Reproductive tract infection in women of reproductive age group in Sitapur/Shahjahanpur District of Uttar Pradesh.

CARE India with its UP Office has initiated demand generation and acceptability of services for reproductive health and birth spacing services at community level in two districts in the state of Uttar Pradesh. A total of 3,49,000 women of reproductive age will benefit from participation in program activities over the next five years. Out of total surveyed population of 3662, 798 women of reproductive age group were identified of whom 272 were found to be symptomatically positive in relation of STDs/RTIs giving the overall prevalence rate of 34%. Clinical as well as the microbiological examination was carried out on 193 of these 272 women in field conditions. Those found clinically and/or microbiologically positive were provided treatment and preventive advice. Total of 150 (77.7%) women were diagnosed on the basis of symptoms (syndromic approach) and 151 (78.2%) were diagnosed on the basis of clinical examinations. However, 137 (70.9%) were confirmed microbiologically positive. A large extent was found in the age group of 15 to 24 years. Confirmed cases were comparatively less among nulliparous women (63.6%) than multipara (73.2%) cases. 64.1% women were having watery discharge while 29.1% were having complaint of curd discharge. The discharge was offensive in only 1.9% cases while 4.9% reported mixed discharge. 54.4% women complaining of vaginal discharge were suffering from PID. The discharge were either bacterial alone (26.1%) or bacterial mixed with candidiasis (16.5%) or trichomoniasis (8.7%). Compared to syndromic approach, an improvement in the sensitivity (81.8%) and predictive accuracy (74.1%) was noted when cases were detected with the help of clinical examination.