Objective: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among beauticians and to identify occupational risk factors associated with the infections. Methods: The cross-sectional study of 247 randomly enrolled beauticians was conducted in Quy Nhon City, Viet Nam. Knowledge, perceptions, and practices towards occupational risk of HBV and HCV infections were evaluated using an anonymous questionnaire. Blood samples were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies against HBV and HCV by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Viral genotyping by real time quantitative PCR was performed for those testing positives for HBsAg and anti-HCV antibodies. Results: The prevalence of HBV and HCV infections was 7.3% (18/247, 95% CI: 4.4-11.3) and 0%, respectively. Among HBsAg(+) subjects, 72.2% (13/18) were identified as being infected with HBV genotype B. Overall, 198/247 (80.2%) perceived that they are at risk of being infected by hepatitis through work. Nearly half of participants (43.3%) were not immune to HBV. Discussions: The prevalence of HBV and HCV infections among beauticians was comparable to the general population previously of Vietnam; no occupational risk factors associated with infections were found. This finding proposed that beauticians might not be a high-risk group for HBV and HCV infections. However, the study revealed a high proportion of persons susceptible to HBV infections suggesting that public health preventive strategies and vaccination targeting these professionals should be implemented.

Child abuse has serious physical, and psycho-social effect which adversely affect the health and overall well-being of a child. It is a worldwide problem. Child abuse can be in the form of physical abuse, when the child suffers bodily harm. It can be sexual abuse arising from subjecting the child to inappropriate exposure to sexual acts or materials or passive use of the child as sexual stimuli and/or actual sexual contacts. Child abuse can also be in the form of emotional abuse involving coercive, constant belittling, shaming, threatening, exposing the child to violence or abuse of others or any other demeaning acts. Lastly, child abuse can be in the form of child neglect, when an able caregiver fails to provide basic needs, adequate food, clothing, hygiene, supervision shelter, supervision, medical care, or support to the child.[1] Keeping this in mind a study was undertaken to assess the knowledge of selected parents about child abuse in a selected community of Delhi.30 parents from a selected community of Delhi were selected using Purposive sampling technique for the study in order to assess the knowledge score of Parents. The tools developed and used for data collection were structured knowledge questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics in terms of frequency, percentage, mean, SD, ‘t’ value and coefficient correlation. The major findings of the study were: the mean posttest knowledge score Of parents was significantly higher than the pre test knowledge score with a mean difference of 7.2. The obtained mean difference was found to be statistically significant as evident from the ‘t’ value of (8.40) for df (29) at 0.05 level of significance . Thus the structured teaching program was found to be effective in enhancing the knowledge of parents regarding child abuse.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes is increasing worldwide and is expected to reach 4% by 2030. The risk of diabetes increases with the presence of more and more risk factors. Being categorized among Amraz-e-baridah, diabetes was more expected to affect Amzaja-e-barida (balghami and saudavi). The IDRS is a simple, feasible and low cost tool for studying the diabetes risk. Aims of the study: To assess the risk score of diabetes among the subjects of different temperaments using IDRS. A cross sectional study was conducted on adult subjects (n=358) of both gender and four temperaments at department of Tashreeh wa Munafeul Aza, faculty of unani medicine, AMU, Aligarh during April 2017 – April 2018. A semi- structured interview was scheduled consisting of socio-demographic characteristics. The temperament assessment questionnaire based on Ajnas-e-Ashrah was used to assess the mizaj-e-Shakhsi and IDRS pro forma was used to determine the diabetes risk score of the subjects. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS. Results: More than half of the selected subjects (54.24%) were found to be at Moderate risk of developing diabetes in near future while around one tenth of the total subjects (13.40%) were at high risk. A good percentage (22.34%) was found to be at No risk. 80.96% Balghami subjects selected for this study were found to be at risk of having diabetes. Conclusion: The subjects having more of Barudat and Ratubat in their Amzaja were found to be at greater risk of developing Diabetes hence this screening is of utmost importance and can be proved beneficial for timely interventions.

Introduction: Mothers and children are not only a vulnerable group but even a major group consuming health services. In Indian society, Mother and child health (MCH) is surrounded by a wide range of customs and beliefs. Possible attention is necessary to focus on wrong practices and beliefs to prevent health systems to suffer from inefficiency and poor utilization. One of the methods to involve community in identifying and analyzing the problem is participatory rural appraisal (PRA), which helps in drawing framework to understand, analyze and develop programs with communities. Objectives: (1) To determine the health problems and needs of women in a rural area. (2) To assess the cultural beliefs related to mother and child health in the rural community. Methodology: Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was conducted with women of a rural village, Giriyapura in Davangere taluk. The methods used in the PRA technique were village mapping, village transect, and focus-group discussion. All the women of the village were informed about the objective of the study and those who came voluntarily (n=37) to participate were included in the study. Results: PRA resulted in empowering community involvement among the participants. The participants took charge of identification of health problems and their perceived causes for the same. The health needs were identified and prioritized. Need of transportation was the main priority of the participants. Cultural practices related to mother and child health were charted out. Conclusion: The most important perceived need of villagers was transport facility. Many cultural beliefs surrounded the mother and child health, of which some were unscientific. PRA was successful to an extent in obtaining information about health problems and needs of the community.

Introduction: Homeless people are unable to get and maintain regular, safe, and sound houses or lack of fixed, usual and adequate night-time residence. Urban homeless people constitute the most marginalized and invisible category. Objective: To study the sociodemographic and economic characteristics of homeless living at one such “night shelter” in Delhi. Materials and Methods: In a conveniently chosen “night shelter” for homeless, 48 families were interviewed. Data was collected for 258 individuals. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, income, any addiction and self-reported health problems was collected. Results: The average number of family members was 5.38. 51.94% participants were adult. Dependency ratio was 88.32%. 91.8% of adult subjects were illiterate. Illiteracy was more common among adult females. 67.74% children were out of school with a higher proportion of females among these children (53.66%). 18.55% children were working to support their family income. Average daily per capita family income was Rs. 113.02 94. 2% including children were addicted to a tobacco-containing dentifrice. Addiction to tobacco or alcohol was common among adults of both sexes (63%). Conclusion: We observed that women and children form a sizable number among the homeless. Very little is known about the characteristics of this vulnerable population, which therefore requires urgent attention.