-Live Mint The country is a happy hunting ground for communicable diseases In a Mint article last week, economist Dean Spears pointed out that the double whammy of high population density and unsanitary conditions in India stunts the growth of children, who bear a disproportionate burden of infectious diseases and lose their ability to absorb nutrients. Unless India ramps up its public health system, providing extra food will mean little for...

-The Times of India A study on the causes of severe diarrhoea in young children, conducted at seven sites in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian countries including India, has found that rotavirus is responsible for most such cases. The Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS), published in the latest issue of Lancet, shows diarrhoeal disease, which is responsible for one in every ten child deaths during the first five years of life worldwide,...

-The Hindu India may have achieved a success rate of 88 per cent in treatment of tuberculosis - higher than the global treatment success rate of 85 per cent - but HIV-TB co-infection continues to be a cause of major concern, as the percentage of people infected with the twin infection increased substantially between 2010 and 2011. The percentage of TB patients tested for HIV increased nationally from 32 per cent...

-The Hindu Oppression and discrimination suffered by the low caste groups and Dalits at the hands of the dominant caste groups in Haryana and Rajasthan is reproduced within the families bringing in wives from other parts of India. The brides are “needed” solely for their ability to perform free reproductive and productive labour. They are also preferred over local women as the loosening of natal family connections renders them vulnerable to domination...

-The Hindu India’s polio triumph is a rare milestone in its uninspiring public health record. The story so far only strengthens the case for a vastly augmented routine immunisation programme to combat disease. India has been celebrating its near-victory over polio for the past two years, but it often hogs the headlines for unacceptably high mortality and morbidity due to other communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, dengue and filaria. The government now...