-The Hindu The first 1,000 days of life, between a woman's pregnancy and her child's second birthday, are critical for influencing lifelong health and intellectual development of the child The Human Development Report (HDR) released in July 2014 made an important revelation: that India continues to be positioned at 135 in the ranking of 187 countries based on the Human Development Index, and has not moved from where it was positioned the...

-Tehelka Despite the serious toll it takes on women's health, female sterilisation remains the most prevalent form of contraception in India. While memories of the 21 months of Emergency in 1975-77, imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, survives even today in the minds of Indian men as the fear of forced sterilisation, the country's population control policies have shifted over the years since then to target the politically less...

-The Hindu "Antenatal care is very important for health workers to detect mothers with obesity or diabetes... both specific risks during pregnancy," says Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director General at WHO. In 2013, globally, preterm birth complications were responsible for 15 per cent (0.96 million) of deaths in children under five years of age. It is a leading cause of death in neonates (0-27 days after birth). According to WHO, about 15...

-PTI Srinagar: When the floods wreaked havoc in Kashmir and plunged most parts of the Valley into darkness, few doctors at a lone maternity care hospital in Srinagar, lent a ray of light to people's lives by performing birth surgeries under candlelight. Doctors at the Lal Ded Hospital, whose ground floor was submerged by flood waters from Jhelum, performed six deliveries under the candlelight as the electricity supply to the hospital was...

-The United Nations While child survival rates have increased dramatically since 1990, one million Babies each year do not see their second day of life, many succumbing to complications during labour and delivery that could be easily prevented with simple, cost effective interventions, according to a report released today by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The 2014 Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed progress report - the second in a...