Even as the Planning Commission stood by its decision to nominate Binayak Sen to its steering committee on health, there is a loud note of disapproval from Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has questioned the rationale behind the appointment, saying the rights activist is still facing trial. “The people of Chhattisgarh do not approve of the appointment,” he said. “He has not been absolved of the charges by the court...

50 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat for all States/Union Territories at BPL prices Need to strike a balance between excess procurement and storage: Justice Bhandari ‘Whatever you procure, store it properly. The rest you can distribute to starving people' Responding to the concern expressed by the Supreme Court over malnutrition and starvation deaths, the Centre on Tuesday informed it of the decision to make an additional allocation of 50 lakh tonnes of...

Union health ministry has decided to address the contentious issue of sexual health of adolescents head on. With one in every five Indians is in the age bracket of 10-19 years, the Union health ministry has conceived an "Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH)" programme, where unique "health clinics" will dish out "adolescent-friendly services." States have started training doctors and nurses who will man these adolescent clinics to deal with uncomfortable problems...

Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, and chronic respiratory diseases account for 63 per cent (36 million) of all deaths globally. This is the finding of the World Health Organisation's global status report on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) for 2008, and the situation is unlikely to be very different today. The picture also runs counter to the general perception that such deaths are largely restricted to developed countries. In truth, nearly 80 per...

The United Nations is predicting that come Oct. 31, the world population will hit the seven billion mark - and keep expanding till it reaches 9.3 billion by the year 2050. Much of this increase, according to the Population Division of the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), is projected to come from 58 high-fertility countries: 39 in Africa, nine in Asia, six in Oceania and four in Latin...