-The Times of India MEXICO: The United Nations has issued a dire warning to India over its abysmally high infant and maternal mortality rate. UNCEF has projected that if current trends of under-five mortality rate continue, by 2030 just five countries will account for more than half of all under-five deaths — India (17 per cent), Nigeria (15 per cent), Pakistan (8 per cent), Democratic Republic of the Congo (7 per cent)...

-IndiaSpend.com In 2012, a 12-day-old boy (we will call him “Baby Boy”) in Assam’s Sivasagar district could not be given his feed because he had lockjaw—his face muscles went rigid, making it impossible for him to open his mouth. As the spasms spread from Baby Boy’s jaw downwards, his body writhed and went into violent spasms, advanced symptoms of the bacterial infection called tetanus. It’s been about three years, but Jenita Baruah,...

-The Indian Express The central message of Angus Deaton’s work: Becoming richer is not necessarily the same thing as becoming better-off. In the preface to his magisterial 2013 book The Great Escape, Angus Deaton thanks his teachers. “Richard Stone was perhaps my most profound influence,” Deaton writes, “from him I learned about measurement — how little we can say without it and how important it is to get it right.” Important, indeed....

-The Times of India NOIDA: The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a unit of US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS), has observed that India shares a large proportion of the global cancer burden, with rising mortality rates. The situation can improve with dissemination of scientific information among the general populace, claimed NCI officials. India has around 1.8 million people suffering from cancer, with patients of breast, cervical and oral cancers topping...

-The Indian Express Decades of mismanagement have hobbled India’s mental health programme An event commemorating World Mental Health week opened at the WHO in Geneva this week. At a key session, the Disease Control Priorities project released its recommendations to governments to address the burden of mental disorders. This was timely for India, for few countries have witnessed so many high-profile debates related to mental health while ignoring the centrality of mental health...