the infant feeding practices and the effects of factors such as mother’s educational level, primary health care, and family income on these practices in 531 households with 930 children 6-60 months of age were studied in rural areas of sirjan (kerman province), iran. the findings indicate that the majority of mothers (85%) breastfeed their infants and 86% of babies are fed the colostrums. the a...

AIM This paper is a report of a study to explore the views of midwives on women's positions during the second stage of labour. BACKGROUND Many authors recommend encouraging women to use positions that are most comfortable to them. Others advocate encouragement of non-supine positions, because offering 'choice' is not enough to reverse the strong cultural norm of giving birth in the supine pos...

BACKGROUND Utilization of specialty care may not be a discrete, isolated behavior but rather, a behavior of sequential movements within the health care system. Although patients may often visit their primary care physician and receive a referral before utilizing specialty care, prior studies have underestimated the importance of accounting for these sequential movements. METHODS The sample in...

CONTEXT Kerala's government health-care system functions relatively well compared with other Indian States, but utilization levels are decreasing due to lack of essential facilities. The opportunity cost of seeking medical care from the government sector is high, even for the poor, with 60-70% of the poor seeking care from the private sector and spending disproportionately on health care (about...