Introduction: Without protective practices such as antiseptic hand washing, the use of sterile/surgical gloves, safe needles, sterile equipment, and safe instrument and waste disposal procedures outlined in universal precaution guidelines, basic health workers (BHWs) are at substantial risk of blood-borne infections. Methodology: This paper draws on research conducted in 28 primary health care centers in two districts of the Western Development Region, Nepal, between 2003 and 2004. Interviews were conducted to identify the infection control knowledge and practice compliance of basic health workers. Results: Of 100 BHWs studied, only 22% had correct knowledge of universal precautions and 73% said they follow universal precaution guidelines. A total of 62% reported that they regularly used protective gloves while handling patients and 72% reported that they never used high-level disinfection to eliminate all microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, including bacterial endospores) from instruments and other items that would come into contact with broken skin or intact mucous membranes.  Reasons for noncompliance included irregular supply of materials (31%); lack of an autoclave and other high-level disinfection equipment (50%); lack of knowledge and insufficient technical skills regarding universal precaution procedures (20%). Conclusion: Results showed that poor knowledge and an irregular supply of materials, equipment, and instruments prevented BHWs from using infection control measures. Formal training in universal precautions is urgently needed, and protective equipment must be provided and use must be monitored. Compliance to infection control procedures must be improved at primary health care units, especially among the basic health workers.

Climate change is an inherent and indispensable component of global development and deliberations on food security and sustainable farm livelihoods. This article attempts to highlight the key issues with regards to climate change, and propounds an approach to upscale holistic and appropriate Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). The review addresses the climate change impact on, and intricacies of, farm livelihoods, vulnerability and adaptation strategies. Preordained holistic strategies such as CSA can curtail widespread detrimental effects of climate change on farm households, farm productivity and farm profitability through adaptation strategies. Consequently, the agricultural sector of developing countries like India is being restructured, reformed and realigned to contextualize the climate change-sustainable agriculture-farm livelihood nexus. Our exhaustive literature review exhorts a framework of how various types of CSA interventions (scientific technologies, indigenous technical knowledge, institutional innovations and information and communication technologies) can help to promote sustainable livelihood outcomes. The implementation of this approach is driven by the livelihood status of various strata of farmers, along with their vulnerability profile, resilience capacity and climate knowledge with regards to contrasting rationales of climatic vagaries. Climate change is a global process with local visibility; in countries that are dependent on an agrarian economy, a balanced mix of adaptation mechanisms to de-risk the vulnerable farm livelihoods and re-route them towards smart interventions can be important for climate-proofing agriculture. The above mentioned framework provides a robust future course of action for circumventing adverse climatic impacts.

Access to accurate, timely and reliable information plays a crucial role in the adoption of appropriate agriculture technology. Although, women contribute significantly in the farming operations, their contribution is not yet fully recognised and acknowledged. In order to improve agriculture productivity and production efficiency, there is an urgent need to identify their agriculture information needs. The present study was undertaken to find out the agriculture information needs of farm women in a Himalayan State of North India. The study adopted a descriptive research design and the study sample included 120 farm women selected from eight randomly selected villages using PPS method. The findings indicate that farm women expressed the need for information regarding disease control/management, weed control/management, high yielding variety crops, fertilizer requirement, use of improved farm implements, and information related to marketing. An appropriate information dissemination strategy can be developed on the basis of their information seeking and information sharing behaviour. The study has policy and programming implications for devising appropriate extension strategies for fulfilling the information needs of farm women for enhancing agriculture productivity and production efficiency.

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Vegetable cultivation offers a unique opportunity for hill farmers of Uttarakhand due to the favourable climatic conditions. Consequently, vegetable cultivation in Uttarakhand hills, even in off-season, has picked up on quite a large scale. Although it has become quite remunerative but farmers are reportedly facing lots of marketing and production constraints. The present study was conducted in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand to study the production and marketing constraints faced by the vegetable growers. Study sample comprised of 200 farmers selected purposively from eight villages spread across four blocks and two districts in Kumaon division of Uttarakhand. The data was collected using a pre-tested structured interview schedule. The study findings revealed that major marketing constraints reported by vegetable growers were: long chain of intermediaries, inadequate transportation facilities, high transportation charges, inadequate storage facilities, low price / lack of remunerative price and non-availability of market information. Further, some production related constraints reported by the respondents were high cost of seeds/ fertilizers, lack of information about planting material/ production inputs, lack of knowledge about grading and standardization of vegetable, non-availability of farm labour and lack of packaging material. These findings will be helpful to the State government for developing a policy framework and relevant guidelines for promoting vegetable production in the state.