Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: With at least two dozen districts of Uttar Pradesh reeling under the impact of rain-related diseases, the worst may not yet be over for them, despite the decline in floods and a respite from the prolonged spell of monsoon.

Over 400 people have died of viral fever, malaria, diarrhoea, encephalitis, gastro-enteritis and measles. With runoff of water receding following a lull in rainfall, a fresh outbreak of water and vector-borne diseases has not been ruled out.

Five persons displaced by the floods caused by breach in the Saptakoshi embankment and living in Koshi Barrage camp have died after suffering from a serious bout of diarrhea in the past 24 hours. One of the deceased is an Indian national who was taking shelter at the camp.

Giddarpindi (Jalandhar): Thier fight is not yet over. After surviving flood, the residents of the district are battling skin diseases, nausea, chest congestion and diarrhoea due to stagnant water.

A serious outbreak of diarrhea has so far claimed the lives of nine children in remote villages of mid-western Humla district, the Kathmandu Post reported Monday.
Dozens of children also fell sick due to the outbreak that hit the Syada VDC of the district.
The Post quoted VDC secretary Gajabir Rokaya as saying that the outbreak has not yet been controlled due to unavailability of medicine in the village.

The four-month-old baby was crying at the top of his voice while the mother was cursing her fate sitting beside the baby for her failure to buy tinned milk being a wife of a rickshawpuller at Kamrangeer Char area of the city.

Failing to provide tinned milk, she was giving the baby rice powder mixing with water. The baby was also receiving breast milk.

PEOPLE need clean water and sanitation to maintain their health. Water also sustains ecological systems and provides an input into the production systems that maintain livelihoods. Water security is an integral part of a broader conception of human security.

In broad terms, water security means ensuring that every person has access to enough safe water to lead a healthy life, while maintaining the ecological systems that provide water and also depend on water.

BERHAMPUR: Health officials are camping in remote villages in Patrapur block following detection of presence of Vibrio bacteria in blood samples of patients suffering from diarrhoea. As many as 28 persons, including eight children, have died of diarrhoea and hundreds affected by the disease in the block.

Though health officials had checked the disease from spreading further, they had reportedly not taken any measures to prevent it.

A clinic in a village makes a difference even if the village happens to be Sakhipur in Greater Noida,within a stone's throw of New Delhi. The clinic, started by LG Electronics, opens in the morning. Patients come from 25 villages. One of them says: "The sarkari dispensary has been here for two years." The villagers are yet to realise that the clinic is run by a private company. A senior official of the company was shocked to know that the villagers don't know that LG runs the clinic. The villagers obviously cannot read the signboards.

Common cold, skin infections, diarrhoea and skin disorders were the main cause of health problems for children under five years old in Bhutan, according to the annual health bulletin 2008. Last year 54,781 cases of common cold, 22,472 cases of diarrhoea, and 23,817 cases of skin infections were recorded across the country. Of the 13,851 children born last year, 61 were stillbirths and foetal death, followed by 98 neonatal deaths. Ten children were born with STD.