Explore Business Standard
Drowning, often unreported and misunderstood, remains one of the leading causes of child mortality in India, and it is entirely preventable through simple and low-cost interventions, especially at the grassroots level, according to an expert at a top UK-based institute. Drowning is often categorised under unnatural deaths and not recognised by many governments as a serious issue, said Kate Eardley, Head of International Advocacy at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). India has played a key role in supporting the 2023 World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on drowning prevention, signalling an important shift at the global level, Eardley told PTI in a recent interaction during her first visit to the country. Drowning is still not recognised by many governments as a serious issue. It's often categorised under unnatural deaths' without acknowledging the scale or the solutions. But, drowning is preventable," she said. India has also introduced a national strategy on ...
Three in every five people in India succumb to cancer following diagnosis with women bearing a "disproportionate burden" compared to men, an analysis of global cancer data has estimated. The incidence to mortality ratio in the US was found to be about one in four, while in China it was one in two, according to the results published in 'The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia' journal. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study found that India ranked third highest in cancer incidence, after China and the US, and accounted for over 10 per cent of the world's cancer-related deaths, ranking second after China. Researchers also projected that in the coming two decades, India will face a formidable challenge in managing deaths related to cancer incidence, with a yearly increase of two per cent in cases as the population ages. The team examined trends in 36 types of cancer across age groups and genders in India over the past 20 years, using the Global Cancer Observatory ...
Ahead of the 2024 World Health Summit, in which the World Health Organization (WHO) is a partner, a new report by the Lancet Commission on 'Investing in Health' has set a goal of cutting the probability of premature deaths around the world in half by 2050. Seven of the 30 most populous countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iran, and Turkiye, are on track to meeting the "ambitious," yet "feasible" goal, which the report's authors have called '50-by-50'. The international team includes authors from institutions such as Harvard University's School of Public Health, the WHO, and Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi. They explained that on average, a 2019-born person had a 31 per cent chance of dying before turning 70 years of age. If the 50-by-50 goal was achieved globally, a 2050-born individual can expect to have only a 15 per cent chance of dying before turning 70, they said. The authors said that the gains made by the seven countries in slashing chances of early death
A total 555 Asiatic lions died in the last five years but there has been no increase in their mortality rate, the government told the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Gir forest in Gujarat is the only natural habitat of the Asiatic lion. According to government data, the number of these big cats in Gir rose from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020. Replying to a question, Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Lower House that 555 lions died in the last five years. He said 113 lions died in 2019, 124 in 2020, 105 in 2021, 110 in 2022 and 103 in 2023. Asked if an increasing number of lions were dying in the country, the minister replied in the negative. Over the years, experts have demanded the translocation of lions in India as the big cats have been geographically isolated in Gir. A second home would protect the lion population from extinction in case of an epidemic, an unexpected decline in prey or natural calamities. In September 2018, 27 lions died in Gir becau