The public perception of medication and treatment is a major obstacle to improving healthcare in India, says Monica Lakhanpaul (a leading professor of integrated community child health). India is a country deeply rooted in tradition. This often means that many in the population are not eager to accept modern technological or medical intervention, she says. […]
Socio-cultural acceptance of healthcare Read More »
A new youth outreach programme is winning praise for challenging social norms in India from the bottom up. By addressing social issues such as safe sex, gender equality, women’s issues, and LGBT rights, it represents a step forward for public health in India. “A paradigm shift” The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is distributing “an instruction
A little more conversation: New youth scheme a step forward for public health Read More »
Recent editions of health journal The Lancet have continued what has amounted to a long standing feud with the Modi administration. Continued criticisms have been made regarding India’s health policies, low spending on healthcare and lack of publications by a majority of India’s research institutions. An editorial released on January 14, 2017 is overwhelmingly critical.
The Lancet continues criticism of India’s health policy Read More »
The Modi government’s Union Budget for the fiscal year 2017-18 was presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on February 1. Jaitley announced a number of steps to address the plentiful problems facing India’s healthcare system. However, critics said that there were only paltry increases in funding following a year of severe cuts – a “nominal”
Health budget: Making progress or playing it safe? Read More »
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread”, Mahatma Gandhi said. Nearly seventy years after his death, his words are as apposite as they ever were. A national and regional tragedy The world is home to 795 million undernourished people. This equates roughly
Malnutrition in Maharashtra: An intimate crisis Read More »
A 23-year-old woman – dubbed ‘Nirbayha’ by the press – was beaten and raped onboard a bus in New Delhi by a gang of men. The attack left her in critical condition, and Nirbhaya succumbed to her injuries in hospital two weeks later. The incident made international headlines, highlighting what The Independent called a rape
Rape in India and the shame of a nation Read More »
An unnamed source has told the New York Times that an Indian committee is to recommend 15 more compulsory licences for medicines that the committee considers of public health importance but to be too expensive in India. That, at least, is how we read the article on the 29th of December by Gardiner Harris, the
India plans 15 more compulsory licences, says New York Times Read More »
This piece on the Spicy IP blog is by a young patent law expert who now has family experience of the problems of cancer treatment in India. It is a thoughtful and well written piece which argues that innovative pharma companies, generics companies, state governments, Central government and insured individuals must all take some of
Access to cancer treatment in India — everyone’s to blame Read More »