A 'savage preference for males' leads to the killing of 7 lakh girls by their parents in the mother's womb each year in India, according to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member. NHRC member Satyabrata Pal also said that 25 percent of the children who see the light of day are underweight at birth, and 1.72 million children die before they turn one. 'The UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) fears 2,000...

Women in rural India continue to die because of indifference and neglect by healthcare authorities... This is a public health warning. Do not express concern for the state of healthcare in this country. Do not express anger that women die because they are either denied care or help is delayed when they have complicated pregnancies. Do not demand that healthcare is an entitlement that the poor have a right to demand...

This is the virus' first appearance in India The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday claimed that no new cases of the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) were reported from Gujarat even as a six-member central team of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) arrived in Ahmedabad to investigate the outbreak. The National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has sent a team as well. Surveillance begun Surveillance activity has been...

Even as a team of experts from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi, held on-the-spot study of the situation, Gujarat government officials have heaved a sigh of relief with all the 70-odd samples send to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, having tested negative for the rare Crimean-Congo Hae. The State government officials were under pressure after three deaths, including that of a doctor and a nurse, under...

The seven papers in The Lancet: India Series mentions Dr Binayak Sen; the journal’s January 8-14 issue carries an article by the paediatrician who has been sentenced to life on charges of sedition. The Lancet calls Sen a world renowned public health physician, rights activist and civil liberties expert who has worked tirelessly over the years to protect the human rights of vulnerable people, including health as a human right. The Lancet...