With Covid-19 figures generally heading south (touchwood and all that!), the big news of the week focussed on older ailments with the bat virus being replaced by the unfriendly neighbourhood mosquito. More than 130 years after the naming of the Plasmodium parasites behind malaria, the world now has its first approved vaccine against them. Many malaria researchers […]
Science and Technology
IP and breakthrough infections: Global Health Today
This is the third in a series of newsletters, offering the expert insight of Lalita Panicker – consulting editor, views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi – into some of the most pressing health issues of the day. This edition highlights vaccines – specifically, the IP debate and so-called breakthrough infections. To read the first, click here. COVID-19 […]
Leaded fuel a thing of the past
The world has reached “a milestone of multiculturalism”, the United Nations announced this week, as Algeria became the final country to cease offering leaded fuel to drivers. The news has been hailed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said “lead in fuel has run out of gas – thanks to the cooperation of governments in […]
A startling surge in hypertension
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is growing at an alarming rate worldwide according to recent data published in The Lancet. The research – accessible here – found that the number of individuals living with hypertension doubled in the last three decades. The world’s hypertensive population now exceeds 1.2 billion, with researchers sounding the alarm on […]
Land degradation a continuing crisis
In spite of assurances from the Prime Minister, India’s issue with land degradation seems to only continue to worsen. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), land degradation affects approximately 29.7 percent of the country’s total geographical area. During the 2018-19 period, an estimated 97.85 million hectares of India’s land underwent degradation per the […]
Booster shots, the polio programme: Global Health Today
This is the second in a series of newsletters, offering the expert insight of Lalita Panicker – consulting editor, views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi – into some of the most pressing health issues of the day. To read the first, click here. Booster shots: To boost or not to boost Faced with a rising tide […]
Intellectual property in the era of COVID-19
Much of the conversation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in recent months has focused on access to vaccines – specifically, vaccine accesses in low- and middle-income countries. But to what extent is re-examining intellectual property (IP) rights part of the solution? As Health Issues India reported in May, “patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccines have been offered […]
Northeast India: The country’s cancer capital?
A government report suggests northeast India is emerging as leading India’s number of new cancer cases. “Profile of Cancer and Related Health Indicators in the North East Region of India”, a joint report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), found the region accounts […]
Transplant waiting list only gets longer
For many, life continues to be hard as they wait on the organ donation transplant waiting list. Not being able to access a life-saving organ transplant is not the case the entirety of the time. The family of a brain-dead man in Maharashtra gave doctors the go-ahead to donate his organs, offering hope to patients […]
Global health today: Tedros, COVID in Indonesia, and a million more COVID cases by 2022?
This is the first in a series of newsletters, offering the expert insight of Lalita Panicker – consulting editor, views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi – into some of the most pressing health issues of the day. Another term for Tedros? To use a well-worn cliché, the Director-General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) is […]