Utilization of indigenous systems of medicine & homoeopathy in India.

Background & Objective: Very little information is available on the utilization of Indian systems of medicine and homoeopathy (ISM&H) in India. A study was undertaken on the usage and acceptability of indigenous systems of medicine to provide estimate of utilization of different indigenous systems of medicine in the country along with the reasons for preferences as well as the cost of treatment.

Methods: The study covered 35 districts spreading over 19 States of the country.

A survey on risk factors associated with cervical cancer.

Carcinoma of the cervix is one of the leading malignancies in the developing countries including India. In view of this health care program might have to be redefined. Most of the data are available from the developed countries, which rely mainly on cytology screening on regular basis.

Validity of causes of infant death by verbal autopsy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of the verbal autopsy technique in identification of cause of death during infancy. The study was carried out in 23 randomly selected clusters with 70 live births each, in districts Cuttack and Koraput of Orissa State. Each death occurrence during the reference period (1992-93) was investigated by the field investigator and cross checked by a medical professional using the same proforma.

Estimation of ED50 or LD50 using a programmable pocket calculator.

A program is developed for estimation of median effective dose (ED50 or LD50), using the hand-held programmable pocket calculator HP41CV. The well-known Finney's algorithm of probit analysis is used. Input of data is simple, but is restricted to a maximum of 15 groups.