Problem of poor quality drugs cannot be solved with technology alone, they say

Centre drafts guidelines to regulate clinical establishments; Indian Medical Association resists

Doctors and pharma company deny charges

Eighty-one countries increased their domestic investment for AIDS by over 50 per cent between 2006 and 2011

Government’s scheme to give monetary remuneration to health workers for counselling couples on family planning may just backfire, says Sonal Matharu

Two-child norm is endangering women's lives and skewing sex-ratio, say activists

Five deaths and over 200 cases of diarrhoea reported in five days

First genetic map of the microbes found in a healthy human body

Move comes a year after WHO said the test leads to misdiagnosis

A growing number of people are unable to shed those extra pounds despite strict diet regimes and long hours of workout. Evidence shows that the toxins in the environment could be playing the spoilsport. They modify the body’s physiology and make it difficult to lose weight. While the West is waking up to the complex linkages between chemicals and obesity, realisation is yet to dawn on doctors and researchers in India. Vibha Varshney, Dinsa Sachan and Sonal Matharu report on the new trigger for obesity and the way out

India fares worse than Bangladesh and Nepal, says report

Says existing schemes like Beti Bachao Aandolan inadequate

Health activists say new policy may not address the weaknesses in ongoing routine immunisation programmes and would flood poor countries with new vaccines

It will also suggest ways to improve grant of statutory approvals for drugs and functioning of the CDSCO

Human rights commission calls for collective efforts to provide healthcare, compensation to victims and kin

Use of unsafe syringes causes over 1.3 million deaths the world over each year, according to the World Health Organization. In India, single-use syringes are used for administering vaccines under the government’s immunisation programmes. But 85 per cent of the total syringes are used for curative and therapeutic purposes, and these are many a time used ones. Becton, Dickinson and Company, a global medical technology company, is launching its single-use syringe targeting this segment. Ranjeet Banerjee, vice-president and general manager and Rajnish Rohtagi, director (medical surgical systems) with the company, talk to Sonal Matharu about their product to be launched this month

Experts say the plan misses diet, care and ignores children with special needs

They have a seven per cent chance of having babies with birth defects

35 swine flu deaths reported in past one month; Union health ministry trashes media reports of H1N1 virus becoming virulent

Pramod Koirala is the spokesperson for the department of food technology and quality control of Nepal. He was in Delhi recently to attend a media workshop on food safety and standards. Sonal Matharu questions him on the problems of food safety in Nepal.

Portable testing kit gives results within an hour

Around 2,000 people who underwent clinical trials in India have died since 2008

India has spent around $1,850 million on 53,000 medical graduates practicing in the US

National AIDS Control Programme urged to move beyond medicine-centric approach

Only one patients’ consent was not available, says health minister in Rajya Sabha

Sonal Matharu finds out how schemes for women and children are all about making money and neglect their health

A recent health survey throws up figures that defy logic. Some districts in India’s nine most backward states have curbed infant mortality rates to much lower than the national average. Down To Earth travels to some of these districts to understand how they have succeeded in breaking the mould. Vibha Varshney, Sonal Matharu, Ankur Paliwal and Dinsa Sachan report

India looks to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure on health in 12th Plan

3 million children below five died in 2010 alone

Kamla Pasand had boundary line advertisements in India-Australia matches

Civil rights groups blame packaged food supplied to anganwadis 

States turn to dubious technology for saving girl child

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 it be able to contain irrational use of drugs? Vibha Varshney, Dinsa Sachan and Sonal Matharu investigate

Even after adjusting inflation, spending has increased 25 per cent in six years

Fifteen chemicals increased by 20 per cent or more in air with the cigarettes

 New Act expected to improve quality of treatment

A section on tobacco consumption added to the national programme for TB control

All men and women above 30 to be screened for diabetes in 100 districts by March 2021

Hormonal contraceptives, promoted in developed nations, put health at risk, says a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Sonal Matharu talks to Jared Baeten, professor, department of global health, University of Washington, about the study

The Japanese encephalitis virus and enterovirus cannot be tackled unless the administration cleans up its act, observes Sonal Matharu

Standard training would ensure nutritionists prescribe diets suited to Indians, and not those set by western countries

Life Insurance Corporation invested more than Rs 3,500 crore last year in the tobacco industry 

A study finds nicotine dental products contain nicotine