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General Health Awareness

Anaemia

Causes
  • Fatigue and weakness on account of deficiency of iron in the body in women during menstruation, pregnancy, child birth and lactation.
  • Decreased absorption due to disorders in the digestive system.
Symptoms of Anaemia
  • Headaches, weakness, fatigue,
  • Breathlessness on exertion, palpitations,
  • Poor concentration.
  • Desire to eat sand and clay.
  • Excessive menstrual bleeding.

Severe and prolonged iron deficiency leads to difficulty in swallowing, especially solids, in extreme cases also liquids - owing to thin membranous web in the lower part of the throat.

Treatment of Anaemia
  • Take iron tablets Cook in iron vessels. Eat bread, cereals, eggs and dry fruits.

Diarrhoea

Many stomach arid intestinal infections can cause stomach aches, sometimes with vomiting, sometimes with diarrhea, sometimes with both. Fever may or may not occur. Dehydration (excessive loss of water) is a common phenomenon during this period. Severe dehydration due to diarrhoea may even be fatal especially in children up to 3 years.

Common Symptoms of diarrhoea are:
  • Loose Motions
  • Less urine production
  • Sunken, shadowed arid dry eyes
  • Dry arid parched lips and mouth
What to do?

Take a spoonful of sugar arid half a spoon of salt mix it thoroughly in a glass of water. Serve the mixture to the ailing person repeatedly. This is commonly known as ORT.

Tuberculosis (TB)

TB is an infectious disease but is curable

Symptoms of TB
  • Cough for 3 weeks or more
  • Fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever especially in the evenings
Facts about TB
  • Caused by a germ
  • TB spreads when a patient with untreated pulmonary TB coughs or sneezes
  • TB is completely curable and patients need not be hospitalized
  • Treatment for TB is provided free of cost at all PHCs and Government hospitals. Medicines are also supplied free.
Dos Donts
• Have sputum  examinations done if you have cough of three weeks or more
• Don’t avoid medical care if you have cough of three weeks or more
• Take all the medicines for the full prescribed period on regular basis ·  Don’t rely only on X-ray for diagnosis of TB
• Understand that TB can be cured • Don’t stop medicines before your physician discontinues them
• Use handkerchief when coughing or sneezing • Don't discriminate against TB patients
• Spit in spittoons containing household germicides • Don’t spit indiscriminately

Malaria

Malaria is caused by the biting of malaria-infected mosquitoes. Malaria is a potentially life threatening parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes. The affected person suffers from bouts of fever accompanied with shivering and cold sweats. The Malaria symptoms appear about 9 to 14 days after infectious mosquito bite.

Malaria in pregnancy poses a substantial risk to the mother, the foetus and the newborn infant, as pregnant women are less capable of coping with and clearing malaria infections.

• Malaria can be prevented by avoiding contact with mosquitoes. • Remove discarded containers that might collect water. Emptying water from water coolers once a week Cover cisterns (water tanks) overhead tanks with lids or mosquito nets
• Use mosquito nets. • Introducing larvivorous fish that eat mosquito larvae also controls malaria
• Eliminating mosquito breeding sites spraying households with insecticide to repel or kill mosquitoes. · Drug Policy recommends the weekly administration of chloroquine to pregnant women from the fourth month onwards.
• The common breeding places of anopheles mosquitoes which transmit malaria in rural areas are clean water collections. Slow moving streams, wells, swamps, seepages, riverbeds, ponds, canal irrigation channels, near the quarries, mining operations, near developmental projects etc and in urban areas, are water containers, overhead tanks, barrels, rejected tyres, tins and utensils etc. Keeping such containers empty would reduce the mosquitoes in the area and thus reduce malaria. • You should immediately get Blood test done for Malaria, if symptoms are seen.
• Blood test for Malaria is done free of cost at all Government Hospitals and PHCs. Take treatment as advised by Doctor

Osteoporosis

It is a decrease in bone mass per unit volume that can occur as you get older. It is considered to be the major cause of bone fractures in older people especially post-menopausal women.

How does it occur?
  • Prolonged bed rest during serious illness, or whose daily activity is reduced by disorders such as arthritis or multiple sclerosis.
  • Imbalance in the body's natural acidity, and too much aluminium hydroxide, a chemical used to treat ulcers, in the body can also be a cause.
  • Taking oral contraceptives during the reproductive years can also slow the rate of bone loss.
  • Women who smoke or have a close relative with osteoporosis are more likely to develop this disease.
  • Too little calcium in the diet is another risk factor.
What are the Symptoms?

You may have no clear symptoms until a bone breaks except some physical changes. These physical changes, generally associated with aging, are in fact due to osteoporosis. They include:

  • Gradual loss of height.
  • Bending of the back (due to compression of the vertebra or fracture of the spine).

Usually after a minor stress or injury. Painful and spontaneous fractures occur in people with osteoporosis. The hip, arm, and wrist are common places for fractures.

How can it be prevented?
  • Eat a balanced diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, throughout life.
  • Expose yourself to sunlight.
  • Consume milk regularly.
  • Walk regularly.

Blindness and Causes

Blindness is the inability of a person to count fingers from a distance of 6 meters or 20 feet. Common causes of blindness are:

  • Cataract: Opacity in the lens of the eye leading to gradual diminution of vision.
  • Refractive Errors: Inability to see near or distant objects clearly.
  • Corneal Opacity: Clouding of transparent portion in front of the eye.
Cataract
  • Cataract commonly occurs in old age. It may, however, affect young persons too. Cataract usually presents a gradual loss of vision in one or both eyes. This is age related and usually occurs after 50 years of age.
Signs and symptoms of cataract
  • Early symptoms of cataract may be blurring of near and distant objects.
  • There is no headache, pain or redness of eyes. In the course of years, the eyesight is considerably affected and the patient finds it difficult to move about for his daily routine. A time comes when he can see only the light of a lamp or torch. This can happen when cataract gets matured. Untreated mature cataract may result in incurable blindness due to complications.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDS)

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are diseases that can be transmitted through body contact during sex. This is an infection, which can be caught by having sexual contact with someone who is infected STDs can be easily passed onto sexual partners, and from a mother to her unborn Child

Who can I talk to?
  • Go to the Health Sub Centre or Primary Health Centre and talk to a doctor. Tell her or him everything about your problems.
What will they do?
  • They may take a urine sample, a blood sample or a swab from the vagina or penis. Don't have sexual contact with anyone while you wait for the result of the test. Also do not have sexual contact with anyone if doctor confirms that you have STD. Take full treatment as advised by the doctor.
So how can I protect myself?
  • Use Nirodh during sex. Other ways to reduce the risk include cleaning your hands and genital organs after having sex.
Signs and symptoms of STDs
  • Pain in lower abdomen (women)
  • Painful urination (pain while passing urine)
  • Unusual discharge from the vagina with foul smell
  • Pain in the pelvic area
  • Burning or itching around the vagina
Signs in both men and women
  • Ulcers at the lip of the penis or at the mouth of vagina.
  • Pus discharge from penis.

Source: National Commission for Women

Last Modified : 2/12/2020



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