Blogs

A clear, step-by-step explanation of how to calculate the expected date of delivery and gestational age using Naegele’s rule, cycle correction, and ultrasound dating.

Explore how pregnancy is divided into trimesters and gestational age categories — essential for accurate monitoring, risk assessment, and timely interventions.

Primigravida
A primigravida is a woman who is pregnant for the very first time.
• Think of “primi-” as ‘first’ — this term highlights her first experience of carrying a pregnancy, regardless of the outcome.

Multigravida
A multigravida refers to a woman who has been pregnant two or more times.
• The term “multi-” stands for ‘many’, indicating that she has conceived before, whether or not those pregnancies reached viability.

Decode the GPAL system and learn how gravida, para, abortions, and living children are recorded to summarize a woman’s obstetric history effectively.

An aqua privy is not much different from a septic tank. The difference is that the latrine/s is located directly over the tank.
• The excreta enter it directly from the latrine through a drop pipe.
• This pipe is submerged under water inside the privy.
• This water directly acts as the water seal for one or more latrines opening into it.
A septic tank can treat wastewater from both the kitchen and the toilet, while an aqua privy is designed to handle only toilet waste.
Basic Design

A septic tank is an underground excreta (sewage) treatment system used in rural or suburban areas where there is no access to a centralized sewer system.
It’s a self-contained tank that collects and treats the human waste from one or more homes.
It is buried in the ground near the home/s. Think of it as the "middleman" between the excreta and the environment, filtering out harmful substances before the treated water is released back into the soil.
The tank is usually made of concrete, though fiberglass or plastic tanks are now available.

What Makes Up an RCA Latrine?
Whether it's the PRAI or RCA type, both have the same essential parts — only the technical details differ slightly. You’ll typically see:
1. A squatting plate
2. A pan for excreta reception
3. A trap for maintaining water-seal
4. A system positioned after the water seal, for safe and hygienic excreta disposal
 Connecting pipe
 The Pit (Dug-well)
5. A super-structure

A beginner-friendly explanation of the water seal used in toilets and latrines—how the curved trap holds water, blocks foul gases, stops flies, and improves hygiene. The blog covers the science behind the water seal, its use in rural sanitation systems, connections to pits, septic tanks, and sewers, and proven designs like RCA and PRAI latrines widely used across India.

A simple public-health explanation of how fecal-borne diseases are transmitted through contaminated water, hands, soil, flies, and unsafe food. The blog describes the concept of the sanitation barrier—safe toilets, waste disposal, hygiene, clean water, and fly control—and how these break the chain of infection and prevent diseases like cholera, typhoid, and dysentery.

A practical comparison of borehole and dug-well latrines used in rural sanitation. The blog discusses design, excavation methods, lining requirements, excreta disposal mechanisms, groundwater safety considerations, and their relevance in India’s public-health sanitation systems. Useful for MBBS students, public health learners, and community health workers.