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V K Bhan

Publications and source records attributed to V K Bhan.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

National immunization day to assess nutritional status of underfives in Chandigarh.

National Immunization Days (NIDs) are an additional opportunity to reach a large number of children and can be used to undertake additional activities beside immunization. This study highlights an attempt to assess nutritional status of under five children by using a NID. Seven thousand four hundred and thirteen underfives were selected randomly from urban, rural and slums areas of Chandigarh. Nutritional status was assessed by using weight for age criteria. Prevalence of protein energy malnutrition (PEM) was found to be about 42% while 22.7%, 14.5%, 4.1% and 0.7% children had grade I, II, III and IV PEM respectively. The prevalence of PEM was significantly higher among females (47.6%), in 1-3 years age group (53.80%), in slum area (67%) and children of labour class (60.5%) (p < 0.001). With increase in family size, the prevalence of malnutrition also significantly increased, and decreased with high literacy rate in parents (p < 0.001). The prevalence of PEM in present study (42%) was comparable to a community based survey (51.6%) among pre-school children of an ICDS block of Chandigarh. National immunization days can be successfully used to assess nutritional status of children. This approach can be used by others for screening common childhood problems, preparing normogram for a region or country, administering Vitamin A and educating mothers.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1991

Copper and zinc levels in maternal and fetal cord blood.

Serum copper and zinc were estimated in 44 mothers and their cord blood at term. The results were compared with 40 age-matched non-pregnant females and 67 males. The mean serum copper in the nonpregnant female group and in males was 114.6 (SD 30.43) and 111.3 (SD 30.79) micrograms/dl, whereas in mothers immediately after delivery it was 135.3 (+/- 26.26) micrograms/dl, which was significantly higher than the female control group (P less than 0.01). In fetal cord blood, it was 35% as compared to maternal blood. Serum zinc in control females and males was 112.8 (+/- 11.94) and 109.9 (+/- 15.69) micrograms/dl, respectively. In mothers it was 102.9 (+/- 17.04) micrograms/dl which was significantly lower than the female controls. In fetal cord blood, it was 98.6 (+/- 12.10) micrograms/dl. No significant difference could be obtained between maternal serum zinc and cord blood levels.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Manpower utilization in pulse polio immunization.

The present study was conducted in Union Territory of Chandigarh to find out the utilization pattern of manpower engaged in the implementation of Pulse Polio Campaign (PPI) on 7th December, 1997 with the objective to achieve a coverage close to 100% and thereby, eradicating poliomyelitis. Over 100,000 under-five children were expected to participate on PPI day. Out of 240 polio centres established in the Union Territory, 16 were selected by stratified random sampling covering 14,858 children. The observing teams recorded the information about the children and presence of staff members throughout the day between 8.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. It was observed that nearly half of the children received the polio drops within the first three hours while only a little over 5% visited polio centres in the last two hours. The average number of manpower varied between 5 and 6 throughout the day (more than the recommended four). The staff posted at urban, rural and slum centres did not visit the houses except for the few volunteers in slums. Unimmunized children should be identified by the staff in last two hours when the load at polio centres is extremely low. Adequate utilization of the full potential of the manpower will help in enhancing the PPI coverage close to 100%.

Child↗