Much of the so-called problems in the polio eradication programme in India pointed out by Rajib Dasgupta (EPW, 20 June 2009) have been known for years. At the same time, the article is silent about several critical issues.

Diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome have reached global pandemic proportions with India being designated

Cardiovascular diseases have emerged as an important health problem in India. High blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor and better control can lead to prevention of 300,000 of the 1.5 million annual deaths from cardiovascular diseases in India.

The construction of dams in Africa is often associated with adverse malaria impacts in surrounding communities. However, the

It provides the oldest skeletal evidence of leprosy a museum in Pune has a collection of thousands of bones and skeletons excavated in India. Among them is a 4,000 year old skeleton of a man believed to be 37 years when he died. This skeleton was found buried at Balathal, about 40 km north-east of Udaipur in Rajasthan. What sets it apart from other skeletons at the museum of the

Cardiovascular risk factors start early, track through the young age and manifest in middle age in most societies. The authors conducted epidemiological studies to determine prevalence and age-specific trends in cardiovascular risk factors among adolescent and young urban Asian Indians.

In the context of growing recognition of health as a vital component of human capital and the need for evolving sustainable health care system (HCS), an epidemiologic study was conducted in an area in rural AP in 2006. The empirical results show a higher level of sickness than at the state level and poor access and utilisation of existing HCF.

In the spring of 1918, North Americans were complaining about an unseasonable flu that was sweeping through several cities. They and the rest of the world were still blissfully unaware of what was in store for later that year: a pandemic that would kill 50 million people, or by some estimates many more - certainly more than the Great War that was still raging.

The World Health Organization (WHO) this week remained on the verge of declaring a pandemic of the H1N1 swine-associated flu
virus. Public-health bodies and scientists have made progress in starting to understand the outbreak, but major questions remain about how severe the disease will get.

The University of Michigan Dioxin Exposure Study (UMDES) was undertaken in response to concerns that the discharge of dioxin-like compounds from the Dow Chemical Company facilities in Midland, Michigan, resulted in contamination of soils in the Tittabawassee River floodplain and areas of the city of Midland, leading to an increase in residents

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