The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
Efforts to vaccinate children in eastern Africa against polio have been so successful that the region is expected to be polio-free by 2000, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Altanta, US. The incidence of polio in east Africa dropped by 91 per cent between 1988 and …
For those who choose to remain close to concerns over the environment each day of the year, the calendar designed by Bangalore-based artist-environmentalist C F John, may be the right choice. John is a founder-member of Visthar (an environmental NGO in Bangalore), and has designed and produced campaign material for …
Germane to India "Come hither ye men; come hither ye women; come one come together' is a cry often associated with Indian villages, but this one emanates from the Marxloh Comprehensive School's hall, in the German city of Duisburg! Thirty to 40 German school children, participating in a play called …
The threat to the foetus seems all pervasive, with even something as seemingly innocuous as a computer display screen being a threat. High levels of radiation (including X-rays, magnetic impulses from electronic devices, like computers, or nuclear radiation), can kill cells and damage organs. At low doses, radiation can initiate …
the womb is, in essence, a miniature universe in creation. Primitive cells and tissues take human form within its sheltered confines. Sheltered? Not so anymore. This placid abode of the yet unborn is under siege. Crossing the physical barrier between a mother and her foetus, noxious environmental pollutants generated by …
"WE SHALL overcome" sing the children of Chamtagora village in Bankura district at six in the morning. It may be an unlikely song to hear in a remote tribal hamlet but their choral prelude heralds each day. Chamtagora in Bankura district has become a haven for many tribal children whose …
A NEW report from a committee of the Institute of Medicine in the us has put across some sane advice to a federally funded, state-run programme that provides food, nutrition, education, and health care for mothers and children. The programme could better address the unmet needs of poor children by …
OBESE women are more than twice as likely to have babies with neural tube defects (NTO) such as spina bifida, as women of average weight, say American researchers. But the two teams of researchers from Boston and California also pointout that they do not yet understand why extra fat should …
IT is definitely a small world that we live in today, and Damocles' sword never shone so ruthlessly before. This fact has been highlighted by the startling revelations in the recently released The State of World Population, 1996. Within 10 years, more than half the people of the global village …
Landscapes: Children's Voices, is a compilation of children's writing and art, based on the Tamil concept of thinais or ecosystems (referring to a variety of ecosystems like those in mountainous, desert or coastal areas). Children belonging to various regions of south India have expressed their opinions on nature (forests, herbs, …
THE simple shield of a net soaked in insecticide could save thousands of children from becoming targets of malarial carriers, reveals a study backed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. Extensiv6 studies in Kenya, Ghana and Gambia where bednets impregnated with …
AGGRESSIVE behaviour and delinquency in boys may not be inherent, as is generally thought. It might also not be related to the social environment around the child- rather it could be caused due to the physical environment, A new study finds that high levels of lead in the bone might …
IT HAS long been an enduring enigma as to how a foetus, genetically very much a 'foreign' entity, is tolerated by the mother's immune system through the months of her pregnancy. At the molecular level it is rather puzzling that the foetus manages to retain a foothold even though many …
A CHANCE discovery' by. virologists of Baylor college of, medicine in Houston, Texas, could stop life-threatening diarrhoea in children, dead in tracks. Led by Mary Estes, the virologists were actually investigating the parts of the virus when they stumbled on to how the viral particles infect human cells. "We found …
IT IS common, knowledge that particles like pollen, moulds, dust mites and animal dander set off asthma attacks in susceptible people, but now a new study establishes the link between food allergies and respiratory problems. The study was conducted at the Johns Hopkin Children's Centre in Baltimore, Maryland, us, where …
The New Delhi-based Forum for Creche and Childcare Services (FOCUS), a network of 47 organisations, has launched a campaign to highlight the need for childcare support for women working in the unorganised sector. According to FOCUS, 60 million children belonging to women in this sector need daycare facilities, while the …
A meningitis epidemic has broken out in the country claiming more than 2,655 lives, most of them children, says a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report. At least 20 million Nigerians are reported to be at risk. The disease, identified as spinal meningitis, is highly contagious and is spread by …
WHILE large doses of the synthetic counterparts of several vitamins are known to be toxic to adults, the large intake of one of these is now known to play havoc with the well-being of unborn and newborn babies. Currently under fire is vitamin A. Found in dairy products, liver and …
What does your star foretell - are you born an environmentalist? So said Enviro-astronomical Star Gazer, a Central Pollution Control Board advertisement in, all major Indian newspapers, on this New Year's Day. Among all, the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries, born fighters and champions of causes, were asked to …
The Consumer's Association of Penang (CAP) in Malaysia has launched a blitzkrieg to ban Barbie. The doll is being blamed for promoting inappropriate stereotypes among children. Janet Pillai, a lecturer in children's theatre at the Universities Sains, Malaysia, says, "The notion of beauty promoted through Barbic - hour- glass figure, …
