-The Hindu A drastic reduction in efficacy seen in the infants during the one-year follow-up period The results of the Phase III trial of the malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01 are greatly disappointing. The efficacy of the vaccine in preventing clinical and severe malaria in infants aged 6 to 12 weeks is much less than what was expected. In fact, the level of protection offered is nearly half of what was reported last year...

-The United Nations High-level political and private sector officials today met in New York to fight childhood and maternal under-nutrition with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praising the progress made so far, while stressing the importance of continuing to boost efforts on this front. “Every household needs to be able to afford safe, nutritious foods. Markets need to be open and fair. The poorest people need to know they can count on social protection...

-Frontline Thanks to the Bombay High Court, interventions to tackle the decades-long problem of malnutrition among children in the Melghat area of eastern Maharashtra could be better managed. The court has directed the State government to track children and mothers using a management information system (MIS). The court’s directive came on a petition filed on July 20 by an Amravati-based NGO, Khoj, regarding the abysmal conditions in the Melghat region that were...

-The Economic Times India is in the bottom of the world's maiden nutrition barometer along with countries like Angola, Cameroon, Congo and Yemen. The barometer — announced by Save the Children on Thursday — has analyzed the governments' commitments and outcomes in improving nutrition in 36 countries, which are home to 90% of undernourished children. The study has also compared the governments' performance in tackling under nutrition and child mortality. It has found...

-Frontline A study finds that institutional support alone cannot help reduce maternal mortality in India.  THE high rate of maternal mortality in India has been a cause for national concern, especially on account of the focus on reaching the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Although there is a growing realisation that it will be difficult to meet the MDG targets by that deadline, there is a renewed interest in the...