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Introduction: Auto mechanics are workers who repair and overhaul cars and other automotive vehicles, or their systems and parts. The main objective of the study was to assess knowledge of occupational hazards and the use of safety measures among automobile repair artisans in Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried among 400 auto mechanics working garages in Kathmandu Metropolitan City. The data collection was done from May 15th to Jun 13th, 2019. Results: Among the 400 respondents, only 31% had adequate knowledge about occupational hazards due to vehicle repairing. Age, educational status, working hours, years of employment and pre-service training were found to be associated with knowledge on hazards. Two-thirds (63.5%) of the surveyed workers knew the use of PPE and this knowledge was statistically significant with age, educational status, working hours and pre-service training. The study showed that only half (53.5%) of the respondents use one or more PPE during their work despite being exposed to lots of hazards in the working area. Conclusion:  Knowledge on health hazards was inadequate. Also, there was a difference in knowledge on PPE and its use. So, there is a need to put the knowledge into practice.

Background: Health behaviours’ are most likely introduced in adolescence stage of life. Socio-demographic and socio-economic factors have found to influence health directly or indirectly. Therefore, study was conducted to assess the status of health promoting lifestyle among secondary school students of Government Schools as well as their associations with socio-demographic and socio-economic variables.Methods: The cross sectional study was performed among Government School students. Health promoting lifestyle proforma (HPLP) was prepared consisting of 2 parts, Part-I sociodemographic and socio economic characteristics and part-II health promoting lifestyle profile-II developed by Walker et al. was modified into Nepalese version. It consists of 46 items divided into 7 subscales (health responsibility, physical activity, food practices, spiritual growth, self-concept, inter personal relations and stress management). Descriptive statistics was used to describe HPLP. Data was analyzed by using SPSS. Chi-square test was used to identify the associations.Results: The overall HPLP mean score of respondents was 2.99±0.27, with the highest mean scores for spiritual growth (3.2±0.28) and interpersonal relations (3.16±0.28) and the lowest mean score for physical activity (2.80±0.25) and nutrition (2.84±0.29). Only, Occupational status of mother were found to be significantly associated with the Health-Promoting Lifestyle.Conclusions: This study showed that the status of health promoting lifestyle among secondary level students was good with ample room for improvement as adoption of sedentary lifestyle is increasing remarkably. Therefore, health education and promotion programs might be prerequisite to promote the health of Youths.

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Background: Maternal and Child Health remains a public health challenge in Nepal. This study explored information regarding barriers in the utilization of Maternal and Child Health services among women of Musahar community.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Dudhauli Municipality, Sindhuli using qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative data were obtained from, In Depth Interview among health workers and a Focus Group Discussion among FCHVs of Musahar community. Interview was carried out using questionnaire for quantitative study among 121 mothers of under 5 children. The data was analyzed using SPSS software version 21. Chi Square test was applied to test the associations while p value <0.05 was considered significant.Results: The average age and age at marriage of respondents were 24.6±5.7 years and 16.22±2.8 respectively, 76% were illiterate, 93.2% lies below poverty line and 73.6% were home maker. Among them, 29.8 did not have ANC while 47.1 had 4 or more ANC visits, 64.5% institutional delivery and 29.8% PNC visit. Social barriers and lack of information are major barriers contributing to more than half of no ANC visit and which contribute to >60% in case of PNC. Home delivery for first child was 56.2% while for last child was 33.9%. Almost 1/5th of the children were not vaccinated. Qualitative study identified social factors like negligence, family pressure, shyness, and unhealthy financial decisions as important barriers.Conclusions: Utilization of maternal and child health services was poor among Musahar mothers and children which indicates a serious public health concern.