Health

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Scaling up investment in primary health care is critical to ensure local and global communities are ready to prevent and respond to the next pandemic, said a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), on Tuesday.The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) report, released during the ongoing World Health Summit held in Berlin, emphasised the urgent need to transform global health security in a world that is experiencing new volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity while still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.Calling for a transformative shift in pandemic preparedness, it also urged countries to invest more in real-time risk assessment and international cooperation.The GPMB, established in 2018 following the West Africa Ebola epidemic, moni...

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) While Covid-19 infection is known to have lasting effects on the brain, an alarming animal study showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection in fathers before conception can cause changes in sperm, altering children’s brain development and behaviour, and increasing the risk of anxiety later. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, show that Covid could have long-lasting effects on future generations.Previous studies have shown that male mice exposed to specific environmental and lifestyle factors, like a poor diet before mating, could change brain development and behaviour in offspring."This is because the father's experiences can alter the information carried in sperm, including specific RNA molecules, which transmit instructions for offspring developme...

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is rapidly outpacing advances in modern medicine, and resistant infections are rising in hospitals across the globe, said the World Health Organization (WHO) in a new report launched on Monday.The report, based on data from 104 countries in 2023 and 110 countries between 2016 and 2023, showed that one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections causing common infections in people worldwide in 2023 were resistant to antibiotic treatments.Between 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance rose in over 40 per cent of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations monitored, with an average annual increase of 5-15 per cent.“Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide,” said Dr Tedro...

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Scientists at Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institute supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have exploited the phenomenon that makes coffee stains to spot deadly dyes in food.When a coffee drop evaporates on a tabletop, it creates a distinctive dark circle around the edge. This daily phenomenon, or the coffee-stain effect, is due to the fact that as the liquid dries, particles suspended in the liquid move outward and cluster along the edge.Using the phenomenon, the team developed a method to detect Rhodamine B -- a fluorescent synthetic dye used in textiles and cosmetics -- in food.The dye is toxic and causes damage to the skin, eyes, and even the respiratory system. It is also an important environmental contaminant reported t...

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) India is facing a silent but serious health challenge of Vitamin D deficiency, according to a report on Monday that urged the government to tackle the lack of the sunshine vitamin in one in every five Indians.The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), along with the ANVKA Foundation, submitted two key policy briefs elaborating a national roadmap to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and an action plan specific to Delhi.The suggestions are based on a recently released study, which highlighted that Vitamin D deficiency has become a public health concern in India and is affecting people across regions, age groups, and income levels.“Our recommendations focus on practical steps that can be implemented right away, using...

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Homoeopathy must be integrated into psychosocial care and psychiatric emergencies, said health experts at a two-day National Homoeopathy Conference.The Conference organised by the National Homoeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health (NHRIMH), Kottayam -- an apex institution under the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), Ministry of AYUSH, as part of World Mental Health Day 2025 celebrations.The event was held from October 10 to 11 at the NHRIMH Auditorium in Kerala’s Kottayam, with the central theme ‘access to services – mental health in catastrophes and emergencies'.Addressing the gathering virtually, Dr. Subhash Kaushik, Director General, CCRH, New Delhi, emphasised the need for integrating Homoeopathy into psychosocial care frameworks, particu...

Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) The future of storytelling is bright and proudly Indian, said Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani on Monday, while lauding the students at filmmaker Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International.The Adani Group Chairman recently delivered a keynote address at the Celebrate Cinema 2025 event at Whistling Woods. He was joined by his wife, Dr Priti Adani.“At Whistling Woods, I saw that the future of storytelling is bright and proudly Indian,” Gautam Adani shared in a post on the social media platform X.The billionaire industrialist said this in response to Ghai’s tweet celebrating the Cinema 2025 event.“Some evenings turn into milestones. Gautam Adani & Dr Priti Adani’s visit to Whistling Woods was one such moment - where art met ambition, and cinema met nation-building...

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Timely administering Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) can significantly help save lives in cases of cardiac arrest, said Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava, inaugurating CPR Awareness Week, on Monday.Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving and vital emergency procedure that improves the survival chances in critical cardiac cases.Organised by the Health Ministry, the week-long CPR Awareness Week, to be observed from October 13-17 nationwide, aims to generate mass awareness, promote training, and community participation in CPR.“The simple act of performing hands-only CPR can sustain blood flow and oxygen to vital organs until professional help arrives, increasing survival chances manifold,” said Srivastava, highlighting the urgent need to b...

Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) Shares of MedPlus Health Services slipped over 3.6 per cent on the BSE, touching an intra-day low of Rs 755.3 per share on Monday. However, later in the day, the stock recovered and was trading 2.42 per cent lower at Rs 765 per share. The company’s market capitalisation stood at Rs 9,166.43 crore.The fall in MedPlus shares came after its subsidiary, Optival Health Solutions Private Limited, received a suspension order for a drug license at one of its stores in Karnataka.According to the stock exchange filing, the suspension will remain in effect for 15 days for the store located at MG Road, Chikkamagalore, leading to a potential revenue loss of Rs 10.15 lakh."We would like to inform you that Optival Health Solutions Private Limited, a subsidiary of the company, has re...

Singapore, Oct 13 (IANS) Singapore's northern region faces higher rates of chronic illnesses compared with the rest of the country, prompting the government to strengthen local health services, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung has said.Currently, the three northern towns have 34 Community Health Posts, namely neighborhood touchpoints providing health services, but the number will rise to 39, Ong announced at an event on the region's health situation on Sunday.These posts will also operate more regularly over time, he said. "Today it is uneven -- some open once a week, some every fortnight, some every month. Over time, we hope and are working towards all of them operating once a week."The Health Promotion Board will also introduce more physical activities in the north. For instance, men, who...