Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
In 2008, India’s Labour Ministry launched a hospital insurance scheme called Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) covering ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) households. RSBY is implemented through insurance companies; premiums are subsidized by Union and States governments (75 : 25%). We examined RSBY’s enrolment of BPL, costs vs. budgets and policy …
The NHSP-2 identifies a number of HRH (Human Resources for Health) challenges and constraints that are affecting the delivery of health services and the achievement of health outcomes. It proposes a range of strategies and issues to address these challenges in the 5-year plan period. It recommends that the staffing …
In 2009, the promulgation of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tobacco regulation focused attention on cigarette flavor additives. The tobacco industry had prepared for this eventuality by initiating a research program focusing on additive toxicity. The objective of this study was to analyze Philip Morris' Project MIX as a …
The World Malaria Report 2011 summarizes information received from 106 malaria-endemic countries and a range of other sources. It analyses prevention and control measures according to a comprehensive set of indicators, and highlights continued progress towards global malaria targets. This year's report builds primarily on data received from countries for …
Andhra Pradesh’s Aarogyasri programme has placed health on the political map in the state and is popular with the masses. However, corporate hospitals handle the biggest share of the cases and there is no provision for outpatient treatment of everyday illnesses that affect the working capacity of the patient. The …
Men who have sex with men (MSM) in India are disproportionately likely to be HIV-infected, and face distinct psychosocial challenges. Understanding the unique socio-cultural issues of MSM in India and how they relate to HIV risk could maximize the utility of future prevention efforts. This review discusses: (i) the importance …
In the Indian subcontinent, about 200 million people are at risk of developing visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In 2005, the governments of India, Nepal and Bangladesh started the first regional VL elimination program with the aim to reduce the annual incidence to less than 1 per 10,000 by 2015. A mathematical …
Evidences indicate that India has the highest number of children with birth defects. The lack of public health support for treatment often means lifelong suffering. Many of the tools to prevent birth defects are inherent in the existing reproductive and child health programme. With some additions, a prevention programme could …
WHO’s European offi ce is making progress with its innovative new strategy to tackle the region’s health problems. But will member states and the rest of WHO take note? Robert Walgate reports
Out-of-pocket payments are the principal source of healthcare finance in most Asian countries, and India is no exception. This fact has important consequences for household living standards. In this paper the author explores significant changes in the 1990s and early 2000s that appear to have occurred as a result of …
Mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders are highly prevalent and are responsible for 14% of the global burden of disease expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The resources that have been provided in countries to tackle the huge burden are insufficient, inequitably distributed, and inefficiently used, which results in …
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) cause significant physical debilitation, lowered economic productivity, and social ostracism for afflicted individuals. Five NTDs with available preventive chemotherapy: lymphatic filariasis (LF), trachoma, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis and the three soil-transmitted helminths (STH); have been targeted for control or elimination, but resource constraints in endemic countries have impeded …
The new National Vaccine Policy Draft 2011 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare comes out openly in favour of public-private partnerships and suggests flexible governing and funding mechanisms to support vaccine development in the PPP mode. This article argues that our vaccine policy must look into the …
The deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is 2015--only 4 years ahead. Although much progress has been made, much more has yet to be made. The same is true also for Bangladesh. The report summarizes the current global status of the health-related MDGs.
The strong and mighty bacteria are all around us. They have hardened themselves to fight back the antibiotics administered to patients. This is because we allowed them to, by overusing drugs. Government has woken up from slumber and formulated a policy that targets antibiotic resistance. It restricts sale. But will …
Govt plans to fix and regulate prices of all 348 essential drugs & their combinations The new pharmaceutical pricing policy proposed by the chemicals and fertilisers ministry last week will create distortions in the market and hamper the industry’s growth, some drugmakers and regulatory experts have claimed. Under the National …
The encephalitis dance of death in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar’s bordering districts looks set to cross all previous records this year. With 2-3 weeks still left in the ‘season’, the country-wide death toll is nearing the 1,000-mark, of which UP itself has a staggering toll of nearly 500. More …
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 …
Seven new Bills and several new amendments to existing acts were to be brought in order to streamline the health service, according to the Health Ministry sources. It is learnt that the drafting of these new Bills and the Amendments has been finalized along with the national drugs policy by …
This study examines the validity of the democracy advantage thesis with reference to India’s states and shows that the impact of democracy on health, in terms of infant mortality rates, is mixed – good to moderate in a number of states but poor in most of the populous states. It …
