Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a multidisciplinary public health initiative that aims to make human rights an important component in the control and prevention of tuberculosis. The initiative is focused on low- and middle-income populations in India, which is home to a quarter of the world’s tuberculosis cases.

The rights-based approach utilizes litigation, legislative and policy advocacy, and grassroots activism to improve prevention and treatment outcomes and protect the rights of people living with and vulnerable to tuberculosis. If successful, researchers who have planned a lecture series in Beijing and Hong Kong hope to disseminate their ideas beyond India.

Brian Citro, lecturer and acting associate director of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, spearheaded the effort with Evan Lyon, assistant professor of medicine, and Kiran Raj Pandey, a physician and Health Services research fellow.

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Even though tuberculosis is a treatable illness, the World Health Organization estimates that it remains a worldwide leading cause of death arising from a single infectious agent. In 2013 alone, there were approximately nine million new cases of tuberculosis and 1.5 million related deaths.

Citro points out that the burden of the disease is disproportionately borne by low- and middle-income countries, which account for 95 percent of all deaths from tuberculosis globally. In recent years, drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis have occurred partially because there is no effective infection control and many patients cannot afford continued treatment.

“In India, this public health crisis is driven by social and economic factors and structural barriers,” said Lyon, who has worked on public health and clinical programs for tuberculosis and HIV for 15 years. As in other parts of the world, Lyon notes that individuals most vulnerable to tuberculosis infection in India are mostly poverty-stricken or persons living with HIV, drug users, prisoners and detainees. This population has no access to testing and treatment services, and lack awareness about the modes of transmission and prevention techniques. Besides social stigma and discrimination, poor sanitation and unhealthy living conditions have also exacerbated the situation.

“The end goal for our project is to change from the current biomedical-centered approach to a more rights-based one,” said Pandey, a Nepalese native who worked as a medical officer at a rural district hospital in Doti, Nepal from 2007 to 2009, managing a tuberculosis clinic and an anti-retroviral therapy HIV center.

Pandey said the project will focus on the legal obligations of governments to regulate and finance tuberculosis treatments and prevention programs through budget prioritization and equitable resource allocation.

http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2015/03/19/scholars-take-rights-based-approach-tuberculosis-epidemic-india

Today, in India, there is an increasing awareness about physical health and the need to prevent illness. However, the situation is different when it comes to mental health issues. To promote awareness about mental health and also pay tribute to their teacher, a few leading psychiatrists in the city have got together to launch Sanmati —Dr V Ramachandran Medical and Mental Health Foundation.

The Foundation, which is a charitable organisation, also hopes to provide counselling, once they build the necessary infrastructure. “It is our effort, as psychiatrists, to give something back to society,” says Dr Rangarajan.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Team-forms-Sanmati-to-create-awareness-on-mental-health/articleshow/46628688.cms

Prime Minister Modi said child malnutrition would be tackled on a “mission mode”, his predecessor called it a national shame. Yet, policymaking is dependent on malnutrition data from 2005-06, with the data from the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) carried out by Unicef and the women and child development (WCD) ministry in 2013 yet to be made available. The data was sent to the health ministry for review about six months back by the WCD ministry , but nothing has moved since.

“After being shamed internationally for the abysmal record on malnutrition, it is really surprising that the government is not keen to release data that shows the considerable progress we have made. The improvement does not fit into the crisis narrative being used by commercial food companies to convert malnutrition and hunger into a market for their so-called fortified products,” said Prof HPS Sachdev, senior consultant in paediatrics and clinical epidemiology, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Policy-on-child-malnutrition-uses-old-data/articleshow/46523739.cms

India has 19 health workers which includes doctors and nurses for every 10,000 people in comparison to World Health Organisation (WHO) norms which prescribe 25 health workers for the same number, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

“As per the Report of the Steering Committee on Health for the 12th Five Year Plan of the Planning Commission, India has 19 health workers (doctors — 6, nurses and midwives — 13) per 10,000 people in India.

“WHO norms provide for 25 per 10,000 people. Additionally, there are 7.9 lakh AYUSH practitioners registered in the country (approximately 6.5 per 10,000),” Health Minister J.P. Nadda said in a written reply.

He said that as per information provided by Medical Council of India (MCI) and Indian Nursing Council (INC), the total number of registered doctors is 9,36,488 as on December 31, 2014.

He said that as on December 31, 2013, the number of auxiliary nurses and midwives are 7,56,937 while registered nurses and midwives are 16,73,338. Data in respect of health professionals in rural and urban areas is not maintained centrally.

He said that the government has not conducted any study or survey to ascertain the number of doctors and other medical and para-medical professionals required in the rural and urban areas of the country.

Medical Council of India (MCI), with the previous approval of the Centre, has amended the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000, to provide 50 per cent reservation in Post Graduate Diploma Courses for Medical Officers in government service, who have served at least three years in remote and difficult areas.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-has-19-health-workers-for-every-10000-people/article6990391.ece

The stigma surrounding people with severe mental illness in India leads to increased poverty among them, especially women, according to new research led by Jean-Francois Trani, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Trani and fellow researchers, including Jill Kuhlberg, doctoral student and research associate at the Brown School, studied more than 1,000 patients and controls in the mental health department of a hospital in New Delhi from 2011-12, conducting interviews during hospital visits and at homes.

The results, “Mental Illness, Poverty and Stigma in India: A Case–Control Study,” are published in the journal The BMJ Open.

“Mental health professionals must incorporate an understanding of multidimensional poverty stressors as well as address family and community dynamics,” Trani wrote in the paper. “Our findings go beyond medical and public health and link mental health to international development.”

Trani and his team found that public stigma and poverty linked to mental illness were “pervasive and intertwined.” Assumptions by many that mentally ill people are violent and unable to work contribute to their unemployment.

Stigma associated with mental illness limits women from fulfilling family and social roles, increasing discrimination against them, the study found.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-03-stigma-mental-illness-india-linked.html