WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
The three rounds of the National Family Health Survey have generated vast amounts of data, which unfortunately have been subject to only limited critical examination by Indian research scholars, though the opposite is the case with scholars outside India. The nfhs-3, which was conducted in 2005-06, covered many more areas …
Chronic renal failure (CRF), in the main agricultural region under reservoir based cascade irrigation in Sri Lanka has reached crisis proportion. Over 5,000 patients in the region are under treatment for CRF. The objective of this study is to establish the etiology of the CRF. Concentrations of nine heavy metals …
The endemic of chronic renal failure (CRF) emerged in 2002 in the farming provinces of Sri Lanka. An estimate of dietary cadmium intake was between 15 and 28 microg/kg body weight per week. The mean urinary cadmium in patients diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure was 7.6 microg/g creatinine and …
Chronic renal failure (CRF) associated with elevated dietary cadmium (Cd) among farming communities in the irrigated agricultural area under the River Mahaweli diversion scheme has reached a significantly higher level of 9,000 patients. Cadmium, derived from contaminated phosphate fertilizer, in irrigation water finds its way into reservoirs, and finally to …
Age-related cataracts (ARCs) are an important cause of blindness in developing countries. Although antioxidants may be part of the body's defense to prevent ARC, environmental contaminants may contribute to their pathogenesis. Elevated exposure to mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se) has been reported in fish-eating populations of the lower Tapaj
Europe's food safety watchdog on 25 February issued a scientific mass-verdict on more than 400 so-called health claims, the promises that food producers make on their labels and in advertisements, rejecting purported health benefits of a raft of substances. The decisions are the latest installment in a gargantuan and controversial …
Nearly 2 billion people (a third of the world's population) lack access to essential medicines. In low-income and middle-income countries, drugs account for 20
More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, making the creation of a healthy urban environment a major policy priority. Cities have both health risks and benefits, but mental health is negatively affected: mood and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in city dwellers and the incidence of …
Rapid expansion of the standardised approach to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment that is recommended by WHO allowed more than 36 million people to be cured between 1995 and 2008, averting up to 6 million deaths. Yet tuberculosis remains a severe global public health threat. There are more than 9 million …
Following the action taken by the Noida Authority against unauthorised cellphone towers in the area, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided that no such towers in the Capital will be sealed for the time being. The civic agency has also directed all operators who have installed unauthorised towers …
This document details the Environment Policy 2010 for Rajasthan approved recently by the state government. Also includes the environment mission and climate change agenda for this state for 2010-2014 to prepare for adaptation & mitigation. This policy document is based on an analysis of the state-specific issues, the natural resource …
This draft action plan on climate change by the Orissa government proposes strategies to move towards as a carbon conscious and climate resilient state. It envisages an outlay of around Rs 17,000 crore in 11 key sectors over the next five years and with this, Orissa is the first state …
ON March 9, the country's leading industry captains, attending the first meeting of the Assam Investment Advisory Board in Guwahati, said they were impressed by the emergence of a
NANOTECHNOLOGY has revolutionised industry. It is used to improve wide ranging products, from cosmetics, toys and toothpastes to textiles and missiles. Industry thinks the technology holds promise to change every facet of life in some way. Substances at nano scale, or nanoparticles, demonstrate novel physiochemical properties compared to larger particles …
THE UN General Assembly has adopted a watered-down political declaration to reduce the burden of chronic lifestyle diseases. The event signals the beginning of a larger fight between industry and health policy makers. The resolution was passed at a summit ahead of the General Assembly in New York on September …
USE of insecticides to get rid of mosquitoes is known to be detrimental to the environment and human health. A finding on how larvae of mosquitoes which cause dengue and filariasis can be killed in an eco-friendly way, therefore, holds significance. Researchers at the Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu have …
Historic it may be—even if watered down. The unanimous adoption of a “political declaration” by the UN on the need to fight the rising tide of non-communicable diseases (NCD) is a singular development and, as analysts have been reminding us, it is only the second time a health issue has …
When she was in her teens, American journalist Melanie Thernstrom developed persistent pain in her neck after swimming. It quickly spread to her shoulder and eventually to her hand. Visits to doctors ended in frustration as they preferred to focus on pain management rather than a cure. It was not …
