The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense psychological distress among Health Care Workers (HCWs). HCWs have been stigmatized by people at their workplace and community, fearing that health care workers are the sources of spreading the virus. This study aimed to assess the perceived stress, stigma, and social support of Nepali health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 380 Nepali HCWs. Perceived stress was measured using Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). The questionnaire related to stigma was derived from a study conducted to measure stigma among HCWs during the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak. Furthermore, perceived social support was measured by Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3). Associated factors were examined using Chi-square tests followed by multivariate logistic regression analyses at the significance level of 0.05. This study illustrated that nearly half (44.2%) of the respondents perceived poor social support. Similarly, almost 3% of the HCWs experienced high perceived stress, whereas 87.6% perceived moderate stress, and 35% of the HCWs felt stigmatized. Nepali healthcare workers experienced perceived stress, social stigma, and social support in various severity levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 emergency is emotionally difficult and where psychological distress can jeopardize outcomes and affect work performance. Appropriate psychological interventions are needed to promote the mental well-being of the healthcare workers.

Smoking is one of the most avoidable cause of death and disability. Smoking not only affects smokers but also nonsmokers who are involuntarily exposed to smoke raising a serious concern for public health, safety, and welfare. Concerns regarding secondhand smoking came to the ground after various medical scientific researches and publications quantified and confirmed the health risk of passive smoking after exposure with it, which drew the public attention. The turning point for the government to introduce a ban of smoking at public and workplaces to protect the right of nonsmokers to enjoy fresh air, came as a 2006 Health Act in UK after it was strongly backed by the recommendation given by SCOTH regarding SHS. Through this policy, the government also supports internationally recognized comprehensive tobacco control standard. UK was first among the FCTC parties to introduce comprehensive smoke free legislation. The major objective of this policy is to limit the preventable epidemic of smoking. This policy is based on the Health Policy Triangle which considers the interaction of all four elements (Content, Context, Process and Actors) to structure policymaking. For agenda setting Kingdon model was used and for implementation phase of the policy Top-down approach was used. The major stakeholders that supported 2006 Health Act were Labour party, The Royal College of physicians (RCP), Action on smoking and Health (ASH) and research and evidence-based news while Tobacco industry and hospital trade was against the Act. The evidence suggested that risks of heart disease in secondhand smoker was double than what was known before. SHS became an agenda when in 2003, around 11,000 adults exposed in home and 617 people exposed in workplace died in UK because of exposure to SHS. People want to quit smoking and wanted help from government to make favorable environment. Following the public consultation white paper was published, Choosing Health: Making Healthy Choices Easier, in November 2004. It set the target that by 2008 all enclosed public places and workplace would be smoke free with some exceptions. Act was supported by labour party and department of Health Economist was of the view that ban would not have any immediate benefits on passive smoker instead it will discourage the young from starting. After publishing the white paper in 2004 there was the consultation period till 2005. There was a voting in parliament and majority of voted for ban on smoking in public places. As a result, Health Act 2006 was introduced on 1st July 2007. Smokers were against the ban, but the purpose of the ban was to focus on protecting health of people from SHS not make smokers quit. Reports disseminated after inspection from local bodies confirmed high levels of compliance with smoke free legislation. The data showed there were 2.4% reduction in hospital admission in a year for heart attack and almost 7000 fewer admission due to childhood asthma. Thus, Smoking ban policies have shown effective public health interventions for the prevention of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory mortality and preserve the health of children.

The study examines gaps in primary health policy designed to enable Ghana to achieve universal access to health. The policy has existed for over 15 years with remarkable achievements, but data shows gaps between the procedure and what is going on. The researchers use a qualitative technique to explore the gap by focusing on persons directly involved in policy implementation as participants. Three main japs were identified, insufficient collaboration between community health officers and community leaders, favoritism in promoting CHOs, and inadequate provision of medical consumables and tools to CHPS-compounds as stated by the policy. The study concluded with the call for a review of the procedures and examining of the outlined gaps