-Live Mint Strong political commitment is needed to build a system of universal health coverage and better regulations Life expectancy in India has more than doubled since independence, to 65 years, from just 32 in 1950. The infant mortality rate has been cut by two-thirds since 1971. Smallpox and guinea worm have been eradicated, the spread of HIV/AIDS has been contained, and the World Health Organization has declared India polio-free. Yet for all...
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Defending India’s patent law-Prabha Sridevan
-The Hindu No one can attack India's well-founded Intellectual Property regime as being weak merely because a drug that is claimed to be an invention fails the test of law India and its intellectual property (IP) laws have been the subject of sharp criticism recently. Now, there is talk of the government invoking emergency provisions with regard to Dasatinib, a cancer drug. The decibel level may go up several notches. Let us look...
More »Onus on the state-Sagnik Dutta
-Frontline A Delhi High Court verdict says the State government is bound to ensure that poor and vulnerable sections of society have access to treatment for rare and chronic diseases. SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Mohammed Ahmed Khan looked on helplessly as his father, Sirajuddin, narrated the sordid tale of the loss of four of his children to Gaucher's disease, a rare genetic disease that requires lifelong, exorbitantly expensive enzyme replacement therapy. Sirajuddin, a rickshaw...
More »First UN report on antibiotic resistance reveals ‘serious threat’ to global public health
-The United Nations Antibiotic resistance - when bacteria change so antibiotics no longer work in people who need them to treat infections - is now a major threat to public health, says a new United Nations report released today. The study, produced by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), is the first to look at antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic resistance, globally, and provides the most comprehensive picture to date, incorporating data from...
More »“Coastal and river-end areas prone to malaria”-R Sujatha
-The Hindu Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The influx of visitors from the north-eastern regions and States such as Odisha, where malaria is endemic, is a cause for concern to public health officials. The State has been registering a gradual drop in malarial cases since 2010 but it will be several years before the disease is taken off the list of public health problems. The theme for this year's World Malaria Day, observed on...
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