Ratnagiri, a coastal district situated in the western part of Maharashtra, is stratified as 'Non-Problem District' as far as Malaria is concerned based on API, topography, rainfall, vector species, Vulnerability etc. Konkan rail project was launched in 1991 and 6 out of 9 blocks of districts Ratnagiri are penetrated by the rail-line. The local ecology of the district is disturbed on account of the project, which is expected to favor malarial transmission. A study based on secondary data was undertaken with following objectives: To assess various operational indicators under NMEP during 1988-93 in the district with respect to their quantitative and qualitative fulfillment. To assess API in the district during same period in the context of inception of Konkan rail. It disclosed that the operational indicators like SPR, SFR & Pf Percentage showed upward trend since 1991 i.e. the year of inception of the Konkan rail project. With ABER consistently above 10% & concordance of the cross-checking results above 96%, the estimate of API becomes more meaningful. Though API shows upward trend, it was never above 2 during 1988-93. Less number of positive cases were found in Active Surveillance during 1988 to 1993. The contribution of Drug Distribution Centres (DDCs) is almost negligible in the district. In-depth analysis of positive cases revealed that the immigrants suffered more & May to July was the season for malaria transmission in the district during the said period. More people above 15 yrs. and more males were found malaria positive which may be because of more outdoor life of this group. Block wise analysis revealed that Mandanged & Khed Blocks showed API more than 2 since 1992. Paradoxically, Mandangad is a coastal block without rail-line, while Khed block is situated away from seashore but has rail-line. More irrigation, less adequate surveillance because of staff vacancy & nonfunctional Drug Distribution Centres (DDCs), more losses to radical treatment are the probable factors responsible for higher API in Mandangad and Khed blocks as compared with the rest of the blocks from the District Ratnagiri.

Most of the old persons staying in rural areas are illiterate with physical disabilities and are psychologically disturbed due to the loss of income and hence they are unable to lead a productive life. The present study was thus undertaken in a rural area of Wardha district, with the objective of studying the sociomedical aspects and psychological perceptions of the elderly population. Out of 10,000 population, 600 individuals of age 60 years and above were studied. Proportion of females was 330 (55%) and males 270 (45%) respectively. 300 (66.5%) of them were illiterate, and majority were agricultural labourer (238, 39.66%) and daily labourers (172, 28.66%). 244 individuals (40.67%) were still the head of the family and rest were related to the head of the family. 91 (15.17%) felt the change in attitude of the family members. 139 (31.5%) felt neglected and 146 (24.33%) loneliness respectively.

Earlier study reported that about 1% of general population or urban Manipur was injecting drug users (IDUs). A study was conducted to observe the IDU prevalence in rural Manipur and the role of national highway (NH) in determining the IDU prevalence if any. It was also aimed to study the HIV prevalence among IDUs of different villages. Villages were startified in to 3 categories based on distance and communication facilities from the national highway, which cuts across the villages to the neighboring state, Nagaland. Villages close to NH had the highest IDU prevalence of 1.3% and remote villages had the least prevalence of 0.2% whereas villages in between the above mentioned two groups had a prevalence of 0.9%. It was surprisingly observed that HIV was uniformly distributed among the IDUs of all villages and ranged from 50-51%. This indicates that IDU prevalence at distance is predominantly determined by the presence of drug trafficking route/s like national highway whereas HIV prevalence is mainly determined by the needle sharing behaviour of IDUs.

A review of history sheets of obstetric cases recorded in a district hospital in 1992 was done to compare the obstetric outcome in 200 teenage first pregnancies (Study group) with that in Control group i.e. 20 years to 29 years. It revealed that incidence of complications of pregnancy like anaemia, pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) and preterm labour were significantly higher among teenage mothers. The normal mode of delivery was commoner in teenagers (82.5%) in comparison to control group (76.5%), probably because of higher number of low birth weight babies. The fetal outcome was significantly worse in teenage mothers with high incidence of perinatal mortality (8%) and low birth weight babies (35%). There was not a single newborn with birthweight above 3500 gms, in teenage group, whereas, control group had 5 babies (2.5%) in the category.

An epidemiological study was undertaken to investigate an outbreak of cholera in Delhi Cantonment during May 1991. The study design was a hybrid design using a retrospective Case-Control method superimposed on a population based cross-sectional approach. A total of 9 cases of cholera, confirmed in the laboratory as Vibrio cholerae, 0-1, Eltor, Ogawa were identified using population based survey and compared with 33 controls from the same source population. The overall Incidence rate was 0.71% and showed a significant rising trend with age. There was no morality. Assessment of water supply, sanitary conditions of cook houses and disposal system of night soil could not provide any clue to the source of infection. Subsequently, all the food handlers were subjected to rectal swab examination. Two of them, working in the same messes from where cases had occurred, were found positive for Vibrio cholerae (0-1, Eltor, Ogawa). Immediate control measures by way of isolation and treatment of carriers promptly abated the outbreak. Role of carriers in outbreak of cholera has been highlighted.