Background: The unmet menstrual hygiene needs of young girls in India restrict their mobility and daily activities. Taboos and socio-cultural restrictions contribute to poor knowledge and practices leading to adverse health outcomes. This study is set to look at the knowledge, perceptions and practices concerning menstruation among college going girls.Methods: This study was conducted with 254-degree college students from a women’s degree college in Guntur city. After assuring adequate confidentiality, a self-administered questionnaire was administered to each participant. The information obtained was entered and analysed in MS excel. Important findings were subjected to statistical tests like Chi square and Z test for significance testing at 5% LOS.Results: Mother’s education was significantly related to the girls’ knowledge about menses (2 16.6, p 0.00002). A positive perception of menses was associated with good knowledge about it. (p < 0.00001).  Complaints related to menses were also associated with good knowledge scores (2 9.8, p 0.002). Absenteeism during periods was 81.5%, the causes being pain 60.4%, heavy bleeding 31.4%, both pain and heavy bleeding 4.8% and nausea 3.4%.Conclusions: The associated symptoms of menstruation need to be addressed in schools and colleges and in their respective homes. Ensuring availability of sanitary products, water, privacy and appropriate waste disposal in all public services and institutions can address the challenges.

Introduction: Ragging is associated with physical, behavioural, emotional and social problems among victims. Some reasons given by students for ragging are: being ragged by their seniors; sense of superiority; a form of introduction. Methodology: Emerging themes and insights from in-depth interviews and group discussions with senior students helped in preparing a Likert type questionnaire on certain important aspects of ragging and the precautions being taken by the management. This was administered to 240 medical students from the 5th and 7th semesters (batches of 2008 & 2009) of the NRI Medical College at Chinakakani in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh. Group discussions also were conducted with students to identify issues on ragging. Results & Discussion: Forty-five percent of the students felt that some amount of ragging does occur. Almost all (99%) felt that ragging is necessary to build a relationship between seniors and juniors. Eighty-seven percent of seniors expected the juniors to address them as "Sir" or "Madam". Discussions revealed that economic background was not an indicator for those indulging in ragging. Many felt that some interaction is needed between new students and seniors, but that any form of interaction may be misconstrued as ragging. Conclusion: Students have to be made aware of the ills of ragging and its consequences. The management also has the responsibility to create safe avenues for healthy interaction of new students with seniors. Some methods include organizing activities under supervision of teachers, individual counselling of students, seminars and workshops on self-esteem.

Background: The early childhood development is most crucial and the mother's care and attention is essential. The inevitable changes like women entering the work field have an effect on the child care and development. Aim:To study the selected anthropometric indices of the children of employed and unemployed women. Settings and Design:This study was done in the urban slums of Guntur city by using a cross sectional, descriptive design. Methods and Material:This study was conducted during January -April 2011 with a sample of 312 children of non working women and 311 children of working women, who were selected through the systemic random quota sampling method in 6 randomly selected slums. The data was collected through questionnaires who were named as the Mother's schedule and the Child schedule, which consisted of close-ended questions which were coded for an easy data entry. The Mother's schedule looked at the information regarding the mother, like the caretaker during the mother's absence, the time which was spent with her child each day, etc. The Child schedule looked for information like whether the child was exclusively breast fed, its age in months when the weaning started, whether the government sponsored crèche services (Anganwadi center) were utilized, etc. It also included the anthropometrical measurements of the child like its current weight, current height and mid arm circumference, which were obtained by using standardized tools.Statistical Analysis: For each schedule, a separate table was created in a relational basis in MS Access, with suitable key fields to connect the information for the analysis.

A significant number of elderly are suffering with chronic illnesses even in rural areas. There is a need to highlight the medical and socio-economic problems that are being faced by the elderly people especially the women in India. Rural health programmes need to also put the health problems of the elderly on par with other health related issues.

An increasing Caesarian Section (CS) rate places a clinical and economic burden on health care services of the country. When balancing an optimal CS rate, maternal and pediatric outcomes of pregnancy such as maternal morbidity and birth complications should be considered. A CS can be a life-saving intervention when medically indicated, but this procedure can also lead to short-term and long-term health effects for women and children. For society, a caesarean section is more costly than a vaginal delivery. The increased rate of CS can be attributed to medical and non-medical factors like increases in maternal age and body mass index as well as changes in obstetric practice and technology. The WHO has recommended the Robson 10 Group classification as a global standard tool for monitoring CS. This system classifies CS into 10 mutually exclusive groups based on the parity, gestational age at admission, onset of labour, fetal presentation and number of fetuses. The WHO also emphasises that the focus should be to provide caesarean sections to all women in need rather than striving to achieve any specific rate at the population level. It also encourages a shift in the focus from optimal caesarean section rates to more practical proposals which are amenable to action. In the private healthcare setup, commitment to improvement and strategies such as full time availability of obstetricians, better midwife support and regular audits will help move towards an acceptable CS rate. In conclusion, the onus must not be on just reducing CS rates but on scientific methods of deciding when a woman needs the surgery and to ensure safe healthcare environments for the same. Training in obstetrics for specialists must not neglect appropriate procedures like instrumentation.