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

worms spontaneously formed In the stomach over the years as rlce gradually
accumulated In the stomach Treatment was sought only ~f ~t gave rlse to symptoms
ilke abdominal paln This suggests that there IS plenty of scope for health educatlon to
tile communlty In this regard Although the villagers were Ignorant about the ellology of
many of the dlsorders they preferred to take allopathlc treatment for most of them
There were a few exceptions llke jaundice, for whlch lnd~genous treatment was
preferred The easy avallablllty and affordablllty of allopathlc rnedlclne (for common
and minor aliments) comblned w~th the qulck rel~ef ~t gave for most common dlsorders
have made 11 popular even In rural areas However the fact that many of the allopath~c
medlclnes were obta~ned from petty shops or other unquallf~ed practltloners cannot be
Ignored The need for health educatlon for the community covering thls aspect also
requlres emphasls
It 1s thus seen that qualltatlve studles have brought out the health problems as
perce~ved by the communlty and can therefore be used as a rapid and economlc
method to ~denttfy and plan measures to tackle some of thelr health problems
However ~n the current study ~t IS also seen that some Important cond~tlons l~ke
anemla vltamln A deflclency and worm lnfestat~on that are detnmental to health were
not brought out by the qualltatlve approach Therefore, ~t 1s essential to do a cross
sedlonal survey ~n order that these Important condltlons are not mlssed Conslderlng
the cost and logtstlw lnvolved In utlllzlng the servlces of a physlc~an for this purpose 11
may not be posslble to undertake cross sectional study In every vlllage However as
observed earl~er well tralnecl paramedical workers and teachers could be utlllzed
effect~vel~ for this purpose wh~ch may be cost effectlve Bes~des health check up the
Paramedical workers and teachers could be tralned to Impart health education (as the