rabies. The Reliability and validity of the tool was ensured in consultation with guide and experts in the related field. The data was collected and analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The findings of the study revealed that there was a marked increase in knowledge of high school children after exposing them to structured teaching programme on advanced prevention & control of rabies. The mean Pre-test knowledge score of subjects was 13.52 with mean percentage of 33.8 where as the mean Post-test knowledge score of subjects was 28.3 with mean percentage of 74.The mean Post-test knowledge score was found to be significantly higher than mean Pre-test knowledge score at 0.05 level of significance (t59=27.44 P<0.05). Findings of the study revealed that the calculated chi-square value for all variables was less than table value. Hence it was concluded that Post-test knowledge score of High school children on Prevention and control of rabies had no association with the demographic variables. But there was no association found between pre-test knowledge score with other demographic variables. Conclusion: The findings of the study suggested that the structured teaching programs are beneficial in improving the knowledge of high school children regarding prevention & control of rabies.