Health

The large population of girls in India without the knowledge of what menstruation is or how to practice safe hygiene is detrimental to the future well-being of these women. Educating girls on menstrual hygiene not only prevents girls from developing compromising health conditions in the future, but it also lays the groundwork for women to feel empowered. Until and unless a woman is comfortable and proud of her own skin, a girls ability to flourish will be impaired. Aarogya Seva is hosting the first international conference on menstrual health in Bengaluru, India, called The Period Junction. While large strides have…

It has been a decade since the Carlton Towers fire tragedy on 23 February, 2010. On Saturday, Beyond Carlton, a citizens' initiative that was formed after the incident, organised a fire safety awareness programme at the National Gallery of Modern Art to pay tribute to the nine lives lost -  Akhil Uday, Benzie Kumar, Fayaz Pasha, Madan Purohit, Rajesh Subramanian, Savitha R, Siddhartha Padam, Sunil Iyer, and Surabhi Joshi. As part of a series of events to create awareness and prevent fire accidents, we, at Beyond Carlton, had also launched a social media campaign #IamAFireChamp. On behalf of Beyond Carlton,…

Though initially declared a “state-specific health emergency’’ after three positive Coronavirus cases were reported in the state, the state’s health ministry, which withdrew the declaration a few days later, is reassuring people that there is no reason to panic. “The decision to withdraw the emergency call was taken since the situation is not alarming as of now,” said health minister K K Shailaja. “But the possibility of community spread of the virus is far from over”. When the country’s first three cases which tested positive for the new virus were reported from Kerala, the state’s public health machinery acted quickly…

How often have we thought about how safe our food is or how sustainable our food practices are? What regulations exist to make our food secure? Who is enforcing these regulations, and how efficiently? Everyday food is often laced with pesticide residues, as shown by the crippling attack of arthritis in over 300 people in Shimoga and Chikmagalur districts. In another instance, excessive levels of poisonous fungi were found in flour sold in parts of Karnataka. The fungi could cause a range of disorders - from jaundice to gastrointestinal bleeding. Besides, India already faces a triple burden of malnutrition due…

On a hot afternoon, Sachin (name changed on request) stands in the centre of a busy junction in the heart of the city. He’s wearing the iconic white uniform, a hat and black leather shoes. He also has two Mi AirPOP PM2.5 Anti-Pollution masks, which he wears during peak hours. “I can’t keep wearing the mask continuously for 8 hours, I can’t use the whistle and it’s uncomfortable”, he says. Traffic teems past him on both sides of the road, as he uses hand-signalling to direct vehicles.  He has been standing since 7 a.m. in the morning and will continue…

On February 10th, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, issued a suo moto statement in the Lok Sabha on the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus Disease in China and some other countries, and the subsequent actions taken by the Government of India. Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that cause illness in humans and animals. Rarely, animal corona viruses can evolve and infect people, and then spread between people as has been seen with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2014. China reported an outbreak of Novel…

This article is part of our special series on Delhi Elections 2020 Having garnered international appreciation from the likes of former U.N. Secretary Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon for its accessibility and effectiveness, compared to healthcare in general in India which is ranked at a lowly 145 on the global healthcare access and quality (HAQ) index, the incumbent AAP government of Delhi is inevitably using his government’s health care initiatives as one of its major electoral campaign planks. With the AAP government making education and health its top priorities, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched several schemes to provide free medicines,…

What is the Corona Virus? Corona viruses have attracted attention for causing epidemics in the 21st century. However, their existence goes much further back in time. Human CoV (HCoV) in particular has been infamous for causing epidemics better known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (2003, Guangdong, China) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (2012, Saudi Arabia). The novel Corona Virus (nCoV 2019), hitting current headlines, surfaced on December 31 2019 in Wuhan, China.  Baseline analysis has revealed that nCoV 2019 has some similarities (in amino acid structure) to SARS CoV.  This is a head start to understand the virus but active…

It was October of 2018. We were on the road from Silchar Airport in Assam to Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre. A distance of 30 kilometres took forever, especially after reaching the dusty and crowded roads of Silchar town. The traffic moved at a snail's pace. And then we sighted the hospital. It was at first sight an unimpressive plain building, parts of which seemed unfinished. The terrain was uneven, we negotiated the slopes and entered the building and were shown into the spartan room of the Director, who received us warmly. He showed us around the facility. He…

The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation is planning to geo-tag nearly 60K medical equipment costing over more than Rs.1,500 crore in government clinics, hospitals and medical colleges to ensure maintenance and prevent thefts.  The state public health department has planned to distribute deworming tablets to everyone in Tamil Nadu instead of just children, twice every year for at least five years from February 2020 in an endeavour to fight against anaemia. More than half the pregnant women and adolescents girls in the state suffer from anaemia, which also results from hookworm infections.  Plans are being charted by Greater Chennai Corporation…