Depression, Anxiety and Stress among School-going Adolescents of a Secondary School: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Introduction: Mental health of adolescents can affect growth and development, decrease school performance, and impair social relationships with peers and families. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the social and educational scenario and affected the psychological condition of children and adolescents. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among school-going adolescents in a secondary school. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done among school-going adolescents of a school from 1 October 2021 to 31 November 2021. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 0609202101). Data was collected using a questionnaire consisting of sociodemographic parameters and a diagnosis of depression anxiety and stress was made using a standard scale. The whole sampling method was used. Percentage and frequency were calculated for binary data. Results: Among 95 patients, the depression was found in 31 (32.63%), anxiety in 36 (37.89%), and stress in 3 (3.16%). Conclusions: The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was lower than in other studies done in similar settings. The mental health status of school-going adolescents should be identified and appropriate timely interventions need to be taken. Family members, teachers and the concerned authorities should give emphasis to the psychological well-being of the adolescents. Keywords: adolescent; anxiety; depression; stress.

District-Level Risk Factors for COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality in Nepal.

The recent global pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is affecting the entire population of Nepal, and the outcome of the epidemic varies from place to place. A district-level analysis was conducted to identify socio-demographic risk factors that drive the large variations in COVID-19 mortality and related health outcomes, as of 22 January 2021. Data on COVID-19 extracted from relevant reports and websites of the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal, and the National Population and Housing Census and the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey were the main data sources for the district-level socio-demographic characteristics. We calculated the COVID-19 incidence, recovered cases, and deaths per 100,000 population, then estimated the associations with the risk factors using regression models. COVID-19 outcomes were positively associated with population density. A higher incidence of COVID-19 was associated with districts with a higher percentage of overcrowded households and without access to handwashing facilities. Adult literacy rate was negatively associated with the COVID-19 incidence. Increased mortality was significantly associated with a higher obesity prevalence in women and a higher smoking prevalence in men. Access to health care facilities reduced mortality. Population density was the most important driver behind the large variations in COVID-19 outcomes. This study identifies critical risk factors of COVID-19 outcomes, including population density, crowding, education, and hand hygiene, and these factors should be considered to address inequities in the burden of COVID-19 across districts.

Innovating protectives gears for frontline health professionals in the COVID-19 pandemic at a low resource setting

We communicate briefly about the innovation of protective gear (such as Hazmat suit) and respirator mask that can be used by health care professionals as mouth and nose protection tools against the penetration of the microscopic particles containing highly contagious species into the body. As a research and development support to the local entrepreneurs willing to come up with innovative products, the structural and some surface functional properties of the polymeric materials available in local market were analyzed in comparison to the commercially available gears and masks. It has been found that the respirator masks, equivalent in structure and functional properties as the common commercially available protective gears could be developed that can be used by front-line health professionals for protection against contagious environment. The research has paved way to manufacture highly useful health care products at significantly lower costs under low resource setting.