An increasing number of countries face a double burden of disease as the prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancers increase and many nations still struggle to reduce maternal and child deaths caused by infectious diseases, according to a United Nations statistical health report released today. “This evidence really shows that no country in the world can address health from either an infectious disease...

Union health ministry has decided to address the contentious issue of sexual health of adolescents head on. With one in every five Indians is in the age bracket of 10-19 years, the Union health ministry has conceived an "Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH)" programme, where unique "health clinics" will dish out "adolescent-friendly services." States have started training doctors and nurses who will man these adolescent clinics to deal with uncomfortable problems...

Let the offenders know that the gallows await them: Supreme Court directive to trial and High Courts It is time to stamp out these barbaric, feudal practices which are a slur on our nation There is nothing ‘honourable' in such killings, says Justice Markandey Katju To stamp out the barbaric and feudal practice of ‘honour killings,' the Supreme Court on Monday directed the trial/High Courts to award the death sentence to the convicted...

The United Nations is predicting that come Oct. 31, the world population will hit the seven billion mark - and keep expanding till it reaches 9.3 billion by the year 2050. Much of this increase, according to the Population Division of the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), is projected to come from 58 high-fertility countries: 39 in Africa, nine in Asia, six in Oceania and four in Latin...

Stillbirths are largely invisible as a social and public health problem. Millions of families experience stillbirth, yet these deaths remain unenumerated, unsupported, and the solutions undercooked. Calling upon the international community and individual countries for action, British medical journal The Lancet has said better counting of stillbirths alongside maternal and neonatal deaths and strategic programmatic action would bring stillbirths under account. The Lancet's series on stillbirths suggests that millions of such cases...