Background. TB diagnostic and treatment services in India are provided free of cost in the programmatic context across the country. There are different costs incurred during health care utilization, and this study was conducted to estimate such costs. Methodology. A longitudinal study was conducted among patients of three urban tuberculosis units (TUs) of Davangere, Belagavi, and Bengaluru, Karnataka. Trained data collectors administered a validated questionnaire and recorded monthly costs incurred by the patients which are expressed in median Indian National Rupees (INR). The analysis was done using SPSS version 23.0. A p value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results. Among 214 patients, about 37%, 42%, and 21% belonged to Davangere, Belagavi, and Bengaluru, respectively. Median total pre- and postdiagnostic costs incurred across the three TUs were 3800 and 4000 INR, respectively. The direct nonmedical cost was higher for accommodation (median cost of 800 INR) and direct medical cost for non-TB drugs (median cost of 2000 INR). However, maximum direct medical and nonmedical costs were attributed to hospital admissions (1200 INR) and accommodation costs (700 INR) in the postdiagnostic period, respectively. The median indirect cost incurred was 300 INR overall, and the maximum total indirect cost was 40000 INR in the postdiagnostic period. About one-third of patients faced loss of income and 19.6% faced coping costs. Patients spent about 6.7% (0.97%–52.3%) of their income on TB treatment. About 12.3% patients faced catastrophic expenditure. Median cost was significantly higher among those seeking private health care facilities (12100 INR in private vs. 6800 INR in public; p<0.05) during the prediagnostic period. Prediagnostic and diagnostic out-of-pocket expenditures (OPE) were significantly higher across all the three centres (p<0.05). Conclusion. The TB patients experienced untoward expenditure under programmatic settings. The costs encountered by one in eight patients were catastrophic by nature.

A vast range of issues has been debated and discussed in India in the context of the social sector during the last decade, including the right to education, land rights, food security, health for all, gender equality, women’s empowerment, livelihood and employment guarantee. Successive governments have also tried to promote the idea of sustainable and equitable economic growth and development but the reality is that high levels of both economic and social disparities continue to exist. Contemporary political discourse contains recurring references to increasing inequality in society in both developed and developing nations. Against this background the international community, in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), developed a new template of sustainable development goals (SDGs)—17 goals and 169 strategies for the implementation of a global development agenda. However, in a country as diverse as India, equitable development can be brought about only through the implementation of broad-based inclusive social policies backed by an adequate reservoir of financial resources. It was felt that the character and contour of such an approach for development thus needed debate and discussion and it was in this context that a two-day national seminar, Indian Perspectives on Social Sector Issues and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policies, Prospects and Future Directions, was organised by the Council for Social Development to arrive at a consensus on social development.

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Background: The burden of diabetes mellitus is expected to increase by 58%, from 51 million people in 2010 to 87 million in 2030. In rural India the prevalence rate has increased from 1% to 4-10% over last 20 years. Objective of the study is to know the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among adults aged between 30 to 60 years residing in rural area.Methods: This community based cross-sectional study was carried out Agasga, the rural field practice area of Dept. of Community Medicine, among 855 adults aged between 30-60 years by using a predesigned & pretested schedule. Statistical analysis was done using percentages and Chi square test.Results: In this study, 67.24% participants were in age group 30-49 years, 32.74% between 50 to 60 years. 48.53% were male and 51.54% were female participants. 79% of the participants were heavy workers, 17.5% were moderate workers and rest 3.5% were sedentary type of workers. 10.9% were illiterate, and rest 91.1% was literates. 69.3% are BPL card holders. The prevalence of diabetes was 9.5%; 10.8% were at risk of getting Diabetes Mellitus. This gender wise difference in diabetes mellitus was not found to be statistically significant (p=0.986).Conclusions: With high degree of heritability, life style factor diabetes could become a major health hazard in India and this underscores the fact that prevention of diabetes must be one of the important health targets for the nation in this century. Early identification of risks will help in prevention and burden of disease.

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among Indian women and the fourth most frequent cancer in women across the globe. Though effective screening programmes are available, its role in effective prevention in a developing country like ours still remains an unanswered question and the probable reason behind this could be the difficulty in adopting liquid-based cytology (LBC) as the main screening program ahead of conventional pap smear (CPS). Aims and Objectives: This study was performed with an objective to analyse and interpret the samples by both CPS and LBC and to compare the both so as to find out the possibility of implementing LBC in a rural teaching institute of Tamilnadu like ours. Materials and methods: This was a prospective observational study which includes sample of 100 women who have attended the gynaecological outpatient department (OPD) of Vinayaka Missions Kirupananda, Variyar Medical College and Hospitals, Salem, Tamil Nadu. The slides were interpreted by two independent cytopathologists based on The Bethesda System and the results were analysed statistically. Results: The youngest patient was 19 years and the oldest was 68 years old. The most common age group in the study is 4 th decade. The commonest clinical presentation was discharge per vaginum (PV). Screening time was less with LBC which also showed cleaner background compared to CPS. Other parameters like organisms and epithelial cell abnormalities were detected in both CPS and LBC. Conclusion: Even though LBC was few steps above CPS while considering the smear background and time taken to screen the slides, CPS still remains the better among the two in our setup taking into consideration the cost efficacy it provides which is the main factor for the population in our rural setup.