For many women and children around the world, staying at home is no longer a safety aspect during the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a surge in the number of cases of inter-personal violence and child abuse during the lockdown. The stigma and socio-cultural norms create hesitance in subjecting the family and its intimate relationships to public scrutiny. Therefore, building awareness around domestic violence is vital.

COVID-19 has placed an overwhelming burden on health care systems and authorities. In the absence of a vaccine or definitive treatment, widespread social and behavioral changes are critical in mitigating the impact. These are highly influenced by risk perception by the public, protective and preparedness behaviors, and effective communication. Here we have highlighted some of the commonly seen human behaviors during a pandemic crisis.

Background:Glycemic control in diabetes can be achieved by adopting self-care practices. It also leads to reduction of complications and improvement in the quality of life. Identification of barriers to adopting these practices can help devise strategies to overcome them. This study was conducted to understand the self-care practices among diabetics and the barriers affecting those practices among diabetics in the urban slum area.Materials and Methods:This qualitative study using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) was conducted in a chronic disease Outpatient clinic in Mumbai, in November 2020. Four FGDs with 32 participants were conducted. Thematic analysis of the transcripts was done.Results:Three major themes were identified – living with diabetes, practices to maintain glycemic control, and potential barriers. Barriers for self-care practices were - confusing advice provided by family and doctors, feeling rejected (stigmatized), lack of motivation for exercise, complications of diabetes, lack of family cooperation, lack of knowledge on foot care, physical constraints, nonavailability of medications, lack of social and financial support, suboptimal knowledge regarding diabetes, and misconceptions.Conclusions:Motivating diabetic patients for regular physical activity by starting from simple indoor exercises to outdoor exercises are necessary. Counseling the family members on the complications of diabetes due to inappropriate dietary practices should be advocated. Improvement in doctor-patient communication and providing information on the foot care practices is the need of the hour.

Objectives: According to WHO, Palliative care is an essential component of a comprehensive package of care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Lack of palliative care results in untreated symptoms that hamper an individual’s ability to perform daily activities. The study aimed to explore the perceived Palliative care needs of People Living With HIV/AIDS and the association between socio- demographic profile with Palliative care needs. Materials and Methods: It was a mixed method study conducted over 2 months in November and December 2020 at Link ART OPD of Urban Health Training Centre in Mumbai. Out of 120 registered patients,15 patients were selected for in-depth interview by purposive sampling. The remaining 105 patients were selected for quantitative part of the study by complete enumeration method. For Qualitative part, Thematic analysis of the transcripts was done. Data were coded using Microsoft word comment feature. Themes and categories were drawn from it. For Quantitative part, Data analysis was done using SPSS version 22. Chi- square test was applied to find out the association between socio- demographic profile & palliative care needs. P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The major themes identified were poor attitude towards the disease, lack of support and role of counselling. The common palliative care needs identified were need for financial assistance, family support and psychological support. Conclusions: Palliative care should be introduced early in the care process by a team of providers who is aware of the patient’s history and requirements.