Menstrual cups have the potential to be a safe, effective, and significantly more environmentally friendly way for girls and women to manage their menstrual health, a study released today has found. Analysing data from 43 studies involving 3,319 participants, covering a mixture of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries, the study found that […]
women's rights
HPV vaccination saves lives. As we have been reminded again.
New research confirms again what public health experts have long asserted: vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) is an effective tool in reducing the spread of cervical cancer. For India, the news is important. Given the high death toll of cervical cancer in the country, and stalled efforts to roll out HPV vaccination, the finding […]
Save the Children gives India its scorecard on child health
“Basic education links the children, whether of cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in us.” – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi This sentiment – that being the centric role played by children in their country’s future – has been laid bare in the latest report released by Save the Children in […]
In major error, millions of pregnant women’s data leaked online
In a major technical error, more than 12.5 million medical records belonging to pregnant women were left exposed and available for public consumption. Failure to secure a database containing the records – some of which dated back to 2014 – saw sensitive information left publically accessible. It was not until a researcher discovered the error […]
The model who smashed the stigma about ovarian cancer
When Canadian model Elly Mayday was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it wasn’t the end of her modelling career. Far from it. In fact, Mayday used her modelling career as a platform, courageously sharing her experience with cancer as she battled the disease. Mayday passed away on March 1st this year. In remembering her story, we […]
Oxytocin: Doctors challenge Centre in Supreme Court
The fight over the government’s controversial ‘Oxytocin ban’ has escalated even further and will now be fought in the Supreme Court. . The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has joined the fight against the Centre’s efforts to have Oxytocin’s production and sale severely curtailed by moving the apex court. The new policy has been proposed since […]
What the HPV vaccine could do for India – and why it hasn’t been done already
A disease which kills almost 300,000 women a year – including 67,500 women in India – could be all but eliminated by the end of the century if efforts are made to increase access to a lifesaving vaccine according to recent research published in The Lancet. The disease is cervical cancer. The vaccine is against […]
The story of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr Dennis Mukwege
“I found myself fighting violence against women An Unnamed violence, a deliberate violence” Dr Denis Mukwege A gynecologist surgeon from Bukavu in Congo, Dr Denis Mukwege, has won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading a heroic fight to save lives of sexual assault victims. Dr Mukwege has devoted his life to healing the wounds of […]
Ban on Oxytocin postponed – again
The Centre’s ban on hormone drug Oxytocin was supposed to come into force today, but has been stayed till October by the Delhi High Court (DHC). The news will surely come as a relief to activists, doctors and drugmakers opposing the Centre’s decision to tighten restrictions on the drug’s production and sale in India. Many […]
Centre lifts ban on sales of life-saving drug Oxytocin
The Centre has revoked its decision to ban retail sale of Oxytocin, a life saving drug for pregnant women in India after petitioners moved court. But tight restrictions remain in place. Oxytocin is a hormone drug used in the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), the predominant cause of maternal mortality in India. Its misuse in […]