Pregnancy Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Reproductive Health Issues with Women-Based Approach

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 09:35:32 +0000

With this year’s World Population Day’s theme being reproductive health and gender equality essential for achieving sustainable development, the focus has once again shifted towards the need for women’s reproductive health. Surveys have shown that how women having lack of knowledge on sex, contraception, pregnancy and abortion has been affecting their reproductive health orientation.

Also Read: WHO’s First Guideline to Digital Health Interventions

A reproductive health orientation means that people have the ability to reproduce as well as to regulate their fertility; women are able to undergo pregnancy and childbirth safely and that the outcome of pregnancy is successful, in terms of both, maternal and child health and well-being. Reproductive health is affected by a variety of socio-cultural and biological factors and the quality of the delivery system. A woman-based approach to reproductive health is one which responds to the needs of adult women and adolescent girls.

Also Read: Screening for Cervical Pre-Cancer in India
Current Scenario

Even after four decades of the inception of the family planning program, nothing much has been observed in terms of the population growth rate, which continues to grow at over 2% per year. Currently, almost 18 million people are added to India’s population annually, from which 40% of the population comprises children under the age of 14 years.

Also Read: Smart Toilet Detects Cancer, Diabetes Through Urine

Life expectancy has now reached 61 years, up from about 44 in 1960; and the crude death rate has fallen dramatically from 27 per 1000 population at the time of Independence in 1947 to 9.8 per 1000 (1991). In Kerala, which reports the longest life expectancy, there is 67.2 years for males and 72.4 for females Whereas, in Uttar Pradesh, which reports among the lowest life expectancies in the nation, there is a reversal of the gender pattern: while males can expect to live a total of 57.1 years, female life expectancy is only 52.8.

Gender Disparity the biggest roadblock in Unequal Access to Healthcare

Women’s unequal access to resources be it healthcare, education is a reality. Even economically, despite being majority of rural Indian women are active, their work goes largely unrecognized and poorly remunerated. Where women work, they earn lower wages including lower cash to kind ratio than that awarded to men. When it comes to household level, women have little decision-making authority and freedom of movement. Many behavioral norms further reinforce women’s lack of freedom of movement, self-confidence and acceptance of self-denial including in matters relating to health seeking and food intake. Violence against women and rape are all part of women’s lives. Women’s poor reproductive health in India can be attributed to various sociocultural and biological factors. Thus, efforts to improve women’s education are fundamental, be it raising enrollment and attendance rates of girls in school, reducing the drop-out rate on the one hand or enhancing women’s income autonomy on the other.

Also Read: Addressing Unmet Needs in India’s Health System
Loopholes in the Women Reproductive Program

India’s Family Welfare Program are basically focused on achieving demographic targets by increasing contraceptive prevalence and notably female sterilization. However, the Indian family planning program also evolved through a number of stages. It has changed its focus. In the early years, the program was laid with loads of caution and its impact was hardly felt. Then during 1965-75, the program was strengthened by integrating family planning with maternal and duringthe period child health services were introduced. It was also during that decade, abortion was legalized. Despite all these, India’s maternal mortality ratio is estimated at 555 per 100,000 live births, about fifty times higher than that of many industrialized nations and six times as high as that of neighboring Sri Lanka.

The following sub-sections highlight major concerns in the area of reproductive health:
a) Focus to be laid on reproductive morbidity and maternal health
b) Improving access to safe abortion
c) Information on sexually transmitted diseases
d) Improved quality of reproductive systemViolence

About the author

Ajoy Khandheria is the Founder of Gramin Health Care, the first ever start-up focused exclusively on primary healthcare. He has been an advisor to corporate giants like Harris Corporation, Telecom Ital, Tech Mahindra, Tellabs Maxis, UT Starcom, Hughes Software System and KPMG. Under his leadership, companies have seen exponential growth and geographical expansion in the global market. A strategic investor, Ajoy also has remarkable presence in telecommunication, geospatial and content businesses. He has invested in a number of companies across the world including Avenger (USA), Doc on call (Myanmar), Intersat (UAE), Emmanuel Healthcare (USA), Six Dee technologies and CERT Telematics (Abu Dhabi), among others.

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Rural healthcare: Solutions lie in innovations

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:10:53 +0000

It has become imperative to make rural and remote areas healthy and free of diseases and infections to make ‘National Health Mission’ a success. There are still many parts of the country where medical services are still not accessible. With the iKure’shealthcare delivery system, the dream of providing minimum health service to the rural parts of the country has become true. Armed with Wireless Health Incident Monitoring Systems, Community Health Workers have been at forefront to provide doorstep solutions at minimal cost. iKure’shealthcare has become a new frontier to drive innovations in rural healthcare delivery

There are over 330 CHWs who are trained and strategically deployed across six states in rural India and have been rendering services under iKure’shealthcare delivery system.

Jayashree is one the CHW who works relentlessly in her village Hubli(Karnataka). One day, she visited a woman named Pushpa who was in her first trimester and looked quite unwell.On enquiring, Pushpa was found to suffer from Epilepsy. Her family also revealed that she has been prescribed with medicines by a local doctor, but she didn’t take them regularly.

Epilepsy is a disorder of the nervous system and such patients during pregnancy have major concerns. Jayashree felt the need and promptly captured her vitals on her smartphone loaded with Wireless Health Incident Monitoring Systems, (WHIMS), and pushed the patient’s vitals on to the cloud for a quick doctor reference.

For the next few days, Jayashree monitored and screened her closely and counselled her and family about different preventive measures pertaining to her health conditions. Soon after, Pushpa recovered and gave birth to a healthy child.

In the context of rural settings, it is never possible to create doctors or health clinics as required. To bridge the gap, the grassroots community members are empowered to provide clinical careenabled through WHIMS.The technology application is designed with an intuitive graphics user interface that can be efficiently used by a health worker even with a basic education.

For instance, WHIMS screen has a complete photograph of a human body.When a health worker clicks on the head, WHIMS gives options of potential symptoms of the head, such as ache, dizziness, seeing dark spots, and so on.

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Usually with the standard diagnostic tool, low accessibility and portability remain a huge constrain. WHIMS is accompanied with low-cost portable instruments to measure basic statistics and loaded on a tablet is carried by the CHWs in the remotest villages to diagnose patients. The patients pay an affordable rate for basic diagnostics and consultations, through which they earn additional income.

Unlike the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA workers) who work as community mobilizer and not authorized to deliver clinical services, these CHWs meet both the ends.

Equipped with a medical kit that consists of devices including BP machine, stethoscope, pulse oximeter, thermometer, first aid kit, weight machine, Height measuring scale and gloves,they carry medicines for basic common ailments, non-invasive hemoglobin meter, haemoglobin kit, mobile phone based sphygmomanometer, urine analyzer, calorimeter, ECG, flipcharts/ Hoardings & registers.

Through these CHWs, every patient is also provisioned with Digital Health Card (DTH) encrypted with a QR (Quick Response) code and during home visits. DTH gets updated with latest clinical indicators. The health data obtained from the health cards is synced to a cloud for effective utilization in the upward heath chain at both secondary and tertiary levels.

CHW’s contact and familiarity within the community drive effective community mobilization measures. As they become an integral part of the healthcare delivery model, CHWs act as a catalyst to drive behavioral change. While they interacts and communicates the necessity on the ground and identifies appropriate health needs, it is through street plays, hoardings and message dissemination on mobile phones, theymobilize patients at different levels. They are also attuned to provide nutritional counselling, and spectacle services based on the community needs.

Further, WHIMS is upgraded with robust supply chain management framework, innovative algorithm, and Data Warehousing solutions. Driven by its CHWs, iKure aims to bring efficiency in public system & programe and improve lives.

The CHW model of empowering the women community and gender mainstreaming represents transformational change in rural healthcare delivery. As they champion tech-savvy cultural values in otherwise austere facilities, and limited supply of doctors, such effort has established inspirational leaders driving catalyst change in sustainable rural development.

“For a basic diagnostic long distance travel time, high cost of services and prolonged waiting hours at the local PHCs was a huge burden for these rural residents. Use of P-O-C devices is extremely portable, affordable with high accuracy rate and can be used by any health worker with a short training. This has been a critical step in rural healthcare delivery with a positive outcome on prevention, curative care and treatment procedures”.

Dr. Ajay Agrawal, Medical
Director-iKure

“Initially when I used to visit pregnant women, they were apprehensive and reserved. But repeated visits have given them confidence to open up. They ask many questions, show doctor’s report and ask for medicines. I have a joint family and few among them are pregnant, even they are educated, but they would consult me and ask for my opinion. I feel valued and found a voice through iKure”.

Gayathri Acharya
iKure CHW, Hubli, Karnataka

(Author: Dr. Tirumala Santra Mandal is a research and communication analyst at iKure. With a doctorate degree in corporate communication from IIT Kharagpur, she has worked in diverse fields of communications such as lie detection, multimedia communication, communicative English. Prior to working with iKure, she has worked as an editor and authored several publications in referred and business journals both at national and international levels.)

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HEALTHY DIET TIPS FOR MOMS

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 06:35:15 +0000

Healthy Diet for Moms-to-be

Eat well, be well during pregnancy

By Samya Athamneh, International Dietician

Congratulations, you are pregnant. However, if you are like most women, who have concerns running through your mind, how can I eat healthy for both my baby and my self? In addition, how can I gain the right amount of weight so that it does not take me until my child is in preschool to fit back into my jeans again?

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Between cravings and morning sickness, eating well during pregnancy may not always be a piece of cake. However, prenatal nutrition is a serious business. It is necessary for you and your baby’s growth, brain development, reduced risk of birth defects and a strong immune system. Since it is not how much, but what you eat that makes the difference, here is how the healthy pregnancy diet can help. During pregnancy, the body requires extra calorie, protein, vitamins, mineral in order to support the baby’s growth and to allow for changes in mothers body.

Important considerations in pregnancy

The extra food you eat should not be just empty calories, it should provide the nutrients your growing baby needs. For example, calcium help makes bones and teeth strong, while you are pregnant; you still need calcium for your body plus extra calcium for the developing baby. Similarity, you require the all-essential nutrients than you did before become pregnant.

Here are some of the most common nutrients you need and the foods that contain it:

Nutrient Needed	Needed for	Best sources
Protein	Cell growth and development	Lean meat, fish, poultry, egg white,beans, peanut butter, tofu
Carbohydrate	Daily energy production	Breads, cereals, rice, potatoes, pasta
Calcium	Strong bones and teeth, muscle contraction/nerves function	Milk, cheese, yogurt, sardines with edible bone, spinach, okra
Iron	Red blood cell production / needed to prevent anaemia	Lean red meat, spinach, iron fortified cereals, nuts, dried fruits
Vitamin A	Healthy skin, good eye sight, growing bones	Carrot, dark green leafy vegetable,potatoes
Vitamin C	Healthy gums, teeth and bones, assistance iron absorption	Citrus fruit, broccoli, tomato, fruit juices
Vitamin B6	Red blood cell formation effective use of protein, fat and carbohydrate	Whole grain cereals, banana
Vitamin B12	Formation of red blood cell, maintain nervous system health	Meat, fish, poultry, milk
Vitamin D	Healthy bones and teeth, aid in calcium absorption	Fortified milk, dairy product, cereals,fish, sardines
Folic acid	Blood and protein production/effective enzyme function	Green leafy vegetables, dark yellow fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts, peas

Food craving during pregnancy

Food craving during pregnancy is normal. Although there is no widely accepted explanation for food cravings, almost two thirds of all pregnant women have it. If you develop sudden urge for a certain food, go and indulge your craving, it provides energy or an essential nutrient. However, if your craving persists and prevents you form getting other essential nutrients in your diet; try to create more of a balance in your daily diet.

During pregnancy your tastes for certain foods may change, you may suddenly dislike foods you were fond of before your pregnancy. In addition, during pregnancy, some women feel strong urges to eat non-food items such as ice, laundry starch, dirt, chalks, ashes, paint chips, clay.

This is called pica and may be associated with a mineral deficiency like anaemia. Do not give in to theses non-food cravings; they can be harmful to both you and your baby.

Foods to avoid

Some foods make you and your baby sick, avoid these foods as they can cause food poisoning or certain harmful diseases.
• Raw fish, especially shellfish
• Soft scrambled egg and food made from raw or lightly cooked eggs
• Un-pasteurized juices
• Un-pasteurized milk and foods made from it
• Herbal supplements and teas
• Raw or uncooked meat, poultry, seafood and hotdog
• Never eat non-food items like clay , starch, coffee grounds
• Avoid alcohol during pregnancy; alcohol has been linked to premature delivery, mental retardation, birth defects and low birth weight babies
• Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tile fish (also called white snapper), because they contain high levels of mercury.

What to eat and when

During pregnancy, you may have morning sickness, diarrhoea or constipation, you may find it hard to keep foods down or you may feel too sick to eat at all. Here are some suggestions:
Morning sickness: Eat crackers, cereal or pretzel before getting out of bed, eat small frequent meals throughout the day and avoid fatty, fried, and grassy foods.
Constipation: Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, drink six glasses of water.
Diarrhoea: Eat more foods that contain pectin and gums to help absorb excess water such as apple, applesauce, banana, white rice, oatmeal, boiled potatoes.
Heartburn: Eat small frequent meals throughout the day. Try drinking milk before eating and limit caffeinated foods and beverages like tea, coffee, chocolate, soft drinks.

Unveiling myths with reality

Pregnancy produces a host of physiological and emotional changes in women. Advice seems to pour in from all sources, well-meaning friends, family member, and colleague at work and even perfect strangers tend to comment on a pregnant woman’s health. In the face of often-contradictory advice, especially concerning ones diet, it may be hard for a mum to achieve a comfortable and healthy balance. Eating a healthy diet is one of the most important things any pregnant women can do to enhance her health as well as the health of her baby. Here are some nutrition myths followed by information to get you and your baby off to a good start.

Myth#1: You are eating for two

In reality, you are eating for one plus one very small being. Most women only need to consume an extra 300 calories per day. Far from being a tome to overindulge, pregnancy is a time to eat sensibly and healthily. The suggested weight gain during the pregnancy is approximately 24-35 pounds (10-15 kg). However, this weight may vary depending upon each mother-to-be, pregnancy weight and the number of babies she is carrying. An under weight woman may gain up to 40 pounds, while an overweight woman may be asked to gain just 15 pounds, your doctor will specify an appropriate weight gain for your height and body build.

Myth#2: Eat low carbohydrate, high protein diet

In reality, weight loss diet, high protein – low carbohydrate, is not recommended during pregnancy. According to the daily food guide pyramid, grains, fruits and vegetables should compromise more of your diet than the meat groups. In fact, 2-3 servings of protein are required each day for pregnant women. This is easily achieved by consuming an egg/ 2-3 oz of poultry or meat/ ½ cup of dried beans or peas in the course of one day. Extra calories consumed during pregnancy should be evenly distributed among five major food groups.

Myth#3: Pregnancy induced high blood pressure caused by too much salt

In reality, pregnancy induced high blood pressure is due to a variety of physiological changes in the body during pregnancy and is therefore not treated the same way as hypertension in non pregnant adults. Moderation is the key. While overindulging in processed foods, typically containing too much salt would be unhealthy, eliminating salt and consuming no salt or low sodium specific food will be inappropriate. Aim to get 6 grams of sodium as a table salt in your foods every day.

Myth#5: It is better to rely on vitamins rather than ones diet during pregnancy

In reality, Vitamin should never be a substitute for a healthy diet, while most obstetrician and midwives will prescribe a multivitamin for their patients, these vitamins are intended to supplement and not replace a sensible diet. The best sources of vitamin and minerals may be found in their naturally state as they are better absorbed and are accompanied by their other nutrients such as protein or fiber.

Myth#4: Now that you are pregnant, it is a good time to start thinking about folic acid and B complex vitamins

In reality, Folic acid is particularly important in the first days and weeks of fatal formation, for this reason it is recommended that women take multivitamin before becoming pregnant to ensure they have adequate folic acid during the early development of the baby’s brain and spina bifida. Optimal folic acid consumption should continue through out pregnancy and in every woman’s diet during the childbearing years. Beside vitamins, excellent sources of B complex vitamin include orange juice, beans, citrus fruit, dark green leafy vegetables, nuts and whole grains.

Dietary guide

In order to achieve a well balanced healthy adequate nutrition during pregnancy, you should cover the daily allowances from the different criteria of food on a daily basis as following:

Nutrient	Food allowances per day
Milk	2-3 cup
Meat/fish/poultry(liver once a week) cooked weight	4 oz
Vegetables including: Dark green leafy or deep yellow Potato Other vegetables	½ cup 1 medium ½ to 1 cup
ruits including: Citrus Apples or other fruit	1 serving = 1 fruit 1 serving = 1 fruit
Cereals enriched or whole grain As pasta/rice/macaroni	3 Serving (1 Serving to ½ to 1 cup)
Bread, enriched or whole grain	4 slices (2 in the morning as breakfast / 2 for dinner and keep 1 slice as a snack in between )
Vegetables oil	4-5 teaspoons
Vitamin D supplement or use fortified milk Iodized salt	400 IU ( consult your doctor) 5-7 grams per day
Eggs	3 eggs per week

Repeatedly, it has been emphasized that reduced nutritional intake has a depressing effect on physical development. Malnutrition during the period of rapid brain growth will lead to some neurology impairment. Past studies of nutrition in women during pregnancy have shown a definite relationship of the diet of the mother and the condition of baby at birth.

To protect your self and your precious baby from any possible complications review your lifestyle and try to change any unpreferable behaviour related to your diet toward the better.

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InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 4 (October to December 2017) – http://amzn.to/2B2UMLw

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NURTUREY: AN INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANT FOR PARENTS

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 08:50:51 +0000

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Tushar Srivastava is a Founder & CEO at Nurturey. He has a professional background in Finance, Management Consulting and Technology from University of Oxford – Said Business School, Bromley, United Kingdom.

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Nurturey is conceived to operate as a skilled Personal Assistant and is the only comprehensive solution supporting parents from pregnancy to early years of parenting. The product was incepted in April 2014 and the company is headquartered in London.

The company has recently raised nearly $750,000 (approx. Rs 5 Cr) in Angel Investment, had launched an iPhone app in May ’16 along with an Android app in Aug ’16 (globally and in India). It also launched a desktop web app version last year (globally and in India).

As the one-stop companion for parents, Nurturey’s Personal Assistant offers a range of tools that will improve parents’ efficiency and effectiveness by managing the boring and tedious tasks – managing information, resources, activities, memories – basically their lives around kids- in one place. Parents can activate tools as per their multi-dimensional and ever changing needs throughout their parental journey.

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Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6

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IS THERE A SAFE TIME TO DRINK ALCOHOL WHILE PREGNANT?

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:25:49 +0000

There is no safe time to drink alcohol while pregnant. The brain and central nervous system of the unborn baby continues to develop throughout the pregnancy and therefore can be damaged by exposure to alcohol at any time during pregnancy. Alcohol can damage a growing baby’s brain, organs and body, affecting how it thinks, acts, looks and learns as a child and as an adult.

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When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, it rapidly crosses the placenta to the fetus. Unlike the mother, the fetus cannot process alcohol at the same rate, and it remains in the baby’s body longer than in the mother’s. The result – the baby could be born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is the term used to describe the birth defects and brain damage that can be caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol.
Children with FASD do not grow out of their problems. In fact many will need a lifetime of extra health care, education and social services. When they get older, children with FASD often have difficulty paying attention and learning at school. They have trouble getting along with others. They may have difficulty remembering and thinking things through. They may struggle with depression or have drug and alcohol problems.

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Want to write for InnoHEALTH? send us your article at magazine@innovatiocuris.com

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Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2

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