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Background: Tuberculosis (TB) continues to pose a major global health problem and thus intensive action is needed to control and ultimately eliminate the disease., Methods: An active case finding (ACF) survey was conducted in the urban slum areas of the R-South Municipal Ward of Mumbai City for a period of two months from June to July 2012. Micro planning for survey was done by District Tuberculosis Officer and Medical Officer of Health of R-South ward. The entire health post staffs of R-South ward were trained to perform the survey. TB suspects were identified by trained community health volunteers during their home to home visit. These suspects were referred to the designated microscopy centers (DMCs) for sputum examination and those diagnosed with TB were put on anti-TB treatment., Results: A total of 278 TB suspects were identified on enquiring on the presence of symptoms suggestive of TB. Out of them 221(79.5%) patients got tested for sputum examination. Sputum positive TB was diagnosed in 29 suspects and the sputum positivity rate was 13.1%, which was slightly higher than the passive case finding norms of 10% as prescribed under Revised National TB Control Program., Conclusion: Active case finding for tuberculosis in the general community was discouraged for several decades because of high costs of implementation. However, results of the survey suggest that periodic ACF should be incorporated in populations wherever tuberculosis incidence / prevalence is high as there was a definite improvement in the case detection rate.

Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. The World Health Organization (WHO) constitution states: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." More than 450 million people suffer from mental disorders worldwide. In India, mental health services, especially for children and adolescents, are limited both in terms of number of facilities as well as trained professionals. The majority of mental health services are restricted to urban areas, that is, medical colleges or regional mental health institutes. Mere presence of a treatment facility does not guarantee that all children/adolescents suffering from mental illness will utilize such services. In fact, most of the time there is a significant delay from the patient side in accessing mental health services either because of lack of awareness or associated stigma. It is high time to promote positive mental health in children, adolescents and their parents through health education. Parental counseling is of utmost importance in order to avoid the delay in treatment seeking.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic progressive metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia mainly due to absolute (Type 1 DM) or relative (Type 2 DM) deficiency of insulin hormone. World Health Organization estimates that more than 346 million people worldwide have DM. This number is likely to more than double by 2030 without any intervention. The needs of diabetic patients are not only limited to adequate glycemic control but also correspond with preventing complications; disability limitation and rehabilitation. There are seven essential self-care behaviors in people with diabetes which predict good outcomes namely healthy eating, being physically active, monitoring of blood sugar, compliant with medications, good problem-solving skills, healthy coping skills and risk-reduction behaviors. All these seven behaviors have been found to be positively correlated with good glycemic control, reduction of complications and improvement in quality of life. Individuals with diabetes have been shown to make a dramatic impact on the progression and development of their disease by participating in their own care. Despite this fact, compliance or adherence to these activities has been found to be low, especially when looking at long-term changes. Though multiple demographic, socio-economic and social support factors can be considered as positive contributors in facilitating self-care activities in diabetic patients, role of clinicians in promoting self-care is vital and has to be emphasized. Realizing the multi-faceted nature of the problem, a systematic, multi-pronged and an integrated approach is required for promoting self-care practices among diabetic patients to avert any long-term complications.

Chickenpox is an acute, highly infectious disease caused by human herpesvirus 3. The disease is highly communicable with a secondary attack rate of almost 90%. Secondary cases can occur due to their exposure to the primary case. The main aim of the current epidemiological investigation was to trace the probable source of infection and prevent the emergence of secondary cases. The epidemiological investigation showed that the index case was the primary case as well and that there were no secondary cases because of the immediate isolation of the primary case. This epidemiological investigation reinforced that effective preventive and control measures, if implemented timely for the primary case, can reduce the risk of transmission of infection from case to susceptible contacts and thus prevent the emergence of subsequent secondary cases.