Workplace accident has a devastating and long term effect on the lives of people who are affected. Globally, workplace accidents are estimated at 317 million annually and 6300 workers die daily of occupational diseases and accidents. This study determines the characteristic of workplace injuries, accident frequency rate (AFR), accident severity rate (ASR) and leading causes across six ferroalloy industries in Bhutan. From the total numbers of 1366 workers, a sample size of 300 was considered and distributed proportionately among the companies and the departments within the companies. Information was gathered through face-to-face interview, observation, and secondary data maintained by each company. This study found that the workplace injury rate was 200 (20%) per 1000 workers, with over all AFR 62.45 and ASR 583.20 per million hours of work annually among the six ferroalloy industries. Out of 561 lost working days, 516 days were lost due to major injury with AFR 11.45 and ASR 540.20 per million hours work annually. This study found that AFR alone cannot be used as an exclusive indicator for predicting the occurrence of severe events at workplace. Contact with object and equipment (44.2%), fall from height (20.9%) and contact with the hot substance (26.7%) were three main leading causes of workplace accidents among ferroalloy industries. Comparing between the survey data and accident record maintained by each company, though it showed a similar nature, the frequency was found to be higher in survey data

Introduction: Rapid urbanization has led to increased need for informal sector services in India. Street food vendors are also among them. Their role is vital in maintenance of hygienic food conditions. But their hygienic status and environmental conditions are relatively sub-standard. So, an assessment at their level is required for formulation of guidelines. Methods: A total of 130 vendors were included in the study by convenient sampling. Face-to-face interview technique with a questionnaire was used to gather data. Results: Personal hygiene of the street food vendor is poor. Gloves (10.8%) and aprons (3.8%) were used by very less number of vendors. Besides these hazards, exposure to dust (80%) and flies (71.5%) was present. Conclusion: Street food vendors are exposed to personal and environment hazards. Lack of any training on food hygiene and safety is a major setback. There is need to regulate these vendors with mandatory certification.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reproductive tract infections (RTIs) form an important public health problem with a huge burden of disease and an adverse impact on reproductive health of people worldwide. Caused by a variety of infectious agents and manifesting as different clinical syndromes, STIs/RTIs remain highly prevalent in India too, reportedly up to 6% in general population (and maybe higher in reality due to secrecy maintained by many people around such diseases) and much more in certain vulnerable population groups. The situation has worsened further with the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and resultant acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Similarities of unique host risk behaviors and socio-demographic factors associated with STIs, RTIs and HIV/AIDS call for an integrated approach for their control with multipronged intervention strategies. The National AIDS Control Programme, the National RTI/STI Control Programme, the National Strategy for Elimination of Parent-to-Child Transmission of Syphilis, the National Blood Policy, and other related health programs and policies have set out clear objectives and guiding principles for phased programmatic interventions, with focus on checking the spread of these infections through health education, behavior change, targeted interventions, early diagnosis, and prompt treatment. Freely available and easily accessible services for comprehensive care, support, and treatment of patients with these infections will help reduce the disease burden and improve their reproductive health as well as overall well-being. Increased decentralization of public health services; strengthening institutional capacities; setting up of designated STI/RTI clinics, antiretroviral treatment (ART) clinics and integrated counseling and testing centers; availability of rapid test kits, color-coded drug kits for syndromic treatment and ART treatment; promotion of condoms; integrated counseling and testing; partner notification; involvement of non-governmental organizations; community mobilization; universal precautions and augmentation of voluntary blood donation; robust surveillance; evidence-based planning, and effective program implementation are major components for control of these infections. The present systematic review discusses the current situation, the key programmatic measures, and the way forward for control of STIs/RTIs and HIV/AIDS in India.

A variety of quality issues affect groundwater in India. The reasons for these quality problems are rooted to groundwater exploitation, external contamination from point/non-point sources and natural geogenic processes. Biological and chemical contamination of water account for a massive disease burden on society leading to child mortality, labor loss due to recurring disease, chronic ailments, etc. The impact of some of these problems is exacerbated due to current hygiene, malnutrition and poverty status of the people. The key problems can be pointed out as – biological contamination, fluoride, salinity, nitrate and iron problems, and industrial contamination. Apart from these, other quality problems such as strontium, heavy elements, etc., also exist and interact with these wider-spread problems. One of the main challenges we face is the lack of good and vast geological understanding of the distribution of these contaminants. Since the current network of quality measurements is highly insufficient, numerous civil society initiatives have emerged attempting to involve community in monitoring water quality. Some understanding has emerged out of this, but the quality of these measurements and kits are sometimes in question. The social burden of some of these quality problems has been documented by research studies. Problems such as fluorosis impose a massive social cost which can be a significant part of the income. On an already malnutritioned population, fluorosis and arsenicosis add to health complication leading to severity which otherwise would not be observed in healthy individuals. The loss to agricultural productivity from water quality problems arises especially in salinity affected areas. In iron-affected areas, pipes and wells can be affected. Kidney stone, a root cause of which is poor hydration, is also a major health burden. Mitigation measures are possible for each of these quality problems. In many cases, however, there is interaction between quality problems such as those with iron-arsenic-fluoride (Assam), salinity-fluoride (Saurashtra, Gujarat) and say, biological-arsenic (WB). Therefore, we need a region-specific typological approach that considers the particular characteristic problem of the area. There are good successful cases for several of these mitigation issues – watershed-based measures along the coast for salinity in Saurashtra, RO plants in affluent areas across the country, rain water harvesting for assuring safe drinking water, referral hospitals for particular problems such as fluorosis, low cost filters for fluoride, arsenic, etc. As a good response to all these problems, what we need is integration of efforts – across different disciplines such as geology, health, technology and management; across different departments such as public health, water supply, education, rural development; across tiers of the government and Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs), across public and private institutions. Water quality management needs to enter into every aspect of governance in order to achieve an overall impact.