Table 1 Glossary of terms
From: Community health and medical provision: impact on neonates (the CHAMPION trial)
Neonatal Mortality Rate | Number of deaths during the first 28 completed days of life per 1000 live births in a given year. |
Perinatal Mortality Rate | The number of perinatal deaths per 1000 total births in a given year. The perinatal period starts at the beginning of foetal viability (28 weeks gestation) and ends at the end of the 7th day after delivery. Perinatal deaths are the sum of stillbirths plus early neonatal deaths. |
Infant Mortality Rate | Number of children dying under a year of age per 1000 live births in a given year. |
Village Health Worker | A local woman from the village trained primarily to deliver health education to eligible women and refer them to the midwife for antenatal pregnancy-related and postnatal services. |
Gram Panchayat | The Gram Panchayat is the executive organ of the Gram Sabha, an agency for planning and development at the village level. Its size varies from 15–30, and the population it covers also varies widely from 5,000 – 15,000. The members of the Panchayat hold office for 3–4 years. Every Panchayat has an elected President (Sarpanch) and the Vice president (Panchayat Secretary) The powers and functions of the Panchayat Secretary are very wide – they cover the entire field of civic administration, including sanitation and public health and of social and economic development in the villages. |
Thanda | Administratively, a thanda refers to a hamlet with a small population (around 100 households) vis-à-vis 'villages'. Each thanda is considered a part of a nearby village although the two habitations could be distant from each other. |
Penta | A Tribal Chenchu village is known as a "penta". Each penta consists of few huts that are spaced apart and are grouped together based on kinship pattern. The close relatives live nearby and the distant ones farther away. Their homes comprise of few belongings and are generally sparse and Spartan in appearance. |
Anganwadi Worker | Angan literally means "courtyard." Under the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme, there is an Anganwadi worker for each population of 1000 people. She is selected from the community and undergoes training in various aspects of health, nutrition and child development. She is a part time worker and is paid an honorarium for service including health checkups, immunisation, supplementary nutrition, health education, and informal preschool education and referral services for women in general and children below the age of 6 years. |
DALYs | Disability Adjusted Life Years is the sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability. |
Gram Sabha | An assembly of all the adults of a given village which meets at least twice in a year. The Gram Sabha considers proposals for taxation, discusses annual programmes and elects members of the Gram Panchayat. |