Background: Indian markets are flooded with more than 100,000 formulations, compared to approximately 350 formulations listed in the World Health Organization (WHO) essential drug list. To promote rational drug use in developing countries, assessment of drug use patterns with the WHO drug use indicators is becoming increasingly necessary. This study was conducted to study the prescribing patterns using WHO prescribing indicators in government healthcare facilities in a district of Assam.Methods: This was a cross sectional study carried out from July to September 2017. Out of total 4 blocks in Tinsukia district one (Ketetong) was randomly selected. All the primary and secondary level government health facilities were included and visited one by one. All the prescriptions on that day of visit were digitally photographed at the pharmacy of the health institution after taking written informed consent from the patient. A total of 353 prescriptions were scrutinized and analyzed using appropriate statistical tests.Results: Out of total 353 prescriptions collected, 11 were illegible and excluded from the analysis. The average number of drugs per encounter was 3.8. In 62.3% of encounters antibiotics were prescribed and injections were prescribed in 30.1% encounters. 71.8% drugs were prescribed by generic name and 56.2% drugs were prescribed from the essential drug list (EDL).Conclusions: The average number of drugs, percentage of injections and antibiotics per encounter was higher than recommended whereas prescription by generic name and from EDL or formulary was lower than recommended. Training of healthcare workers on rational drug use is need of the hour.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death and morbidity throughout the world. Unhealthy diet is a risk factor for NCDs. There is a lack of studies on the prevalence of dietary risk factors among the industrial population in India particularly in North East India.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among industrial workers of a major industry in Assam. The sample size was 330 considering a prevalence of 50% and 95% confidence interval, and a design effect of 1.5. Data was collected using methods described in WHO STEPS instrument v3.1.Results: A total of 318 subjects consented to participate in the study. Consumption of less than 5 servings of fruit and/or vegetables on average per day was observed in majority 98.4% of the study participants. In a typical week, fruits and vegetables were consumed on 2.99 and 6.89 days respectively. Mean number of servings of fruit consumed on average per day was 0.5 and for vegetables were 2.33.46 (14.5%) of the study participants added extra salt always or often to their food before eating or while eating. 132 (41.5%) of the study participants always or often ate processed foods high in salt.Conclusions: Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables was observed in 98.4% of industrial workers included in the study. Increasing awareness among this population about adequate consumption of fruits and vegetables to prevent NCDs is necessary.