-The Hindu Preconception nutrition, maternal nutrition and child feeding practices in the first 1,000 days of life need priority As India launches the celebrations of its 75th anniversary of Independence, there is much to be proud about; significant advances have been made in science, technology, and medicine, adding to the country’s ancient, traditional, and civilisational knowledge base, wisdom and wealth. Still, it is disconcerting that even after seven decades of Independence, India is...

-Scroll.in Taking available medicines instead of what has been prescribed could lead to drug resistance and even death. Nongmeikapam Dusmanta, a retired government employee from the water resources department in Manipur, has battled with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, for over two decades. He has seen the evolution of India’s battle against AIDS – acquired immune deficiency syndrome, an HIV-led disease that severely damages the immune system – from a time when there...

-Deccan Chronicle The latest data from the Registrar-General of India shows that India’s infant mortality rate is 28 (28 infant deaths per 1,000 live births) Infant mortality is the end-result of a whole chain of interlinked ground-level challenges.   In a week when the word “fringe” is a headline-grabber, let me start by saying that updates about the country’s infant mortality rate (IMR) is not a fringe issue. It is central to a...

-The Telegraph Research considers expenses arising out of visits to hospitals, clinics and doctors’ private chambers and not those from home visits by doctors New Delhi: medicines account for the largest share of healthcare expenditure arising out of hospital visits by Indian households, whether seeking outpatient or inpatient services, but health-related non-medical expenses on travel or accommodation too pose big financial burdens, new research has indicated. The study, a comprehensive dissection of out-of-pocket...

-The Hindu They write to Prime Minister asking him to renegotiate the draft proposal to waive intellectual property rights on vaccines and highlight the need for active engagement to improve it A group of non governmental organisations has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to prod the Union Commerce Ministry into “proactively engaging” with a draft proposal at the World Trade Organisation-TRIPS in Geneva to waive intellectual property rights, mostly controlled by...