Absence of preventive measures and affordable and accessible health care leads to nearly 500 encephalitis deaths in Uttar Pradesh. IT is a strange paradox. In a country that aspires to be a superpower and boasts of rapid economic growth, 488 children died in a State, Uttar Pradesh, from encephalitis alone this year. It is nothing less than a national shame and tragedy. In six districts of Bihar, close to 200 children...

-The United Nations   The United Nations tomorrow will mark World Hepatitis Day for the first time to bring attention to the disease that affects almost one in every three persons on Earth. “We know what needs to be done,” said Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). “Viral hepatitis is one of the most prevalent and serious infectious diseases in the world. It deserves much more attention, understanding and...

-The United Nations   The United Nations today declared that the world has completely eradicated a cattle disease that has killed millions of bovines for millennia. It is the first animal disease to be officially declared eradicated – and only the second disease ever, after smallpox. A resolution approved by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at its meeting in Rome today stated that the world was free of rinderpest, or...

A Central team of doctors finally termed the disease encephalitis Parents not admitting their children to government hospitals Muzaffarpur: Kejriwal Matri Sadan, sited in the heart of Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, is exploding with fear, panic and chaos over a ‘mystery' disease – a disease that has claimed the lives 36 children in less than two weeks. Screaming infants, convulsing in terrible pain, present a stark contrast to the smug, matter-of-fact versions of health...

For smooth implementation of the ‘cancer cervix vaccination programme' in Khammam district; Panel report pointed to casual approach, says Brinda 23,000 girls in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat were vaccinated ‘Ambivalent sentences in the consent form amount to indirect coercion' The Andhra Pradesh government had issued an order for the smooth implementation of the ‘cancer cervix vaccination programme' in Khammam district. It had ordered all educational institutions to support the efforts of the Health...