Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
MEASLES vaccine killed 3 infants at Debagram in Nadia district of West Bengal. This was confirmed by members of the inquiry committee which investigated the incident. However, the exact cause is yet to be identified. Officials at the wHo and doctors elsewhere rule out the lethality of the polio vaccine, …
China now wants to ensure birth of only healthy babies. It has adopted a law on Maternal and Infant Health Care, designed to "improve the quality of births". The law aims to upgrade maternity and child health facilities. It envisages pre-marital check-ups. If the results are unsatisfactory, the couple would …
They do not always make it to the front pages or to the television screen, yet every minute disease and malnutrition kills nearly 24 of them. According to the report, The State of the World's Children 1994, released by the United Nations International Children's Educational Fund, over 13 million children …
A NEW drug to treat thalassaemia -- a genetically transmitted children's blood disorder that causes the rapid destruction of red blood cells leading to anaemia -- is set to hit the Indian market. Developed by George J Kontoghiorghes at the haematology department of the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine …
AS THE link between cigarette smoking and cancer and heart disease is more firmly established, scientists are increasingly looking at the impact a parent's smoking has on both the unborn and the growing offspring. Two recent studies reveal that not only does a mother's active smoking expose her young children …
A SPASTIC is one who suffers from cerebral palsy, an impairment of the muscle control centres of the brain, rendering ordinary activities like speaking, swallowing and walking very difficult. More often than not, a narrow social outlook is responsible for the isolated existence of these children affected by this condition. …
A scientist at the B R Ambedkar Centre for Bio-medical Research in the University of Delhi claims to have discovered an effective cure for physiological neonatal jaundice, an affliction that is responsible for 70 per cent of the deaths among newborns suffering from jaundice. The breakthrough has been achieved by …
NOT ONLY are chubby babies adorable, scientists now say they are less prone during adulthood to disorders such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Recent studies indicate that the nutritional status of the developing foetus and that of the infant in the early stages of growth have an …
LEAD is the number one environmental threat to children in the US. However, in India, lead is only one of the major environmental threats to children in overcrowded urban areas, which have high traffic density. Lead is used in petrol to improve its octane rating. In most of the industrialised …
ALCOHOLIC mothers whose babies suffer from foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) have a great deal for which to answer. Not only are such babies prone to mental retardation, but they rarely improve intellectually, even with careful parenting and education (The Lancet, Vol 341, No 8850). Hans-Ludwig Spohr and his colleagues at …
