"India's health infrastructure was never something to be pround of"
The panic created when the plague rippled out from Surat and threatened other parts of the country exposed India's complete lack of resources for …
Stagnation as a culture
WATER is for flowing. When made to stagnate, it buzzes deafeningly of a culture of deliberate ignorance. Look at the misfortune of the people of …
The plague took us by surprise
ASHISH KUMAR MUKHERJEE is the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), and as the country's topmost health bureaucrat, was the man …
Why diseases are "mysterious"
The government's public health system is completely defunct. Of late, there has been an alarming rise in disease outbreaks in the country. …
Anatomy of the plague
The Black Death is an established phenomenon the world over, so there is no point pillorying India alone
Confronting cholera in Peru
The year-long cholera epidemic in Peru refocussed scientific attention worldwide on the causes of the disease and the various strains of cholera …
Outbreak Outrage
There is a suspicion among African biomedics about the well projected linking of the continent's environment with the emergence of lethal viruses …
Malaria menace
Health experts warn of an impending malaria epidemic in Vadodara. But government officials are silent over the issue
Counting out pestilence
The patterns that diseases furrow among large sections of a population provide clues to check epidemics
The number of new flu viruses is increasing, and could lead to a pandemic
How is it the flu has managed to stay around for so long, and why haven't we beaten it yet?
Unravelling the Bombay plague
Room 000: Narratives Of The Bombay Plague is the story of the plague that killed thousands in Mumbai in the late 1890s. Very little was known …
Slippery bacillus
Despite desperate combing operations, the plague bacillus is playing hide-and-seek with doctors
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.
World Health Assembly agrees to new ‘Health Emergencies Programme’
Programme aimed at providing rapid and comprehensive support to countries and communities for tackling crises hazardous to human health
Chimp's aid
Chimps are not victimised by AIDS because a lethal sickness has made their immune system resistant to the disease
World unprepared for future pandemics: Global Health Security Index 2021
Countries across all income levels are lacking on finance, logistics and planning when it comes to future pandemics
WHO fund to boost emergency preparedness in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund to help 11 member countries prepare for natural disasters and health emergencies
Epidemic at hand
Thanks to El Nio, east and central Africa is reeling under a deadly onslaught of killer diseases
New viruses on the prowl
Humans have exposed themselves to a host of new viral diseases by playing around too much with the environment
The black fever
While the nation's attention is focused on the caste killings in Jehanabad, a silent but deadlier killer is striking terror in Bihar. Kala-azar, …
Malaria in the Thar Desert: Facts, Figures and Future - Book review
One usually does not associate malaria with a desert environment. Common sense dictates that mosquitoes, that breed only in stagnant water, would …
"An epidemic of non-communication"
David Miller is an expert in psychosocial management of hiv/aids. He has worked in developing countries since 1986 and is currently the Country …
Fowl Play
Is an avian flu pandemic imminent? As panic sends the world into a flutter, the Indian response still struggles to take wing, discover padmaparna …
A plague on this country
The plague today holds the same threshold of dread that it did in the 14th century. So when the Black Death struck India late last month, the …
How did it get so bad?
Ostrich policy and bad science. In Bihar, embankments built by government to prevent floods have been counter-productive
