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Lancet Report
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has clarified claims made in a study published in The Lancet, which reported a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) among Indian patients undergoing ERCP procedures, saying the findings reflect colonisation, not infection. They also stated that the data pertained to a high-risk clinical cohort rather than the general population. The international, multicentre cross-sectional study, conducted across tertiary care centres in the Netherlands, India, Italy, and the USA, reported that 83.1 per cent of Indian ERCP patients were colonised with at least one MDRO. "Careful interpretation of the findings and data reflects colonisation, not infection," official sources at NCDC said. "However, colonisation indicates only the presence of organisms and does not imply clinical infection or treatment failure," an official clarified. NCDC officials noted that "these findings pertain to a highly specific group of patients who alread
Human-caused PM2.5 pollution was responsible for more than 17 lakh deaths in India in 2022 -- up by 38 per cent since 2010 -- with use of fossil fuels contributing to 44 per cent of the deaths, according to a global report published by The Lancet journal. Use of petrol for road transport contributed to 2.69 lakh deaths, the '2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change' said. Estimates also suggest that premature mortality in 2022 due to outdoor air pollution in India translated into a financial loss of USD 339.4 billion -- about 9.5 per cent of the country's GDP. An international team of 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies, led by University College London, was involved in producing the ninth edition of the report. Published ahead of the 30th UN Conference of the Parties (COP30), the report provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the connections between climate change and health, the authors said. The findings assume ...
People in India each experienced nearly 20 heatwave days in 2024 on average, of which about six-and-a-half days would not be expected were it not for climate change, according to a new global report published by The Lancet journal. Estimates suggest that an exposure to heat in 2024 resulted in a loss of 247 billion potential labour hours per year -- a record high of nearly 420 hours per person -- and 124 per cent more than that during 1990-1999. The agriculture sector accounted for 66 per cent, and construction sector for 20 per cent of the losses in 2024, according to the '2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change'. A reduced capacity of labour due to the extreme heat is associated with a potential loss of income of USD 194 billion in 2024, it said. An international team of 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies, led by University College London, were involved in producing the ninth edition of the report. Published ahead of the 30th UN ..
About half of the world's population may not be able to access healthy food, clean environment or earn a living wage, indicating inequities in human health that have been made worse by geopolitical conflicts and climate change, according to a new Lancet report. Further, the world's food system -- contributing to 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions -- is the main driver of challenges the planet faces by impacting climate, biodiversity, land use change, among others, it said. The crisis of inequity in access to conditions required for good human health and environmental harm due to global food systems threatens human health and the resilience of planet Earth, authors said in the '2025 EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Food Systems'. Launched in January 2019, the 'EAT-Lancet Commission' outlines recommendations for a 'planetary health diet' -- favouring fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes and small portions of meat and dairy -- and targets for achieving a ...
A study that looked into trends of the respiratory infection HMPV that broke out in India early this year has found that children were the most affected, with highest diagnoses among those aged 1-2. Published in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal, the study also found most HMPV-positive cases presented with symptoms similar to those of acute respiratory illness or influenza, with fever and cough being the most common. However, researchers from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) institutes and the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Government of Tamil Nadu, noted no "recent change in the epidemiological features of HMPV". The outbreak in India was linked to seasonal one in China triggered in late 2024, attracting significant attention due to an increase in cases and potential impact. Studies estimate the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) was responsible for over six per cent of respiratory illnesses and five per cent of hospitalisations in ...
A rapid reform to healthcare systems, public policy and attitude in society would be required to address burden of Alzheimer's disease in population, even as medications and blood tests present a potential in diagnosis and treatment, researchers say in a Lancet Series. Alzheimer's disease -- the most common form of dementia -- is an ageing-related neurological disorder which steadily impacts one's memory and thought processes, eventually interfering with daily activities. Describing new treatments and diagnostic methods for the condition in a series of three papers in The Lancet journal, the international team of researchers said that medications -- lecanemab and donanemab -- could slow down Alzheimer's disease from advancing. The drugs, which target specific proteins in a cell, have shown an efficacy comparable to that of drugs for cancer and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, the team said. They added that however, high costs of medicines, .
An international group of researchers and experts has launched an initiative aimed at tracking health impacts due to plastics, ahead of the final negotiations before the signing of the world's first treaty on regulating the chemical substances. Titled 'The Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics', the launch accompanies the release of a 'Health Policy', which is published in 'The Lancet' journal and a review of currently available evidence on how plastics -- including microplastics and plastic chemicals -- affect human health. The team of experts, including members of the United Nations (UN)-established Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, have authored the 'Health Policy' document. The 'UN Global Plastics Treaty' is a legally binding document aimed to regulate plastics through their life cycle from production to consumption to disposal. The second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee -- titled 'INC 5.2' -- is scheduled for August 5 to 14, 20
More than three of every five liver cancer cases in the world can be prevented by addressing risk factors, such as hepatitis, alcohol habits and non-alcoholic fatty liver conditions, according to an analysis report of The Lancet Commission on the fatal disease. Researchers from The Hong Kong Cancer Institute, Fudan University, and others in China, South Korea, the US and Europe authored the report. The team predicted a 35 per cent increase in liver cancer driven by a severe form of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease that is caused by excess fat in the liver and called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. Liver cancer is among the top three types of cancer deaths in 46 countries, according to a 2022 study published in the Journal of Hepatology. The Lancet Commission's findings present a huge opportunity for countries to target risk factors such as viral hepatitis, alcohol and obesity to prevent liver cancer and save lives, said first author Stephen
Over 30 per cent of girls and 13 per cent of boys in India experienced sexual violence before turning 18 years old in 2023, according to an analysis published in The Lancet journal. Estimating the prevalence of sexual violence against children in over 200 countries between 1990 and 2023, the study found that the highest rates were recorded in south Asia for girls -- ranging from 9.3 per cent in Bangladesh to 30.8 per cent in India. Around the world, about one in five girls and one in seven boys are estimated to experience sexual violence before turning 18. Researchers, including those from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, US, also found that sub-Saharan Africa had the highest rates of sexual violence among boys aged under 18, varying from about eight per cent in Zimbabwe to 28 per cent in Cte d'Ivoire. Sexual violence against children is a critical public health and human rights issue. Consequences of sexual abuse affect one's long-term hea
By 2050, India could have over 440 million obese and overweight people, a global analysis published in The Lancet journal has estimated. Number of overweight and obese adults by mid-century in India (218 million men and 231 million women) could be the second highest in the world, after China, with the US, Brazil and Nigeria expected to rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, the findings by an international team of researchers reveal. These researchers, including those from the Indian Council of Medical Research, collaborated for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021. As per the study, already almost half the world's adults -- a billion men and over a billion women aged 25 years and above -- were overweight and obese in 2021. In India, the numbers were over nearly 180 million -- 81 million men and 98 million women. However, by 2050, this number globally could rise to nearly 3.8 billion -- 1.8 billion men and 1.9 billion women -- "over half of the likely global adult ...