New Delhi: Nov 30, 2010

Child marriage, one of India’s worst social ills, has finally caught the parliamentarians’ attention. With an estimated 47% girls married off in India before they reach their 15th birthday, MPs — especially from states with high rates of child marriage like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Haryana — will hold a meeting on Tuesday to curb the social menace that borders on serious human rights violation. Child marriage has been a major concern for the Union health ministry. India introduced laws against child marriage in 1929, and set 12 years as the legal age for marriage. Later, it was increased to 18 years in 1978.

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Ranchi: Nov 30, 2010

Jharkhand government has launched a campaign to eradicate Tubercles Bacillus (TB) or tuberculosis from the state. The campaign, titled Axshya launched in association with a non-governmental organisation —Care— aims at improving the reach, visibility and effectiveness of the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme with the help of civil society. The campaign intends to cover seven districts in the state— including Bokaro, Dhanbad, East Singhbhum, Dumka, Godda, Koderma and Simdega. The select districts in the state are a part of the national level strategy to enhance the reach of TB treatment to 374 districts of 23 States.

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New Delhi: Nov 27, 2010

Women's organisations and health experts, including a member of the Population Council of India, have impressed upon the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) to disallow the use of Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) – an injectable contraceptive used in the family planning programme. The DMPA, a progestogen-only contraceptive injected every 3 months, was licensed by the Drugs Controller of India in the 1990s. An intervention petition filed in the matter led to the DTAB restricting its use to private market.The approval itself was based on the manufacturer Max Pharma carrying out post-marketing studies as this injection was not properly researched in India.

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Coimbatore: Nov 25, 2010

In an effort aimed at extending HIV/AIDS testing services to more areas and having an accurate data of persons with AIDS, the State Government has began efforts to establish Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) in private hospitals. The ICTCs are to be established under the public-private partnership mode, in keeping with the objectives of the Phase Three of the National AIDS Control Programme. 

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Chandigarh: Nov 25, 2010

To bring down the maternal and infant mortality rates in the state, the Punjab Government is setting up state-of-the art sick newborn care units (SNCU). The government has earmarked Rs 23 crore for setting up hi-tech maternity blocks in all district hospitals which will focus on institutional deliveries and treatment of infants. All maternity and infant care wards will be well-furnished and will have ultra-modern labour rooms and infant care units, having a capacity of 30 beds each. Adjoining the maternity wards will be SNCU. 

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New Delhi: Nov 24, 2010

Around 1.2 lakh Indians got infected with HIV last year, even though the incidence rate of new cases has fallen in the country by over 50% in the last decade. At present, India, which has 2.4 million HIV patients, ranks third after South Africa and Nigeria. However, the country’s HIV prevalence is still low at .31% — from .36% in 2006. Be that as it may, though seven lakh HIV+ Indians require the life-saving antiretroviral (ART) drugs, only three lakh have access to the medicine. 

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Chennai: Nov 24, 2010

More married couples in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh use condoms, while those in southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu prefer other methods like sterilization to prevent pregnancy. Family welfare statistics of 2009 released by the ministry of health and family welfare this year puts Andhra at the bottom of condom use among married couples, with only 0.5% of the married couples using condoms for contraception. Karnataka comes next with 1.7%, followed by Tamil Nadu with 2.3% condom users.

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New Delhi: Nov 24, 2010

India has shown a 50 per cent drop in the number of new HIV infections in the last 10 years as the AIDS epidemic is beginning to reverse globally with a decline in the newly-infected HIV cases and AIDS-related deaths, a United Nations report says. The 2010 UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic shows about 33.3 million people were estimated to be living with HIV at the end on 2009 with 2.3 million living in India, reports IANS. 

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New Delhi: Nov 23, 2010

Doctors at AIIMS claim that they have successfully helped HIV positive women to deliver 84 children since August 2004, the highest number in all government hospitals across the country. Of these, 83 children are healthy and free from HIV infection. Head of the gynaecology department Dr Suneeta Mittal said 61% of these children were delivered through caesarean procedure as it reduces the chances of infection transmission by one-third. ‘‘We screened more than 10,000 pregnant women admitted at AIIMS under ‘Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission’ programme. Of these, 128 women tested positive for the disease. Fifteen percent opted for termination of the pregnancy while others were operated on and given the required drugs,’’ Mittal said.

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New Delhi: Nov 23, 2010

Illness and medical bills are pushing over 100 million people into poverty every year. In some countries, 5% of the population is forced into poverty every year because they have to pay for health services. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in countries like India, people who pay for their health care services suffer “catastrophic costs”. The report estimated that between 20% and 40% of all health expenditures is wasted due to inefficiency. Overpaying is a form of waste. For instance, in some places medicine prices are up to 67 times more than the international average price, grossly affecting expenditures for other health services.

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