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This is an interesting column from yesterday’s Indian Express on pharma compulsory licensing as a negotiating tool to achieve tiered pricing of innovative products. It is more nuanced and thoughtful than most writing on the subject and points out that generics will meetonly the needs of the middle class in the absence of universal health …

Compulsory licensing is a negotiating tool but not a panacea Read More »

Médecins Sans Frontières, the international health NGO network is increasing pressure on Novartis to drop is patent case before the supreme Court of India. MSF’s explanations are not always complete but they are well written and well distributed: all the parts of MSF probably have over a million followers on Facebook. Whatever the gaps in …

MSF ramps up pressure on Novartis Read More »

India’s health debate may be tracking Europe and the US again. Today’s Deccan Herald reports 50 billion [sic] people suffering from morbid obesity. Even if it’s only 50 million, it’s a lot. Dr Mahendra Narwaria thinks that India needs more “centres of excellence to perform … highly technical operations” (Unsurprising maybe that Dr Narwaria runs …

Obesity – does India need more gastric band surgery? Read More »

An interesting article in The Hindu on the scourge on children that is malnutrition in India. Among other points, the article states that adequate nutrition is still not recognized as a basic human right in India. Read the complete article here

Despite this important story being addressed by the Governor of Tamil Nadu, it is important that healthcare systems across all states factor in the importance of eye care in the treatment of diabetes, this story was reported in IBN Live just recently http://ibnlive.in.com/news/diabetic-retinopathy-3-blindness-in-india/234960-60-120.html

Today’s Hindu reports the Health Minister’s promise to provide free generic medicines at public health units as part of the government’s commitment to universal access. The story is short on detail and there are clearly big challenges. The interesting thing is the lively conversation that the story has provoked: surely a positive sign that a …

“Free generics” at public health centres Read More »

There are lots of stories in India this morning based on the  Open BMJ article suggesting higher rates of premature death amongst those who use sleeping pills. Look at this wire service story in the Times of India as a case in point http://bit.ly/yK8LEs. It’s an example of what happens when stories are covered by journalists …

Do sleeping pills kill Indians or is it insomnia that kills them? Read More »

There was a good piece in The Hindu over the weekend suggesting that high fear advertisements are an effective way of getting smokers to quit. It cited a World Lung Foundation study that asked smokers to rate ad’s and discuss them in focus groups. Any ad agency could have told the WLF that market research …

Do scary ad’s stop people smoking or make them puff harder Read More »

The right-wing Daily Telegraph says that the UK begged India to accept overseas development as part of a deal to sweeten the purchase of fighter jets. India tried to refuse, according to the Telegraph. The UK gave the money any way but India bought the fighters from France. This will put new pressure on Britain’s …

British aid to India under strong domestic attack Read More »

Controversy rages over the release of genetically-modified mosquitoes which might help fight Dengue. An article in today’s PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases suggests that the “secret” release of the insects in a British colony will be the model for introduction of other GM insects in the future. Is the threat from Dengue high enough in India to …

Controversy over Dengue-fighting GM insects Read More »