Prioritizing low-cost, simple health measures can cut early deaths worldwideNovember 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scaling up simple, low-cost health measures involving basic maternal and newborn care can save the lives of almost a third of the children under age five who die each year, suggests a leading aid agency World Vision. The experts suggest that rebalancing health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, must be a priority to make rapid progress against the top child killers pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria.
More awareness on pneumonia needed: Health expertsNovember 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A vaccine targeting the rampant pneumonia haemophillus bacteria will soon be included in the countrys routine immunisation programme, health experts said Monday, also stressing the need to raise awareness on the disease that annually claims lives of 400,000 children in India. "Ten states will introduce the HiB vaccine into their routine immunisation programme next year," said Panna Choudhury of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), at an event to observe World Pneumonia Day (Nov 2) held as part of a campaign in 20 countries to focus on the disease.
Awareness campaigns galore on World Pneumonia DayNovember 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Advertisements, campaigns and discussions marked the first World Pneumonia Day being observed Monday. A number of awareness drives were held in the capital in an effort to sensitise people about this curable disease that kills 400,000 children every year in India alone.
Bill and Melinda Gates highlight success of US spending to save children's livesOctober 27th, 2009 more images
more imagesBill Gates urges more spending on global healthWASHINGTON — The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft is touting what he sees as an investment with enormous returns — the money spent to improve health care in poor countries and the millions of lives saved because of it. "Global health money improves lives more effectively than any other spending," Bill Gates told a roundtable discussion Tuesday on a new initiative called The Living Proof Project that's being launched by Gates and his wife, Melinda.
Child groups to observe Nov 2 as World Pneumonia DayOctober 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A coalition of over 50 child health organisations from across the world will observe Nov 2 as the first World Pneumonia Day. Two million children under five years of age die from pneumonia each year - more than from AIDS, measles and malaria combined, according to Global Coalition against Pneumonia.
Even cycling at relaxed pace is good for healthOctober 12th, 2009 WELLINGTON - A new study has found that if New Zealanders increased their cycling to the modest levels of the 1980s, their health would improve significantly. Commuters need not ride their cycles as in the Hayden Roulston-style medal-winning sprint in lycra, but at just a relaxed pace, to gain full health benefits.
India's neighbours debunk myths on reducing child mortalityOctober 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Poverty is the biggest threat to children's lives and the main reason why babies are dying at an alarming rate everyday, most of the respondents of a global survey contend. However, poor countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal have debunked this as myth by drastically reducing their child mortality rate over the last few years.
Over 400,000 babies die within day of birth in IndiaOctober 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - More than 400,000 children die within 24 hours of their birth in India every year - the highest anywhere in the world, a study by an international charity said. While globally this figure stands at two million babies dying within a day of their birth, the shocking and tragic fact is that the reason for these deaths are diseases and infections that are easily treatable, and therefore the deaths are preventable.
Climate change a major cause of child mortality: StudyOctober 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Climate change, besides other factors like poverty, is one of the main causes of high child mortality in the world today, a study by an international charity Save the Children said Monday. Respondents in India and China, two of the 14 countries that the survey was carried out in, acknowledged the fact.
Mind really does matter when it comes to health and healingSeptember 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has suggested that Hippocrates' opinion on health and illness, that mind is significant in health and healing, is actually true. Nurse researchers and clinicians at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and the Johns Hopkins Hospital are looking at ways to prevent the damage excessive stress does to a young child's development.
Indian pharma to be involved in $150 mn global vaccine ventureSeptember 18th, 2009 LONDON - Indian generic drug companies will be the first to be called to collaborate with a $150 million joint venture between the US pharmaceutical giant Merck and British medical charity Wellcome Trust to develop and produce new vaccines in India. The new company, MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories, will have 60 staff who will develop cheap vaccines for neglected diseases that are common in developing countries, CEO Altaf A.
Drugmaker Merck, British research charity to develop vaccines for diseases in poor countriesSeptember 17th, 2009 Merck, British charity to jointly develop vaccinesTRENTON, N.J. — Drugmaker Merck & Co.
New WHO data sheds light on two leading causes of pneumoniaSeptember 12th, 2009 LONDON - New World Health Organization data has highlighted two leading causes of pneumonia, which claims the highest number of lives of children under age 5, both globally and within developing countries like India, Pakistan and Kenya. The findings could serve as a clarion call to developing country governments to invest in pneumonia prevention programs.
Pneumococcal disease kills an Indian child every four minutesSeptember 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Every four minutes, one child in India dies due to pneumococcal disease, one of the key reasons behind infant mortality in the country, a study by WHO and partner organisation revealed Friday. The study said there are 10 countries in Africa and Asia where the number of such diseases are high.
Most deaths in young people are preventable: WHO studySeptember 10th, 2009 GENEVA - Most of the 2.6 million deaths of young people each year are preventable, according to a new study supported by the World Health Organisation and released in Geneva Friday. The main causes of deaths in the 10-24 age group were road traffic accidents, complications during pregnancy and child birth, suicide, violence, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
