-The Times of India About 38 million people in India (which is more than Canada's population) fall below the poverty line every year due to healthcare expenses, of which 70% is on purchase of drugs. Yet, the much-awaited drug price control order (DPCO) 2013, meant to control the price of medicines does not cover over 80% of the medicines in the market. Many drugs crucial for India's disease profile have been...

-PTI Mumbai: Younger women in the age bracket of 30-35 years are prone to diabetes because of sedentary lifestyle and wrong eating habits, according to a study. Population in Western India tends to eat fried food and no fruits, due to which several people are seen to be at higher risk of diabetes and obesity. Diabetes risk levels have been observed to be high among men and women in the age bracket of...

-The Hindustan Times Chandigarh: Pesticide residues are present in blood and urine of every fourth person of Punjab's cotton belt, a Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) study has found. The study has established that around 23% of the people living in rural areas of the state's cotton belt have residues of pesticide in their blood. The study titled 'Reducing pesticide toxicity in the exposed population of Punjab' and funded by...

-The Hindu As the country develops economically, its double burden of malnutrition and its health implications will increasingly affect women and those who are socio-economically weak India has one of the highest burdens of underweight women in the world, with rising obesity levels. Using the World Health Organisation classification based on body mass index, or BMI (the ratio of the weight of the body in kilograms to the square of its height...

-The Hindu In addition to ailments caused by poverty, salt pan workers across the country suffer from several occupational diseases, including chronic dermatitis, loss of vision and hypothyroidism In Adivasi Colony, a remote hamlet off the road from Vedaranyam to Kodikarai in Tamil Nadu, most of the adults in the 200-odd households work in salt manufacturing. They prepare salt pans manually, irrigate them with saline water which is three times saltier than...