Background: Cancers are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity due to non-communicable diseases second only to diabetes. Cervical cancer is the second most important cancer in women. In India nearly 75,000 women die of cervical cancer every year. In Tamil Nadu, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer to affect women especially in the rural areas. Aims of the study were to study about the level of awareness on cervical cancer and prevalence of pathological leucorrhoea among women residing in rural Chennai.Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out among randomly selected 295 females aged 15 years and above residing at Alamadhi village and nearby villages in Chennai from March 2016 to September 2016. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data.Results: Among the participants most of the women (55.6%) were belonged to 15-30 years age group. Of all the participants involved in the study about 66.8% (197/295) had No awareness on cervical cancer and among the rest, 27.6% (27/98) had good knowledge and 72.4% (71/98) had inadequate knowledge on cervical cancer. Prevalence of Pathological leucorrhoea is 27.5%.Conclusions: Though cervical cancer is the leading cancer among women, our study shows a large percentage of rural women are completely ignorant about this disease which when detected in early stages is completely curable. Hence, extensive health education to the public is needed to improve their knowledge with an emphasis on the fact that periodic screening is the new standard in prevention of cervical cancer.

Background: Studies have shown that fishermen have a higher mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer and accident. Despite existing knowledge regarding the high morbidity and mortality rates associated with fishing, there has been little research on the effect of working conditions on the health of fishermen, especially in the developing world. To estimate the prevalence of risk factors of chronic disease among the fishing community in Pulicat village and to find the association among various risk factors.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from March 2016 to September 2016, among the residents of Pulicat village, a fishing community to the north of Chennai. The core items in of the WHO steps instrument were used, the questionnaire also included data on demographics and socio-economic variables.Results: Fruit consumption was low among the study population only 15.11% and 12.44% consumed fruits and vegetables daily, 25% of the population were involved in vigorous activity daily, 4.44% of the population was smokers, 18.67% of them consumed alcohol, 31.11% of them were hypertensive, 12.81% were diabetic. BMI calculations showed that 37.33% were above the normal range and 52.44% had waist circumference above the normal range.Conclusions: Health promotion and education initiatives should be conducted in the fishing community to increase the awareness of the risk for developing chronic diseases which may permanently incapacitate them and force them to quit their profession. They should be encouraged to avoid alcohol, smoke less, eat more fruits and vegetables especially at sea, increase physical activity, and monitor regularly their weight, abdominal circumference and blood pressure.