Between June 1986 and September 1987 a population of 100 families was dewormed every 3 months (quarter) by using a single dose of pyrantel. Stool samples were examined by Kato's thick smear method; height (m), weight (kg), hemoglobin concentration (g/dl) and clinical morbidity were recorded before each deworming treatment. Clinical morbidity was recorded in another 100 control families who did not receive anthelmlntics. There were 477 and 490 individuals in the study and the control families respectively. In the study group the prevalence of roundworm was reduced from 10.3% to to 0% and that of hookworm infection was reduced from 2.9% to 0% after 2 quarters. At the end of the 4th quarter the mean hemoglobin rose by 0.1 g/dl (P less than 0.01) and the mean BMI increased by 0.37 (P less than 0.01). There was a significant reduction in the clinical morbidity in the study group compared with the control group (P less than 0.05). There were no side effects reported to pyrantel treatment. Thus quarterly treatment with pyrantel was found to be effective in keeping roundworm and hookworm prevalence at 0% in an industrial township.

A cross sectional study was conducted in two rural communities of Varanasi during the period from January to December 1978 to find out the problem of endemic goitre. The overall prevalence of goitre was as high as 28.44% with 9.45% of adolescent (13-18 years) population having grade I enlargement. The highest prevalence was observed in 7-12 years of age group, the females being consistently more affected in all the age groups. The prevalence of goitre and iodine level of drinking water found to have an inverse relationship.

726 urban school-going children in the age group 5-16 years were screened during the period from February to May, 1980 at Imphal. The growth rate of girls was apparently faster than that of boys as evidenced from the increment nature of height and weight per annum. Growth spurts were observed during the age group of 6-8 years and 12-13 years for boys, and 5-8 years and 11-12 years for girls. The height pattern of these children was significantly higher than the Indian standard height. However, weight was more or less similar with the Indian standard.

Seven hundred rural families from different religious, economic, educational and occupational groups residing at different distances from the service health centre (PHC) were interviewed to study its service coverage and service bottlenecks. Acceptability, contact and effectiveness coverage, were respectively 64.8, 19.2 and 13.8 percent in case of medical care; 71.8, 28.3 and 27.2 percent in Maternal and Child Health Care Services; 45.7, 18.2 and 17.3 percent in case of Family Welfare Planning Services; and 64.4, 55.7 and 55.7 percent in immunization services. The higher income group utilized the services least 4.1 percent, compared to lower income group (17.7 percent). Utilization of the PHC services significantly declined with distance from the health centre. Less than 1/5th of the families (19.2 percent) utilized the medicare. Bottlenecks in service utilization were distance from PHC, and caste, education and income.