Health issues in India
Today marked World No Tobacco Day, but it was not only traditional tobacco products such as cigarettes that were in the firing line. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot used World No Tobacco Day to issue a ban on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), more commonly known as e-cigarettes or ‘vapes’. The devices can no longer be […]
Survival rates for those with glioblastomas — an aggressive form of brain tumour — in India are dismal. Those who develop them have been documented as surviving, at most, fourteen months. The study presenting these survival rates — conducted by the Institute of Neurosciences based in Gurgaon — appear doubtful that a cure is in […]
By 2040, the number of people living with cancer who require chemotherapy will increase significantly worldwide. The burden will be most pronounced in low- or middle-income countries, including India, home to the third largest number of people living with cancer in the world. “The number of cancer cases necessitating first-line chemotherapy treatment will increase by […]
The Delhi government has extended its ban on several forms of tobacco for a year. Cigarettes are still available, but popular alternatives such as gutkha, pan masala, and kharra cannot be manufactured, stored, or sold in the national capital. A notification issued by the Food Safety Commissioner for the National Capital Region said the prohibition […]
Quitting smoking is not only good for women’s lung health. Research suggests it also reduces their risk of developing bladder cancer. Researchers in the United States have found that quitting smoking reduces the risk of developing bladder cancer by 25 percent in the first ten years, with the risk continuing to decline thereafter. The study […]
There may be new hope in the fight against cervical cancer – a disease that accounts for seventeen percent of all cancer deaths in India – in the form of a urine test. Researchers from the University of Manchester, based in the UK, have found that a urine test could be as accurate as the […]
Lung cancer has emerged as a dominant public health threat in India, experts warn. One procedure offers a diagnostic hope in the fight against the disease. Every year, two million Indians are affected by the disease, which accounts for 7.5 percent of the overall cancer burden in the country and ten percent of cancer-related deaths. […]
Lung cancer is often thought of as a tobacco user’s disease, but new UK research suggests this may not be the case. Experts say non-smokers account for one in six lung cancer cases in the UK. Professor Paul Cosford – who himself is battling the disease, despite being a non-smoker – said “the absolute numbers […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already showing diagnostic abilities at similar levels of accuracy to experienced healthcare professionals. With further improvements in AI technology in the future, could AI surpass doctors in terms of accuracy? Such an eventuality could potentially — if the required financial commitment was made — go a long way towards easing the […]
The Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra claims a dubious distinction. It is the Indian district with the highest rate of oral cancer. The district is home to more than a million people and reports an estimated 550 cancer cases every year. Oral cancer accounts for 28 percent of these cases, including forty percent of cancers in […]
