-The Hindu Business Line Girls start self-help groups in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi and Sultanpur districts to address sanitation issues Combining Self-Help Groups (SHGs) with sanitation programmes is a model that is working well in villages of Amethi and Sultanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh. While the old concept of SHGs was thrift and economic empowerment of women, the more recent formation of young women’s SHGs has strengthened the movement for toilets and sanitary napkins....

-The Times of India MUMBAI: When World AIDS Day is observed across the globe on December 1, India will enter the third, and perhaps the most perplexing decade of its HIVAIDS epidemic. The first 29 years were marked with victory as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) metamorphosed from being the deadliest word in public health to just another chronic disease such as diabetes or hypertension. that can be managed well with medicines....

-The Hindu New Delhi travelled to tribal heartland. The expert group offers hope; an opportunity to ensure that the tribals have a say in policies that are framed for them. Earlier this month, a motley group of 50 academicians, government officials and activists gathered at Shodhgram village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. This is an area known for malaria, malnutrition and Maoists, not necessarily in that order. Everyone left technology behind (mobile phones and...

-Economic and Political Weekly The importance of hand-washing in personal and public hygiene has evolved over the centuries. While the market with its countless number of soaps and hand-wash products for personal hygiene with the accompanying advertising has created a false sense of security, it is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the battle against disease. Lekha D Bhat (lekhabhatd@gmail.com) teaches at the Department of Social...

-The Hindu In RTI reply, Health Department contradicts its earlier stand Palakkad: Contradicting its own earlier stand that malnutrition was the major reason behind continuing infant mortality in Attappady, the Health Department has stated that no malnutrition-related death was reported from any of the 192 tribal hamlets in the region since January 2013. In a Right to Information (RTI) reply to social worker R.J. Rajendraprasad, the District Medical Officer (DMO) claimed that no...