There were two oral presentations and two poster presentations from IPH in KACHCON 2012 held at Bagalkot from 3rd to 4th November 2012.
The first oral presentation investigated if Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) have facilitated access to quality Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) in first referral units (FRUs) in Karnataka. The study concluded that there is an urgent need for dissemination of IPHS to district and block levels.
The second oral presentation was on why women resort to unsafe abortion services in Tumkur district of Karnataka. The study recommended MTP training for doctors of all Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and effective Information Education and Communication (IEC) activities in respect of safe and legal abortion services.
The first poster presentation described the status of EmOC services in Tumkur district and the study adopted mixed methods. Study findings were that pregnant women in Sira do not have access to affordable and quality EmOC services. The recommendations are that maternal death audits be used for learning and not for blaming and making the gynaecologist exclusively available for EmOC services.
The second poster presentation looked into public awareness of and compliance to notified provisions of Cigarette and Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), 2003 in Karnataka. According to the results of the study awareness and compliance remain poor at district level
