Health issues in India
Healthcare expenditure for NCDs is overwhelmingly paid for out of pocket, driving many into poverty. With NCD rates and risk factors such as obesity rising considerably in India, a considerable bill is being footed by the public. A recent study published in The Lancet estimates a total expenditure on diabetes healthcare of $31 billion in […]
More than half the world’s nations are not on track to reach the UN target to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes by 2030, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet. India is one of them. NCDs have long since reached epidemic […]
The gutkha scam has been making headlines in Tamil Nadu, where senior officials including the health minister have been implicated in a multi-crore corruption scandal involving bribes paid by chewing tobacco companies. Officials stand accused of accepting bribes paid by manufacturers of gutkha, a chewing tobacco mixture which has been banned in Tamil Nadu since […]
In a controversial move, the Union Health Ministry has moved to ban e-cigarettes and similar devices in India. The Centre claims e-cigarettes pose “a great health risk to public at large, especially to children, adolescents, pregnant women and women of reproductive age”. To this end, it has moved state governments to stop e-cigarettes from being […]
Blocking a digestive hormone may help in preventing the spread of pancreatic cancer according to research conducted at from Georgetown University, US. India has traditionally had low rates of pancreatic cancer, but the disease has been increasing in prevalence in the last decade. This may be related to an uptake of westernised diets high in […]
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract – the system of the body that deals with digestion – is a breeding ground for cancers. In fact, it is responsible for more cancer cases and deaths than any other of the body’s systems. It is concerning news as thirty percent of GI cancer cases in India are not diagnosed […]
Cause for concern in Delhi Worldwide, gallbladder cancer is relatively uncommon. In Delhi, however, it’s on the rise. There are eleven cases of gallbladder cancer for every one lakh Delhiites, researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) estimate. This incidence may seem low. However, when one considers that the National Capital Region […]
Experts recommend that girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) when they are aged eleven or twelve. If that window is missed, however, the vaccine can still be effective if they get a “catch-up” course when aged fourteen to twenty, US researchers suggest. This could give India pause for thought. The overwhelming majority of […]
A scheme is underway to vaccinate girls in the northeast state of Sikkim against the human papillomavirus (HPV). The programme is expected to reach 32,000 girls aged nine to fourteen over the next fortnight. They will be administered the first dose of the HPV vaccine in the next two weeks. The second dose will be […]
Most of the world’s head and neck cancer patients are from India, recent data suggests. Experts suggest that high rates of tobacco use, particularly among men, are behind the grim statistic that 57.5 percent of the world’s head and neck cancer patients reside in India. What’s worse, the number of cases in the country are […]
