The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked unprecedented public health and social measures (PHSM) by national and local governments, including border restrictions, school closures, mandatory facemask use and stay at home orders. Quantifying the effectiveness of these interventions in reducing disease transmission is key to rational policy making in response to the current and future pandemics. In order to estimate the effectiveness of these interventions, detailed descriptions of their timelines, scale and scope are needed. The Health Intervention Tracking for COVID-19 (HIT-COVID) is a curated and standardized global database that catalogues the implementation and relaxation of COVID-19 related PHSM. With a team of over 200 volunteer contributors, we assembled policy timelines for a range of key PHSM aimed at reducing COVID-19 risk for the national and first administrative levels (e.g. provinces and states) globally, including details such as the degree of implementation and targeted populations. We continue to maintain and adapt this database to the changing COVID-19 landscape so it can serve as a resource for researchers and policymakers alike.

In the early months of the pandemic, most reported cases and deaths due to COVID-19 occurred in high-income countries. However, insufficient testing could have led to an underestimation of true infections in many low-and middle-income countries. As confirmed cases increase, the ultimate impact of the pandemic on individuals and communities in low-and middle-income countries is uncertain. We therefore propose research in three broad areas as urgently needed to inform responses in low-and middle-income countries: transmission patterns of SARS-CoV-2, the clinical characteristics of the disease, and the impact of pandemic prevention and response measures. Answering these questions will require a multidisciplinary approach led by local investigators and in some cases additional resources. Targeted research activities should be done to help mitigate the potential burden of COVID-19 in low-and middle-income countries without diverting the limited human resources, funding, or medical supplies from response activities.

Background As population health and well-being are influenced by multiple factors that cut across sectoral boundaries, an intersectoral approach that acknowledges and leverages the multiple determinants, actors and sectors at play is increasingly seen as critical for achieving meaningful and lasting improvements. In this study, we utilize social network analysis (SNA) to characterize the intersectoral collaboration between the organizations working on maternal & child health (MCH) and water & sanitation (WASH) before and immediately after the implementation of HCL Foundation (HCLF)-funded HCL Samuday Project (2015–2017) in a rural block of Uttar Pradesh state, India. While SNA has been used to examine public health issues, few have used it monitor stakeholder relationships, intervene, improve and facilitate project implementation involving intersectoral partnerships, particularly in the context of a low-and middle-income countries. Method An organization-level SNA was conducted with 31 key informants from 24 organizations working on MCH and/or WASH in Kachhauna, Uttar Pradesh, India. Data were collected using face-to-face, semi-structured interviews between June and September 2017. Density, centrality and homophily were calculated to describe the network and a qualitative analysis was also conducted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of collaboration between organizations working on MCH and WASH. Results Overall, our findings showed that the network of organizations working on MCH and WASH in Kachhauna grew in number since the implementation of Samuday . HCLF rapidly achieved centrality, thus positioning the organization to serve as a gatekeeper of information and enabling it to play a coordinator role within the network. Direct collaboration between other organizations working on MCH and WASH was low at both time points. Interviews with key informants indicated widespread interest in increasing interorganizational interactions and engagement throughout the network. Conclusion This study demonstrates the feasibility and practical application of SNA for projects like Samuday that involve intersectoral collaboration. It also provides lessons about the use of SNA with organizations as the unit of analysis and in the context of rural India, including challenges, practical considerations, and limitations.

Introduction:Water is indispensible for human existence. Water pollution is the most serious environmental quality issue all over the world, yet the people are less aware and give little emphasis on the vital connection between water and health. Drinking water of most communities and municipalities in Nepal is obtained from surface sources, rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. Most of these sources of water are likely to pollute with domestic and industrial wastes and many types of microorganisms present in water causes various types of infectious diseases. Therefore, we intend to Þ nd the bacteriological water quality of Kathmandu valley. Methods:A total of 200 water samples collected from different sources (over head tank, well and tube wells, taps, springs through spouts and household Þ lter) from different parts of Kathmandu Valley were subjected for bacteriological analysis by MPN (3 sets 3 tubes) method. Presence of fecal coliform was detected by Eijkman test.Result: Out of total 200 water samples, 130 (65.0%) were unsatisfactory, 19 (9.5%) were intermediate (suspicious), 30 (15.0%) were satisfactory and remaining 21(10.5%) were excellent. Of the unsatisfactory water samples subjected to Eijkman test, 22.0% of overhead tank, 30.0% of ground water, 30.0% of piped tap water, 40.0% of natural tap (spout) and none of the household Þ lter water showed fecal coliforms. Water contamination rate was higher during summer than in winter season. Conclusion:It is concluded that most of the water sources of Kathmandu valley are bacteriologically unsatisfactory for drinking. Keeping in view of these Þ ndings, an immediate action with regard to prevent drinking water sources from contamination and proper treatment of water treatment plant is strongly suggested. ABSTRACT Introduction:Water is indispensible for human existence. Water pollution is the most serious environmental quality issue all over the world, yet the people are less aware and give little emphasis on the vital connection between water and health. Drinking water of most communities and municipalities in Nepal is obtained from surface sources, rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. Most of these sources of water are likely to the polluted with domestic and industrial wastes and many types of microorganisms present in water causes various types of infectious diseases. Therefore, we intend to Þ nd the bacteriological water quality of Kathmandu valley. Methods:A total of 200 water samples collected from different sources (over head tank, well and tube wells, taps, springs through spouts and household Þ lter) from different parts of Kathmandu Valley were subjected for bacteriological analysis by MPN (3 sets 3 tubes) method. Presence of fecal coliform was detected by Eijkman test.Results: Out of total 200 water samples, 130 (65.0%) were unsatisfactory, 19 (9.5%) were intermediate (suspicious), 30 (15.0%) were satisfactory and remaining 21(10.5%) were excellent. Of the unsatisfactory water samples subjected to Eijkman test, 22.0% of overhead tank, 30.0% of ground water, 30...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of bacteria in hands of school going children in a rural area of eastern part of Nepal. Contaminated hands play a major role in faeco-oral transmission of diseases. The students can expose themselves to infection if they do not properly wash their hands before taking food. Methods: The study was done in a remote school of eastern part of Nepal in 2013. A prospective study was done on 200 school children of age group 10 years to 15 years. Swab samples collected from all the children were transported to the laboratory within one to two hours of its collection. The samples were kept in nutrient broth for overnight incubation. They were then sub-cultured aerobically at 37°C on 5% defibrinated sheep blood agar and MacConkey agar plates for 24-48 hrs. Then the plates were examined to quantify the organisms present according to Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines.Results: Out of 200 dominant hand swabs of school children of age group 10 years to 15 years, 52 children (26.0%) were harboring pathogenic bacteria in their hands. The major aerobic pathogenic bacteria in hands were i.e. Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp, Enterococci spp, Escherichia coli, Klebsiellaspp, Acinetobactersppand Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In most of the hands normal flora like Diphtheroids spp, Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CONS), Micrococci spp and some yeast were found.Conclusion: The finding of the study concludes that there is high incidence of aerobic bacterial flora in the hands of school going children of eastern part of Nepal. The incidence of infection was due to lack of proper hand washing before meal. The school should be told to keep soaps in the toilets for hand washing and conduct continue health education about proper hand washing and maintain cleanliness both in the schools and at the community level.