Empowering women and health care

Women health workers have made great contributions to the health of their community for many years. In India, women physicians have established some hospitals, e.g., Christian Medical Colleges in Ludhiana and Vellore. Some such hospitals operate in remote areas to serve the poor and the suffering. Women health workers of Jamkhed, Deen Bandhu of Pachod, have proved that village women can improve the health status of their community, particularly that of women and children, if they receive encouragement to learn health care skills In India, community health care lies mainly with women (e.g., nursing personnel and in rural areas). Yet, despite their competence and experience, few become physicians, health project directors, and administrators because the society continues to be patriarchal and discriminates against females. Women need to become empowered to ensure equal opportunities for training and promotion and equal wages for equal work. In Bangladesh, use of bicycles to visit houses allows women paramedical workers from Gonasasthya Kendra, Sawar, freedom and imparts confidence. People must identify customs, practices, laws, attitudes, religious misrepresentations, and policies that discriminate against women and then oppose them. They should set these changes in motion at home, in villages, and from district to national, and even global levels. In India, society blames the mother for having a girl, but the man donates the chromosome determining sex. In Gandhigram, a woman physician and her peers have effected an apparent change in attitude toward the birth of a girl. Now the people confer equal happiness to her birth as they do to a boy's birth. Yet, female infanticides still occur in some villages of Salem District of Tamil Nadu. Sex determination tests often lead to abortion of female fetuses. Once a woman marries she has no right to her maternal home and often suffers from domestic violence. Many people resist legislation to grant women more rights, e.g., property rights. Various media promote women's empowerment.     

Diagnosing "dayans" and "demons"

The new ?Witch Craft Prevention Bill? prohibiting witch hunting was passed in Bihar, India, in reaction to the branding and subsequent killing of more than 500 helpless women as "dayans" (witches) in the past 7 years. Most of them were single, widows, or deserted women victimized by the pathological greed of some of the male members of their families or by some powerful persons in the village community interested in claiming their property. Even with the passage of the bill, though, most of these crimes will remain unpunished because the community is an accomplice in them, and they tend not to be reported. What is needed overall is socioeconomic and political development that will lead to the empowerment of women to ensure that there will be an end to the cruel and inhuman activities (such as witch hunting) instigated by traditional healers or "Ojhas".     

Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Marine Seaweed Sargassum cinereum and their Antibacterial Activity

Seaweed extracts of Sargassum cinereum was used as a reducing agent in the eco-friendly extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles from an aqueous solution of silver nitrate (AgNO₃). High conversion of silver ions to silver nanoparticles was achieved with a reaction temperature of 100^° and a seaweed extract concentration of 10% with a residential time of 3 h. Formation of silver nanoparticles was characterised by spectrophotometry and the scanning electron microscope. The average particles size was ranging from 45 to 76 nm. Antimicrobial activities indicate the minimum inhibitory concentration of biologically synthesised nanoparticles tested against the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus with 2.5 μl (25 μg/disc). High inhibitions over the growth of Enterobacter aerogenes, Salmonella typhi and Proteus vulgaris were witnessed against the concentrations of 100 μg/disc. Promising potential and the future prospects of S. cinereum nanoparticles in pharmaceutical research are the highlights in this paper.     

Socio-Demographic Correlates of Injection Drug Use Among Male Drug Users: A Cross Sectional Study in Nepal

Drug abuse is one of the major public health problems in Nepal. The objective of this study is to explore the factors responsible for the injecting drug use in Nepal. A cross sectional study was conducted among drug users in Pokhara sub metropolitan city in Nepal. Taking prevalence of 20 % at 95 % confidence interval and 20 % non-response rate, 448 samples were calculated for face to face interviews. Most of the study participants were >24 year’s age. Sixty-one percentage of the participants were unemployed. The largest percentage belonged to Gurung/Rai/Pun (37 %) ethnic groups, and had completed secondary level of education (47.5 %). In the logistic regression analysis occupation, motivating factors for drug use, ever been to custody, age at first drug use, age at first sex, money spent on drugs, ever been rehabilitated and age of the respondents showed a statistically significant association with injecting drug use status. The respondents having business [Adjusted Odds ratio (aOR) 4.506, 95 % CI (1.677–12.104)], service [aOR 2.698, 95 % CI (a1.146-6.355], having tragedy/turmoil [aOR 3.867, 95 % CI (1.596–9.367)], family problem [aOR 2.010, 95 % CI (2.010–53.496)], had sex at >19 years [aOR 1.683, 95 % CI (1.017–2.785)], rehabilitated >2 times [aOR 4.699, 95 % CI (1.401–15.763)], >24 years age group [aOR 1.741, 95 % CI (1.025–2.957)] had higher odds of having injecting habits. Having money spent on drugs >3,000 NRs (300 USD) [aOR 0.489, 95 %CI (0.274–0.870), not been to custody (aOR 0.330, 95 %CI (0.203–0.537)] and having curiosity for drug use [aOR 0.147, 95 % CI (0.029–0.737)] were found to be protective for injecting drug use. This study recommends the harm reduction program specifically focused on drug users of occupational groups like business, service and the youths through public health actions to stop transiting them to injecting drug use.