Surinder Sud / New Delhi April 6, 2009, 0:16 IST

A total of 215 people have died due to officially confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) infection in different countries since 2003. Of these, six deaths have been reported in the first three months of this year, with four deaths in China and two in Vietnam.

New Delhi: The government has decided to vaccinate the entire population living in the meningococcal meningitis affected areas of Meghalaya and Tripura. This will be the first time that government will undertake such a drive to combat a meningitis outbreak.

Air pollution in capital city Dhaka raised higher than Mexico and Mumbai killing thousands of people prematurely each year, health experts say.

According to the Department of Environment (DoE) the density of airborne particulate matter (PM) reaches 463 micrograms per cubic metre (mcm) in the city during December-March period - the highest level in the world.

The World Heath Organisation (WHO) completing their investigation on the death of a child due to rubella vaccination has recommended that the vaccinations should be done under the supervision of qualified doctors.

What is overweight for Caucasians is now obese for Indians Veena Katyal

The Pakistan government and the World Bank (WB) signed two agreements for polio eradication on Saturday.

The WB initially provided the total amount under both the agreements amounting to $67.84 million to the Health Ministry as a credit in 2007. However, under a buy-down arrangement the WB converted the credit into grant with the support of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Some two and a half lakh residents at Sirajdikhan upazila in Munshiganj district have been facing acute shortage of drinking water because of salinity and arsenic contamination in the ground water.
The villagers at remote places are now facing acute drinking water crisis during the summer because of fall in the ground water level, high salinity and arsenic contamination in the area.

IF THE European Union does not allow Indian drugs to transit through its customs even after bilateral negotiations, New Delhi will drag Brussels to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for redressal, government officials here said.