The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data indicates that child malnutrition remains a major social crisis in India, with the advances made in tackling child malnutrition over the course of recent years coming undone. Results from NFHS-5 paint what Scroll.in aptly describes as “a disconcerting picture.” Multiple states, Scroll.in reports, have seen hard-won gains […]
sanitation
WASH: WHO, UNICEF issue stark warning about sanitation
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF issued a dire warning about the state of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in health facilities. Almost two billion people worldwide rely on healthcare delivery in settings where those services are substandard – or lacking altogether. The global progress report on WASH services in […]
Sustainable sanitation: India’s scorecard
Today marked World Toilet Day. The observance seeks to draw attention to sanitation which has long stood as one of the most pressing challenges India faces when it comes to health and development. In fact, on the Narendra Modi government’s health agenda, sanitation has been a priority. Sustainable sanitation is the need of the hour […]
Poverty: The scourge of the hour
During the COVID-19 pandemic, those living in poverty are among the most vulnerable. In India, where “the proportion of employed population below $1.90 purchasing power parity a day in 2019 is 10.7 percent” according to the Asian Development Bank, it is an issue that must be addressed. Earlier this month, the World Bank warned that […]
World Food Day: An opportunity to reflect
American psychologist Abraham Maslow theorised in 1943 a hierarchy of needs essential to every human. Enshrined in this hierarchy is the need for food. Sustenance is a basic requirement for survival, yet many across the globe – including in India – go without. World Food Day this year comes, as the overwhelming majority of observances […]
Cholera outbreak in Bengaluru?
A potential cholera outbreak has been reported in Bengaluru as hospitals in the Karnataka state capital have witnessed a spate of suspected cases in the last week. Seventeen people are suspected to be infected with the water-borne diarrhoeal disease, with two cases confirmed. As reported in The Hindu, the seventeen suspected and confirmed cases are […]
Child health and wellbeing: The world needs to invest
Child health and wellbeing: “The most powerful investments a society can make” What kind of country does one wish theirs to be? There are many possible answers to this question. Perhaps one of the most compelling and morally imperative answers would be that it is a country that provides for its children – in both […]
‘We are not slaves’ – Sanitation workers fight back
Sanitation is one of India’s most pressing challenges in health and development. The improvement of sanitation standards in the country has been a priority of the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since it first came to power in 2014 – perhaps most notably through its Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign. To further these […]
Biomedical waste flagged by Bihar authorities
The Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) has ordered the closure of 318 health facilities in the state over improper biomedical waste disposal, highlighting a national pollution and sanitation issue. “These healthcare units earlier disposed their biomedical wastes through the CBWTF [common biomedical waste treatment and disposal facility], but later got dissociated from this system, […]
The hunger of a nation: What the GHI tells India
India has slipped on the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Global Hunger Index (GHI), ranking 102nd out of 117 countries. Countries are scored by the GHI between zero and 100, with India scoring 30.3 – worse than the score for the South Asia region as a whole, which the GHI puts at 29.3. India fares […]