-Down to Earth Grand old party of India renews some old promises and makes some new ones, but will Congress live up to its promises if it wins a third term? The Indian National Congress (INC) presented its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Wedneday. The manifesto committee claimed the 48-page document was prepared after wide consultations by engaging millions of people, grassroots congress workers and every section of the...

-The Hindu The entire spectrum of political leadership should take a pledge to transform the healthcare system of India in a decade As the countdown to the next general election begins, political parties are making multiple promises to pull in votes. All the party leaders are committing to transforming the lives of people. But health, ironically, does not feature high on their priority list, even though it is the central pillar of...

A nation's prosperity is determined to a large extent by the health care received by its female population. India's maternal mortality is down but we still have miles to go before we come close to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets (Please see the links and graph below). The latest available figures released by the Office of Registrar General (India) provide some interesting trends on maternal health indicators. It...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) Healthcare for all, particularly for the rural areas has been a priority for the Government. The health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), and nutritional status of children under 3 years including prevalence of anemia amongst them and pregnant women in rural area are considerably poor as compared to urban areas. The key health indicators are as under: Public...

-The Hindu The latest round of Annual Health Survey (AHS) has shown only marginal improvement in health indicators in the worst performing districts of the country. Bihar continues to have the highest percentage of girls marrying before completing 18. While the percentage during the baseline survey (2008-2010) was 20.2 per cent, it has now come down to 16.5 per cent. In Rajasthan the percentage has come down to 16.3 from 21.9. The...