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   2017| January-March  | Volume 5 | Issue 1  
    Online since March 21, 2017

 
 
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Impact of occupational health hazards prevention messages on perceptions among rural clients in India: The outcomes of a panel study
Sanjeev Davey, Chaitanya Maheshwari, Santosh Kumar Raghav, Jai Vir Singh, Nirankar Singh, Anuradha Davey
January-March 2017, 5(1):11-17
DOI:10.4103/ijhsdm.ijhsdm_2_17  
Background: Clients engaged in various occupations in rural areas of India, especially from Uttar Pradesh, lack information regarding health hazards associated with their occupations. Therefore, the impact of prevention strategies on perceptions of clients regarding occupational health hazards (OHDs) carries its importance. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional cum panel study was done for 6 months duration (from July 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016) on 389 clients (above 20 years) engaged in any kind of occupations, in a randomly selected Village, Makhiyali (under Rural Health Training Centre [RHTC] catchment area) of a Medical College in district Muzaffarnagar. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and results were analyzed by appropriate statistical software's such as Epi Info and Atlas.ti. Results: The prevalence of overall OHDs was 65.2%; being dominated by respiratory disorders (47.3%). The adults' perceptions in comparison to elderly were significantly better in respiratory disorders category (P < 0.05). In the first 3 months of cross-sectional study on clients, their understanding of occupational health (OH) messages was statistically significantly associated with both the types of occupation and literacy status of clients (P < 0.0001 each). Next half of 3 months of panel study revealed that, after having received health messages for their OHDs from RHTC or Primary Health Centre (PHC) staff, adults were statistically significantly (P < 0.0001) better able to appreciate the OHD prevention messages as compared to elderly. Conclusion: Rural clients' perceptions need regular improvement by occupational health education sessions for augmenting their understanding of OHDS. However, further more studies on this issue are required, so as to give a more clarified picture on this area.
  5,836 443 -
Assessing hamedan hospitals disaster preparedness
Leila Najafi, Hosein Hatami, Ebrahim Jalili, Mohammad Palesh
January-March 2017, 5(1):1-6
DOI:10.4103/ijhsdm.ijhsdm_1_17  
Background: Hospitals play a critical role in national and local responses to emergencies and whose preparedness and offering on-time services play a vital role in the reduction of injuries and death. Aims: This study aimed to determine the hospital disaster preparedness in Hamedan. Materials and Methods: The research has been descriptive-analytic type performed by a cross-sectional study in 2015. The research community contained all hospitals of Hamedan, and the data were collected through a questionnaire containing 33 questions and evaluating list containing 129 specialized questions through interview and the documents about the preparedness of the hospitals. The data analysis was performed using the SPSS version 19, and the findings were shown through diagrams and tables. Results: According to the results, 33% of hospitals were teaching hospitals and 67% were therapeutic. Preparedness average of programing support for vital services was 88.23%, for natural disaster management programs in hospital was 82.77%, for programing for environmental health activities against disasters was 65.83%, for security of equipment and hazardous material was 56.10%, for programing for reduction in structural dangers was 52.50%, for evacuation and field treatment was 32.27%, and average score for hospital education planning to deal with disasters was 78.14%. Province hospitals with 67.64 ± 9.84 averages attained medium level against disasters. Conclusions: Since the disasters are really destructive and affect the health and treatment systems, their effects remain for a long period, and by taking into account that the preparedness rate of the hospitals of the province is middling, paying more attention to the hospitals in the field of preparedness against disasters is mandatory.
  5,381 423 -
The risk analysis of potential forest fires in a wildlife sanctuary in the western ghats (Southwest Indian Peninsula) using geospatial techniques
RS Ajin, Ana-Maria Loghin, PG Vinod, Mathew K Jacob
January-March 2017, 5(1):18-23
DOI:10.4103/ijhsdm.ijhsdm_26_16  
Introduction: Forest fires are potential threats to most of the wildlife sanctuaries in the world. Such areas for conservation of precious wildlife in parts of the Western Ghats in India are no exception. The present study area representing the Periyar Tiger Reserve forms a part of the Western Ghats, where during the past decade more than 200 wildfires have been recorded. Objective: The present study is designed to demarcate the fire risk zones applying principles of geospatial techniques. Materials and Methods: The technique integrates Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System. Parameters such as land cover type, surface slope, aspect, proximity to settlements, closeness to roads, and elevation have been considered. A Modified Fire Risk Index method has been used for preparing the risk zone map. Results: The prepared map shows five fire risk zones such as very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. About 27.38% of the study area, according to this study falls within the high and very high risk zones. The final result of the study is validated with the MODIS active fire (hotspot) data, which shows very good reliability. Conclusion: This study based on geospatial technology is very useful to the local authorities for identifying in advance the fire risk zones for prevention and management of forest fires in future.
  5,198 394 1
Health systems' response towards the temple fire accident in Kollam District, Kerala: A case study
Sreenidhi Sreekumar, D Harisankar, Kamaruddeen Mannethodi, Jaison Joseph, KS Shinu
January-March 2017, 5(1):7-10
DOI:10.4103/ijhsdm.ijhsdm_3_17  
Objectives: The present study tries to describe the activities related to the rescue of injured, their management, and the rehabilitation activities conducted in relation to the incident and to understand the implications for disaster management preparedness in the future. Materials and Methods: Details about the incident were sourced through semistructured with health department officials, eyewitnesses, and local residents. Secondary data were collected from the data available from official records. Results: Ninety-four percent of the injured and 83.2% of the deceased were males. Seventy-six percent of the injuries constituted of fractures and soft tissue injuries and 9.2% constituted of burns. Nearly 67.5% of the injured were managed through private health care providers and 32.5% were managed at government hospitals. Conclusion: It is important to develop district level disaster preparedness and management plan involving private hospitals too for effective management of mass emergencies
  4,747 476 -
CASE REPORT
Tehran thunderstorm: An unexpected success story
Abbas Ostadtaghizadeh, Ali Ardalan, Hossain Jabbari
January-March 2017, 5(1):24-27
DOI:10.4103/2347-9019.202656  
On June 2, 2014, a local thunderstorm winds of speed as high as 118 km/h hit Tehran, capital of Iran. This thunderstorm plugged the city into darkness for hours, emotionally affected the citizens, and damaged properties. Based on Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization meteorological station, the temperatures suddenly dropped from 33.83 to 18.46 centigrade within 2 h and the air humidity elevated from 14.2% to 68.4%. This thunderstorm resulted in eight deaths, 81 injuries (63 male and 18 female and an estimated property damage of about $40 million at the official exchange rate.). More than half (58.5%) of the injuries were caused by multiple trauma. Shortly after thunderstorm stop, Tehran emergency operation and command center was mobilized for rapid assessment and emergency response to the event. One hundred electricity response teams, 15 search and rescue teams, and emergency medical and municipal teams were involved in response phase. After 6 h, about 24 response phases were accomplished and the city entered to recovery phase. This storm highlighted the challenges of need for harmonized individual and organized organizational participation, necessity for education of people through mass media and training all construction workers, and vulnerable parts of Tehran megacity during a disaster period.
  4,346 322 -
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Preventing attacks on health facilities and health professionals by terrorist groups or conflicting parties: An urgent need
Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava, Prateek Saurabh Shrivastava, Jegadeesh Ramasamy
January-March 2017, 5(1):28-29
DOI:10.4103/2347-9019.202655  
  3,406 256 -
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