The risk of dying from cancer is highest in the Northeast and the lowest in Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa, according to a new study described as the first to provide direct nationally-representative estimates of cancer deaths across the country. The study by researchers at the Centre for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto, Canada, and Indian institutions has shown large variations in cancer risk across the states, but suggests...

A new study looking at cancer mortality in 2010 in India found a high 71 per cent (3,95,400) deaths in people between 30 and 69 years. Cancer accounted for 8 per cent of the 2·5 million total male deaths and 12 per cent of the 1·6 million total female deaths in the same age group. The high mortality rate during the middle age is very different from the developed countries,...

At a time when economic wisdom is seen as lying in allowing unrestrained play of economic power and cutting social sector spending, here is a report emphasising the economic sense in addressing hunger, especially child malnutrition. It also brings out the positive impact of employment guarantee scheme, which has been a thrust area of the UPA government but has seen a cut in allocation in Budget proposals for 2012-13. The report...

Millions of Indians are suspected to be carriers of the drug-resistant bug After the scary New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 or the “superbug” was detected two years ago, the world is now faced with the community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (ca-MRSA) bacterium that is resistant to almost all common antibiotics. In India, where poor hygiene and the availability of over-the-counter antibiotics lead to development of resistance, an estimated 100 to 200 million people are reportedly...

One in 20 people aged 15-64 years, or 200 million are using illicit drugs worldwide annually. A global study on illicit drug use, to be published in the medical journal " Lancet" on Friday, says there are 125-203 million cannabis, 14-56 million amphetamine, 14-21 million cocaine and 12-21 million opioid users. In south and south-east Asia, an estimated 54 lakh people use cannabis, 28 lakh opioid and another four lakh cocaine. According to...