Background: Early marriage is a long established custom in India. In spite of the legislations prohibiting early marriages, the prevalence of child marriages in our country is 30.2%, with the highest prevalence in Rajasthan (35.4%) and lowest in Himachal Pradesh (0.5%).Thus, this study was undertaken to study the prevalence, determinants and impact of early marriage on the mother and her newborn in an urban area of Davangere. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over a period of 6 months in the Urban Family Welfare Centre, Doddapete. A total of 900 mothers were interviewed with the help of pre- designed and semi-structured questionnaire after taking informed consent. Results: The prevalence of child marriage in the present study was found to be 13% with 81% mothers belonging to lower socio- economic status and 77% belonging to Muslim religion. Most (62%) mothers married before the age of 18 years due to economic reasons. 54% of the mothers who married before the age of 18 years faced complications during delivery. 6% of the mothers married before the age of 18 years gave birth to low birth weight babies. Conclusions: The literacy and socio-economic status of the mother and her parents was observed as a major determinant in deciding the age at marriage. In spite of the prevailing religious traditions and socio-cultural influences that promote child marriage, an attempt should be made to educate the community regarding the medical and legal aspects of early marriage.

Background: Sex education should be an integral part of the learning process, beginning in childhood and continuing into the adult life. The 1994 international conference on population and 1995 fourth world conference on women held in Beijing recommended educational services for adolescents in a friendly environment. Objectives: 1. To know about the reproductive health awareness, like adolescent reproductive health by a pre-test, among pre-university girls (XI and XII standard). 2. To study the change in knowledge after the educational intervention by post-test. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in pre-university colleges present in Davangere city. A pre-structured proforma was used to assess the existing knowledge, which consists of both open-ended and close-ended questions on growth and development during adolescence, pregnancy, and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) including HIV/AIDS. Educational intervention was done on the second day with the help of posters, printed materials, flip charts, Overhead Projectors (OHPs), and black board. One week after the educational intervention, post-test was conducted to know the change in the knowledge. Results: For a majority of them, the source of information about the above-mentioned aspects was television, followed by magazines. About 98% of them preferred doctors for getting sex education. There was overall significant change in knowledge (P<0.001, HS) after educational intervention. Conclusion: There were substantial lacunae in the knowledge about reproductive health among the study group. After educational intervention, there was significant change in the knowledge. Students felt that sex education is necessary in school and should be introduced in the school syllabus.

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Background: Cervical cancer is fifth most common cancer worldwide and second most common cancer in women in India, with an incidence of 1,22,844 cases and accounts for over 67,477 deaths annually (GLOBOCON 2012). Although vaccines are available to prevent the cervical cancer there is lack of awareness regarding the same. Hence the present study has been proposed. The objective was to study the awareness of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination among the medical students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2017 to December 2017 among the medical students. All those who gave consent were included and a predesigned, pretested proforma consisting of variables about demographic characteristics, HPV, vaccination and the other necessary information required for the study was collected.Results: 72.4% of the participants were aware of the HPV infection, 70.5% about the HPV vaccination and 69.5% of the participants thought that only females should be vaccinated. 52.3% of the participants expressed interest for vaccination. Interns had 100% awareness about the infection and vaccination. Students who were not interested in vaccination, 18.9% of them said they are not sexually active, 8.5% thought there was no need of vaccine, 6.1% felt vaccine is too expensive and 1.3% worried about the safety of the vaccine. Sources of information was mainly through lectures/textbooks (64.8%) followed by doctors/healthcare facility (20.9%).Conclusions: Study revealed appreciable level of awareness among the participants. With this study, the participants are encouraged to get vaccinated as the age group of participants is appropriate for the vaccination.