Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India

Background: Majority of child deaths that occur worldwide are due to preventable causes. Maternal practices regarding children’s health care have been recognized as an important factor behind mortality. Improving families’ care-seeking behavior can significantly reduce child morbidity and mortalit...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Balpreet Singh1, Abhik Ghosh2, Amarjeet Singh3
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/1/P.173-178.pdf
id ukm-8765
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-87652016-12-14T06:48:05Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/ Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India Balpreet Singh1, Abhik Ghosh2, Amarjeet Singh3, Background: Majority of child deaths that occur worldwide are due to preventable causes. Maternal practices regarding children’s health care have been recognized as an important factor behind mortality. Improving families’ care-seeking behavior can significantly reduce child morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Objective: To look into the prevalence of health problems in children and action taken by mothers for management of these problems. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in three districts of Punjab, India. Mothers of children of age 12–23 months were selected. Sample size was calculated to be 1266 mothers. Multistage sampling was administered to identify study subjects. Semi-structured tool was used to get information regarding experiences of any health problems of children in the 15 days preceding the survey. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Results: More than one third of children had health problems in the 15 days preceding the survey. The most common problems found were cold and cough, crying for unknown reasons, and fever. Majority (71.5%) of mothers took their children to health-care facilities to seek care. Private health-care facilities were used more than their public counterparts. Approximately 54% children were given home remedies. Majority of mothers used home remedies on the day problems appeared and visited health-care facilities on second or third day of the onset of problems. Conclusion: Home remedies were the first choice of many mothers for the illness of their children. Children with diarrhea and fever were more likely to be taken to health-care facilities Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2015-06-17 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/1/P.173-178.pdf Balpreet Singh1, and Abhik Ghosh2, and Amarjeet Singh3, (2015) Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India. International Journal of Public Health Research, 4 (2). pp. 173-178. ISSN 2232-0245 www.ijphr.ukm.my
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description Background: Majority of child deaths that occur worldwide are due to preventable causes. Maternal practices regarding children’s health care have been recognized as an important factor behind mortality. Improving families’ care-seeking behavior can significantly reduce child morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Objective: To look into the prevalence of health problems in children and action taken by mothers for management of these problems. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in three districts of Punjab, India. Mothers of children of age 12–23 months were selected. Sample size was calculated to be 1266 mothers. Multistage sampling was administered to identify study subjects. Semi-structured tool was used to get information regarding experiences of any health problems of children in the 15 days preceding the survey. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Results: More than one third of children had health problems in the 15 days preceding the survey. The most common problems found were cold and cough, crying for unknown reasons, and fever. Majority (71.5%) of mothers took their children to health-care facilities to seek care. Private health-care facilities were used more than their public counterparts. Approximately 54% children were given home remedies. Majority of mothers used home remedies on the day problems appeared and visited health-care facilities on second or third day of the onset of problems. Conclusion: Home remedies were the first choice of many mothers for the illness of their children. Children with diarrhea and fever were more likely to be taken to health-care facilities
format Article
author Balpreet Singh1,
Abhik Ghosh2,
Amarjeet Singh3,
spellingShingle Balpreet Singh1,
Abhik Ghosh2,
Amarjeet Singh3,
Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India
author_facet Balpreet Singh1,
Abhik Ghosh2,
Amarjeet Singh3,
author_sort Balpreet Singh1,
title Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India
title_short Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India
title_full Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India
title_fullStr Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India
title_full_unstemmed Health problems in children and associated remedial measures in Punjab, India
title_sort health problems in children and associated remedial measures in punjab, india
publisher Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2015
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8765/1/P.173-178.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T19:53:09Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T19:53:09Z
_version_ 1777406354017746944