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. …
India is fast becoming the land of superlatives. For all the wrong reasons, of course. Be it August 15, 1999 (UN prediction), or May 11, 2000 (government of India estimates), the nation has reached the inevitable mark. At the time of Independence, the country's population was as low as 350 …
Can a doll that wails and cries like a baby discourage teenage girls from getting pregnant? A recent study from the US shows that this may not be the case. Such dolls are intended to help teach responsibility to young adult women. The new idea is the
Malnutrition at the stage of pregnancy can lead to the birth of children who are more prone to diabetes when they grow up, says a recent study. According to group of Chinese and British scientists in Beijing, who were studying the onset of diabetes in developing countries, found this interesting …
Giving birth may ruin one's figure and take up all free time, but having children may also boost memory power, claims a new study. Craig H Kinsley of the University of Richmond, Virginia, USA, and his team, who conducted a study on rodents, report that female rats who had given …
An analysis of over a million births in Sweden from 1987 to 1995 suggests that baby girls more likely to make their mothers sick during pregnancy. Johan Askling's group from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden found that severe nausea and vomiting during a woman's first trimester of pregnancy is …
a significant step towards halting the ageing process has just been achieved at least for women. Jonathan L Tilly of Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital (mgh), Boston, usa , and his team report that they have engineered mice whose ovaries grow viable eggs and secrete oestrogen …
Anaemia is a major health concern among women, especially pregnant ones, of developing countries like India. A serious iron deficiency can damage the health of unborn babies and their mothers. However, administering anti-malarial drugs during pregnancy has been shown to reduce the incidence of anaemia among expectant women by nearly …
most couples assume that whenever they want to have children, all they need to do is stop using birth control measures. For many, it really is that simple. But for millions of others, it is not that easy. An estimated 10-15 per cent of couples are infertile, which is defined …
nothing illustrates better the ill-effects of excessive and unnecessary intervention in the field of reproductive and child health more than the rising rates of ectopic pregnancy
Women's longevity may depend on the age at which they get pregnant, say Rudi Westendorp of the Netherlands and Thomas Kirkwood of the UK. Those who have their first pregnancy at a late age seem to live longer than those who bear children earlier, they add. The duo also says …
politicians and economists look at the latest gross domestic product ( gdp) figures to see how their nations are doing. I look at the infant mortality rate or imr . It is the number of babies out of every 1,000 born who die before they reach their first birthday. For …
GANDHAR KARMAKAR is nine years old. He has only one eye, and suffers from paralysis. Elder to him by three years is Motiram. He suffers from osteoporosis (general bone damage). Dunia Uraon, also just short of his teens, is another unfortunate adolescent. His mother suffered three miscarriages before giving birth …
millions of couples the world over often face this question: Is there an ideal period between the birth of the first and second child? It is known in medical circles that having babies too close together can be bad for an infant's health as the mother's body does not get …
OFFICIALS from the World Bank (wb) and the World Health Organisation (who) have reported that there has been little progress in the area of maternal mortality, mostly from easily preventable diseases. In developing countries, one in every 48 women dies from pregnancy-related omplications each year, compared to one in 4,000 …
Doctors know that children whose mothers smoke have a higher risk of smoking during their adolescence, but they are yet to find out why. However, a recent study says it probably involves the learning of flavours. A variety of flavours are transmitted from the mother's diet to the baby through …
Unsafe abortions are primary killers of women between the ages of 14 and 44 in Ghana. Poverty and ignorance among people allows quacks to have a flourishing business. According to the health minister, approximately 1,200 women die each year due to this illegal practice. Worldwide around 20 million unsafe abortions …
Infants - of humans as well as other species - need an unusually large amount of time and nurturing for their development. Some scientists believe that this may as well be one the reasons for the longevity of women, who are the primary 'care-givers'. Now, scientists have confirmed that it …
ONE of the biggest threats that we face as we take the last few steps towards the new millennium is from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Spreading more rapidly than the proverbial wildfire, this universally-feared disease infects over 16,000 new victims every day. And in developing countries, the situation is …
Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are at a critical turning point in their effort to address the problems of rapid population growth and poor reproductive health, says a study of Population Action International (pai). The economic growth of countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe largely depend on …
