As much as 5.3 per cent of the Union Budget for 2012-13 is Budget for Children (BfC) with an increase of 0.3 per cent since 2011-12. This must be set against the inflation rate of 6.6 per cent. The increase can be attributed to the increased allocation in the development sector by 66.2 per cent and health by 29.7 per cent. However, as always, the share of the protection sector remains...

India has recorded its first case of Polio caused by a vaccine-derived Poliovirus (VDPV) this year in a five-month-old child in Murshidabad district of Bengal but the country remains free of the wild Poliovirus. A Polio surveillance laboratory in Calcutta has found that the child from Lalbag block in Murshidabad was infected by VDPV, which occurs when the weakened virus in the oral Polio vaccine (OPV) mutates over time, and regains...

The government proposes to convert the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) into a National Health Mission to provide health care to the urban poor also, in the course of the 12th Plan. Universal access to free generic essential medicines in public health institutions in a phased and time-bound manner will be ensured. Announcing major initiatives to provide universal healthcare, President Pratibha Patil on Monday said the government would endeavour to increase both...

-WFS   Pamela Philipose meets three tribal women who changed the course of their lives through sheer grit and determination, despite their circumstances Kaushal Markam’s experiences are not unusual. When she managed to get a job card entitling her to work on one of the government-run worksites under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), she was delighted.  Money was always in short supply, and this 35-year-old Baiga tribal woman of Dongaria...

India has just been taken off the World Health Organisation (WHO) list of Polio-endemic countries. And if the success of not having a single new case over the past year is sustained for another two years, India will finally emerge as a Polio-free country. The nation's public health administrators and international agencies deserve praise for this achievement. This is also perhaps just the right moment to recall the hands-on leadership role...