No abstract

Street children refer to the children who have not reached adulthood, for whom the street has become their habitual abode and/or a source of livelihood. The reasons for their connection to the street will vary from nation to nation, city to city, and from person to person. This research envisaged to explore the causes of being street children and assess their health status of two study areas, Kathmandu and Birjung, Nepal. The research followed descriptive, exploratory and applied 'QUAN-qual', quantitative dominant mixed methods. The two: semi-structured questionnaire with 150 participants for quantitative data and Key-in-depth interviews (KIIs) with 18 participants for qualitative data were employed in this research. The research areas were purposively selected as per the researcher's pre-observation and respondents on the basis of convenience sampling. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Statical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software version 20.0 and qualitative data were thematically analyzed using content analysis. The findings of the study depicted that the dominant causes to be street children are family-based causes. Economic, social, and other causes are second, third, and fourth respectively in the study area. Additionally, gender and alcohol consumed behavior was found significant where education level and age had no significance to determinants of the health status of street children. The overall implication of the study signifies that the attention has been shifted from treating the biological to encouraging street children to gain positive necessary health skills that are based on self-care and self-management behaviors including knowledge, beliefs, attitude, motivation, and behaviors.

To identify the effects of whole crop maize silage (MS) as a substitute for rice straw (RS) on feed intake and milk production of mid-late lactating buffalo and cattle in Tarai, Nepal, eight Murrah and eight Jersey-Hariana were fed the basal diet, RS (ad libitum) with concentrate (0.68% of bodyweight [BW] on a dry matter [DM] basis). A 4 x 4 Latin square design experiment was conducted in each animal species with graded levels of MS substitution for RS (0%, T1; 33%, T2; 67%, T3 and 100%, T4). The MS had higher digestibility and total digestible nutrient (TDN) than RS. The DM intake per BW of the both species was highest in T3. The substitution of MS for RS increased the crude protein intake and the TDN intake in the both species. Although the buffalo showed the highest milking performance in T4, the cattle showed no significant differences in their milking performance among the treatments. The substitution of MS for RS improved the feed intake and milk production in the buffalo. On the other hand, the milk yield was not raised in the cattle, though the feed intake was increased by the substitution.

Regular handwashing with soap and running water is one of the effective ways to stop spreading of germs that protects us from the disease. The aim of this study is to assess the handwashing knowledge and practice among the selected school students of Bardiya district in Nepal. To address this objective, the school-based descriptive cross-sectional design was applied. A total of 327 students including 9 to 12 grades were taken from four secondary schools using the multistage sampling technique. The validated self-administrated questionnaires were used to collect the data from the selected students. Similarly, the univariate (frequencies and percentage) and bivariate analyses (chi-square test for association) were performed to analyse the data, using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) 26 versions. Out of the total participants, 29.7% were between the ages of 15-16 years, 60.9% were male, and the majority (95.7%) were from Hindu. The study showed that 36.9% participants had the poor knowledge relating to handwashing. In contrast, it was found that 43.42% participants were found with the low practice of handwashing, which was higher than the knowledge level of handwashing. So having a good knowledge is not associated with good practices as regards to handwashing. It was noticed that the poor handwashing practice level remains higher as compared to the poor handwashing knowledge level. The study suggests that the schools have the responsibilities to give handwashing education to their students to raise the knowledge as well as the practice level of handwashing.

Background: Access to drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) at schools are the basic determinants of a child’s right to healthy and quality education. In Nepal, most of the schools had limited WASH facilities, including separate sanitation facilities for girls. The limited WASH facilities, unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, and hygiene practices result in irresponsible behaviors that directly impede on students’ health. This study examines the association between WASH services and health status of basic level students’, ranging sixth to eighth grades. In Nepal, basic level education consists up to eighth standards from grade 1. Methods: The study applies causal-comparative research design within 2 groups; 1 having improved WASH and another without improved WASH services at the schools in Dhanusha and Chitwan districts of Nepal. Each group consists 2 schools, so altogether 4 schools were included in this study. Total 768, equal 384 respondents were selected from each improved and without improved WASH facilities. The study was conducted in between January and March 2021 at a single-phase time. The sample size was calculated using the standard statistical formula for the infinite population. The study applied quantitative research method, including 3 sorts of analysis; univariate, bivariate, and the multivariate. The univariate was applied to analyze the frequency and percentages of the respondents. Bivariate analysis was made applying chi2 test in order to show the association between 2 variables, whereas the multivariate logistic regression was performed through multilevel modeling to show the effects of school WASH facilities on students’ health status. Results: Out of 768 students’, 384 (50%) were from improved and 384 (50%) were from unimproved WASH facilities at schools. More than two third (64%) of respondents from the unimproved and higher than two fifth (41%) from the improved schools got sickness ( P <.001). Further, three fifth (59%) of respondents aged 15 to 19 and higher than half (51%) of respondents ages of 10 to 14 years got sickness ( P <.05). Most (57%) of the female respondents had sickness compared to males (47%), ( P <.05). More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents from Dalit and nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents from Brahmin/Chhetri-Terai more often found being sick in unimproved schools compared to other castes (55%), Janajati (43%), and Brahmin/Chhetri-Hill (39%) ( P <.001). The school WASH services has significant effect (cOR = 0.388, CI; 290-0.519, P <.001) on students health status, even adjusting other socio-covariates (aOR = .442, CI; 0.302-0.646, P <.001). The female respondents were more likely to fall sick (aOR = 678, CI; 0.502-0.915, P <.01) compared to the male respondents keeping all other variables constant in the model. Conclusion: The study recommends to extend WASH awareness program to school families, particularly to the students as there is an evident need to increase preventive as well as the therapeutic efficacy of the potential infections.

This study assesses the effect of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services on students’ absenteeism in government basic schools for 10–19 years old in Nepal. This study applied an ex post facto research design on two groups of students: with and without improved school WASH services. This study showed that students in schools with improved WASH services were more likely to be regular in attendance (80%) compared to those without (58%), p &lt; 0.001. There was an association between students’ school absenteeism and student grades, p &lt; 0.05. Moreover, the caste, religion, and grades of students were also associated with students’ school absenteeism, p &lt; 0.001. The analysis further showed that students with improved WASH were more likely to be regular [crude odds ratios (COR) = 0.353; 95% confidence interval (CI); 0.256–0.487, p &lt; 0.001] than those without. This trend was maintained across all demographics. It was significant even after the inclusion of all sociodemographic characteristics and increased rapidly [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.508; 95% CI; 0.334–0.773, p &lt; 0.01]. The Brahmin/Chhetri-Terai and the Dalit students were more likely to be absent (COR = 0.315; 95% CI; 0.153–0.648, p &lt; 0.01 and AOR = 0.274; 95% CI; 0.139–0.542, p &lt; 0.001, respectively) than Brahmin/Chhetri-Hill, Janajati, and other castes. This study underscores the importance of WASH services in schools in reducing students’ school absenteeism. Access to WASH services is recommended with several awareness programs to reduce absenteeism and increase students’ school regularity.

The host preference of whitefly Bemisia tabaci was experimented in four economically important vegetable plants viz. tomato, brinjal, capsicum and cucumber in 2012-2013. It was found that preference of whitefly for feeding under both conditions free-choice and no-choice was significantly different after 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours and 96 hours. Cucumber was the most preferred host plant for oviposition while capsicum was the least.

Health literacy refers to a person's knowledge and abilities to make sound health decisions in everyday life. The overall goal of this study was to discover the influence of health literacy on the health behaviour of college girls, using proportionate stratified sampling, 178 (55.27% females studying health and physical education (HPE) at Surkhet Campus, and HA/Staff Nurse at SEDA Campus, Surkhet were chosen. Researchers used a cross-sectional design for this study. The Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) was used to assess health literacy, while the Self-Administered Questionnaire was used to assess health behaviour. As per the survey findings, 53.93% of respondents had appropriate health literacy. Health literacy plays a key role in physical activity and its duration. Furthermore, study revealed that health literacy has no role on campus girls' smoking, using alcohol, and health check-up behaviour. Finally, the research suggested that health literacy is required to include in higher education programmes.