Full Coverage: Disease

30.11.2007

30.11.2007 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update a joint report by UNAIDS and WHO comes as a reprieve. The new report reveals that the epidemic has slowed down in recent times and that the dreaded HIV virus has actually not infected as many people as it was earlier feared.

28.11.2007 A new report by Oxfam says that more than 85% people in the world have no access to medicines due to high pricing. Developing medicines only for the rich is a bad business strategy, as also the scant interest shown by pharmaceutical companies in research and development of medicines for diseases that affect the poor in developing countries, says the report.

28.11.2007 Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation has extended a grant of 100 million dollars for polio eradication worldwide. The grant will target Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, the last four countries in the world where fresh cases of polio still keep surfacing.

23.11.2007 The United Nations has officially launched 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation to highlight the need for global investments in sanitation. About 42,000 people die every week from diseases caused by poor drinking water and the lack of toilets, while also being denied dignity, privacy, and in case of women – safety too.

21.11.2007 An intensive reassessment of data by India earlier this year has emerged as a single biggest reason for reduction in the global HIV prevalence figures. A report, 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update, released by the UNAIDS on November 20, says the number of people living with the dreaded virus has drastically come down to 33 million from a previous estimation of nearly 40 million.

19.11.2007 November 19 is World Toilet Day. WaterAid, an international NGO, brings out a report, The State of the World's Toilets, on the occasion. The report ranks the worst countries in the world for sanitation provision, with 40% of the world's population lacking somewhere safe to go to the toilet. India comes second on poor sanitation list.

16.11.2007 A new cash prize will award print and web reporting on tuberculosis and the resistant strains of the disease in developing countries.

15.11.2007 The MDG Monitor is a new resource offering from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with several other UN bodies with assistance from Google and Cisco. It is a quick and easy MDG tracking tool for policymakers, journalists, students and development professionals.

15.11.2007

14.11.2007 On the eve of Children’s Day in India, a petition signed by 300,001 children was submitted to the government, demanding 9% of the Gross Domestic Product to be invested in education and health.

13.11.2007 Indian researchers in the southern state of Kerala have developed a first of its kind test that can differentiate chikungunya from dengue viruses as early as the second or third day of infection. There have been over a million cases of chikungunya in India since 2006 when the virus recurred after a gap of 32 years.

08.11.2007 The benefits of breast-feeding continue long after your baby has stopped it. If researchers are to be believed, breast-feeding protects your kid against developing heart disease even in adulthood.