GUWAHATI, Despite a slew of schemes launched by the Assam Government to improve the health sector in the State, the maternal mortality rate continues to show an upward trend as per official records. In Assam, according to a scheme launched by the State Government on nutrition, every pregnant woman who …
ANTIOXIDANTS are a part of health food products like Kellogg’s cornflakes, Protinex and Horlicks. But claims of these being healthy and nutritious are likely to fall flat as antioxidants have been found to have adverse health reactions. A research has shown that antioxidants like vitamins C and E could be …
It is logical for India to be one of the few countries to spend about two per cent of its gross domestic product on the social sector. After all it hosts the world’s largest number of poor. But it sounds illogical that nearly three-fourths of it is the cost of …
DESPITE a 40-year national programme to mitigate its prevalence, anaemia remains the second most common cause of maternal deaths in India. Since 1970, government doctors have been recommending iron and folic acid tablets to pregnant women—and distributing them free—to combat anaemia. Yet, studies conducted in rural Delhi in 2002 show …
Surveys indicate that the Janani Suraksha Yojana, which offers cash assistance to pregnant women opting for institutional deliveries, has increased the number of such births in hospitals. Can this increase be used as an indicator of a decrease in the maternal mortality rate? It is likely that the cash incentive …
Pune Maharastra still figures among states that show a high prevalence of malnutrition and it is the slum areas in urban pockets that have an increasing incidence, said a report on the nutritional crisis in Maharashtra. The report also observed that not only are half the women anaemic in the …
Mainstreaming the ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha, homeopathy systems should imply deep changes in maternity care. Big changes there are, but in the wrong direction. Aiming to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality, the National Rural Health Mission
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 …
1,06,421 women have been extended benefit of Janani Suraksha Yojana launched in the state for promoting institutional delivery. Under the scheme a pregnant woman of rural area is given Rs 1,400 for institutional delivery and her urban counterpart gets Rs one thousand. Under the project, 25 thousand 739 women have …
Food-assisted maternal and child health and nutrition programmes usually target underweight children younger than 5 years of age. Previous evidence suggests that targeting nutrition interventions earlier in life, before children become undernourished, might be more effective for reduction of childhood undernutrition.
