Non-smoking is the new trend worldwide. Going by the new data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the number of non-smokers is increasing all over the world. The
The World Health Assembly (WHA) concluded its 68th session in Geneva on May 26 with Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda, the president for this year’s assembly, saying &lsqu
Notwithstanding needless controversies and posturing by pseudo-secularists, yoga is relevant in current India, suffering from effects economic growth. Those are skeptical should unde
India has ‘moderately’ reduced open defecation by 31 percent since 1990 but succeeded significantly in providing access to improved drinking water to more people in urban and rural area
The government has constituted a technical group to monitor the situation arising out of spread of Zika virus and measures to be taken by the authorities. This step came after health minister J P N
WHO representative to India, Dr Henk Bekedam, on Thursday said that the alarming rise in diabetes in India was related to government’s low investment in healthcare. “Over
The World Health Day falling on April 7 every year is a global health awareness day under the sponsorship of World Health Organization (WHO). On this day, we would like you to read eight stories co
Should sugar be taxed to fight diabetes,
Union minister of health and family welfare, JP Nadda on Thursday said that there is urgent need for the government to focus on the youth and plan a multi-sectoral approach with other departments t
Stressing on the need to utilise technology for improving health standards of people, union health minister
As the world observes anti-malaria day, the world health organisation said that half of the world’s population - 3.2 billion people - remain at risk of malaria. In 2015, 214 million new cases
Maharashtra state reported 14,209 cases of malaria, including five fatal ones, in the year 2015, but Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation [BMC] says malaria rate is now coming down. Dr
The South Asian region has shown an increase of five percent in air pollution level in more than two-thirds of its cities. Delhi has some reason to cheer after the release of the Wor
A high-level panel hosted by India as part of the BRICS group of countries discussed the issues of trade deals that inhibit access to medicines and also limit policy space for governments to legisl
We ring the doorbell, the door opens slightly and we quickly step inside a cramped two-room flat in Delhi. Raju gives us a furtive look and shuts the door to avoid prying eyes. Before we can talk t
The risk of TB infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) is largely understudied and preventive measures are clearly not in place. Blessina Kumar, chair, Global Coalition of TB Activists, discu
World Blood Donor Day is observed every year to mark the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, an Austrian physician, born on June 14, 1868. In 1901, he discovered the first three human blood groups, ABO
Only one in 20 people with viral hepatitis are aware that they are suffering from the disease. One in 100 suffering people are being treated. On World Hepatitis Day, the World Health Organisa
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidelines for the treatment of three common STIs - chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis - as they are becoming more and more resistant to known tre
While efforts to respond to tuberculosis (TB) saved more than three million lives in 2015, a World Health Organisation (WHO) report shows that the TB burden is actually higher than previously estim
India currently has the highest number of tuberculosis (TB) patients in the world. But hold your breath! A new study has suggested that the number of TB cases in India is a gross underestimate. In
The seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) began near Delhi on Monday. It is the first occasion that a COP meeting is being held in India. COP7, being held from Nove
The process for selecting the chief of the world’s biggest multilateral health organisation is underway. The next director-general (DG) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) will be elected
“Our farmers have been modifying their crops for centuries through the method of conventional breeding. But here we have not modified but *genetically engineered* the mustard parental l
The world’s first malaria vaccine will be rolled out in pilot settings in 2018, the results of which would give an indication of whether they can be deployed on a wider scale, the World
S Srinivasan is the managing trustee of LOCOST, a charitable trust involved with the production of low-priced quality generics for over 32 years. He has also been active in works like t
In a country of 1.3 billion people, the government’s expenditure on healthcare rarely becomes a matter of pride. In 2013-14, India’s total healthcare expenditure was Rs 4.5 lakh crore,
Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India, a Miniratna-II CPSU, has signed an agreement with Motivation Charitable Trust of UK to manufacture WHO compliant wheelchairs in
Dr Ghys also holds the post of chief, strategic information and monitoring division of UNAIDS. The division’s main functions include analysis of levels and trends in the AIDS epidemic, an
Martin Shkreli, an American entrepreneur and hedge fund manager, hogged global headlines last year when he suddenly hiked the price of Daraprim, a life-saving drug used in the treatment of AIDS and
None of the Indian cities comply with standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) said a Greenpeace report. The report “Airpocalypse” as
The governing body of the UN’s health agency that sets the agenda of work on global health met late January. In its 140th session, the executive board (EB) of the World Health Organisation (W
Tribals in the land of the legendary Birsa Munda in Jharkhand are fighting against the amendments of the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act (CNTA) and Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPTA).
Tobeka Daki, a single South African mother and health activist from the eastern Cape, died fighting breast cancer in November last year. Her oncologist had told Tobeka that she needed trast
The nutrition crisis continues to stare at us, despite the fact that India is the fastest growing large economy today. In running after GDP growth, the human development index
Book: Health Care Reforms in India: Making up for lost decades Author: Rajendra Pratap Gupta Publisher: Reed Elsevier India Pvt.
More than 3,000 adolescents die every day, totalling 1.2 million deaths a year, from largely preventable causes, according to a report from WHO and partners. In 2015, more than two-thirds of these
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and Melinda Gates in April volunteered to get bitten by the dengue causing Aedis mosquitoes in Indonesia. They were donating blood
Tobacco users have gone down by 81 lakhs and youth consuming tobacco has also seen a marked decrease, said union health minister JP Nadda at the National Consultation on Accelerating Implemen
In a world that sees far-from-perfect global healthcare systems, lack of access to cancer treatment – a disease which currently is the second leading cause of death – is the most
The union government is keen to create an All India Medical Service, just like the IAS and IPS. A letter has been sent to all chief secretaries of the states and un
If India reduced its air pollution to comply with the WHO’s air quality standard, its people could live about 4 years longer on average, or a combined more than 4.7 billion life years, said
There is going to be a huge lack of new antibiotics in coming future. A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that there is “a serious lack of new antibiotics under devel
Tobacco use among adults has come down in Maharashtra, showed the findings of the latest Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS2) . As compared to earlier report of GATS1 (2009-2010), th
India has not been able to tackle anaemia among women and children despite launching a targeted programme nearly 50 years back. National Nutritional Anaemia Prophylaxis’s progr
After giving birth to two children, Sheila (name changed), a 32-year-old resident of Shahapur in Thane, Maharashtra, decided to get herself sterilised. In 2013, some workers of a primary health cen
Well water in about 400 villages along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab is laden with deadly arsenic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) sets a safe limit of 10 micrograms of arsenic per litre
In a world that continues to witness a sharp divide between the rich and poor, and diseases continue to stare menacingly at humanity, it is only prudent that World Health Organisation declared Univ
It’s a Friday morning at a poultry warehouse in Gazipur, Delhi, not far from its infamous mountain of garbage. Kites and vultures roost on pylons and hover in the thermals over the swollen la
In what it describes as a “major health and wellness initiative for the country”, the union cabinet has approved the promulgation of an ordinance to ban electronic cigarettes. The move,
COVID-19 has claimed first life in India as the authorities scrambled to contain the further spread Novel Coronavirus. A 76-year-old man in Karnataka who had tested positive for COVI
In a bid to break the “chain of transmission” of the deadly Covid-19, India, a country with more than 1.3 billion population, observed a voluntary ‘Janata Curfew’ on March 2
To take speedy decisions on research and development for Sars-Cov-2 virus and COVID-19, the government has constituted a Science and Technology Empowered Committee. The committee, se
Whatever may be the reason behind US president Donald Trump’s irksome statement against India and then within 24 hours correcting it by making placatory remarks for prime minister Narendra Mo
In the battle against Covid-19, India has managed to keep the mortality rate low at 0.2 deaths per lakh population, compared to some 4.1 deaths for the same population worldwide. Moreover, a total
For the rest of the world, it is not easy to understand China when it comes to politics or economics. Under pressure from the international community, it has accepted to open the country for a &ldq
While India remains one of the most Covid-19-affected countries, its recovery rate continues to improve with the total number of patients who have returned home touching 7,24,577.
In India, only 2.40 million out of an estimated 2.64 million cases of tuberculosis were reported to the government, that is, 2,40,000 TB patients went unreported, in 2019, according to the WHO Glob
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi launched the ‘WHO M-Yoga’ App while addressing the occasion of the 7th International Day of Yoga. M-Yoga app will
After reports of Omicron, a new potentially contagious variant of coronavirus detected in South Africa, Belgium, Hong Kong, Britain and Israel, more European countries have reported cases, raising
Former World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan takes charge as chairperson of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) from February 1. Founded by
Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist of World Health Organisation (WHO), has said that more than pandemic, climate change is the concern to respect not only for our health but our very existe
