-Live Mint Some commentators dismiss the seriousness of India's nutritional crisis as it fails to account for genetic differences With one in two children malnourished in India, child malnutrition is considered to be among the biggest challenges facing the country. But are these figures highly exaggerated? The answer is a resounding yes, according to Columbia University economist Arvind Panagariya, who believes that the international standards used to measure nutritional attainments of...

-The Hindu     Antibiotics are often used as an excuse for poor infection control Arjun (name changed) is an 8-year-old boy who was being treated for breathing difficulty in a hospital in one of the southern cities. He had suffered on and off with cough/cold since infancy and had been treated multiple times with antibiotics. His parents were not highly educated and hoped that he would get better as he grew older. This...

-The Indian Express At a time when targeted therapies work like magic bullets killing cancer cells and sparing normal ones, only 15-20 per cent child victims of the disease are treated in India due to lack of diagnosis and access to treatment. With cancer affecting approximately 60,000 children in the country annually, the Lancet Oncology series released Tuesday is a wake-up call to the government to deal with the challenge of...

-Outlook Malda (West Bengal): Four more children died at the Malda College and Hospital, taking the total number of crib deaths since Saturday last to 27. While three children died this morning, another died last night, hospital sources said today. The cause of the death was malnourishment, underweight, and premature birth, they said, adding they were admitted to the hospital in very critical condition. Most of the children who died in the hospital were...

-The Indian Express Pune: A modest yet consistent decline in the infant mortality rate, especially in six problematic states, is one of the key features of the latest data from the Sample Registration System. Nationwide, the IMR has dropped by three points from 47 infant deaths per 1,000 live births to 44, according to the October 2012 SRS bulletin. It has dropped to 48 from 51 in rural areas , and...