-The Times of India India will fail to achieve some of the most important Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets like reduction in maternal and child deaths, and increase in child immunization rates by 2015. The World Health Organization (WHO) has for the first time aired its views that India will miss its targets, some by a big margin. Dr Nata Menabde, country representative of the WHO, told TOI, "The MDG targets will expire...

-The Pioneer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said the government is proposing a new National Urban Health Mission to focus on the health challenges of people in towns and cities while it would continue the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for another five years. Delivering his address at the third convocation of the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) here, Singh said: "Our government has decided to continue the...

-The Hindustan Times Bollywood star Aamir Khan had two simple prescriptions for a Parliamentary committee to reduce high health costs for citizens. First, make doctors prescribe generic medicines rather than brands. Second, set up a regulator to ensure big pharmaceutical don’t take over smaller ones and monopolise the medicine market. Khan and his team were invited on Thursday by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce headed by BJP MP Shanta Kumar, which...

-The United Nations World leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and other groups will come together from 20-22 June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to take part in the UN Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20).   The Conference aims to shape how countries and their citizens can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection to achieve long-term growth. Seven key areas have been identified by the...

-The Hindustan Times The next time you hear a knock on your door, it may turn out to be your friendly local health worker with a choice of contraceptives for you. And who will you have to thank for that? None else than health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose innovations in the field of population are matchless. Well, don't hold your breath just yet, this is one scheme...