Background and Objectives: Unmet need for contraception is the gap between women's reproductive intentions and their contraceptive behavior. This community based interventional study was carried out to determine the unmet needs for contraception, the reasons for this and to assess the impact of interventional measures on acceptance of contraception. Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted in 52 villages in the state of Maharashtra, India, among 363 married women selected by cluster sampling. Data was collected using an interview guide. An intervention was done for the women who had an unmet need and an assessment of the change was done subsequently. Data was analyzed by using SPSS. Results The prevalence of contraceptive usage was 59.2% and the prevalence of unmet need for contraception was 44% (160). The unmet need for spacing births was 53.8%, 38.7% for limiting births and 7.5% women were dissatisfied with the current contraceptive method. The reasons ranged from side effects to contraceptives to source of obtaining contraceptives. Age of the respondents, education and number of living children showed statistically significant association with unmet needs. Post intervention, the contraceptive prevalence rate increased significantly 85.7% and there was a significant reduction in the unmet needs for spacing and limiting births, equally there was a significant reduction of dissatisfaction with using contraception. Conclusion: Improvement in the use of contraception and addressing the unmet need for contraception requires community involvement and ongoing, sustained efforts by health workers to ensure quality care to the beneficiaries.

Introduction: Currently, there is a dearth of research into the elderly in Malaysia. More data is needed in order to plan services for them. Hypertension is an illness whose prevalance of hypertension among the elderly population of fourteen villages in Kedah. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on all elderly persons who consented to participate, in fourteen villages in the district of Kuala Muda in Kedah. A questionnaire was used for the data collection. Blood pressure was measured and participants were assessed for their activities of daily living using Barthel Index, cognitive impairment using Elderly Cognitive Assessmnet Questionnaire (ECAQ) and depression using Geriatric Depression Scale. Descriptive analysis, using SPSS version 11.0. was done to explore the data. Results: The total population of the villages was 3095 and 336 were 60 and above. A total of 240 elderly individuals agreed to participate giving a response rate of 71.4%. There were 138 females (57.5%) and 102 (42.45) males. Ninety-eight percent of the respondents were Malays (n=236) of which 57.2% were females and 42.8% males; the remaining 4 (1.7%) were Indians, of which 3 were females and 1 male. The prevalence of hypertension was 58.3% (n=140) in the villages. 138 (58.5%) of the Malays were hypertensive compared to 2 (50%) of the Indians. Half (51.4%) of those diagnosed as hypertensive were unaware of their condition and half (48.6%) of those known to have hypertension,the blood pressure was not controlled (p<0.05). Discussion:The results of the study are similar to the National Health and Morbidity Survey, 1996. Though the data is from an opportunistic sample and may not represent a larger population especially by race, the findings offer data for a pooled analysis. It is also very worrying to note that 48.6% of the people knew of their condition but did not do anything to control their blood pressure.

Osteoporosis is a global health problem both in the developed and developing countries. Patient education forms an important part in the management of osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate knowledge about osteoporosis and its correlates among women aged ≥ 40 years attending an urban health centre in India and to identify their sources of information on osteoporosis. Knowledge about osteoporosis was assessed using the Osteoporosis Questionnaire (OPQ) in 243 women over 40 years of age, attending an urban health centre in the city of Mumbai located in the state of Maharashtra in western India. This exploratory cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of eight months. The OPQ analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows Version 13.0. The scores were expressed as mean ± SD (Standard Deviation). The one sample-t test was used to study the differences in the mean scores between socio-demographic variables. The mean total OPQ score was 0.91 (SD ± 5; range -9 to 10; maximum possible score 20). There was a significant difference in the total OPQ scores by the level of education and family history of osteoporosis (p<0.05). The main sources of information identified were television/radio (55%), family and friends (23%), newspapers (22%) and doctors (20%). The study reveals lack of knowledge about osteoporosis in the present sample, and the need for increased involvement of doctors in educating patients about osteoporosis.