Ooviya Jayaseelan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ooviya Jayaseelan
Indian journal of forensic and community medicine, Jan 15, 2023
Background: Community health workers (CHW) are at the frontline facing the pandemic. Adequate awa... more Background: Community health workers (CHW) are at the frontline facing the pandemic. Adequate awareness, knowledge and practice of preventive measures are of the utmost importance to sensitize the community and prevent spread of infection. The objective of our study was to assess the awareness, knowledge, and practices regarding COVID-19 infection among CHWs of four primary health care centers in Belagavi district, Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among CHWs working under 4 primary health centres. Data were collected from May 2020 to June 2020. Score of 1 was given to correct responses of 12 select questions taken from the awareness, knowledge, and practice sections. A combined score of ≥ 8 was considered satisfactory. Results: Among 341 participants (response rate: 96%), mean age was 40.1 ± 8.2 years and 324 (95.01%) were female. Majority had a minimum of secondary education (84.46%). Source of information for majority were through mobile phones and television (81.82%). 165 (47.21%) knew the mode of transmission of COVID-19. Conclusion: The awareness, knowledge and practice among CHWs were adequate. Periodic training program and support from administrative authorities will motivate them to continue taking appropriate precautions. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research (KLEU), 2022
BACKGROUND: Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease, caused ... more BACKGROUND: Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease, caused by Mycobacterium Leprae. India and Indonesia contributed 92% of the South-East Asia Region's caseload. AIM: The aim of this study is to identify leprosy cases in the general population by active surveillance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: As a part of the leprosy survey, the teams comprised healthcare workers and volunteers who performed house-to-house survey and examined all the household members to identify any suspects with hypopigmented and hypoanesthetic patches. The suspects were examined by the medical officer. Clinically suspected leprosy patients were then referred to the district hospital for laboratory confirmation. RESULTS: Of the 123 screened individuals, 62.5% of the suspects were aware of the presence of skin lesions (hypopigmented patch), 45.8% of them noticed the presence of patch or patches 3 months before this survey. Six of 123 were clinical suspects of leprosy, 83.3% were aware of the availability of treatment for leprosy in the primary health center. Only three among the six knew that leprosy is completely curable. All six had social stigma about leprosy. CONCLUSION: Despite many awareness campaigns on leprosy, social stigma on leprosy is still prevalent. Healthcare workers need to educate the general population about the modes of spread, availability of the treatment, and myths/false beliefs on leprosy.
National Journal of Community Medicine, Sep 1, 2024
Introduction: One of the greatest threats to global development and public health is antimicrobia... more Introduction: One of the greatest threats to global development and public health is antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The ability of bacteria and other microbes to resist the drugs used to inactivate them is known as AMR. According to estimates, bacterial AMR caused 4.95 million fatalities worldwide in 2019 in addition to directly causing 1.27 million deaths.
Methodology: In this cross-sectional descriptive study using convenient sampling method, 422 out patients were recruited from the tertiary care hospital in our district between December 2023 and March 2024. We inquired about sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for self-medicating with antibiotics.
Results: 353(83.6%) patients were self-medicating due to previous successful use of antibiotic. 122(28.9%) believed that antibiotics are used to treat all infections. 80 (18.95%) participants in the age group of 36- 44 years were self-medicating with antibiotic (𝜒2: 39.13; 𝑃 <0.001). High cost of hospital bills was the reason behind self-medicating with antibiotic in 164(38.88%) participants (𝜒2: 32.67; 𝑃 < 0.001).
Conclusion: 35.5% of the respondents had used antibiotics for self-medication prior to visiting the hospital.
There was little knowledge on the usage and adverse effects of antibiotics.
Indian journal of forensic and community medicine, Jan 15, 2023
Background: Community health workers (CHW) are at the frontline facing the pandemic. Adequate awa... more Background: Community health workers (CHW) are at the frontline facing the pandemic. Adequate awareness, knowledge and practice of preventive measures are of the utmost importance to sensitize the community and prevent spread of infection. The objective of our study was to assess the awareness, knowledge, and practices regarding COVID-19 infection among CHWs of four primary health care centers in Belagavi district, Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among CHWs working under 4 primary health centres. Data were collected from May 2020 to June 2020. Score of 1 was given to correct responses of 12 select questions taken from the awareness, knowledge, and practice sections. A combined score of ≥ 8 was considered satisfactory. Results: Among 341 participants (response rate: 96%), mean age was 40.1 ± 8.2 years and 324 (95.01%) were female. Majority had a minimum of secondary education (84.46%). Source of information for majority were through mobile phones and television (81.82%). 165 (47.21%) knew the mode of transmission of COVID-19. Conclusion: The awareness, knowledge and practice among CHWs were adequate. Periodic training program and support from administrative authorities will motivate them to continue taking appropriate precautions. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Indian Journal of Health Sciences and Biomedical Research (KLEU), 2022
BACKGROUND: Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease, caused ... more BACKGROUND: Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, is a chronic infectious disease, caused by Mycobacterium Leprae. India and Indonesia contributed 92% of the South-East Asia Region's caseload. AIM: The aim of this study is to identify leprosy cases in the general population by active surveillance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: As a part of the leprosy survey, the teams comprised healthcare workers and volunteers who performed house-to-house survey and examined all the household members to identify any suspects with hypopigmented and hypoanesthetic patches. The suspects were examined by the medical officer. Clinically suspected leprosy patients were then referred to the district hospital for laboratory confirmation. RESULTS: Of the 123 screened individuals, 62.5% of the suspects were aware of the presence of skin lesions (hypopigmented patch), 45.8% of them noticed the presence of patch or patches 3 months before this survey. Six of 123 were clinical suspects of leprosy, 83.3% were aware of the availability of treatment for leprosy in the primary health center. Only three among the six knew that leprosy is completely curable. All six had social stigma about leprosy. CONCLUSION: Despite many awareness campaigns on leprosy, social stigma on leprosy is still prevalent. Healthcare workers need to educate the general population about the modes of spread, availability of the treatment, and myths/false beliefs on leprosy.
National Journal of Community Medicine, Sep 1, 2024
Introduction: One of the greatest threats to global development and public health is antimicrobia... more Introduction: One of the greatest threats to global development and public health is antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The ability of bacteria and other microbes to resist the drugs used to inactivate them is known as AMR. According to estimates, bacterial AMR caused 4.95 million fatalities worldwide in 2019 in addition to directly causing 1.27 million deaths.
Methodology: In this cross-sectional descriptive study using convenient sampling method, 422 out patients were recruited from the tertiary care hospital in our district between December 2023 and March 2024. We inquired about sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for self-medicating with antibiotics.
Results: 353(83.6%) patients were self-medicating due to previous successful use of antibiotic. 122(28.9%) believed that antibiotics are used to treat all infections. 80 (18.95%) participants in the age group of 36- 44 years were self-medicating with antibiotic (𝜒2: 39.13; 𝑃 <0.001). High cost of hospital bills was the reason behind self-medicating with antibiotic in 164(38.88%) participants (𝜒2: 32.67; 𝑃 < 0.001).
Conclusion: 35.5% of the respondents had used antibiotics for self-medication prior to visiting the hospital.
There was little knowledge on the usage and adverse effects of antibiotics.