The Centre has asked Dispur to take urgent steps to bring down Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the state. Sources said the Union health ministry had expressed concern over the key health indicators, IMR and MMR, which continue to worry the government despite the achievements made under the National Rural Health Mission. While the IMR is 58 per 1,000, the MMR in Assam is over 400...
More »SEARCH RESULT
90,000 babies die in Bihar in first month of birth by Arun Kumar
About 90,000 children die every year in Bihar within the first month of their birth, according to state principal secretary, health, C K Mishra. Inaugurating the first annual convention of National Neonatology Forum (NNF), Bihar chapter, on Sunday, Mishra said out of about 29 lakh children born every year in Bihar, 1.60 lakh die before completing one year of life. Of these, about two-thirds or about 90,000 die within the first...
More »WHO: strengthen health systems to ensure early detection of HIV/AIDS
Although new HIV infections show a downward trend in countries of the World Health Organisation's South-East Asia Region, particularly India, Thailand, Nepal and Myanmar, HIV/AIDS is still a serious public health problem. Perhaps the most vulnerable group are children with HIV/AIDS, whose number has increased by 46 per cent between 2001 and 2009. Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is possible by 2015 and WHO is committed to this goal. On...
More »How Tamil Nadu has made an incremental difference by Divya Gupta
A combination of factors led by state policy has enabled the southern State to become a notable achiever with respect to some key indicators of development. In 2001, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen recorded an eyebrow-raising fact in his book, “Development as Freedom”, that Tamil Nadu and Kerala had both achieved much faster rates of decline in fertility than China had achieved since it introduced its one-child policy. That same year, the international...
More »UN conference for civil society hears calls for greater support for marginalized groups
Marginalized groups such as indigenous communities deserve special attention from policy-makers if the world is to achieve the social and economic targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the annual United Nations conference with civil society groups heard today. Speakers told the 63rd UN Department of Public Information (DPI)/Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Conference in Melbourne, Australia, of the need to overturn entrenched disparities in health and life expectancy between rich...
More »