-The Times of India THANE: With 252 infants reported to have died soon after birth in the last four months (April -July 2012) in Thane district, the health department's initiatives to save premature babies or those affected by illness has come under severe scrutiny. The cause of major worry is the high rate of new born mortality here as, out of the 252 infants who died 152 were less than a year...

-The Times of India India aims to meet the much-awaited goal of reaching the total fertility rate(TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman —to 2.1% by the end of 12th five year plan (2012-17). The Planning Commission is likely to set the TFR target of 2.1 in its 12th Plan document, which is likely to be cleared by National Development Council (NDC) in October. "India is on...

-The Times of India The idea of a single National Health Mission to address the health challenges of the country's rural and urban population, as envisaged by the Planning Commission, is in the eye of a storm. The Union health ministry has made its stand clear that a uniform approach can never work. The letter written by the ministry to the Commission says that the health facilities in rural areas conform to a...

-The Hindu Scheme coming for free distribution of medicines through public hospitals and health centres The government will expand the scope of the NRHM to all towns and cities, by converting it into a National Health Mission (NHM), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Wednesday. In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort here, he said the government was also formulating a new scheme for distribution of free medicines...

-Down to Earth Is placed along with countries like Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana and the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao While the world has made significant progress in child health, education and nutrition in the past decade, India has fared poorly among middle-income countries. It has been given a ranking of 112 in the Child Development Index (CDI) report released by the non-profit Save the Children. This is much lower than the...