اندھا بوڑھا
نعمان نذیر
صبح ہوتے ہی معمول سے کچھ دیر پہلے ہی اس کی آ نکھ کھل گئی ۔ یوں تو وہ آ غاز سے ہی اپنے کام میں مہارت کے ساتھ ساتھ وقت کی پابندی کا بھی قائل تھا۔ شاید ہی ان دس سالوں میں کھبی اس کو افسران بالا کی طرف سے اس بات کا اعتراض کیا گیا ہو کہ وہ وقت پہ دفتر نہیں پہنچا ۔ ان دس سالوں میں اس کے افسر جو متعدد تبدیل ہو چکے تھے۔ کوئی بھی اس کے کام پہ معترض نہ تھا۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
آج اس کی زندگی کا ایک اہم دن تھا۔ اس موقع پہ اس کی بیوی بھی اس کی خوشی میں برابر شریک تھی۔ اسی کی خدمت اور حوصلے سے تو وہ آ ج اس مقام تک پہنچا تھا۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
اس خبر کا انتظار اسے گزشتہ دو سال سے تھا ۔ وہ مسلسل اپنی محنت کا پھل پانے کے لئے آ ج تیار تھا ۔ یہ دن تھا اس کی محکمانہ ترقی کا۔۔۔۔۔
اس خبر کی اطلاع تو اسے نیم کلرک نے ایک مہینہ قبل ہی دے تھی۔ جب اس کی ترقی کا پروانہ مرکزی دفتر میں دستخط ہونے کا منتظر تھا۔ ۔۔۔
اس موقعہ کو یاد گار جانتے ہوئے اس نے نیا قیمتی لباس بھی تیار کروایا تھا ۔ گزشتہ اتوار کو وہ اپنی اہلیہ کے ہمراہ شہر کے سب سے بڑے شاپنگ مال میں کپڑے اور جوتے خریدنے گیا ۔ اس کی بیوی نے اپنے خرچ میں سے جمع کی گئی رقم سے مہنگے جوتے خرید کر تحفہ دیا۔ جو اس کی اس کامیابی کو اپنی کامیابی سمجھتی تھی ۔۔۔۔۔
آ خر کار 15 ستمبر کے دن کا سورج طلوع ہوگیا ۔ وہ معمول...
Present study compares the level of public trust in political leadership and the parliament in two provinces of Pakistan: Punjab and Sindh. By applying ordinal logistic regression models, study finds that respondents from Punjab had significantly more trust in their leader and parliament of the country as compared to the participants from Sindh. The variable, government performance, was observed to be the major predictor of public trust in political leadership and parliament between Punjab and Sindh. Additionally, people’s interest in political affairs and conflict resolving behavior of leadership were two other variables which significantly predict public level of trust. The study suggests that respondents who were more interested in the political affairs revealed a high degree of trust in leadership and parliament. Conversely, participants who suffered from the lack of leadership interest in conflict resolving behavior showed low level of trust in both leadership and parliament in both provinces. It is concluded that public trust and distrust are significantly associated with the socio-economic development of the country. Present study may help to understand the factors that may cause public distrust in leadership and parliament of the country. ______
Background: Preconception care (PCC) is an important form of primary health care that aims to identify risks, offer patient education and evidence based interventions prior to conception in order to improve maternal and fetal short and long term health outcomes. Despite the benefits of PCC, the global levels of utilization are still low, more so in developing countries and in the rural settings. This study aimed to determine the difference in the level and determinants of PCC in both urban and rural settings in Kenya. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to compare PCC among pregnant women in Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH, N) (urban) and Maragua Level Four Hospital (MLFH) (rural). The secondary objective was to determine the factors affecting PCC among pregnant women in the two hospitals. Design and Methodology: Unselected pregnant women seeking antenatal care (ANC) were recruited consecutively at the Mother and Child Health (MCH) clinics in AKUH, N and MLFH. The study design was a mixed method study that employed a cross-sectional approach to determine the level of PCC, using a 5-10 minutes self-administered questionnaire, and a qualitative approach to assess factors affecting PCC using a semi-structured interview guide. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Qualitative interviews were transcribed verbatim, a thematic framework was thereafter manually constructed through coding, creating categories, sub-themes and themes. Indexing, charting, mapping and data interpretation were thereafter carried out. Results: A total of 194 pregnant women were recruited, 97 in each setting (rural and urban). Of these, 21 women were selected through purposive sampling to participate in in-depth interviews for the qualitative aspect of the study. Saturation of themes occurred after 13 interviews (7 at AKUH and 6 at MLFH) after which 4 more interviews were conducted at each site to confirm saturation. Of the total participants, 25.8% received PCC. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) in PCC between the rural and urban participants with an OR of 0.3 (0.19-0.72, 95 % CI). Univariate analysis of possible related factors showed that age, marital status, education, parity and occupation had potential effect on PCC. Transcription, coding and thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews yielded 97 categories which were merged into 39 sub-themes and subsequently into 12 main themes. Eleven of the main themes were identified as factors affecting PCC while one theme contained suggested strategies of increasing PCC awareness and utilization. The dominant themes