Food safety describes handling, preparation and storage of food in ways to prevent foodborne illness. The contamination of food may occur at any stage in the process from food production to consumption ("farm to plate"-theme for World Health Day 2015).Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of disease and malnutrition, particularly affecting infants, young children, elderly and the sick. Foodborne diseases include a wide spectrum of illnesses and a growing public health problem worldwide. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional community based study was done among 150 women in the field practice area of urban health training centre, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. Data was collected by administering questionnaire after taking informed consent. Data was entered in Epi data version 3.1 and analysed by using SPSS version 16.Results were represented in form of proportions and Fischer's Exact test was used to find significant association between variables. RESULTS: Among 150 participants, most of them were in age group of 21-30 years with mean age 33±11years.About 68% belonged to low socioeconomic status, 76.7% were housewives, and 79.3% were literates. Among the participants, 94.7% had good knowledge regarding food safety, 30.7% had good practices showing gap between knowledge and practices. In 12% of cases there was history of foodborne illness. There was significant association between knowledge and literacy status; knowledge and past history of foodborne diseases (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: There is need for an education program in the community to improve the practices among women regarding food safety to fill the observed gap between knowledge and practices.

Background: Globally the rapid growth of the aquaculture sector has generated a huge work force posing significant risks to the workers due to the combined effect of the exposure to hazards at the workplace and unhealthy lifestyle. Aim and Objectives: To study the morbidity profile of workers in the aquaculture industry in terms of the occupational health problems and risk factors of non-communicable diseases. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 135 workers in five aquaculture farms. Ethical Committee clearance was obtained. Data regarding the occupational health problems and major risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was collected by using a pre-designed pretested questionnaire after obtaining informed consent from workers. The blood pressure and random blood sugar levels were measured at the time of the interview. Results: Most of the participants were in the age group 18-66 years and 94% were males. Major occupational health problems reported were musculoskeletal (56.3%), neurological (48.1%), stress related (46.7%), injuries (43%), skin infections (23%). Regarding risk factors for NCDs- 16.3% were current smokers, 51.1% were alcoholics, 50.4% had a sedentary lifestyle, <1% consumed fruits and vegetables. Among participants, 65.2% had central obesity, 28.2% were hypertensive, 9.6% were diabetic. The on-site evaluation showed that most of the aquaculture farms lack safety measures. Conclusion: The study identified potential occupational health problems and risk factors for non-communicable diseases among workers in aquaculture farms. The deficiencies in the safety measures at the workplace were also identified through on site evaluation. Hence there is a need to educate the workers regarding healthy lifestyle and safety at work place. There is a need to overcome organizational challenges at the workplace by adopting safety measures for a better working environment and to reduce the significant risk of exposure to hazards.

Background: E-learning refers to utilization of internet technologies to enhance knowledge and performance of the learners and to improve the effectiveness of educational interventions. From the review of literature it was evident that e-learning has gained popularity in past decade, however its use is variable among medical colleges. The objectives of the present study were to assess knowledge, attitude and practice towards e-learning among undergraduate medical students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among 150 medical students (50 each from 1st, 2nd and 3rd year) of Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam in the Month of December 2018. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was administered to access the knowledge and practices. Students’ responses in attitude were collected and rated on 5-point Likert scale from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Results are displayed in frequencies and proportions. A p value of <0.05 is considered as statistically significant.Results: A total of 150 undergraduate medical students were included, among them 67 (40.6%) were males, 98 (59.4%) were females. Majority were aware of e-learning. Nearly 46.7% students used both laptop and smart phones for purpose of e-learning. About 53% were confident in using software applications. Most of students agreed that e-learning has important role in acquiring clinical skill along with other learning methods and 88% of students agreed that it should be supplemented in regular teaching curriculum. The 3rd year students were found to have better attitude towards e-learning than other students.Conclusions: Majority felt that e-learning plays an important role in acquiring clinical skill along with other learning methods in educational institute. So, there is need to provide necessary infrastructure and include e -learning as a part of curriculum in medical education.