Health

Featured Articles
November 6, 2022 In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
September 26, 2022 This study found that the sanitary quality of neighbourhood drains, in addition to toilets, affected sanitation and hygiene and incidences of ill-health in rural households.
Dirty drainages, harbingers of illhealth. Image for representation only (Image Source: SuSanA Secretariat via Wikimedia Commons)
September 9, 2022 Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST
An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
August 19, 2022 Better access to clean water coupled with health education to bring about changes in behaviour are critical to prevent exposure to dangerous cholera bacteria that lurk in untreated waters.
The hidden threat of cholera in India (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
July 20, 2022 This study found a high concentration of trihalomethanes (THMs) in water treatment plants in Delhi that were associated with increased risk of cancer.
What's in your tap water (Image Source: India Water Portal)
July 5, 2022 Studies reveal that children are the most vulnerable to the health risks associated with groundwater contamination due to nitrate and fluoride, highlighting the need for urgent remedial measures.
POisoned waters, dangerous outcomes (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Over 66 thousand habitations arsenic hit: Centre
News this week Posted on 13 Feb, 2017 09:08 PM

Arsenic present in drinking water at many habitations: Centre

People fight for their rights to clean and safe drinking water. (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
What WatSan got from the budget
Budget 2017-18: Which social sector schemes and ministries got major shares of the pie? An analysis. Posted on 09 Feb, 2017 12:26 PM

The much-anticipated budget this year treads largely on the path set last year with the rural sector receiving more allocation than its urban counterpart.

Water pots lined up for filling. (Source: McKay Savage, Wikimedia Commons)
The search for a shelter
The sorry state of urban slums are testimony to poorly implemented policies for the rehabilitation of migrants. Posted on 01 Feb, 2017 08:46 PM

In the last few decades, India has seen an increasing number of people migrating from rural areas to urban cities in search of work and better living. These migrants often get employed in the informal sector as construction workers, vendors, domestic servants, etc. They also live in informal settlements, generally known as slums.

Residents struggle for a pot of drinking water at Bhuri Tekri, Indore.
What WatSan needs from budget
The water and sanitation sector in India is in urgent need for funds to show results. The budget 2017-2018 should look into it. Posted on 26 Jan, 2017 08:20 AM

According to a report by WaterAid, a water and sanitation nonprofit, released in 2016, India has the highest number (75.8 million) of people in the world without access to safe water.

Drinking water source in a village at Kawardha, Chhattisgarh
Weather or not: Women workers need care in summer
There is a grave health concern around women manual workers who work under extreme conditions of heat with poor access to sanitary facilities. This needs urgent redressal at the policy level. Posted on 11 Jan, 2017 10:49 AM

In a tropical country like India, the summer months are hot which threaten the health of millions of people every year.

Women work under poor working conditions. (Source: Wkimedia Commons)
Identifying WASH barriers
Policies that address the WASH need to acknowledge the presence of a glass curtain that curtails access to its appropriate gender and age-related services. Posted on 22 Dec, 2016 10:31 PM

As night falls, women in Chempakaraman beach on the Pulluvila coastal belt in Thiruvananthapuram step out of their safe abode and leave for the open fields. The barking of stray dogs send a chill down their spine but still, these women brave the odds and venture into the darkness as it is an urgency.

A coastal village with poor sanitation facilities in South India (Source: India Water Portal)
Stunting in India: The sanitation connect
India has the highest number of stunted children worldwide. Not just toilet numbers, but poor toilet use and hygiene behaviour too need urgent redressal at the policy level to reduce stunting. Posted on 22 Dec, 2016 11:57 AM

On Children’s Day on November 14 this year, two organisations in Odisha--Shramajeebee Sangathan (SJS), Malkangiri and Jeebika Suraksha Mancha, Kandhamal--organised a massive padayatra (street walk) in villages as an awareness drive and to mobilise communities to curb m

Rally on nutrition awareness by Jeebika Suraksha Manch, Odisha (Source: Amir Khan)
Sanitation and the risk of sexual violence
A study finds increased risk of sexual violence among women who defecate in the open due to lack of proper sanitation facilities. Posted on 21 Dec, 2016 09:08 PM

While nearly half of the world’s population (42 percent) lacks access to improved sanitation conditions, India is the worst performer in sanitation coverage, even below those countries with half of the households (53 percent) not having access to toilets.

Lack of access to sanitation and the risk of sexual violence. (Source: India WASH Forum)
Mining of rare earth minerals poisons land and water
Potential threats of environmental deterioration continue to be ignored in Kollam partly due to the difficulty in regulating an industry that produces resources of high strategic importance. Posted on 06 Dec, 2016 12:49 PM

Mining and processing of heavy and rare earth minerals can produce a tremendously negative impact on the land and environment in the area, the magnitude and intensity of which depends on the kind of chemicals and processes used, the efforts taken in the management of waste as well as on environmental fragility of the location.

Sand mining and environmental pollution (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
NGT raps Delhi government over air pollution
News this week Posted on 14 Nov, 2016 05:59 AM

Environment minister calls Delhi pollution 'emergency situation'

Delhi shrouded in smog. (Source: Jean-Etienne Minh-Duy/Flickr)
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