Ivermectin-Based Mass Drug Administration for Scabies in Northern India: A Single-Arm Community Intervention Trial.

Background: Scabies and impetigo cause direct health effects and contribute to severe infectious and immune-mediated complications. Ivermectin-based mass drug administration can reduce scabies and impetigo prevalence in island settings with high prevalence, but the effectiveness in moderate-prevalence settings is not known.

Methods: We conducted a single-arm, before-after community intervention trial.

Inverting the deficit model in global mental health: An examination of strengths and assets of community mental health care in Ghana, India, Occupied Palestinian territories, and South Africa.

Global mental health [GMH] scholarship and practice has typically focused on the unmet needs and barriers to mental health in communities, developing biomedical and psychosocial interventions for integration into formal health care platforms in response. In this article, we analyse four diverse settings to disrupt the emphasises on health system weaknesses, treatment gaps and barriers which can perpetuate harmful hierarchies and colonial and medical assumptions, or a 'deficit model'. We draw on the experiential knowledge of community mental health practitioners and researchers working in Ghana, India, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and South Africa to describe key assets existing in 'informal' community mental health care systems and how these are shaped by socio-political contexts.

Opening up the 'black-box': what strategies do community mental health workers use to address the social dimensions of mental health?

Purpose: Community-based workers promote mental health in communities. Recent literature has called for more attention to the ways they operate and the strategies used. For example, how do they translate biomedical concepts into frameworks that are acceptable and accessible to communities? How do micro-innovations lead to positive mental health outcomes, including social inclusion and recovery? The aim of this study was to examine the types of skills and strategies to address social dimensions of mental health used by community health workers (CHWs) working together with people with psychosocial disability (PPSD) in urban north India.

Scaling a group intervention to promote caregiver mental health in Uttarakhand, India: A mixed-methods implementation study.

Caregivers are integral to health and social care systems in South Asian countries yet are themselves at higher risk of mental illness. Interventions to support caregiver mental health developed in high-income contexts may be contextually inappropriate in the Global South. In this mixed-methods study, we evaluated the implementation and scaling of a locally developed mental health group intervention for caregivers and others in Uttarakhand, India.

Does the group intervention improve mental health and social participation? A pre-post study in Uttarakhand, India.

There are few evidence-based interventions to support caregiver mental health developed for low- and middle-income countries. is a community-based group intervention developed with collaboratively with local community health workers in Uttarakhand, India primarily to promote mental wellbeing for caregivers and others. This pre-post study aimed to evaluate whether improved mental health and social participation for people with mental distress, including caregivers.

Developing relevant community mental health programmes in North India: five questions we ask when co-producing knowledge with experts by experience.

Knowledge co-production can improve the quality and accessibility of health, and also benefit service users, allowing them to be recognised as skilled and capable. Yet despite these clear benefits, there are inherent challenges in the power relations of co-production, particularly when experts by experience (EBE) are structurally disadvantaged in communication skills or literacy. The processes of how knowledge is co-produced and negotiated are seldom described.

Improving mental ill-health with psycho-social group interventions in South Asia-A scoping review using a realist lens.

This scoping review aimed to synthesise current evidence related to psycho-social groups as part of community-based mental health interventions in South Asia. We used a realist lens to pay attention to the contexts and mechanisms supporting positive outcomes. We included studies published from January 2007 to February 2022 that: were based in communities in South Asia, included a group component, reported on interventions with a clear psychosocial component, targeted adults and were implemented by lay community health workers.

A cross-sectional observation study to evaluate the efficacy and complications of epidural analgesia in paediatric population.

Background And Aims: With advances in pediatric surgery, pediatric epidurals are increasingly being used for analgesia. As there is scarcity of data in India about the pediatric epidurals, we sought to determine the efficacy and complications of epidural analgesia. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of pediatric epidural analgesia and the incidence of complications aimed at improving the quality of care.

Critical reflections on the concept and impact of "scaling up" in Global Mental Health.

The field of Global Mental Health (GMH) aims to address the global burden of mental illness by focusing on closing the "treatment gap" faced by many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To increase access to services, GMH prioritizes "scaling up" mental health services, primarily advocating for the export of Western centred and developed biomedical and psychosocial "evidence-based" approaches to the Global South. While this emphasis on scalability has resulted in the increased availability of mental health services in some LMICs, there have been few critical discussions of this strategy.

Mutuality as a method: advancing a social paradigm for global mental health through mutual learning.

Purpose: Calls for "mutuality" in global mental health (GMH) aim to produce knowledge more equitably across epistemic and power differences. With funding, convening, and publishing power still concentrated in institutions in the global North, efforts to decolonize GMH emphasize the need for mutual learning instead of unidirectional knowledge transfers. This article reflects on mutuality as a concept and practice that engenders sustainable relations, conceptual innovation, and queries how epistemic power can be shared.

Role of Human Papilloma Virus in the Aetiology of Sinonasal Cancers.

Sino nasal carcinogenesis is attributed to numerous factors, namely tobacco, alcohol and snuff as the most common. Human Papilloma virus (HPV) has been associated with aetiopathogenesis of malignancies in the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT). The prevalence of HPV in Sino-nasal malignancy (SNM) which is closely related to UADT in location is not known.

Conducting research with young people at the margins - lessons learnt and shared through case studies in Cambodia, India, Sweden and Zambia.

Building on the value of engaging with and enabling the participation of marginalised young people in research, the aim of this article was to profile practical and procedural issues faced when conducting studies with young people who experience some form of marginalisation. Drawing on observations and research experiences from four diverse case studies involving young people who were either imprisoned in Cambodia, living in informal urban communities in North India, residing in rural northern Sweden or attending school in rural Zambia, learnings were identified under three thematic areas. Firstly, a need exists to develop trusting relationships with stakeholders, and especially the participating young people, through multiple interactions.

Participatory mental health interventions in low-income and middle-income countries: a realist review protocol.

Introduction: The launch of the Movement for Global Mental Health brought long-standing calls for improved mental health interventions in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) to centre stage. Within the movement, the participation of communities and people with lived experience of mental health problems is argued as essential to successful interventions. However, there remains a lack of conceptual clarity around 'participation' in mental health interventions with the specific elements of participation rarely articulated.

Is the Parwarish parenting intervention feasible and relevant for young people and parents in diverse settings in India? A mixed methods process evaluation.

Objective: To assess the feasibility, acceptability and relevance of the Parwarish, a positive parenting intervention (adapted from PLH-Teens) in three diverse settings in India.

Design: This mixed methods study used the Medical Research Council framework for process evaluations of complex interventions.

Setting: This study was set in disadvantaged communities in urban Agra, rural Uttar Pradesh and tribal Jharkhand in India.

Reconceptualising the treatment gap for common mental disorders: a fork in the road for global mental health?

In this analysis, we argue that the 'treatment gap' for common mental disorders often reflects lack of demand, arising because services fail to address the needs of disadvantaged communities. We propose a route forward for global mental health, with explicit focus on action on the socioeconomic determinants of psychological suffering.

"We've got through hard times before: acute mental distress and coping among disadvantaged groups during COVID-19 lockdown in North India - a qualitative study".

Background: The COVID-19 crisis in India negatively impacted mental health due to both the disease and the harsh lockdown, yet there are almost no qualitative studies describing mental health impacts or the strategies of resilience used, and in particular, no reports from the most vulnerable groups. This study aimed to examine the acute mental health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis as well as coping strategies employed by disadvantaged community members in North India.

Methods: We used an intersectional lens for this qualitative study set in rural Tehri Garwhal and urban Dehradun districts of Uttarakhand, India.

Exploring Community Mental Health Systems - A Participatory Health Needs and Assets Assessment in the Yamuna Valley, North India.

Background: In India and global mental health, a key component of the care gap for people with mental health problems is poor system engagement with the contexts and priorities of community members. This study aimed to explore the nature of community mental health systems by conducting a participatory community assessment of the assets and needs for mental health in Uttarkashi, a remote district in North India.

Methods: The data collection and analysis process were emergent, iterative, dialogic and participatory.

The Effectiveness of a Multi-Pronged Psycho-Social Intervention Among People With Mental Health and Epilepsy Problems - A Pre-Post Prospective Cohort Study Set in North India.

Background: In low- and middle-income settings, many people with mental health problems cannot or do not access psychiatric services. Few studies of people with epilepsy and mental problems have evaluated the effectiveness of a predominantly psycho-social intervention, delivered by lay community workers. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a community-based complex mental health intervention within informal urban communities while simultaneously addressing social determinants of mental health among disadvantaged people with severe and common mental disorders (CMDs), and epilepsy.

Magnitude, characteristics and consequences of topical steroid misuse in rural North India: an observational study among dermatology outpatients.

Introduction: Current evidence indicates an alarming increase in topical steroid (TS) misuse in India. Data regarding the magnitude and characteristics of this problem in rural India, where 68% of the population resides, are insufficient. This study analyses the magnitude, causes, characteristics and consequences of TS misuse in rural India.

Family Medicine: A Resident's Perspective.

Though family medicine has existed as a qualification for more than a decade in India, structured residency based training is a recent phenomenon. A growing number of young physicians are opting for this challenging and exciting new speciality as post graduate qualification through NBE (National Board of Examination) affiliated three year DNB (Diplomate of National Board) training program. MD family medicine is also in offing as Medical Council of India (MCI) has recently notified curriculum for this post graduate program.

Admission test as precursor of perinatal outcome: a prospective study.

Purpose: To test the reliability of the admission test to identify the compromised fetus and thus reduce the neonatal morbidity and mortality by early intervention.

Methods: A prospective analysis over a period of 1 year from December 2007 to December 2008 included 100 antepartum patients and were evaluated for perinatal outcome in two groups.

Results: In both low and high risk groups the incidence of meconium staining was 25 and 37.

Immunization status of children under 7 years in the Vikas Nagar area, North India.

Background: Immunization has played a major part in reducing childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. Knowledge of vaccine coverage and reasons for poor uptake are essential for the achievement of herd immunity.

Method: An observational study was carried out in September 2003, in 10 villages in the Vikas Nagar area around Herbertpur Christian Hospital in Uttaranchal, North India.