Schools are educational hubs, which in developed countries have been very aptly used for the health promotion of simple endemic diseases and advocating levels of prevention. The infrastructure and in-depth curriculum are often instrumental in targeting good knowledge of health and disease, which can be achieved at an early age. Thus, this helps in curbing the transmission and addresses preventive strategies. In India, which strongly represents the developing world; even though the schools do not impress in terms of infrastructure, the integration with the health sector is remarkable at the programmatic and health policy level. The article essays the roles for which schools have been used appreciably, more in the context of safety during trying conditions, and takes a sneak peek into the newer roles and challenges poised during the pandemic of COVID-19.

Sports have been long neglected in our country both in terms of excelling in any sport and hosting events. Even if the country hosts, usually the opportunity goes to the capital city or other metros. Covid 19 pandemic had further compounded the stalemate over the last two years due to evidence against crowd events. But, Odisha state has taken everyone by surprise by hosting the World cup men’s hockey and the study is a basic descriptive observational showcase of health-related safety measures that were ascertained during the matches. The event not only let 3 cities in the state namely Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, and Cuttack get a makeover in terms of tourist destinations but also a fast track check was done on the safety preparations within the stadium. Tool used was a self-devised pre-tested checklist as per Event management standards and the results were that almost international standards were adhered to in terms of crowd management for parking, entry points, sitting arrangements, water, and toilets. Covid appropriate behavior was disregarded due to zero case reporting for over a year. Public was also satisfied with the preparedness and there was a renewed enthusiasm for sports for all age groups, which was a welcome sight after the restricted activity during Covid. The state has taken baby steps towards establishing itself on the Global map as a state that could take up Global sporting events effortlessly. It has added advantage of propagating the rich heritage and culture of the state as well as promoting sports among the public.

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The COVID 19 pandemic is one of the worst pandemics that struck the world, after the Spanish flu in 1918 and stalled the entire public health care system. Initially in the absence of definite drugs, the primary mitigation priority was prevention. Its web like spread put pressure on the accessory health care systems too and the most affected were perhaps the Pharmacy. In India the pharmacy are an integral part of health services, with desperate demand for an array of supplies and drugs, affecting the Pharmacies and their functioning tremendously, they too have contributed immensely in the mitigation strategies of the government. The study assesses the pharmacies in terms of their preparedness to cope with the demands and enhancement of role of the pharmacists to provide cost effective and consumer friendly services.Online services were good and satisfactory and were offered by only the big scale pharmacy (67%) ;Pharmacists from small scale set ups were yet to be vaccinated (33.3%), preparedness was optimum in terms masks and sanitization of premises, but IEC materials were missing in the small shops(44.4%); supplies were good and surplus but small scale ones sometimes sold the cost effective one’s; adjuvant drugs were in excess but drugs for moderate to severe form of COVID were limited to facility based pharmacyonly. Non COVID medications,in order to prioritize COVID drugs,went missing.Stock charts were displayed by big and middle level shops. Study suggests the pharmacy role in managing a pandemic is upnteem and periodic checks and regulations should be revised as per needs of the time.