-PTI 'Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis' (PrEP), regular medicine would be given to HIV-negative sex workers who engage sexually with HIV-positive persons. Kolkata: One of Asia’s largest red light districts, Sonagachi will roll out an experimental project for providing HIV-preventive medicine to sex workers from next month. It will be the first such initiative in the country. The feasibility project recently received clearance from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Union Health Ministry and is...

-The Hindu We need to take AIDS out of isolation and look at it in a broader framework, with links to maternal and child health, says Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS. Speaking on the sidelines of the India Africa Forum Summit, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director, UNAIDS, admitted to being ‘scared’ as pressure mounts on India to relax norms, allowing patent protection. In a conversation with Vidya Krishnan, Mr. Sidibe also spoke...

-PTI United Nations: India recorded the largest number of tuberculosis cases in the world last year, according to a report by the World Health Organisation. The WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015 said 1.5 million people died in 2014 from the disease, which ranks alongside HIV as a leading killer worldwide. The report, released Wednesday, said nearly 58 per cent of the 9.6 million new TB cases in 2014 were from East Asia and...

-The Hindu The system brought down input costs — two to four kg of seeds per acre against 30 kg needed for fertiliser-based, water-intensive farming A model evolved for applying traditional wisdom in farming has also helped in conserving indigenous paddy varieties that are under threat of extinction. The Biodiversity Rainfed Farming System, promoted by Rural Organisation for Social Education, a not-for-profit voluntary organisation, in four blocks of Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu,...

-The Hindu In July 2011, advertisements for deodorants — by Axe, Set Wet Style & Zatak — were pulled off air for being derogatory to women. As the blood bag runs out, a doctor is seen haggling on the phone for more units of A blood group. He concludes the call by saying: 19-20 ka farak hai. A nahin toh AB de do. There is hardly any difference. If you don’t have...