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Andhra Pradesh has registered a staggering 100 percent increase in the cases of alcohol-related liver diseases during the tenure of Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP in 2019-2024 as compared to 2014-19, according to a report by an expert panel. The 3-member panel, which the Chandrababu Naidu government constituted to analyse the disease burden in Andhra, used the official health data from Arogyasri, a flagship scheme to provide quality healthcare services to the poor. Expressing concern over the panel's finding, Special Chief Secretary in the state's health department, Krishna Babu, said: "We find a startling increase in the number of liver and neurological patients in 2019-24 compared to 2014-19. We are quite concerned and we are analysing the data for further action." He also said the state government is in the process of setting up an advisory board, comprising national and international health experts, to further analyse the data to take preventive action. According to the panel repo
Bihar's alcohol ban in 2016 prevented 24 lakh cases of daily and weekly consumption, and 21 lakh cases of intimate partner violence, according to new research published in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal. The ban is also estimated to have prevented 18 lakh men in the state from becoming overweight or obese, it said. A team of researchers, including those from The International Food Policy Research Institute, Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, US, analysed data from national and district level health and household surveys. "Strict alcohol regulation policies may yield significant population level health benefits for frequent drinkers and many victims of intimate partner violence," the authors wrote. In April 2016, the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act brought about a near complete halt on the manufacture, transport, sale, and consumption of alcohol throughout the state. The overnight launch and its strict enforcement made the ban an "attractive natural experim