Introduction: Twentieth century heralded accelerated health transition which brought Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) to the forefront of global public health challenges. Global trends suggest that these diseases to a large extent are associated with life styles like-unhealthy dietary intake, physical inactivity, tobacco use, high alcohol consumption and are on the rise Objectives: To assess the risk of Non Communicable Diseases among the community using Community Based Assessment Checklist. Methods: 266 patients over 30 years of age, presenting to OPD were assessed on their behaviour. Risk score on the risk factors like Age, Tobacco and Alcohol consumption, Physical inactivity, Waist measurement and Family history of NCDs were taken. Each risk factor has an allotted score from 0 to 2, a total score above 4 poses the individual at risk for developing NCDs. Results: 28% individuals had an average score above 4, 48% at 4 and 24 % had a score below 4. Conclusion:Populations having a higher level of score needs an urgent health intervention so that it ongoing burden of NCDs can be halted or controlled.

Context: “Aging India” has become a phenomenon of public health importance. Old age is beset with physical, mental, and social challenges. Among these, mental health concerns are least prioritized in most of the developing countries with depression being the most common and easy to screen. Aims: To assess the burden of geriatric depression and determine its association with sociodemographic factors such as religion, age, gender, education, marital status, and family type. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in July-August 2018 in village Kirpind in north India. Methodology: 162 subjects aged 60 years or more, both males and females participated in the study. Depression was assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale and those with a GDS score >=5 were categorized as depressed. Statistical Analysis Used: Pearson's Chi-square test and binary logistic regression were used for analysis. Results: Nearly 59.3% of subjects had no depression, 33.9% were suffering from mild to moderate depression whereas 6.8% were severely depressed. The mean age of subjects was 69 (±7.4) years. Chi-square test was used to study the association of various factors with depression and only female gender showed a positive statistical association. On using binary logistic regression analysis, being female again emerged to be a significant predictor of depression while no other factor was significantly associated with the outcome. Conclusions: There is a need to sensitize primary care workers and physicians to identify and manage geriatric depression early. It also points towards the need for multicentric, longitudinal studies evaluating various aspects of geriatric depression.

Context: In spite of convincing evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding, breast feeding rates are less than satisfactory, thus pinpointing large gaps, which need to be identified and addressed. Aims: To examine the knowledge, attitude and practices of postnatal mothers towards breast feeding. Settings and Design: Community Hospital-based CrossSectional study. Methods and Materials: The study was done for a period of 4 months among 178 women attending outpatient department of paediatrics. Data collection was done with the help of face to face interview using pre-tested pre-designed structured questionnaire having information about demographic profile of study participants and knowledge, attitude and practices of breast feeding. Statistical Analysis Used: The data was presented as frequencies and percentages. Results: Majority (89.9%) of the mothers were breast feeding, however, only 42.7% of the mothers exclusively breast fed their kids. 82.5% of the mothers believe that cow's milk can be substituted for breast milk. All the mothers continue to breast fed their babies during sickness. Almost all respondents were aware of the importance of colostrum, while 80.3% had the misconception that they should stop breast feeding once when weaning was started. Conclusions: Mothers should be counselled during antenatal period and all the misconceptions regarding breast feeding should be appropriately addressed.

Introduction: Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) play an important role in decreasing the morbidity and mortality associated with poor WASH practices. Poor knowledge and awareness lead to an increase in communicable diseases. Objective: To assess and report the core indicators on sanitation and drinking water from urban slums using standardized WHO and UNICEF questionnaires. Materials and Methodology: The present observational cross-sectional study was conducted for 2 months i.e., from September 2019 to October 2019 in urban slums of Trikuta Nagar, a field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, GMC Jammu. Information was gathered from the head of the household as well as from other household members. About 50% of the population were selected randomly by lottery method i.e., 450 and consist of 112 households. However, at the time of the study, only 100 households were assessed because of the nonavailability of household members and some houses were locked at the time of the interview. Results: The study revealed that nearly 62% of families were of a joint type and most of the families were headed by male members. Around 82.5% of the slum members used water for drinking from improved source but only 21.5% of the household members used adequate water treatment method i.e., boiling. Besides, about 49.5% of the household members used improved sanitation facilities. Conclusion: Local administration needs to accelerate the process of supplying piped water connections to the underserved to improve their drinking water sources and also increase access to basic sanitation services at the household level.

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