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Background: Hypertension is major risk factor for CVDs and its complications account for 9.4 million deaths worldwide every year. Hypertension itself is responsible for about 45% and 51% deaths due to heart disease and stroke respectively. Hypertension is a major public health concern in India both in urban and rural areas and it is increasing at an alarming rate in rural population. Because of inadequate access to health care facilities at rural areas, the early screening and treatment of hypertension is not done regularly, so we conducted this study. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of hypertension in a rural community of North Kerala. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted at rural field practice area of Kannur Medical College, Kannur. Sample size was 151 and convenient sampling method used. Data was collected visiting homes and blood pressure measured with mercury sphygmomanometer by. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: Among 152 participants, 52.3% and 47.7% were females and males respectively and mean age of the participants was 51.01±15.25 years. The overall prevalence of hypertension among them was 18.5% and the proportion of hypertension was more among the age group of 60-69 years (39.3%). Conclusions: Our study shows that hypertension is not only a concern of the urban population, but also important issue in rural areas. Newly diagnosed cases are more which indicates, people are not aware about importance of regular screening. Since screening helps in early detection, so strengthening of health facilities and creation of awareness at rural levels will reduce the morbidity and mortality due to hypertension and its complications.

BACKGROUND:Obesity is a chronic disease, prevalent both in developed and developing countries affecting children as well as adults by increasing lifetime cardiovascular risk. There is evidence that children and adolescents of affluent families are overweight than in the past possibly because of decreased physical activities, sedentary lifestyles, altered eating patterns and increased fat content in the diet. AIMS: To find out the proportion of obesity among college students and to assess the level of physical activity and also compare the level physical activity among the obese and nonobese college students. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This study was done as a crosssectional study with both descriptive and analytical components. This study was conducted on a random sample of college students who attended an intercollegiate meet in Chennai. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Based on the current prevalence of obesity, as published by various studies, the sample size was estimated to be 350. This cross-sectional survey comprised of a self-administered questionnaire and collected anthropometric measurements from these students. Body mass index (BMI) was used for weight status. The questionnaire "International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)" was given to students to fill in the physical activity. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were analysed using SPSS. Socio demographic factors, BMI and physical activity were calculated as percentages. Multivariate logistic regression was performed for men and women separately with obesity as the dependent variable. RESULTS: This study reports the predominance of male obesity (18.47%) than the female obesity (16.58%) though the overall prevalence of obesity was not statistically significant. Only 17.1% belonged to the high activity category. 45.7% (160) and 37.1% (130) of students belonged to moderate and low activity group respectively. Significantly more number of females exhibited physical inactivity compared to males (p<0.001). Only 60 non-obese students were physically active (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This study shows a positive association between physical activity and obesity. Integrating physical education at the school and college level to promote the physical well-being of children as well as college students is the need of the hour.

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India has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world with 2.1 million Indians accounting for about four out of 10 people infected with the deadly virus in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a UN report. 1 According to National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in India (2015) was estimated at 21.17 lakhs. The adult HIV prevalence has continued its steady decline from an estimated peak of 0.38% in 2001-03 through 0.34% in 2007 and 0.28% in 2012 to 0.26% in 2015. 2 Due to the increasing incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS, its big impact on health system, the World Health Organization has stressed the importance of including training in sensitivity, communication skills, and the development of compassionate attitudes toward HIV infected patients in the medical curriculum. 3 The medical students who are the future doctors should have adequate knowledge, who in turn may educate and provide useful information to all other different kinds of health personnel in their surroundings to provide care to AIDS/HIV positive patients. Therefore, the comprehensive knowledge of the first year students who ABSTRACT Background: India has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world with 2.1 million Indians accounting for about four out of 10 people infected with the deadly virus. The lack of awareness and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS is responsible for rapid spread in our country. Many studies reported that early educational intervention has the potential to bridge the gap both in knowledge and the negative attitudes directed towards those with HIV infection. This study was conducted to assess awareness regarding HIV/AIDS in newly admitted medical students and to assess awareness regarding HIV/AIDS among first year medical students of a private medical college in Kerala, India. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on first year MBBS students of a private medical college, Kerala. A total of 135 students were interviewed using pre-validated, semi structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: All the students (100%) were aware about HIV/AIDS disease, its causative agent and diagnostics test. Majority of the students were aware about the modes of transmission and preventive approaches. A few of the respondents believed wrongly that the virus can be transmitted through mosquito bite, by hugging and kissing, through urine as well as sharing of same toilet seats and clothes with an infected person. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates an overall satisfactory level of awareness on routes of transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. A continuous such surveys at regular intervals would further help to assess the level of awareness and attitude towards HIV/AIDS for designing future educative programmes.