-The Hindu It is imperative to promote community-based care rather than relying only on hospital services The deaths of 154 children in Bihar due to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has laid bare the precarious capacity of the State’s healthcare apparatus to handle outbreaks. AES has been linked to two factors: litchi consumption by starving children and a long, ongoing heat wave. As promises of bolstering the health infrastructure are being made, it...

-Livemint.com Many of the issues with India’s understaffed, overburdened police could stem from the growing criminalization of politics and reluctance for reform A brutal attack on a young doctor in West Bengal, allegedly by relatives of a patient who died on 10 June, triggered country-wide protests by doctors in the country. The incident highlights not just tensions in doctor-patient relationships but also points to a lack of respect for the rule of...

-News18.com Acclaimed journalist and Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath attributes the existential crisis confronting India’s agrarian society to macro-economic policies set in motion 25 years ago. Talking to Anuradha SenGupta, Sainath makes a case for state intervention in agriculture and says the Modi government, with its shifting positions and policies like demonetisation has only aggravated the assault on agrarian livelihoods. Dismissing the buzz about imminent new initiatives...

-VillageSquare.in Women trained as poshan sakhis, or nutrition friends, advice and help rural women, particularly expectant and lactating mothers, to eat nutritious food and overcome anemia and underweight deliveries Koraput (Odisha): Swapnarani (21), an expectant mother, finishes her household work fast to attend the monthly maitri baithak at her village Bhutanagar in Badakeranga panchayat of Odisha’s Koraput district. Maitri baithak, or friendship meeting, provides space for women to discuss issues that concern...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: States like Jharkhand and Bihar with acute shortage of doctors have seen few new medical colleges being opened in the last five years, while those with a glut of MBBS seats and doctors continue to allow new private colleges. This is despite doctors’ associations in these states warning against over-production of doctors. In Jharkhand, a state with the worst doctor-population ratio of just one doctor for...