Southeast Asia has a huge hepatitis burden—more than HIV and malaria combined

The region needs to enhance awareness and action to eliminate hepatitis, writes WHO regional director for southeast Asia s 

WHO reports progress in tackling tropical diseases

According to the international health agency, an estimated 1 billion people received treatment in 2015 alone

Study indicates increasing multi-drug resistance in children against enteric bacteria

Children in India also carry high levels of antibiotic resistance against key pathogens causing difficulty in treating infections

Improved water supply needed to reduce child mortality linked to sanitation: WHO

The study observes a general gradual decline in malnutrition with increasing access to water soruces

Undetected window

India cannot eradicate tuberculosis unless it treats the infection in cattle. The country accounts for 23 per cent of the global TB burden

Poor sanitation cost India 5.2% of its GDP

Lack of access to sanitation wiped off US $106.7 billion from India's GDP in 2015. It is almost half of the total global losses

In Karnataka, 258 cows may be culled to prevent spread of disease

Brucellosis, also known as ‘contagious abortion', is an infection transmitted from animals to humans

Over 7.7 million people vaccinated in DRC against yellow fever

In neighbouring Angola, an estimated 3 million people have been vaccinated since mid-August.

High blood pressure is more prevalent in poor countries for the first time

Seventy-five per cent of all hypertension cases occur in low- and middle-income countries

A model to predict diseases that transfer from animals to humans

The study tested the model with Lassa fever, a disease endemic to western Africa and is caused by the Lassa virus which passes on to people …

How is climate change affecting crop pests and diseases?

The dynamics of crop diseases and pest influx are changing rapidly due to changing climate. Managing them has, therefore, become a huge challenge

Sweet miracle

A cheap hand-held device that does multiple tests accurately and quickly could revolutionise diabetic treatment

New mosquito threats shift risks from our swamps to our suburbs

Mosquito bites are important routes of transmission of Zika and other viruses but when it comes to spreading these pathogens, not all mosquitoes …

In the Parliament on March 8, 2016

Here’s a round-up of today’s debates and reports on environmental and developmental issues

Deadly mosquito bites

As Delhi and other parts of the country battle the surge in dengue cases, here is a look at how vector-borne diseases have been spreading their …

Ray of hope for transplant patients

A bill introduced during the last session of Parliament seeks to change the definition of death from when the heart stops beating to when the …

Wood does a lot of good

It was the bane of the rubber tree, as the fungus Phytophthora literally ate into its every part. With the discovery of antifungal wood extracts, …

Lost in the Thar

The Indira Gandhi canal project is a costly failure that has led to destruction of habitat and loss of arable land

Virus alert

A strain of the virus that causes bird influenza has been implicated in the death of a three-year-old boy in Hong Kong. The case, though …

Working Upwards

CREATING SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR HEALTH· B J A Haglund, B Petersson, D Finer and P Tillgren· World Health Organization …

Home remedy

A local remedy for controlling a parasitic disease works wonders for sheepbreeders in the Peruvian highlands

Expose the exposome

Human body maintains a record of all environmental exposures, from pollutants to diet and stress. Analysing the record, dubbed exposome, can help …

Traffic fumes cause permanent lung dysfunction

Spending on junk food

Cycles congest roads: traffic cops

Kolkata police justify ban on non-motorised transport in the city