PUBLIC HEALTH SURVEILLANCE OF INFECTIONS AND BEHAVIOURAL RISK FACTORS LIKE POOR SANITATION IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT

Background: Public health surveillance is a continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data needed for the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health practice. The major objective of the study is to analyse the rate of infections of the people in Mullanginavilai Panchayat during their behavioural risk factors like poor sanitation. Materials and Methods: A two-month descriptive study was carried out among the 50 residents in Mullanginavilai village in Karungal, Kanyakumari district, Tamilnadu, India. The Socioeconomic status (Age, Sex, Occupation, Income); Health status (Acute disease, Chronic disease); and Drainage facilities has been obtained. Results: The socio-economic and health survey of the community showed that 28% of the population have no job at all and 24% among them are economically poor class. 24% of the respondents have chronic disease. Anaemia was highly prevalent and severe with 38% severe anaemia, was strongly concentrated in children and undergone treatment. Infection with malaria parasite was the next highly prevalent, which was about 16%. Other amoebic dysentery and skin infection is milder about 12%. In the community, 50% of the people had the habit of taking anti-helminthic drugs for every 6 months. Others were not particularly children. Conclusion: The study showed significantly high level of contamination of soil and water due to parasites. This might be a reason for infections among the neighbouring community people.