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Background: Iodine deficiency is a major cause of brain damage in childhood which can be prevented. Dietary deficiency of iodine is mainly responsible for iodine deficiency. This study was done to determine the prevalence of goiter among school-aged group of 6-12 years in district Ganderbal., Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done among children of 6-12 years in district Ganderbal., Results: Out of 2700 children examined, Grade 1 goiter was found in 90 (3.3%) children and Grade 2 goiter was found in 6 (0.3%) with a total goiter rate (sum of grade first and grade second) of 3.6%. On analyzing the urine samples, about 19.1% of the children had mild to moderate iodine deficiency., Conclusion: The study showed mild goiter prevalence in school-aged children of 6-12 years in the Ganderbal district of Kashmir valley. Continuous periodic surveys to assess the magnitude of the iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) should be undertaken to ensure that we achieve sustainable elimination of IDD in India., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2023 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

Background: COVID-19 has led to significant morbidity and mortality globally in addition to unprecedented disruption in economic activities. Vaccination against it is considered to be the only sustainable way out of this pandemic. The study was conducted to estimate vaccine acceptance among doctors in India using an online survey., Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study using a purposive sampling method was conducted two weeks before vaccine rollout. A pretested questionnaire developed using Google forms was shared by social media groups targeting doctors only.The questions collected information regarding socio-demographic details, knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 vaccination. Data was downloaded and analysed using SPSS-v23. Chi-square test and fisher exact test was used and P < 0.05 was considered significant., Results: A total of 511 records were included in the final analysis of which 340 (66.53%) reported to be either definitely or probably willing to accept COVID-19 vaccine. One third of respondents were working in COVID-19 designated hospitals (37.2%), 30% were posted in non COVID-19 hospitals, 25.1% had no direct contact with COVID-19 patients while 7.7% doctors were involved in testing COVID-19 diagnosis. Subjects who perceived a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, those who perceived that vaccine would be effective against COVID-19 and those who felt that vaccine will not have any serious side effects were more likely to accept the vaccine., Conclusion: There is an urgent need to address any apprehensions regarding COVID-19 vaccines. A tailored and intensified advocacy program for doctors is needed before the launch of vaccine., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

The world was taken aback after the corona pandemic started from China and soon engulfed the whole of the world. Strict restrictions were in place since the beginning, and people were confined to their homes; only emergency services were allowed to work. The study's objectives were to see the effect of lockdown on the number of dog bite cases being reported to our antirabies clinic. The study was conducted in the antirabies clinic of the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. This study involved a dog bite victim who approached the said clinic during the lockdown, which was implemented in the wake of COVID-19 from March 21, 2020 to June 03, 2020. We included all the dog bite victims living in the Srinagar city and from the adjoining districts who had been bitten by the street dog during the lockdown phase. Over 5 years, 4,670 (73.6%) dog bites among males were reported. The proportion of dog bites among males varies from 72% to 81% in the 5 years. It can be observed that a maximum of 783 (81.1%) dog bites were reported from males during the lockdown period in 2020. Moreover, 2,847 (44.9%) bites were category II dog bites, while 3,392 (55.1%) were category III dog bites. There were fewer dog bites reported at the first, fourth, seventh, eighth, and ninth weeks while there was a little surge in cases on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th week. Lockdown had indirectly reduced the number of dog bite cases reported to the clinic during different lockdown phases than the previous year's data., (© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background & Objectives: Population-based seroepidemiological studies measure the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a country. We report the findings of the first round of a national serosurvey, conducted to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among adult population of India., Methods: From May 11 to June 4, 2020, a randomly sampled, community-based survey was conducted in 700 villages/wards, selected from the 70 districts of the 21 States of India, categorized into four strata based on the incidence of reported COVID-19 cases. Four hundred adults per district were enrolled from 10 clusters with one adult per household. Serum samples were tested for IgG antibodies using COVID Kavach ELISA kit. All positive serum samples were re-tested using Euroimmun SARS-CoV-2 ELISA. Adjusting for survey design and serial test performance, weighted seroprevalence, number of infections, infection to case ratio (ICR) and infection fatality ratio (IFR) were calculated. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with IgG positivity., Results: Total of 30,283 households were visited and 28,000 individuals were enrolled. Population-weighted seroprevalence after adjusting for test performance was 0.73 per cent [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34-1.13]. Males, living in urban slums and occupation with high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons were associated with seropositivity. A cumulative 6,468,388 adult infections (95% CI: 3,829,029-11,199,423) were estimated in India by the early May. The overall ICR was between 81.6 (95% CI: 48.3-141.4) and 130.1 (95% CI: 77.0-225.2) with May 11 and May 3, 2020 as plausible reference points for reported cases. The IFR in the surveyed districts from high stratum, where death reporting was more robust, was 11.72 (95% CI: 7.21-19.19) to 15.04 (9.26-24.62) per 10,000 adults, using May 24 and June 1, 2020 as plausible reference points for reported deaths., Interpretation & Conclusions: Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was low among the adult population in India around the beginning of May 2020. Further national and local serosurveys are recommended to better inform the public health strategy for containment and mitigation of the epidemic in various parts of the country., Competing Interests: None