Is UN giving in to industry?

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.

Curbing TB still a challenge

IT IS no mean task to detect tuberculosis. Suspects are subjected to a battery of tests, including sputum and molecular, to ascertain the disease. One of the most expensive and widely used by private pathological labs is the blood test. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued advisory asking countries to discontinue the use of blood test to detect tuberculosis as it “misdiagnoses and gives inaccurate results”.

Hidden industry hand

Global leaders are preparing to meet in New York on September 19 and 20 to chart the way forward to tackle noncommunicable diseases, the number one killer in the world. On the stealth, the pharma and food industries and some rich countries are also at work to weaken the initiative.

Leprosy returns

THE World Health Organization has raised alarm over leprosy spreading across India. With the disease infecting about 120,000 people every year, the country is now the biggest contributor to the global leprosy burden, the UN body said in a press release.  

Diabetes plan staggers

The government’s ambitious mission to control diabetes has made a reluctant start. Worse, it suffers from lack of planning. The project was launched as part of the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS).

New cancer risk

For years the World Health Organization (WHO) maintained that radiation from cell phones is generally safe. But on May 31, it changed its stand and announced that cell phones pose a possible cancer risk.

How effective are sanitisers?

TILL swine flu panic gripped the world, washing hands was considered the best way to maintain personal hygiene and protect oneself from diseases. But as fear of the disease spread, so did hand sanitisers. They became a prefered choice because of their mobility and convenience. All you need to do is squirt a drop of it onto your palms, rub it, and you are done. But now the integrity of that handbag-sized bottle designed to kill any germ is in doubt. It might be offering a false sense of security.

The salt challenge

Researchers and policy-makers around the world stress on reducing salt intake to control hypertension because its key triggers— stress and faulty lifestyle—are difficult to control.

Lalitpur’s baby formula

It was a cold January morning. As the mist cleared, groups of women could be seen wending their way to the aanganwadi (kindergarten) in Khitwans village in Lalitpur district’s Birdha block. The women were either pregnant or lactating mothers. Pramilla Jha, a counsellor for infant feeding, was waiting for them.

Chhattisgarh unsure of disease outbreak

Already marred by violence, tribals from the interior villages of Dantewada are facing a new challenge. A number of people last month died of or fell a victim to a water-borne disease. Though the state government maintains it is DVD (diarrhoea-vomiting-dysentry), experts suspect it to be as severe as cholera.