-The Hindu The disease cannot be eliminated without universal access to affordable, quality diagnostics and drugs After decades spent battling the scourge of tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries, 2018 might be the year that it is finally accorded the gravitas it deserves. On September 26, the UN General Assembly will, for the first time, address TB in a High-Level Meeting and likely release a Political Declaration, endorsed by all member nations, to...

-The Telegraph Patna: As soon as the Sun set, the girls would be scared. The nights were full of terror. That was what a 10-year-old girl, from the Balika Grih in Muzaffarpur at the centre of the sexual abuse horror, said in Hindi before a judicial magistrate. The Bihar government blinked and recommended a CBI probe into the rampant abuse at the Balika Grih, a government-funded shelter home run by an NGO,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Countries negotiating a global declaration on tuberculosis are under pressure to give up their rights to use existing provisions in world trade laws to provide affordable second-line and new anti-TB Drugs to their populations, an international humanitarian agency said on Friday. Medecins Sans Frontieres said the US was "exerting extreme pressure" on other negotiators by refusing to sign the declaration if it retained text that "recognises the importance...

-The Hans India Yalal: Tribal farmers of Sangaigutta thanda in Muddaipet panchayat are making a fortune by indulging in gherkins’ cultivation under contract farming system. The farmers are earning at least Rs 50,000 in two months after deducting all expenses. The factory which encouraged the tribals to undertake contract farming supplies seeds, pesticides and fertilizers and lifts the gherkins at the farm gate by paying good price for the produce. It...

-Deccan Chronicle Ayush ministry states that experience and evidence of effectiveness of these Drugs is based on textual rationale and published in literature. Hyderabad: Fraudsters would flourish if patented or proprietary Ayruvedic, Siddha and Unani products are given licence without insisting on safety trials, industry experts and medical professionals have stated. The Centre has issued drug regulators in states a directive to issue licenses to patented and proprietary products of Ayurvedic, Siddha and...