Experts from multiple Asian countries including India have called for those in need to ensure they access cancer care, highlighting the risks of delaying treatment. The experts joined the AstraZeneca campaign “New normal, same cancer”, which aims to mitigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global response to cancer. “COVID-19 threatens to erase […]
Social issues
Universal health coverage: The need of the hour
In 2020, a crisis hit that no country was prepared for and exposed one of society’s great fault lines: the chronic failure to adequately invest in public health and ensure universal health coverage. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses and flaws in health systems everywhere. India has felt the brunt acutely as the world’s second […]
Suicidal behaviour reports increase sharply during COVID-19 lockdown
India witnessed a 67.7 percent increase in media reports of suicidal behaviour during the COVID-19-prompted lockdown. An analysis published in The International Journal of Mental Health Systems of media reports during the period from March 24th to May 3rd this year showed 369 reports compared to 220 reports in the corresponding timeframe the previous year. […]
Climate crisis: India earns high marks tackling it in CCPI
The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) ranks India as one of the ten best performers on tackling the climate crisis for the second year in a row. The CCPI, released earlier this week, put India at tenth place out of 57 countries grouped together as collectively accounting for more than ninety percent of global greenhouse […]
Tobacco users: WHO launches campaign to help them kick the habit
Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched “Commit to Quit” – a campaign aimed to help tens of millions of tobacco users to quit. The campaign “will support at least 100 million people as they try to give up tobacco through communities of quitters”, the WHO says. The agency asserted that the campaign has heightened […]
Mysterious illness in Andhra Pradesh: Experts swing into action
The outbreak of a mysterious illness in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, which has hospitalised hundreds, has gripped international headlines. The mysterious illness broke out late on Saturday. It has led to at least 476 people falling sick at the time of writing. One person has died. Symptoms of the mysterious illness include nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, […]
Hospital waste handling in sights of Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has taken note of hospital waste handling in the national capital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Protocols outlined by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for disposal of waste such as swabs and testing kits ought to be “scrupulously followed”, the High Court told the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led state government. This […]
Persons with disabilities: The Indian view
Today marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDWP), an observance dedicated to celebrating them and raising awareness of their conditions. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in its World Report on Disability 2021 that fifteen percent of the global population lives with some form of disability. This translates to more than one billion people. […]
Humanitarian aid: More to be in need, UN warns
The need for humanitarian aid is to increase in 2021, the United Nations (UN) predicts. The Global Humanitarian Overview, released earlier this week, projects more than 235 million people worldwide to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021. This marks a forty percent increase compared to 2020. The figure equates to one in every […]
Midwives: A vital and life-saving investment
It need not be said, but is often overlooked, that public health systems benefit substantially from the work of midwives. This has been quantified to the tune of 4.3 million lives that could be saved per year by the year 2035 in new research published in The Lancet. The paper “[estimates] that, relative to current […]