-Deccan Herald India is not doing enough to protect its youngest citizens. According to ‘Vital Statistics of India based on Civil Registration System 2014’ report, around 1.89 lakh infants died in 2014 and around 80,190 of them were girls. Though there was a reduction in the number of infant deaths - 1.87 lakh infants died the previous year, including 80,609 girls – the drop was very marginal. Several of India’s...

-The Hindu As I write this column, my gaze is on the post-Deepavali haze that has enveloped Delhi. As a third-generation asthmatic, with a fourth-generation asthmatic daughter, it is set me wondering whether returning to Delhi, the city of my birth, from the United States a decade ago was a mistake. This haze is smog (smoke + fog), a hazardous mix of noxious gases and very high levels of suspended respirable...

-The Hindu ‘It has reduced socioeconomic disparities in healthcare’ A new study brings in first conclusive evidence of the role played by Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) in reducing ‘socioeconomic disparities’ existing in maternal care. The JSY was launched in 2005 as part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to improve maternal and neonatal health by promotion of institutional deliveries (childbirth in hospitals). According to a working paper by Ruchi Jain (NCAER), Sonalde Desai...

-The Hindu The next biggest cause of deaths was chronic respiratory diseases. Chennai: In 2015, India, like other developed countries, had more number of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases. In the case of males, deaths due to non-communicable diseases (3.6 million) were more than double that were caused by communicable diseases (1.5 million), while it was nearly double in females (2.7 million due to non-communicable diseases and nearly 1.4 million deaths due...

-The Indian Express Global Burden of Death: world health improves but progress is patchy; Bangladesh betters India in reducing maternal deaths Pune: Between 1990 and 2015, deaths of children under five have gone down by half worldwide but India has had the highest number of such deaths at 1.3 million in 2015. India has pulled down maternal deaths but Bangladesh has done better, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study...