KEY TRENDS • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...
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Govt looks to draw plan to combat future pandemics - Rhythma Kaul
-Hindustan Times WHO will be updating the list of priority pathogens—agents that can cause outbreaks or pandemics—to guide global investment, research and development, especially in vaccines, tests and treatments, the UN health body announced. India is working on a plan to effectively combat public health emergencies and disease outbreaks in future, according to people familiar with the matter, even as WHO on Monday announced it will be identifying pathogens that could cause...
More »Tuberculosis deaths and disease increase during the COVID-19 pandemic
-Press release by World Health Organisation dated 27 October, 2022 An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5% from 2020, and 1.6 million people died from TB (including 187 000 among HIV positive people), according to the World Health Organization’s 2022 Global TB report. The burden of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) also increased by 3% between 2020 and 2021, with 450 000 new cases...
More »Expired pill: Editorial on new drugs and cosmetics bill
-The Telegraph There is no mention of compliance with ‘good manufacturing practices’ or the need to make inspection reports public, leaving the process of regulation vague and dependent on whims of drug inspectors This month, the Union ministry of health published the draft new drugs, medical devices and cosmetics bill to replace the antiquated Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Yet, most of the draft bill appears to be a copy of the...
More »One-third of Rs.10,990 crore in PM CARES fund spent: ‘20-’21 audit -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu ₹3,976 crore spent during 2020-21; ₹100 cr promised for Vaccine development not allotted The PM CARES Fund collected ₹10,990 crore since its inception in March 2020 until March 2021. It spent ₹3,976 crore during the 2020-21 financial year, according to the audited financial statement posted on its website. As on March 31, 2021, the Fund had an unspent balance of ₹7,044 crore. The Fund was set up to deal with “any...
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