-TheWire.in Over a 100 children have died in Bihar due to AES – or acute encephalitis syndrome – a deceptively straightforward umbrella term for infections that cause swellings on the brain. An outbreak of infections classified as acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). * What is AES? AES is an umbrella term of infections that cause swellings on the brain. Its symptoms typically include headache, vomiting, confusion and seizures, and complications include memory loss, coma and...
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Dr. Arun Shah, a Muzaffarpur-based paediatrician, interviewed by Banjot Kaur (Down to Earth)
-Down to Earth Arun Shah, a Muzaffarpur-based paediatrician who has researched on the syndrome, says the fruit is only a triggering factor for malnourished children Litchi is being most commonly blamed for the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) outbreak in Bihar. The mystery fever has already killed more than 100 children in Muzaffarpur district, renowned for its litchi crop. However, experts say it is grossly wrong to blame this fruit Down To Earth spoke...
More »Bihar's Poorest Prefer Public Health To Jobs, Road, Cash Transfers -Arunabh Saha
-IndiaSpend.com Mumbai: As 128 children died of encephalitis in Bihar over 19 days to June 21, 2019, a new study reports that the state’s rural population prefers government investment in public healthcare over roads, jobs and cash transfers. In a survey conducted by the Brookings Institution, an American research group, in an administrative block of Bihar, 3,800 respondents--comprising the poor, less-educated and disadvantaged caste groups--were asked to make a choice: an incremental...
More »Bihar AES deaths: A hundred deaths, and no answers -Jacob Koshy
-The Hindu Cases of acute encephalitis syndrome have seen a spike in Muzaffarpur this year, already claiming more than a hundred lives. Jacob Koshy reports on the appalling state of health care in Bihar, even as the debate on what is causing the deaths rages on For three days, Bihari Mahato and Shyam Babu Saha’s families have shared a hospital bed. The two daily-wage labourers, who have had to give up work...
More »Stopping Muzaffarpur Child Deaths Will Require a Gender-Sensitive Social Analysis -Purnima Menon
-TheWire.in Due to its social determinants of malnutrition, Muzaffarpur offers a case study of a “perfect storm” of risk factors. Muzaffarpur is emblematic of a hot spot for undernutrition in India. With one in two children stunted, Muzaffarpur lags India’s average by ten percentage points. One in two women is anaemic and one in three is underweight. Although most infants are breastfed and exclusive breastfeeding is high, other aspects of infant diets...
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