Health-news & events

To
Sri Panna Choudhury
President
Indian Academy of Pediatricians
Mumbai

Dt: 14.08.09

Dear Sir,

Sub: Consent of Parents before Vaccinating Infants.

Namaskar. Please note I have been directed to write this letter to you by very eminent physicians of India who wish to remain anonymous at present.

This has reference to the telephonic conversation I had with you yesterday. I wish to report that a colleague of mine had his wife admitted to a local hospital for delivery. A baby boy was born to him on the 9^th of August. On the 12^th of August the baby was prescribed the Hepatitis-B vaccination.

My colleague is well aware of the controversial nature of this vaccine and it’s after effects and also that it is not included within the UIP. He thus made a decision not to allow this vaccination to the administered to the infant.

“WHO considers that it should be a priority to include this vaccine in national immunization programmes, particularly in countries where mortality among children aged 50/1000 live births or where >50,000 children die annually”. (No authors cited.) Drug Action Forum – Karnataka’s (DAF-K – is a member of AIDAN) feel that the WHO recommendations seem dictated by needs of increasing demand for vaccines and profits for manufacturers rather than the needs of public health.- extract for letter to WHO
ALL INDIA DRUG ACTION NETWORK (AIDAN)

The fact that Oral Polio Vaccine can create polio in otherwise healthy children is still kept out of public discussion even as GOI went ahead with the programme 11years ago in 1995. Both IMA and the NPSP now acknowledge that Vaccine Associated Paralytic Poliomyelitis (VAPP) \"is an issue\". The complex classification system that NPSP chose to adopt resulted in masking allinstances of childhood paralytic diseases in India including VAPP related deaths, cVDPV and non-polio paralysis cases, in favor of \"confirmed polio cases\' that never formed more than 3% of the AFPcases chosen by NPSP.
Need to revisit the Oral Polio Vaccine initiative in India

by Dr.Samatha Potu, Narayana, Satya Ayurveda Vaidyasala, 05 February, 2007

SWAMI RAMDEV. The many miraculous cures he promises, and the \"scientific\" evidence he cites for them, offer a window into the sad state of scientific research in Ayurveda. Charaka, the legendary healer and complier of Charaka Samhita, the ancient textbook of Ayurveda, does not mince words when it comes to the subject of quacks. He calls them \"imposters who wear the garb of physicians... [who] walk the earth like messengers of death\". These fake doctors are \"unlearned in scriptures, experience and knowledge of curative operations, but like to boast of their skills before the uneducated\". Wise patients, Charaka advises, \"should always avoid those foolish men who make a show of learning.\"
Ayurveda under the scanner

by MEERA NANDA, FRONTLINE, 21 April, 2006

Since the time they were introduced around 220 years ago vaccines have been credited to be a medical marvel, having stopped killer acute diseases on their tracks and providinghopes of similarly tackling other diseases like AIDS, and also chronic autoimmune disorders like cancer, diabetes, even ending obesity and the nicotine habit.
Vaccines : Untested, Unsafe and Unnecessary

by Dr Leo Rebello & Jagannath Chatterjee, , 27 March, 2007

The health insurance scheme for unorganised workers launched by the Government of India holds the potential to effect a socio-economic change of far reaching significance. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), launched formally last year, will provide coverage for the families of the unorganised sector workers below the poverty line. What distinguishes this from other social schemes is the application of user-friendly information technology. The scheme provides cashle ss health insurance cover up to Rs.30,000 for all the eligible families.
A smart approach to public health

by , The Hindu, 19 November, 2008

It has also stipulated that private hospitals and healthcare facilities that par- ticipate in the scheme, in addition to the public system that would be the scheme\'s mainstay, would have to accept a set of prescribed rates as the maximum charges for various treatments, the rates being much less than those fixed by the Central government.
Re-envisioning a Central scheme, the Kerala model

by C Gouridasan Nair, The Hindu, 04 October, 2008

2008 was a traumatic year. 2009 will bring neither ease nor comfort. But as the New Year kicks off amid a full-blown global financial crisis, it also marks a turning point which can be leveraged to force a choice between inertia and innovation. This could be our defining moment for course correction, not only in the financial sphere but also in a critical area like health. Of particular concern are infectious diseases which, like financial contagion and terrorism, require a coordinated response in today’s globalised world. Just as in the case of the financial crisis, which started in the developed world and then started pummeling other areas, an outbreak of a contagious disease today is almost guaranteed to quickly spread far and wide, as we have seen in the case of bird flu. There are two possible responses to the current scenario: we could either throw up our hands in despair or we could junk the old ways of doing things and look at the issues with a fresh eye.
Health too vital to be left only to health specialists

by Patralekha Chatterjee, Deccanchronicle, 14 January, 2009

Unofficially, as per a Telegraph report in 2006, the cases up to that year were 3,00,000. I doubt even this figure. Polio is not just cases of paralysis of the limbs or AFP. It is also aseptic meningitis, cerebral palsy, Guillain Barre Syndrome, Coxsackie Virus. Again, we really do not know how the OPV, administered orally, is doing to the intestine of infants. Dr Pushpa Bhargava says we do not know enough about intestinal immunity to trust the OPV.
Horrendous!! OPV behind 1,28,375 polio cases in India?

by , Alobar.livejournal.com, 11 January, 2009

Journal of Health & Development

Epidemics of Fever

Harish Naraindas

Was the 2006 epidemic of chikungunya in South India abioterrorist attack? A fact-sheet on chemical and bio-logical weapons at www.cbwinfo.comidescribes the chikun-gunya virus (CV) thus:`highly infective and disabling but ...not transmissible between people'.Hence,`it would mostlikely be dispensed as an aerosol or by the release of infected mosquitoes.

[C.eldoc1.0807/070101zzz1B.pdf]

Moringa Oleifera as an Eco-friendly Solution

Junji Takano

Moringa Oleifera, commonly known simply as Moringa. Moringa is one of eco-friendly plants that help the world hunger and sick people. It is a soft-wooded tree that grows to about 20 feet tall, with corky bark and small feathery leaves. Its root is just like a Japanese wasabi or horseradish. Moringa is entirely edible, from leaves to roots. The moringa plant is drought resistant and grows practically anywhere around the world-- even lands with poor soil, near the sea and dry areas, and can even withstand severe drought once the plant is established.

[C.eldoc1. 0807/080721zzz1B.html]

A positive news story on tackling malnutrition in Maharashtra. The tribals should be encouraged to return to their traditional food which was entirely millets based.

Holding her new seven-month baby, Gulab says he is healthy largely due to the "mixture" mother and child have every day.

The mixture was introduced to their diet a year ago by the concerted efforts of the Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation (BAIF) and the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART). It's here that the first war against malnourishment was launched.

Nutritional status of all three—children, teenage girls, women— must be tackled.

There are many Praveens in Thane's tribal belt today. Four years back, the two blocks of Jawhar and Mokhada had one of the highest malnutrition mortality rates (60 deaths for 1,000 infants born). The trend is being reversed slowly, and the template provided could serve as a pointer for other malnutrition afflicted districts in the country.

Weighing In For Life

by Anuradha Raman, Outlook, 13 October, 2008

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