Mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders are highly prevalent and are responsible for 14% of the global burden of disease expressed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The resources that have been provided in countries to tackle the huge burden are insufficient, inequitably distributed, and inefficiently used, which results in a large majority of people with these disorders receiving no care at all. Even when available, treatment and care often is neither evidence-based nor of high quality.

The new National Vaccine Policy Draft 2011 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare comes out openly in favour of public-private partnerships and suggests flexible governing and funding mechanisms to support vaccine development in the PPP mode. This article argues that our vaccine policy must look into the health of the children in the country and it should not be overly concerned solely with the viability of the vaccine industry.

The strong and mighty bacteria are all around us. They have hardened themselves to fight back the antibiotics administered to patients. This is because we allowed them to, by overusing drugs. Government has woken up from slumber and formulated a policy that targets antibiotic resistance. It restricts sale. But will it be able to contain irrational use of drugs?

This study examines the validity of the democracy advantage thesis with reference to India’s states and shows that the impact of democracy on health, in terms of infant mortality rates, is mixed – good to moderate in a number of states but poor in most of the populous states. It explains why and how democracy is believed to make a difference to a country’s health and human development performance. Further the article highlights the significant variation in IMRs across states and the good to moderate performance among a number of states.

Noise levels in most Indian cities have crossed safe limits. Lack of awareness has led to ailments ranging from hypertension to heart diseases. But the authorities dont's seem bothered. Read this special report in Down To Earth.