“Digital health has great potential towards reducing inequity in provisioning and distribution of healthcare resources and services and it can greatly facilitate proactive treatment for disabled patients, children with developmental delays and deformities and people suffering from mental health illnesses and for those suffering from stigmatic infections such as HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis.” This was stated by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare during his address at the Global Digital Health Partnership Symposium at Sydney, Australia, on February 21,2018. The Union Health Minister spoke on the topic: The role of digital health in supporting improved health outcomes in India. For further details read HERE

Healthy States, Progressive India

 NITI Aayog released a comprehensive Health Index report titled, “Healthy States, Progressive India” at a function in the capital on February 2,2018. The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance with respect to each other. The report was released jointly by the CEO, NITI Aayog; Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; Preeti Sudan and World Bank India Country Director, Junaid Ahmad. It is the first attempt to establish an annual systematic tool to measure and understand the heterogeneity and complexity of the nation’s performance in Health. The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

To read the full report see HERE

Campbell Collaboration

Campbell Collaboration (https://campbellcollaboration.org/)https://campbellcollaboration.org/
The Campbell Collaboration is an international research network that produces and disseminates systematic reviews on the effects of interventions in the social and behavioural sciences. It seeks to improve the quality of public and private services through enhancing the evidence base for social policy and practice. It produces reviews in the areas of Crime and Justice, Education, International Development, and Social Welfare.
Cochrane and Campbell have been closely affiliated since Campbell's establishment in 2000. In 2015 the two collaborations are formalizing plans to work more cooperatively and effectively together in a number of areas of common interest. Source:
 http://www.cochrane.org/about-us/our-partners-and-funders/campbell-collaboration

The Lancet Commission on pollution and health

For decades, pollution and its harmful effects on people’s health, the environment, and the planet have been neglected both by Governments and the international development agenda. Yet, pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and death in the world today, responsible for an estimated 9 million premature deaths.

Read more HERE

 

WMA approves Modern Physicians' Pledge

 

A modern successor to the Hippocratic Oath for physicians around the world has been approved by the World Medical Association.

Physician leaders, meeting at the WMA's annual General Assembly in Chicago approved revisions to the Declaration of Geneva, which was adopted by the Association in 1948.

The revised Declaration, to be called a pledge, refocuses the text to reflect changes over the decades in the relationship between physicians and their patients and between physicians themselves. As a result, the new pledge makes specific reference for the first time to respecting the autonomy of the patient, which is not included in the current text. It also includes a new obligation for respect between teachers, colleagues and students.

The present Declaration says students must respect their teachers, but there is no reciprocity. There is a new obligation on physicians to share medical knowledge for the benefit of their patients and the advancement of healthcare.

Also added is a requirement for physicians to attend to their own health, well-being and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard.                                                   
                                                                                                                            Via Dr. K.K Aggarwal

Read more: https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-geneva/

NATIONAL ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Revised National Ethical Guidelines for biomedical and health research involving human participants 2017: 

http://icmr.nic.in/guidelines/ICMR_Ethical_Guidelines_2017.pdf

Also, released today

National Ethical Guidelines on Research Involving Children 2017

http://icmr.nic.in/guidelines/National_Ethical_Guidelines_for_BioMedical_Research_Involving_Children.pdf

National Guidelines for Stem Cell Research 2017 (released Oct 2017)

http://icmr.nic.in/guidelines/Guidelines_for_stem_cell_research_2017.pdf

Via Dr. A. Bhan

Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN)

About the Organisation

The OAPEN Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, with its registered office at the National Library in The Hague. OAPEN is dedicated to open access, peer-reviewed books. OAPEN operates two platforms, the OAPEN Library (www.oapen.org), a central repository for hosting and disseminating OA books, and the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB, www.doabooks.org), a discovery service for OA books. We work with publishers to build a quality-controlled collection of open access books, and provide services for publishers, libraries and research funders in the areas of dissemination, quality assurance and digital preservation. For more details check HERE

National Health policy

The details of major highlights of the National Health Policy, 2017 is given below:

Details of  Major Highlights of National Health Policy, 2017

1.      Assurance Based Approach- Policy advocates progressively incremental Assurance based Approach with focus on preventive and promotive healthcare

2.      Health Card linked to health facilities- Policy recommends linking the health card to primary care facility for a defined package of services anywhere in the country.

3. Patient Centric Approach- Policy recommends the setting up of a separate, empowered medical tribunal for speedy resolution to address disputes /complaints regarding standards of care, prices of services, negligence and unfair practices. Standard Regulatory framework for laboratories and imaging centers, specialized emerging services, etc For more details Read Here
   

Budget 2017-2018: Salient points for Healthcare

·         Action plan to eliminate Kala-Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018 and Measles by 2020; elimination of tuberculosis by 2025 is also targeted. 

·         Action plan has been prepared to reduce IMR from 39 in 2014 to 28 by 2019 and MMR from 167 in 2011-13 to 100 by 2018-2020. 

·         1.5 lakh Health Sub Centres will be transformed into Health and Wellness Centres.

·         Additional 5,000 Post Graduate seats per annum to be created.

·         Steps will be taken to roll-out DNB courses in big District Hospitals; strengthen PG teaching in select ESI and Municipal Corporation Hospitals; and encourage reputed Private Hospitals to start DNB courses.

·         Two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be set-up in the States of Jharkhand and Gujarat.

·         Amendment of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules proposed to ensure availability of drugs at reasonable prices and promote use of generic medicines.

·         New rules for regulating medical devices will also be formulated to reduce the cost of such devices.

·         Structural transformation of the Regulatory framework of Medical Education and Practice in India.

·         Safe drinking water to 28,000 arsenic and fluoride affected habitations in the next four years.

·         Aadhaar based health cards will be issued for senior citizens.

·         Digi Gaon will be launched to promote tele-medicine and education

·         500 rail stations to be made differently abled-friendly by providing lifts and escalators

Full budget speech available HERE

The powerful women..

Dr Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress and the first woman to hold the post, will be our first keynote speaker at the conference. Dr Hayden is only the third qualified librarian in the 216 year history of the Library of Congress and we are looking forward to hearing about her insights and plans for the future.

Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, is the Director of the National Library of Medicine(NLM). The NLM is the world's largest biomedical library .. 

Few Books For Visually Impaired?....

From Huffington Post blog India publishes approximately 90,000 books each year in 24 different languages. We have over 16,000 publishers, and are one of the top nations for English book publishing in the world. Read more HERE

WHO report warns global actions and investments to end tuberculosis epidemic are falling far short

WHO report warns global actions and investments to end tuberculosis epidemic are falling far short: New data published by WHO in its 2016 'Global Tuberculosis Report' show that countries need to move much faster to prevent, detect, and treat the disease if they are to meet global targets.

On new health index, India ranks 143/188

First global analysis assesses countries on sustainable development goal health performance

A new index developed to assess each country’s achievement on a range of health indicators ranks India at 143 in a list of 188 countries, six places ahead of Pakistan and way behind countries like Sri Lanka (79), China (92), even war-torn Syria (117) and Iraq (128).
The first global analysis that assesses countries on sustainable development goal (SDG) health performance was launched at a special event at the UN General Assembly Wednesday and published online in The Lancet.
The study by an international collaboration on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) analysed each country’s progress towards achieving health-related SDG targets by creating an overall SDG Index score. Countries were then ranked by their scores to show which nations are closest to achieving the targets. READ MORE: HERE 

Source : Indian Express

Cabinet approves introduction of the "Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016"

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of the "Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016".

The Bill will regulate surrogacy in India by establishing National Surrogacy Board at the central level and State Surrogacy Boards and Appropriate Authorities in the State and Union Territories. The legislation will ensure effective regulation of surrogacy, prohibit commercial surrogacy and allow ethical surrogacy to the needy infertile couples.

All infertile Indian married couple who want to avail ethical surrogacy will be benefited. Further the rights of surrogate mother and children born out of surrogacy will be protected. The Bill shall apply to whole of India, except the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The major benefits of the Act would be that it will regulate the surrogacy services in the country. While commercial surrogacy will be prohibited including sale and purchase of human embryo and gametes, ethical surrogacy to the needy infertile couples will be allowed on fulfilment of certain conditions and for specific purposes. As such, it will control the unethical practices in surrogacy, prevent commercialization of surrogacy and will prohibit potential exploitation of surrogate mothers and children born through surrogacy. Read more HERE

ITU releases ICT Facts & Figures 2016

ICT services getting more affordable – but more than half the world’s population still not using the Internet. Read details HERE