INTRODUCTION Cervical Cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide with an estimated 530,000 new cases and 275,000 deaths with overall incidents mortality ratio of 52 percent. It is estimated that during 2008, 134,420 new cases of Cancer Cervix accoutred in India (incidents rate of 27 per lakh population) and about 72,825 women died of the decease (mortality rate 15.2 per lakh population). 1 The key to reducing Cervical Cancer morbidity and mortality is early detection and treatment of cervical precancerous lesions. In India also, both early detection and screening remains a major concern to the health workers in the absence of screening facilities coupled with low awareness level of women. Sexually transmitted infection ABSTRACT Background: Cervical Cancer tops the list of cancers among women worldwide with an estimated new case of 530,000 and a mortality of 275,000 deaths annually with an overall mortality ratio of 52%. This can be largely prevented by early detection and timely screening tests. Awareness and education regarding this, is the key to curtail the rise of such cancers in the community. Objectives of the studies were to assess knowledge, attitude regarding cervical cancer among women of reproductive age group and to correlate with various socio-demographic & marital factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study among 200 women of reproductive age group, chosen conveniently for a period of two months from April to June 2014 at urban slums of Old Hubli was undertaken by a pretested and semi-structured questionnaire. Data collected by a house to house survey, entered in Ms Excel, analysed by SPSS v.20 and presented as Percentages and Proportion. Chi-square was applied for finding out the associations and those with p-value <0.05 were taken as statistically significant. Results: Out of the 200 female respondents belonged majorly to the 25-34 years age group at 43%. About 57% were Muslims. 30% of the women were illiterate and 19% of them had up to high school level of education. Around 65.5% of the respondents were housewives by occupation. Majority of them belonged to the lower socioeconomic strata with 54% falling under Stage 4 of Modified B. G. Prasad classification The Chi-square for awareness of cervical cancer is, X2 = 0.0858, where p>0.05, which is not significant. The Chi-square for awareness about Pap smear is, X2= 0.2442, where p>0.05, which is not significant. Conclusions: The study showed that awareness about cervical cancer was poor among women and also its screening tests, H.P.V vaccinations were never heard of in the community.

Background: Psychological morbidity in children and adolescents is high. The present study was done to assess the level of perceived stress and psychological morbidities among secondary school students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on 311 adolescent students in 9th and 10th classes of two government and two private schools in Hubli city, Karnataka. A validated and culturally adapted version of the 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) and perceived stress scale (PSS-10) was administered with Cronbach's alpha of 0.74. coGuide software was used for analysis. Results: Out of 311 students, 159 (51.13%) were males; 50.5% were from government schools, 72.3% were from 10th class while 27.7% were from 9th class. On assessment by PSS-10 scale, 11.9% had low stress, 63.7% had average stress, and 24.4% were highly stressed. According to GHQ scale, 43.4% had evidence of distress while 50.2% had severe psychological distress. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of stress among school students. It calls for regular assessment by trained psychologists. Integration of mental health services with school health services is the need of the hour.

BACKGROUND:Mosquito borne diseases is a growing urban problem because of unplanned urbanization, industrialization and excessive population growth coupled with rural to urban migration. In recent years, vector-borne diseases have emerged as a serious public health problem in countries of the South-East Asia Region, including India. For developing a suitable and effective health education strategy, it is inevitable to understand the level of knowledge of the community, their attitude and practices regarding mosquito borne diseases. OBJECTIVES: to know the knowledge and practices regarding mosquito borne diseases among people of urban slums of old Hubli. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study among a pre-determined sample of 400 households, by stratified systematic random sampling was carried out in the month of June and July. RESULTS: out of 400 respondents, 71.8% were females and 28% were males, 32.8% were educated till primary and 58% belonged to lower middle socio-economic status. Awareness regarding malaria, dengue, JE was poor compared to chikungunya (60% aware). Rainy season was rightly quoted as the season for MBD's, 96% didn't knew about breeding places of mosquito and 49.8% were unaware of the mode of transmission. Friends/relatives were the most common source of information. The use of personal protective measures was seen in less than 50% of the respondents and 96.3% of them used only at night. The community measures undertaken in that area to prevent MBD's was minimal and consisted of only insecticide fogging (44%). CONCLUSION: A significant number were unaware of MBD's, the natural outbreak of chikungunya provided the much needed information of the disease at the place. Strengthening personal protective and community measures to prevent MBD's is the need of the hour.

Background- Climacteric, is that particular phase in ageing women, which marks the transition from the reproductive phase to non-reproductive state and is often associated with symptomatology, referring to as climacteric syndrome. The health services rendered in this regard, makes a great impact on the women’s quality of life. The paucity of publication in this regard, insisted the need of recognizing these symptoms and hence a study to know the symptom prevalence and to assess the quality of life among peri-menopausal women.Methods- A cross-sectional study among 100 women in the age group of 45-60 years, employed in various educational institutes were carried out using the MENQOL questionnaire, on 4 domains, involving the Vasomotor, Psychosocial, Physical and Sexual aspects. The responses were graded on Likert scale and analyzed by Kruskal wallis H and Mann Whitney U tests.Results- 53% of the women in the study were in the age group of 45-50 years, 50% of them were over-weight, and 75% had muscle and joint pains, followed by headache and backache in 60% of women. Higher literates and upper-middle class had better quality of life with less psychosocial symptoms (p<0.01), and less vasomotor, physical and sexual symptoms (p<0.05). Symptom were more under psychological and physical domain in Muslim women, compared to Hindus (p<0.05). Vasomotor symptoms were more in the women aged 45-50 years (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the level of quality of life between type of family, marital status of women and different BMI values (P>0.05).Conclusion- There is paucity of studies in regards to quality of life among peri-menopausal women. Initiatives programs by the government for post-menopausal women ought to be initiated owing to their special needs.

BACKGROUND: Children are the precious possession of the family, community and the country. Nearly 200 million (30%), are malnourished in the world and over 2/3 rd of malnourished are in Asia. Every 3 rd underfed child in the world lives in India. India is home to 40% of world's malnourished children. According to global hunger index India ranks 117 th of 119 countries in malnutrition. OBJECTIVE: 1. To find the prevalence of PEM among 1-6 year children. 2. To assess the knowledge of the mothers regarding adequate nutrition and its association to undernourishment. METHODS: Cross-sectional study among 150 children was undertaken for a period of 1 month from June to July 2014 at urban slums of old Hubli. Knowledge of mother was assessed by questionnaire, scores were assigned to responses and clinical examination of child along with anthropometry was carried out. RESULTS: Obtained by WHO Anthro Plus software through Z-scores, which showed 24.6% were moderately and 13.4% severely undernourished by weight and 22% were moderately and 25.4% severely stunted. Birth weight of child had significant (P<0.05) association with undernourishment. Knowledge scores regarding nutrition among mothers was good among 35.3%, moderate in 38.7% and poor in 26%, its correlation to undernourishment was significant (p<0.001). Pearson's correlation, showed a positive linear relationship between knowledge and nourishment and Linear Regression model established knowledge as a significant variable having independent and direct influence on nutritional status of child (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Parent's literacy, knowledge and child's birth weight has a direct impact on child's nutritional status. Education and awareness is the key to progress.