The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has backed India's efforts to increase measles vaccination in the country through routine immunisation and anti-measles campaigns. In a statement issued here, UNICEF said it strongly supported the government's efforts in increasing measles vaccination campaigns. The statement assumes importance in the wake of four children dying reportedly after they were given measles Vaccine during a routine immunisation drive at Mohanlal Ganj area of Lucknow. An enquiry...

Four infants died in Lucknow after they were given anti-measles Vaccine The team will ascertain whether the Vaccines were spurious or there were procedural lapses It will probe whether Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives were trained to administer the Vaccine The Centre has sent a two-member team to Lucknow to probe the deaths of four infants after they were administered anti-measles vaccination at an immunisation camp in the Mohanlal Ganj area. “Most stringent action will be taken...

The state health department has sought additional 7.6 lakh capsules and syrup of oseltamivir (popularly known as Tamiflu) from the Union government for distribution to rural areas of the state. The fresh demand for oseltamivir, the only prescribed drug to treat swine flu, was triggered by reports of more cases of infection and deaths in rural parts of Maharashtra since the onset of monsoon this year. The department has demanded...

‘Trade secret of third party' can't be disclosed: Drugs-Controller Application seeks information on the basis of approval for import and marketing of Vaccines It seeks to know protocols for permission to an NGO and ICMR to conduct ‘demonstration project' Information on the demonstration project and licensing of two Vaccines to prevent cervical cancer has been exempted from public disclosure under Section 8 of the Right to Information Act, 2005. This is the reply received...

In most organisations, those who are the biggest funders are also the ones with the biggest say in their running. In the case of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the face of it, there seem to be two entities making the biggest voluntary contributions, the US government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But a closer look at the list of voluntary contributors suggests that the Gates Foundation...