-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court order upholding a 153-year-old law that effectively criminalises gay sex has ignored scientific evidence that homosexuality is not deviant in any sense, but merely a variation in human sexual behaviour, experts and lawyers have said. The court has virtually "brushed aside" submissions by medical experts that homosexuality is not a mental health disorder and should not be viewed as a criminal activity, said lawyers...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: People infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) across India will receive free anti-HIV therapy even while their immune systems are still strong under new guidelines adopted by India's national AIDS control programme. The National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) will provide anti-HIV therapy when the number of a class of white blood cells called CD4 drops to 500 cells per cubic mm or lower, senior Naco officials said....

-Frontline Childhood TB has been neglected for decades, but in the past few years the WHO has begun to realise its real impact in terms of incidence, prevalence and mortality. THE number of annual new tuberculosis (TB) cases in India has been nearly 2.2 million for the past couple of years. Many of these infected people would have been in contact with children aged under five years before being diagnosed and,...

-Down to Earth The free medicine scheme in Rajasthan may benefit Congress Of the many poll sops that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot doled out in the past two years, the one scheme that seems to have struck the right chord with voters is the initiative to give free essential medicines at government healthcare facilities. The Mukhyamantri Nishulk Dava Yojna, launched in 2011, has offered some hope to the incumbent Congress government,...

-Outlook Civil Society activists and members of the networks of People Living with HIV gathered here today demanding tabling of the HIV/AIDS Bill during the Winter Session of Parliament beginning December 5. The Bill, which aims to protect the rights of people infected and affected by HIV along with providing free and complete HIV related Treatment to them, was finalised by the Health Ministry way back in 2006. "HIV positive people face stigma...