Popular opinion from many failed previous health programme implementations is that vertical programmes are resource consuming and might not be very helpful to strengthen health systems. [1] The same was said for polio eradication programmes a few years ago. But I tend to disagree due to my experience of working on this programme for many […]
Category: South Asia
Oommen C. Kurian: Dengue in Delhi—fighting an outbreak with the wrong numbers and an unwilling private sector
The current dengue outbreak in Delhi came to international prominence following the unfortunate incident of a young couple who committed suicide after their son was rejected treatment by many prominent private sector hospitals in Delhi. Treatment was denied despite the government saying on 28 August that patients should not be denied admission to hospital on […]
Sharat Pandey: How can Jharkhand improve its maternal mortality rates?
Maternal death is defined as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.” ICD-10,WHO, 1994. It has been […]
Anu Sharma: Would India be prepared if there was another swine flu outbreak?
The swine flu epidemic caused by a new strain of the influenza A (H1N1) virus became a public health problem in India in 2014 for the second time in the last decade. In 2009, it was categorised as a pandemic by the Indian government and all public health centres were advised to take strict measures […]
Harish Chandra Rodda: The unaffordability of cancer treatment in India
It was estimated that nearly one million new cases of cancers will have been diagnosed in India by 2015, of which 0.67 million people are expected to die of conditions related to cancer. Cancer of the mouth and lungs in men, and cervix and breast cancer in women account for more than half of all […]
CM Munegowda: TB stigma in India—a harsh reality even after five decades of a TB control programme
In India, tuberculosis (TB) is still a major public health problem. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates in 2013, more than 2.6 million people in India are living with TB. India follows the directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS) regime recommended by the WHO at its public health facilities and this treatment is offered free of […]
Anant Bhan: The Call to Action Summit 2015—thoughts on some key areas for discussion and action
India is hosting the Call to Action Summit on the 27-28 August in New Delhi. The summit is focused on ending preventable child and maternal deaths, and will be co-hosted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Government of India, the Ministry of Health Government of Ethiopia, USAID, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates […]
Nilanjan Bhor: Moving towards inclusive healthcare for migrants in India
According to the 2011 census, approximately 400m of India’s 1.21bn population are “internal migrants.” These migrant communities in Indian cities constitute a large proportion of people living in urban slums. Some of them have migrated from rural to urban settings as an entire family, others as parents, and some as individuals (the head of the […]
Manoj Kumar Pati: Road traffic injuries—an ignored public health issue in India
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.24 million road traffic deaths occur every year globally. Of those, the majority (80%) of deaths occur only in middle income countries. Yet the irony is that only 35% of low and middle income countries (LMICs) have policies to protect road users. In the entire world, only 28 countries […]
Anant Bhan: Gender gap in medical education leadership in India
There is a rising welcome trend of women joining medical colleges in India, with female students being comparable in number or even outnumbering male students in many colleges. This trend is much more prominent in neighbouring Pakistan, with estimates that 80-85% of current medical students are women. Women in medicine in India now follow a […]