Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are responsible for morbidity in many working populations. Apart from lowering the quality of workers' life and reducing the productivity, WMSDs are the most expensive form of work disability, attributing to about 40% of all costs toward the treatment of work-related injuries. WMSDs are considered to be multifactorials that are caused due to the interactions between various risk factors, which result in conditions that vary across different occupations. Although health care profession is known to be at a high risk for WMSDs, it is one of the least-studied occupations. Most of the previous studies on WMSDs among health care workers were limited to any one of the professional groups such as nurses, physical therapists, dentists, and others. Hence this study was aimed at looking into the WMSDs affecting five different health care professionals working in a tertiary care hospital. It compared the prevalence and distribution of WMSDs among the five groups, evaluated the multiple risk factors that contribute to the development of WMSDs, and identified the high-risk group. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among dentists, laboratory technicians, nurses, physicians, and physiotherapists of various clinical departments in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai, India, from January to June 2013. Face-to-face interviews as well as observational analysis of various tasks were employed. Different combinations of validated and standardized questionnaires were used for collecting different types of data. Results: A high proportion of health care professionals reported WMSDs at one or the other body region, lower back being the most commonly affected area. Working in the same position for long periods, working in awkward or cramped positions and handling an excessive number of patients or samples in one day were found to be the most commonly reported job risk factor that contributed to the development of WMSDs, in this study. Conclusion: Among all the health care professionals assessed in this study, nurses were found to be at the highest risk, whereas physicians were at the lowest risk. A longitudinal study using quantitative analytical tools may give a more accurate estimate of WMSDs and job risk factors, which would pave way for making more precise recommendations to eliminate the risk factors and thereby prevent WMSDs.

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are responsible for morbidity in many working populations, which are of multifactorial in origin and of global concern due to industrialization. Dentists as one of the health-care professionals are prone to develop these WMSDs. The study aims to determine the prevalence of WMSDs among dentists in Bhopal region and explores the various risk factors for the development of MSDs and WMSDs. Materials and Methods: This proposed study is a cross-sectional study conducted among dentists of two randomly selected dental colleges of Bhopal, India. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the demographic information, occupational history, risk factors, and ergonomic awareness with job task details. Prevalidated standardized tools such as quick exposure check list, rapid entire body assessment score sheet, and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire were also used. Data were entered in MS-Excel and analyzed through SPSS version 18. Results: More than 92% of the participants reported pain and discomfort in at least one part of their body. The major affected body part is neck, followed by the lower back and wrist. More than half of the orthodontists and oral surgeons reported that their MSDs are work-related origin. Pearson's correlation test indicated that there is a positive correlation between the current exposure and risk (r = 0.613). Multivariate regression analysis found that younger participants, male (OR = 4.1), involved physical activity (OR = 1.04), dentists not taught about ergonomics in their dental school (OR = 1.69) or never attended any workshops (OR = 1.38), who reported task involving sustained muscle contraction (OR = 1.12) or task with repetitive movements (OR = 1.11) are the major risk factors for the development of MSDs among the dentists. Conclusion: This risk assessment study found that there is a high prevalence of MSDs and WMSDs among dentists. Ergonomic awareness and health promotion need to be integrated with the professional practice for dentists.

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic threatens global health thereby causing unprecedented social, economic, and political disruptions. One way to prevent such a pandemic is through interventions at the human-animal-environment interface by using an integrated One Health (OH) approach. This systematic literature review documented the three coronavirus outbreaks, i.e. SARS, MERS, COVID-19, to evaluate the evolution of the OH approach, including the identification of key OH actions taken for prevention, response, and control.

Inter-sectoral collaborations are now recognized as key importance for health system strengthening and health system integration, globally; however, its application in the domain of One Health remains unclear. Over time, as the complexity of the health system has increased within the domain of One Health approach, there is an urgent need for developing collaboration for successful implementation of the One Health. This review focuses on the global One Health collaboration strategies and discusses which type of collaboration might work for the health system of India. We conducted a review in the following three steps: identification of key One Health Collaboration strategies, documentation of the global initiatives and scoping into the initiatives of India in the domain of One Health. We found three major types of collaborations discussed in the One Health literature: level-based collaboration (individual, population or research), solution-based collaboration, and third-party-based collaboration. Twenty-five key global and six Indian One Health initiatives or collaboration strategies are documented in the present review. Although, many initiatives are being undertaken globally for disease prevention and control from the viewpoint of One Health; however, in India, solution-based approaches during emergencies and outbreaks and some sort of level-based collaborations are in place. It is high time to develop a sustainable level-based collaboration integrated with third-party based collaboration within the larger domain of One Health for a resilient health system.

Background: Waste management is a necessary activity around the world, but involves a variety of health hazards. In a developing country like India, municipal solid waste is collected manually requiring heavy physical activity. Among all occupational health issues, musculoskeletal problems are common among waste collectors in the form of nonfatal injuries because of the presence of such risk factors (lifting, carrying, pulling, and pushing). We have thus conducted this study to evaluate musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among municipal solid waste (MSW) workers. Methodology: A cross-sectional study using probability proportionate to size sampling, recruited 220 MSW workers from the Chennai Municipal Corporation, India for this study. A pretested validated questionnaire has been used to collect data on demographic and occupational history and information on musculoskeletal pain. Data analysis was performed using R software (3.0.1 version). Results: 70% of the participants reported that they had been troubled with musculoskeletal pain in one or more of the 9 defined body regions during the last 12 months, whereas 91.8% had pain during the last 7 days. Higher prevalence of symptoms in knees, shoulders, and lower back was found to be 84.5%, 74.5%, and 50.9% respectively. Female illiterate workers with lower socioeconomic status were found to have higher odds for MSDs. Similarly, higher body mass index having no physical activity increases the chance of odds having MSDs. Conclusion: The higher percentage of musculoskeletal symptoms among MSW workers could be attributed to the long duration of employment, the low job control, and the nature of their job, which is physically demanding. A workplace of health promotion model integration can minimize the reported high prevalence, and a prospective cohort study could be recommended further.

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be one of the important public health concerns globally, and India is among the seven countries with the largest burden of TB. There has been a consistent increase in the notifications of TB cases across the globe. However, the 2018 estimates envisage a gap of about 30% between the incident and notified cases of TB, indicating a significant number of patients who remain undiagnosed or ‘missed’. It is important to understand who is ‘missed’, find this population, and provide quality care. Given these complexities, we reviewed the diagnostic gaps in the care cascade for TB. We searched Medline via PubMed and CENTRAL databases via the Cochrane Library. The search strategy for PubMed was tailored to individual databases and was as: ((((((tuberculosis[Title/Abstract]) OR (TB[Title/Abstract])) OR (koch *[Title/Abstract])) OR (“tuberculosis”[MeSH Terms]))) AND (((diagnos *) AND (“diagnosis”[MeSH Terms])))). Furthermore, we screened the references list of the potentially relevant studies to seek additional studies. Studies retrieved from these electronic searches and relevant references included in the bibliography of those studies were reviewed. Original studies in English that assessed the causes of diagnostic gaps and interventions used to address them were included. Delays in diagnosis were found to be attributable to both the individuals’ and the health system’s capacity to diagnose and promptly commence treatment. This review provides insights into the diagnostic gaps in a cascade of care for TB and different interventions adopted in studies to close this gap. The major diagnostic gaps identified in this review are as follows: people may not have access to TB diagnostic tests, individuals are at a higher risk of missed diagnosis, services are available but people may not seek care with a diagnostic facility, and patients are not diagnosed despite reaching health facilities. Therefore, reaching the goal to End TB requires putting in place models and methods to provide prompt and quality assured diagnosis to populations at par.