Health issues in India
India’s efforts to tackle HIV is bearing fruit. The numbers of new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths and people living with HIV all fell substantially. However, the success did not come without a caveat. India may be making progress against HIV but experts have warned it is not yet on course to meet targets of reducing […]
“It is dirty everywhere”, this is how Amish Das describes his home: Boragaon, a landfill site which sprawls across 94 acres of wetland in Guwahati City in northeastern Assam. Amish, whose story was recounted in a feature for The Independent last year, has lived in Boragaon his entire life. His living is made through scavenging, […]
Less than one tenth of people infected with hepatitis are aware of it – and fewer than a tenth of those who are aware receive the necessary treatment. These were the grim figures issued by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh ahead of World Hepatitis Day this year. Dr Singh – the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional […]
Kerala has learnt its lessons after the Nipah tragedy. It is to introduce a policy to control and prevent hospital acquired infections. The move comes after the Nipah virus outbreak in the state earlier this year, in which all but four of those who succumbed to the virus contracted it in hospital. “We are working […]
This article was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission. By Nimeshika Jayachandran The doctors at Chennai’s Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Egmore will soon be implementing mandatory screening for congenital hypothyroidism and adrenal hyperplasia. “A nationwide study which was conducted by the Indian Council of […]
One might think that muscle health is only a concern for those who lift weights at the gym. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Good muscle health is an important part of one’s overall well-being. Through muscle-strengthening exercises, one can improve their blood sugar control, metabolism, and broader physical and mental health. As one […]
A study published earlier this year in The Lancet Infectious Diseases showed promising results for methylene blue as a malaria treatment, potentially indicating its future use as a first line treatment. Commonly used in the treatment of the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, the study indicates the dye could be a means of tackling even drug resistant […]
Since the start of the decade, India has witnessed significant reductions in its HIV/AIDS burden. New HIV infections fell from 120,000 in 2010 to 88,000 in 2017; AIDS-related deaths decreased from 160,000 to 90,000; and there were 2.1 million people living with HIV in India 2017, compared to 2.3 million in 2010. The findings were […]
This article was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission. By Nimeshika Jayachandran Dr Deepti Rajkumar dreaded doing rounds that day, in particular she was apprehensive of seeing the young girl at the far end of the hospital ward and even put off seeing her until the last possible second, […]
Tamil Nadu film star Vijay has found himself in a spot of legal bother over tobacco. The 44-year-old actor tweeted a promo for his upcoming action thriller Sarkar earlier this year. The poster depicted him smoking a cigarette, a flaming lighter in hand. The promo drew the ire of Tamil Nadu health officials. The Public […]
