Background: Lymphatic filariasis or elephantiasis is the most debilitating and disfiguring scourge among all diseases. The National Health Policy (2017) has set the goal of elimination of lymphatic filariasis in endemic pockets in India by 2017. The concept of MDA is to approach every individual in the target community and administer annual single dose of anti-filarial drugs. The objectives of the study were to assess the coverage, compliance and causes for noncompliance towards MDA in Vijayapura district and to assess the rates of directly observed treatment, source of information on MDA and incidence of side effects related to MDA Programme.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in one urban and three rural clusters in Vijayapura district of Karnataka. Totally 120 houses were covered with minimum of 30 houses in each of the cluster. Data was collected in a structured proforma by interview technique and entered in Microsoft Excel-2010 and analyzed with SPSS version 22.Results: Out of 120 houses visited in 4 clusters consisting of 398 beneficiaries, the coverage of MDA was 80.3% and 72.5% had consumed the tablets. The coverage compliance gap was 7.8%. 71.7% of the respondents, had awareness regarding elephantiasis. The most common reason quoted by the beneficiaries for not consuming the tablet was lack of information of MDA programme/ Lf (13%) followed by fear of drugs (10%).Conclusions: BCC is the essence of the hour to fulfil the goal of elimination of lymphatic filariasis; there is need for intensive IEC activities addressing the misconceptions among beneficiaries regarding adverse reactions of MDA through mass media, interpersonal communications.

Background: Mental health is one of the major concerns among Non-communicable diseases with 10-20% of children and adolescents suffering mental disorders worldwide. If untreated, these conditions severely influence child’s development, education and their potential to live productive lives. This study is an effort to find out factors influencing mental health in hostel students, and its effects in their daily routine which will help hostel supervisors, parents and teachers to deal with students and help to achieve maximum progress in their academics.Methods: This is a Cross sectional study done among 353 students in BCM (backward community and minority) girls hostels of Mysuru. Students above 18 yrs and willing to participate in study are included and those suffering from acute illness/recent trauma /injury are excluded. Data collected using validated questionnaire (PHQ 9 for depression and GAD7 for anxiety).Results: Among 353 students included depression was observed in 245 (69.4%) of students and anxiety was found in 222 (62.8%) students. Depression and anxiety was associated with single parenting, socioeconomic class, masters degree courses, food habits, lifestyle and menstrual irregularities, multi logistic regression showed association of depression with premenstrual syndrome and anxiety with exercise, socioeconomic class, financial difficulties and premenstrual syndrome.Conclusions: Depression and anxiety were more prevalent in adolescent students and are associated with sedentary lifestyle, socioeconomic condition of students and reproductive health. Depression and Anxiety has impact on comfortable stay in hostel and relation with peers. These factors can be addressed to mitigate the effects.

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Background: Overweight and obesity among adolescents is an important global health issue. BMI is the commonly used screening tool but there can be under or over estimation. Body fat percentage estimation using bioelectrical impedance analysis is easy and non-invasive technique and along with BMI can provide a better predictive capacity. Considering importance of early detection of overweight and obesity in adolescents, present study was done among school going adolescents of urban Mysore. Objectives were to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity using BMI and body fat percentage among school going adolescents and to determine the relationship between BMI and body fat percentage. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 706 school students in urban Mysuru aged 13-16 years and semi-structured proforma was used to collect data. Anthropometric measurements taken and Omron HBF 701 Karada scan complete digital body composition monitor used to measure body fat percentage. BMI-for-age (5-19 years) WHO 2007 and McCarthy’s body fat reference used to classify participants. Statistical tests like Pearson’s correlation used. Results: According to BMI, 9.8% and 5% were overweight and obesity prevalence respectively and according to body fat percentage19.4% were over fat and 17.1% were obese. Among adolescents with normal BMI, 18.4% and 11.9% were classified as overfat and obese respectively according to body fat percentage. The correlation between BMI and body fat percentage was statistically significant. Conclusions: Higher prevalence of obesity seen according to body fat percentage cut-offs than according to BMI.

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