Measles will be eliminated by 2020 promises the 2017 health budget. Doing so would eradicate a public health scourge that kills thousands of children in India every year. To fulfill this ambitious yet viable pledge, the Indian government will seek to build upon the country’s success in combating the disease in recent years, through a […]
Social issues
A little more conversation: New youth scheme a step forward for public health
A new youth outreach programme is winning praise for challenging social norms in India from the bottom up. By addressing social issues such as safe sex, gender equality, women’s issues, and LGBT rights, it represents a step forward for public health in India. “A paradigm shift” The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is distributing “an instruction […]
Budget 2017: Leprosy eradication
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has set out in the 2017 budget speech an aim to eradicate leprosy from India by 2018. Through the increased health budget, drives are taking place in order to “not just eliminate [the disease], but eradicate it as well” says the Times of India. This is by no means a new […]
Budget 2017: Tuberculosis elimination
At the rate of decline of tuberculosis (TB) prevalence in India over the past 24 years (0.91% per year), it would take India 183 years for the disease to be considered eradicated. The recently released government budget set 2025 as a target for TB elimination from India. Critics have responded by saying that this is […]
Psychosomatic disorders in India
Five to ten percent of Indians seeking treatment for neurological conditions suffer from psychosomatic disorders, According to an article recently published in The Quint,. These disorders come with no clear physical or physiological cause, says the article, but are related to stress and anxiety. The body under normal conditions, with no physical ailments, maintains a […]
Make tax laws more strict, campaigners plead
Public health groups are calling for the government to toughen up on tobacco. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was facing pressure ahead of a meeting of India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) council on February 18. Campaigners are calling for tax laws on tobacco products to change. This in a bid to stymie tobacco’s cancerous influence […]
New organ donation campaign to crack down on thriving black market
India’s kidney villages may be living on borrowed time. These desperately poor villages are preyed upon by organ traffickers who seek to buy kidneys from healthy but impoverished rural people. A nationwide awareness campaign aims to increase the number of legitimate organ donations in response to shortages in the country and to stop the booming […]
Iron fortified nutrition bars to combat anaemia
Iron-fortified nutrition bars could help treat anaemia, a severe problem in Indian women. Though iron supplements are a commonly used treatment for anaemia, this study – published on January 18th in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition – adds further potential for food supplementation on a more widespread scale. The study was conducted over a […]
Amartya Sen, PFI blast India’s low spend on health
“India cannot get a salutation right now” because of its poor performance on healthcare, says world-renowned economist Amartya Sen. “At the bottom of the world league” India’s dismal track record on public healthcare puts it “at the bottom” of the world league, Sen remarked at an international conference in Mumbai in January. “It is disconcerting […]
Health budget: Making progress or playing it safe?
The Modi government’s Union Budget for the fiscal year 2017-18 was presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1. Jaitley announced a number of steps to address the plentiful problems facing India’s healthcare system. However, critics said that there were only paltry increases in funding following a year of severe cuts – a “nominal” […]