Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) Traceable to Household Fuel Consumption and its Impact on Health.

Energy is an essential and obligatory prerequisite of life. Indoor air pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems in the world being specifically concentrated in resource limited settings. Inspite of the availability of cleaner fuel technologies, people in resource limited setting still depend on traditional fuel to meet their basic needs resulting even in premature deaths. In Nepal people in rural areas are the pre-dominant users of biomass fuel, there is limited research focusing on rural areas particularly; women as they spend most of their time in kitchen. Reports were extensively searched for literature using preset keywords in English language peer-reviewed journals databases PubMed and Google Scholar published between the years 2005 to 2020. Citation details were examined, titles and abstracts screened for eligibility and if relevant, full text was also reviewed in greater detail. Findings were then presented primarily under two bold themes: Household fuel consumption: existing theories and evidence; and health impact of indoor air pollution. Several health effects were reported of indoor air pollution including respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, endocrine system disruption and pregnancy complications. These exposures almost double the health risks predominantly among children and women of rural communities as they are directly involved in household activities causing air pollution. Based on our review of evidence, women and children of rural households were the major victims. Further, determinants of household fuel consumption and health effects should be considered while formulating policies in regard to promoting accessibility of clean fuels and reducing household air pollutants.

Students Anxiety Experiences during COVID-19 in Nepal.

Background COVID-19 started in China and has spread throughout the world since December 2019. The pandemic has not only brought the risk of morbidity and mortality from infection but also psychological burden. Objective To find out the psychological impacts of COVID-19 on students from high schools, colleges and universities in Nepal, along with examining the association between socio-demographic and other related variables and level of anxiety in the students. Method This study sampled students from Nepal using convenience sampling and responded to a quantitative questionnaire that included the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and other basic information. Finally, 105 respondents were included in the final analysis (100% response rate). Convenient sampling technique was used to gather the sample. Result The results indicated that 18.1% of the respondents were experiencing severe anxiety, 22.9% moderate anxiety, and 25.7% mild anxiety. Moreover, females were more prone to anxiety as compared to males. The results of correlation analysis indicated that economic effects, and delays in academic activities, were positively associated with anxiety symptoms (p < .05). However, social support was negatively correlated with the level of anxiety (p < .001). Conclusion It is recommended that the mental health of students should be monitored during public health emergencies, such as this one. This study examines the psychological impacts of COVID-19 among the college students in Nepal.