indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

p91d tltero is widespread use of iodized salt In the state. Hence goltor 1s not likoly to be
a public health problem in this area.
19) Deafness
The prevalence of deafness In this study was 4.5% Different invest~gators from other
parts of lndia have recorded a prevalence of deafness between 0.4% in Bihar-17 2% in
Haryana (Gupta,1989, Verma st a1.,1995) The differences in the prevalence observed
could be due to (i) different diagnostic techniques employed, (ii) real differences in the
actual prevalence or, (iii) differences in the sampling design (age and gender structure)
While audiometry was used in the studies conducted at Patiala and Haryana (Tuli el
a1,1988, Verma et a1.1995) it was not used in the current study. Although conductive
loss was observed to be an Important cause of deafness In children, only 16 7% of
those with CSOM had impaired hearing in this study, as against a hlgh prevalence of
56 8% and 61.7% of children with CSOM having impa~red hearing reported by other
lnvestlgators (Table 5.6)
The wlda var8ations in the varlous morbidity observed in different studies underscores
the need to have a standardized method to evaluate morb~dity in school age children.
lh) Government of lndia proaram
With a view to improve the health of primary school children, the Government of lndia
launched a special school health check up scheme in July, 1996 for all primary schools
In India. The paramedical workers and school teachers were trained by the PHC
med~cal officers to examine the children and look for specific morbidity. Comparison of
the results of the health checkup done in Kedar primary school by the VHN and some
school teachers, with those of the current study is shown in Table 5.33. The flndlngs