-Hindustan Times Close to half, or 48%, of pregnancies were unintended and 0.8 million women used unsafe methods for an abortion, putting their health and lives at risk. New Delhi: One in three of 48.1 million pregnancies in India ended in an abortion, according to the country’s first large-scale study on abortions and unintended pregnancies that accounted for 2015 data. The country recorded around 15.6 million abortions in 2015, reports the study published...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Cancer cases as well as mortality are increasing rapidly among Indian women, primarily because of low awareness and late detection. India accounts for the third highest number of cancer cases among women after China and the US, growing annually at 4.5-5%, new data shows. According to a report 'Call for Action: Expanding cancer care for women in India, 2017', cancer among women in India is estimated...

-The Hindu There must be consensus among major political parties around vital issues like health Barely a month before the deaths of children in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly due to the disruption of oxygen supply in the BRD Medical College, the U.P. Health Minister had addressed a consultation in Lucknow organised by the Observer Research Foundation. He admitted that U.P.’s health system was in the “ICU”, and said he was trying...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Women and Child Development ministry has written to all states and union territories that there isn't enough evidence to support the use of Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic foods (RUTF) for the management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). This is a blow to the multi-crore complex of international NGOs who push packaged food as a strategy to address severe malnutrition and companies that produce them. The WCD letter pointed...

-The Hindu Acne drug seen to provide cure for Japanese encephalitis in limited trials Weeks after several children died of encephalitis-related complications at the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, Gorakhpur, the Centre is looking to introduce a new drug, traditionally used for acne, to deal with the seasonal outbreaks of acute encephalitis. Last year the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the drug did not appear potent enough to merit being...