Full Coverage: Health

31.10.2005 Nearly two years after the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) took up the question in Geneva, the international community is yet to arrive at a consensus on creating a framework to manage the Internet. All countries today recognise the fundamental and growing role of the Internet as a facilitator of governance, commerce, and communication. An editorial in The Hindu addresses this question.

28.10.2005 Until Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration is taking comments from the public about the status of emergency contraception. The Feminist Majority Foundation is leading the call for emergency contraceptives--just like many other contraceptives--to be made available without a prescription.

27.10.2005 Chinese and US researchers say illegal blood donation is to blame for high levels of hepatitis C infection in rural China.

27.10.2005 The media should help dispel such misconceptions to check the spread of HIV effectively, according to Paladugu Rambabu, head of Sexually-Transmitted Diseases wing of the hospital in Vijayawada.

26.10.2005 India has been under a global scanner for over a year because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic which international agencies and Indian non governmental organisations (NGOs) say is growing phenomenally though the Indian government has denied it. The controversy has ballooned to include accusations that the HIV/AIDS problem is being unduly magnified to attract international funds. The irony lies in the fact that Indian organisations are sparring even as the infection soars in the country.

25.10.2005 New mothers in Madagascar and Ghana have begun to hear about the importance of breastfeeding from many different sources--including their favorite singer--and the results are already beginning to show.

24.10.2005 There is a growing concern within the international development community that policies aimed at reducing the number of people living below the poverty line could leave the most disadvantaged groups behind. In line with these concerns, this dossier looks at different strategies for reaching the very poor within the health sector, and at the institutional challenges associated with scaling up health-related interventions to cover broader segments of the population. It also highlights the fact that there are ways outside the health sector to improve health or reduce the impoverishing impact of disease, and that in some contexts these may benefit the poor most.

24.10.2005 Nepal's first Highway Community Hospital has come into operation at Malekhu, Dhading district, along the Prithivi Highway with partnership between social organisations of Nepal and Italy.

23.10.2005 The grassroots organization Grupo Curumim has gained international recognition for working to reduce pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths in northeastern Brazil. Through collaborations with traditional birth attendants the group has raised awareness about accessing safe women's health services.

21.10.2005 The success of Herceptin showed the promise of a new approach to cancer treatment, which identifies specific genetic mutations in different types of cancer and develops targeted therapies.

21.10.2005 Conservation through Public Health (CTPH) in Bwindi, Uganda has built a telecentre in a bid to empower communities around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to improve health and livelihoods.

20.10.2005 The Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), New Delhi, will organise its eighth national convention in Punjab on the theme “Impact of technology on societal living” at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College (BBSBEC), here from 21 to 23 October,2005.

19.10.2005 OneWorld South Asia along with the MSSRF has successfully broadcast a live programme through Indian broadcaster All India Radio. The half-hour programme, on child welfare and nutrition, had experts from hospitals and NGOs working in the field. The live programme was broadcast under OneWorld South Asia's Open Knowledge Network (OKN) programme.

19.10.2005 A hi-tech pay and use public toilet constructed near Deputy CommissionerÂ’s (DC) Office by now defunct Mysore Agenda Task Force (MATF) under Public Private Participation (PPP) in the City, will be thrown open for public use from today.

19.10.2005 A text messaging service that allows those who cannot use a voice telephone to contact the emergency services has been launched in Merseyside,UK.

18.10.2005 Pakistan needs hundreds of thousands of litres of water to curb and prevent outbreaks of disease, warns the World Health Organisation.

17.10.2005 Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) should be considered a key priority in child health and development programming considering the health and economic benefits linked to this achievement. Information and communication technologies can be used strategically to deliver health services effectively and extensively. What is required is completing the nutrition package of child health and delivering infant feeding counseling to all families as a part of integrated neonatal package.

14.10.2005 The declining child sex ratio as reflected in the 2001 census is a pointer to the fact that in India a girl child is denied even the basic right to survival. The need of the hour is not only to change the environment, the mindset, and the other socio-cultural factors responsible for this decline, but also to question the underlying concepts behind the development of the girl child. The ICTs can play a crucial role in digitising the process of registration of births, deaths and pregnancies at the grassroots level, help in promoting antenatal check ups, promoting institutional deliveries, and setting up of follow up committees to monitor the system effectively.

14.10.2005 A "Global Patient Safety Challenge" launched by the World Health Organization yesterday aims to fight the spread of health care-associated infections, which affect 1.4 million people at any given time.

13.10.2005 In developing country contexts, handheld computer applications are starting to show their benefits across development sectors. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and other types of handheld computers offer considerable advantages over desktops or even laptops. Health and microfinance have been particularly keen to test handheld applications.