-ANI The threat of Japanese encephalitis loomed large over Uttar Pradesh Gorakhpur District, claiming at least 45 lives, even though the administration has upgraded healthcare centres to ensure rehabilitation and cure for the affected. Locals have attributed the spread of the epidemic to lack of vaccination this year. They contended that in the absence of proper preventive vaccination, a new kind of encephalitis virus is doing the rounds. "The patients who are coming...
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Plan panel bats for merger of AIDS control with NRHM by Kounteya Sinha
India's HIV control programme could soon get merged with the country's flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), if the Planning Commission has its way. The Commission's steering committee on health for the 12th five-year Plan has proposed "incorporating AIDS control, universal healthcare and universal access to essential medicines" into NRHM. Planning Commission member in-charge of health Syeda Hameed said, "It is a serious recommendation to incorporate NACO under an overall National Health...
More »UN health agency unveils new data to help countries reduce deaths from tobacco use
-The United Nations Tobacco use is responsible for five million or 12 per cent of all deaths of adults above the age of 30 globally each year, according to a United Nations report unveiled today, that for the first time provides estimated mortality rates attributable to tobacco for 2004, the year before the international treaty on tobacco came into force. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that came into force in...
More »Fears of a TDR-TB epidemic rise by Somita Pal
If last week’s DNA report on 12 cases of totally drug resistant (TDR) tuberculosis (TB) cases found in PD Hinduja hospital was alarming, there is more reason to worry. The Maharashtra State Anti-Tuberculosis Association affiliated to the directorate of health services at the Centre registered two TDR-TB cases in 2011. Officials from Sewri hospital, one of the largest TB hospitals in Asia, are also getting several TDR-TB cases. While the association lost...
More »HIV 10 times more prevalent among migrants than general population by Kounteya Sinha
Migration is fuelling India's HIV epidemic. National AIDS Control Organisation's latest figures show that besides high risk populations like sex workers, the highest burden of HIV is among migrants - 3.6%, which is 10 times the HIV prevalence among the general population. With migration rates increasing, the prevalence will only get worse. According to the 2001 census, 30.1% of the population was considered to have migrated (314 million) - a considerable...
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