In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...

-Hindustan Times The atlas, the first of its kind, will aid in disaster preparedness as extreme weather events rise in the wake of the climate crisis, scientists said. The Sunderbans in West Bengal, neighbouring districts of Odisha, and Ramanathapuram, Pudukkottai and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu are the most vulnerable to high storm surges of as much as 8.5 to 13.7 metres that are induced by cyclones, according to the Climate Hazards and...

-PTI/ The Tribune The report says no evidence that reopening schools has caused a surge in Covid cases and that schools are not a “safe place” New Delhi: There is no justification now for keeping schools closed in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and even if there are new waves, closing schools should be the last resort, according to World Bank’s Global Education Director Jaime Saavedra. Saavedra, whose team has been tracking the...

-TheWire.in In an interview with Karan Thapar, the epidemiologist said the reason the WHO doesn’t trust India’s COVID-19 death count is because the undercounting is substantially greater than in other countries. Prabhat Jha, one of the world’s most highly regarded epidemiologists, has said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not trust India’s COVID-19 death figures and, therefore, when it made its first estimate of global deaths, it did not include India’s...

-The Telegraph  The trends so far are in line with observations from South Africa, where demand has been lower during omicron-driven surge The demand for oxygen beds and ventilators for Covid-19 patients appears for now decoupled from the steep rise in cases and hospitalisation, doctors said on Sunday, citing early observations over the past week in Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai. The counts of hospitalised Covid-19 patients have increased in all three cities, but...