Babies born preterm (before 37 completed weeks of gestation) have a higher energy requirement than babies born full term and therefore fail to gain weight adequately. Parents of preterm babies and doctors alike are not sure whether breast milk or formula milk alone will meet the energy requirements after the first four months and whether... Continue Reading →
Can health spending of 2.5% of GDP only by 2025 help achieve the goals set by India’s National Health Policy?
The long awaited National Health Policy announced a few days ago proposes to raise public health expenditure as a percentage of GDP from the current 1.15% to 2.5% by 2025. The resource allocation to individual States will be linked with their development indicators, absorptive capacity and financial indicators. “There will be higher weightage given to... Continue Reading →
Indian researchers turn to zebrafish to study microvillus inclusion disease
Indian researchers have finally found an ideal animal model to study microvillus inclusion disease (MVID) that may affect children born out of consanguineous marriages and to screen potential drugs to treat the disease. Currently, children with MVID disease have no treatment and mostly die premature as babies as they suffer from malabsorption of nutrients and... Continue Reading →
Women live four years longer than men in India
People in India live significantly longer now compared with 1990. Life expectancy increased by 6.9 years for men and 10.3 years for women between 1990 and 2013, notes a study published in the British medical journal The Lancet . In 1990, the figures were 57.25 for men and 59.19 for women. This rose to 64.16... Continue Reading →
India turns spotlight on adolescent health
“India has demonstrated very strong leadership in positioning adolescent health as part of continuum of care. India has taken the lead to present to the rest of the States why it is important to have a discussion on adolescent health,” said Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director-General of Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, WHO, Geneva. She... Continue Reading →
Editorial: Under-5 mortality – The cost of negligence
The failure of successive governments in India, especially those in States that have the highest mortality rates among children younger than five years, to address the critical issue of training health-care providers in rural areas to correctly diagnose and treat children suffering from diarrhoea and pneumonia, has had tragic consequences. These ailments account for the... Continue Reading →
Why rural children in India die of diarrhoea and pneumonia
The reason why a large number of children under the age of five years die of diarrhoea and pneumonia, generally in rural India and especially in Bihar, has become abundantly clear. The results of a study were published a couple of days ago in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Diarrhoea and pneumonia are the biggest killer diseases... Continue Reading →
Increase in life expectancy more in women in India
A Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 published today (December 18) in the journal The Lancet points out that in the case of India, the life expectancy at birth during the period 1990 to 2013 had increased for both men and women. In the case of men, the increase in life expectancy was from 57.3... Continue Reading →
Santitation: Behavioural change critical
That high toilet coverage without concomitant utilisation of the facilities at a very high level and washing hands with soap will not bring about a reduction in diarrhoeal episodes and worm infestation, or any improvement in nutrition and growth, has been clearly brought out in a study undertaken in rural Odisha. The study involved about... Continue Reading →
