COVID-19 pandemic & children: Long-term impacts warrant concern

The physical and psychological effects of the pandemic pose major threats to children’s development

COVID-19 pandemic & children: Omicron unlikely to increase threat in children

Hasty vaccination of healthy young people will have little benefit 

Undernourished India: Which Assembly seats fare the worst

Policy initiatives driven by assembly constituencies can be more precise with greater political accountability

Protecting children during pandemic requires much more than ‘PM CARES for Children’ package 

The scheme is an emergency measure and cannot substitute the established sevices for children

Child slavery in West Africa: Understanding cocoa farming is key to ending the practice

Surveys and studies on child slavery in West African cocoa farming have failed to consider its causes

Why breastfeeding is crucial for building nutritional foundation beyond infancy

Breastfeeding is at the core of infant nutrition. But mothers in rural areas are avoiding it due to COVID-19 fears

Around 66% children below 2 years don't get nutritious diet: UNICEF

The diets of children in this age group have not improved in the last decade  

Does my child have separation anxiety? How parents can help with children’s back-to-school fears

Some children experiencing separation anxiety have physical symptoms such as stomach aches and nightmares

A neglected tragedy: 2 million stillbirths in 2019, flags report

A majority of stillbirths happened in sub-Saharan Africa

Population populism: How redundant is UP’s two-child policy?

The recent UP Population Policy aims to reduce the state’s current total fertility rate, which is 2.7, and bring it down to 2.1 

Specialized cells maintain healthy pregnancy by teaching the mother’s immune system not to attack developing fetus

How does the immune system generally learn what to attack and what not to attack? A study tries to find out 

Over 1,400 more Odisha villages free of child marriage

All villages belong to tribal-dominated Kandhamal district; total 5,411 villages across 7 districts free of child marriage since 2019

COVID-19: Child trafficking, assault on the rise in north Bengal

Most tea growers lost livelihood to the pandemic; cases of sexual assualt do not reach courts

Our children are at risk of air pollution. Now is the time to act

Children’s health can be affected by air pollution even before they are born.  As they grow up, pollution stunts their lung growth&…

COVID-19: How rise in child marriages impacts economy

The risks associated with child marriage do not end with girls married before 18: It leads to an intergenerational cycle of poverty …

Gains lost: ILO flags rise in child labour — the first time this millennium

Globally, 9 million more children are at risk of child labour by the end of 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic 

Mother’s Day 2021: Reducing early pregnancy is key to safe motherhood

Only a healthy mother can give birth to and raise a healthy child and can break the vicious cycle of intergenerational malnutrition

Time and support are of the essence in preventing child marriages

Rescuing a child in time, followed by regular monitoring of her kin and providing her with support, will ensure she is not again forced into such …

Climate change: 490 million children in Africa most vulnerable

Of the 750 million children in 45 countries likely to be most affected by climate risk, 210 million are in three South Asian nations — …

Get your own vaccine

Down To Earth filed an RTI application to find out the reason of vaccine shortage in India. The response revealed how a plan to promote private …

A year since lockdown: What went on in the minds of Indian children and how did they cope?

A little less than half the respondents said the pandemic made them feel worried or bored

As told to Parliament (March 19, 2021): No special plan for children under 15 impacted by pandemic

All that was discussed in the House through the day

Exposure to air pollution can cause anaemia in very young children, says new study

A 10 μg/m3 rise in ambient PM 2.5 exposure caused a 0.07 g/dL decrease in average haemoglobin count 

Gender bias in medicine and medical research is still putting women’s health at risk

Women’s health has too often been considered a niche area — even though it involves roughly 50% of the world’s population

Children with cancer: WHO estimates 55-85% in low- and middle-income countries get no treatment

Nearly 69% of southeast Asia’s cases of acute lymphoid leukemia, the most common cancer in children, were in India