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India’s cancer care facilities ‘highly inadequate’

  • India’s cancer burden is likely to increase from 13 lakh cases in 2018 to 17 lakh in 2035.
  • “The Committee would like to lay emphasis on the fact that mortality to incidence ratio of 0.68 in India is higher than that in very high human development index (HDI) countries (0.38) and high HDI countries (0.57),” it notes in the report viewed by The Hindu .

Pneumonia, diarrhoea still a big threat

  • The 10th pneumonia and diarrhoea progress report card has found that health systems are falling short of ensuring the world’s most vulnerable children access to prevention and treatment services in the 23 countries that together account for 75% of global pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths in children under five.
  • “Rollout of rotavirus vaccines, beginning in 2016, and the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, beginning in 2017, helped India’s scores improve. India’s exclusive breastfeeding rate, at 55%, is among the highest of the 23 countries. However, the proportion of children receiving important treatments, as with many other countries, remains below targets. Half of the children with diarrhoea receive ORS (oral rehydration solution) and 20% receive zinc supplementation — to help protect against, prevent and treat pneumonia and diarrhoea,” notes the report.
  • Meanwhile, additional reports from organisations like Save the Children and UNICEF have noted that, in 2017, the highest risk factors for child pneumonia death in India were: 53% caused by child wasting, 27% by outdoor air pollution, and 22% caused by indoor air pollution from solid fuels.

Centre likely to release data on drinking water, sanitation soon

  • It will give an idea of the performance of Swachh Bharat.
  • The 76th round of the countrywide survey of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the MoSPI was conducted between July 2018 and December 2018. “We are looking at the results and hopefully, I think, within this month it should get out,” Mr. Srivastava said.
  • “Achievements of the campaign are not only in completion of toilet construction. The campaign will be considered successful when it would be able to influence other indicators like outbreak of disease or access to clean water. This round of survey is important as it would provide information on those indicators,” said a public health expert.

SBI cuts FY20 GDP growth projection to 5%

  • GDP growth in the current financial year could be just 5% according to a research report by State Bank of India (SBI).
  • This is a sharp cut from the earlier projection of 6.1% for fiscal 2019-20. The second quarter GDP number, scheduled to be announced at the end of this month, could fall to 4.2%, according to the report.
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