عورت کی ازدواجی حیثیت اور تولیدی صحت سے متعلق تصورات کا تجزیہ

The research examines socio-cultural stereo-typed beliefs and customs of Pakistani society regarding women’s conjugal rights and reproductive health. Islamic teachings recognize and ensure both categories of women rights; general and specific. Islam has acknowledged man and woman as equal and equivalent partners of the family system. There mutual cooperation lays the foundation of a peaceful, prosperous and healthy society. According to Islamic injunctions, the socio-economic environment of the society must ensure mutual trust, matrimonial harmony, and respect of rights for both men and women. The social norms need consistent evolution to be conducive to a happy life of individuals. It goes without saying that population growth must go hand in hand with papulation planning while prosperity is directly proportional to proper management of both human and economic resources. The present article analyzes the social stereo-types about women, their conjugal rights, family planning and care for women’s reproductive health, in the light of guidance provided by Qur’an and Sunnah. Islam.

Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Bluetongue Virus in Punjab and Balochistan

Bluetongue (BT) is a vector-borne disease of immense economic importance for small and large ruminants. Despite frequent disease reports from neighboring countries, a little is known about current disease status and prevalent serotypes in Pakistan. We screened a total of 1,312 healthy animals (sheep= 326, goat= 476, cattle= 234, buffalo= 276) from Punjab and 876 from clinically healthy sheep (475) and goats (401) from Balochistan for the detection of group-specific antibodies and serotype-specific genome for BT virus through competitive ELISA and real-time PCR, respectively. An overall prevalence of group-specific VP7 antibodies [28.81% (n= 378/1312, 95% CI=26.4 – 31.4)] was observed in Punjab. The prevalence was higher in goats [40.75% (n=194/476, 95% CI=36.4 – 45.3)] followed by buffalo [29.34% (n=81/276, 95% CI=24.3 – 34.9)], sheep [18.40% (n= 60/326, 95% CI=14.5 – 22.9)] and cattle [17.94% (n= 42/234, 95% CI= 13.56 – 23.4)]. The odds of seropositivity were more in buffalo of Nili breed (OR= 2.06, 95% CI= 1.19-3.58) as well as those found with a presence of vector (OR= 2.04, 95% CI= 1.16-3.59). Buffalo and cattle with history of abortion [(OR= 3.95, 95% CI= 1.33-11.69) and (OR= 5.89, 95% CI= 1.80-19.27) respectively] were much likely to be infected with the disease. Serotype 8 was detected in all animal species while, serotypes 4 and 6 were detected in sheep, 2, 6 and 11 in goat, and 2 and 16 in buffalo. The study concludes a much frequent exposure of different serotypes of Bluetongue virus (BTV) in small and large ruminants and indicates its expansion to enzootic range worldwide.In Balochistan, none of the study herds (n = 97) were seronegative for BTV, and at the individual level, the overall prevalence of BTV seroconversion was 47.26% (n = 414/876, 95% CI=43.92-50.63%). A higher percentage of goats (50.87%, 95% CI = 45.99-55.73%) were seropositive for anti-VP7 immunoglobulins (IgG) than sheep (44.21%, 95% CI= 39.81-48.70%). Odds of seroconversion for goats were associated with breed-type (χ2 = 16.84, p = 0.01), parity (χ2 = 23.66, p = 0.00) and presence of vector (χ2 = 2.63, p = 0.10), whereas for sheep, it was associated with breed-type (χ2 = 13.80, p = 0.01) and parity (χ2 = 53.40, p = 0.00). The presence of vector was also observed to be a risk factor in goat. Serotype 8 was the most prevalent (26.82%, 95% CI=14.75-43.21%) followed by an equal prevalence of serotypes 2 and 9 (7.31%, 95% CI= 1.91-21.01%). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in Balochistan province and the results indicate that there is a necessity to initiate intervention strategies to control BT disease burden not only in this region of Pakistan but also in adjacent areas of the neighboring countries, Iran and Afghanistan.