Full Coverage: Health

30.01.2008

30.01.2008

25.01.2008 Lack of good sanitation and toilets are causing extensive environmental damage and making 5,000 infants die every day. ItÂ’s time to break the worldÂ’s silence on this global crisis and smell the stink round the corner, says Barbara Frost, Chief Executive, WaterAid.

25.01.2008 Avian influenza or bird flu continues to spread in Bangladesh, with 84 poultry farms now affected. Health officials are worried over the lack of awareness among local people and are monitoring workers who took part in the culling.

24.01.2008 Almost half of West Bengal in eastern India is in the grip of bird flu. Anxiety is growing in Kolkata, which is perilously close to one of the affected districts. Resistance of farmers to culling due to inadequate compensation is further complicating the situation.

23.01.2008 A Dalit-centric policy framework can help the disadvantaged community to have a greater say in local and national programmes and their implementation, says a report released this month by the peopleÂ’s campaign Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

23.01.2008 Recently in north IndiaÂ’s prosperous state of Punjab, another telemedicine project has been inaugurated. Using the modern Broad Band VPN technology, the tele-linking will be used to make available the health facilities and expert opinions to those in need of urgent medical attention in far-flung areas.

23.01.2008 Recently in north IndiaÂ’s prosperous state of Punjab, another telemedicine project has been inaugurated. Using the modern Broad Band VPN technology, the tele-linking will be used to make available the health facilities and expert opinions to those in need of urgent medical attention in far-flung areas.

23.01.2008 More than 26,000 children die everyday in the world before they see their fifth birthday. Along with sub-Saharan Africa, India has been identified with high under-five mortality in UNICEFÂ’s new report on the state of the worldÂ’s children. It calls for community-level integration of essential services to arrest this disturbing phenomenon.

21.01.2008 A comprehensive data pool on gender issues was launched by the SAARC Secretary General at the inaugural of the recent Sixth South Asian Regional Ministerial Conference by UNIFEM at New Delhi. The Gender Database will provide records on violence against women and trafficking in the South Asia region, and on womenÂ’s health and HIV/AIDS.

21.01.2008 It has been more than a decade now when the scale of arsenic poisoning disaster in Bangladesh first came to light. Millions are still drinking the water contaminated by deadly chemical. Prof Mahmuder Rahman, who helped draft the National Arsenic Mitigation Policy, says in an interview that the country needs a long-term solution.

17.01.2008 SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 16 (OneWorld) - A federal court in San Francisco has cleared the way for a major national class action lawsuit on behalf of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

16.01.2008 Veterinary workers are killing thousands of chickens in two infected districts in West Bengal. As fears of bird flu mount in the eastern Indian state, officials are working hard to cull 400,000 birds in order to contain the spread of the avian virus.

15.01.2008 In a rebuttal to the clean chit given by a prestigious body to Coca-Cola, the Centre for Science and Environment has said that in the absence of standards for pesticide residues in colas, soft drinks are still not safe for drinking in India.

15.01.2008 The Sono filter, a local innovation, offers hope to millions in Bangladesh who lack access to safe drinking water. Arsenic contaminated groundwater exists in all but one of the countryÂ’s 64 districts, and adversely impacts the health of those who ingest it over long periods.

10.01.2008 Providing an overview on the achievements of the MDGs in India, a citizenÂ’s report titled: Measuring IndiaÂ’s Progress on the Millennium Development Goals was released on January 7 in New Delhi by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA).

09.01.2008 New figures from World Health Organisation claim there has been a 50% fall in deaths from tuberculosis in Afghanistan. While over 50,000 new cases occur each year, TB diagnosis and treatment, now part of the Basic Package Health Services, reach more people in the country.

08.01.2008 Vigorous campaigns in IndiaÂ’s north-eastern state of Tripura by the government have steered ahead the immunisation drive. Employing both traditional and modern methods like drum beating and making announcements using helicopters have helped in ensuring overwhelming participation by tribals, says Ratna Bharali Talukdar, a renowned Guwahati-based freelance journalist.