A case-control study involving 54 cases and 108 matched controls was conducted to find out the association of risk factors like smoking, chewing paan and tobacco and the occurrence of cancers of the oral cavity. More than 80% of the cases were over 40 years of age, with a male: female ratio of 2:1, paan and tobacco chewing were significantly related to the oral cancers (Odds Ratio of 9.3 and 7.8 respectively). Smoking showed a statistically significant relationship with oral cancers among male patients. In addition, the study also established dose-response and time-response relationship these risk factors and oral cancer.

Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh and Pondicherry have recorded sustained high levels of coverage with the third dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV) over the last few years. An incidence rate of poliomyelitis of 1.1/100,000 populations was recorded in these states in 1990, a decline of more than 80% as compared to the reported incidence of 5.7/100,000 populations in 1980. The efficacy of OPV in the control of poliomyelitis is convincingly documented by the decline in cases despite several measures taken to strengthen the surveillance system. The impact has been recorded in widely diverse; areas such as the hitty terrain in Himachal Pradesh to high-density areas in Bombay and Madras were large proportion of the population live under poor sanitary conditions. The data shows that the strategy of progressively increasing coverage through regular immunization services, as part of primary health care, is effective.

One thousand one hundred and ninety three patients attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics from all the 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh were screened for VDRL reactivity. Overall reactivity was found to be 21.5%. The highest prevalence was found in district Kinnaur (39.0%) followed by district Mandl (37.4%) and district Shimla (24.3%). Maximum reactivity was observed in patients belonging to the backward areas and the least in urban patients. The control group comprised 753 voluntary blood donors, the VDRL reactivity in this group was found to be 2.9%. By quantitative test the overall reactivity at a dilution of and above was 16.6% in the test group and 1.8% in the control group. This study shows that the high prevalence of seropositivity reported by earlier workers has decreased.

The 513 undergraduate students (262 male and 251 female) surveyed from five colleges of Delhi University were aware of AIDS (Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome). They knew from different sources that sexually promiscuous people, prostitutes, intravenous drug abusers, professional blood donors and recipients of HIV infected blood were at risk for AIDS. About half of the students (57.5%) knew that AIDS was incurable and ultimately led to death. A majority of them (60-72%), also knew that AIDS could be prevented by using condoms during sexual intercourse, disposable needles during injection and avoiding sex with multiple partners. On the other hand their knowledge on non-sexual transmission was inadequate. Most of them (58%) believed that one could get AIDS by airborne, oral and kinesthetic routes, some (41%) felt that AIDS patients should not be allowed to mix in society, and 24% had an attitude of severing contact with their best friends or divorcing their spouses. The most impotent viewpoint was that 49% of them wrongly believed that AIDS could be prevented by vaccination. The need for more information on AIDS was felt by all of them.

School children from poor and illiterate families form an important resource group to raise health-consciousness of the community. As the immunization programmes is a vital health care activity to protect child health, training in this subject was considered, and a random sample of pupils from sixth standard of a Municipal school were trained on the basic knowledge of immunization schedule under the Universal Immunization Programme (U.I.P). After comparing the pre and post-testing scores of 32 boys and 35 girls, it was noticed that 60% of girls and 50% of boys obtained more than 40% marks. Training appeared to be more effective among girls than among boys (p).

A study on workload and pattern of 300 rural women of different economic strata was undertaken. The women had a heavy workload from 14-17 hours a day. This sapped their energies and led to poor nutritional status and also affected the nutritional status and care of young children. Women busy in work were seldom available for organized activities and were thus not reached by health and welfare programmes. This calls for better intersectoral co-ordination and well-organized women groups in rural areas.

An evaluation of two months rural internship training programme at the two medical colleges of Delhi revealed that posting did not help in improving the capacity of interns to deal with common illnesses and provide preventive maternal care. Intems could not improve as providers of primary health care in common emergencies. Though they significantly improved their knowledge relating to immunization programme, it was far from satisfactory. Lack of adequate facilities for training, absence of well formulated training programmes and lack of interest on the part interns themselves may be some of the underlying factors.