Women's Health News - India Together

DIABETIC RETINOPATHY
Ignorance can lead to blindness

There are 70 million diabetics in India, 80 percent of them have vision problems about which they are either not aware or lack access to good eye care. Swapna Majumdar reports how NGOs are partnering to reach out to the marginalised and providing them better eye care and prevention.

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COMMERCIAL SURROGACY

To be banned or not?

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 introduced in the parliament proposes a ban on commercial surrogacy. Shoma Chatterji finds out if this will help in checking exploitation of women.

Gender Laws and Policy Women

MENSTRUAL HYGIENE

Why rural girls need more than just sanitary napkins

Handing out non-biodegradable sanitary pads to rural school girls who have reached menarche will not address their menstrual hygiene issue. Clean and functional toilets with water supply, awareness about menstruation, economical and biodegradable pads and more is needed, finds Puja Awasthi.

Girls' Education Health

GENDER LAW

Pro-life or pro-women’s rights?

Bijayalaxmi Nanda tracks some of the most prominent debates surrounding two critical legislations, dealing with gender-biased sex selection and abortion respectively, and highlights the commonalities in recommendations made by the apparently contradictory camps.

Gender Laws and Policy Women

HOSPITAL NIGHTMARES

What’s turning women in labour away from hospitals?

Institutionalised delivery is encouraged as a means of reducing maternal/infant mortality, but the misbehaviour meted to pregnant women in government hospitals deters them, and others who hear of their experiences, from seeking such care. Ruhi Kandhari reports.

Public Health Government Health

MATERNAL HEALTH

Barefoot auditors ensure health for tribal mothers

In the tribal villages of Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, committed social workers are improving the health and lives of mothers and children by spreading awareness about the needs of women and girls. Dilnaz Boga brings you their stories.

Child health Population Health

FAMILY PLANNING POLICY

Sterilisation deaths: What’s new, after all?

The death of 14 women in Chhattisgarh following botched sterilisation procedures has rightfully led to furore across the country. But a detailed, historical analysis of family planning as it has evolved, by Shoma A Chatterji, exposes an inherent and sustained gender bias in policy as well as practice.

Health Laws and Governance Society Women

INDOOR AIR POLLUTION

When kitchen smoke can kill

It has been widely established that the health impact of indoor air pollution, caused often by solid fuels for household cooking, far outweighs the hazards of outdoor pollution. Arpana HS quotes data from the Census and findings from a recent paper to show why India needs to tackle this on priority.

Energy Environmental Hazards Health

MATERNAL HEALTH

When expecting mothers fight graft to secure prenatal care

In Jahangirpur Gram Panchayat of Bihar’s Kishanganj district, Rs 30 lakh meant as cash incentives for pregnant Muslim women had already been misdirected, when a community-driven project launched by Oxfam decided to tackle the corruption head on. Ajitha Menon reports.

Public Funds Women

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

Good food from dry land

Across 20 villages of Bankura and Birbhum districts in West Bengal, 800 families are learning to farm dry land anew in a sustainable manner, resulting in increased income, better health and nutritional outcomes, and food security. Ajitha Menon reports from Bankura.

Food Security Organic Agriculture

HEALTH DEFINITIONS

To deliver on health, understand it first

Medical services are today driven by needs and definitions out of sync with the realities of the masses. In conversation with Pamela Philipose, health activist Imrana Qadeer argues why health should be seen through the prism of the various structural components of society - caste, class and gender.

Public Health Society Women

RURAL HEALTH

Health to the beat of drums

Simple interventions and sustained joint efforts by civil society groups and the local panchayat have resulted in significant improvements in communication and increase in health awareness in some of Rajasthan's most backward districts. Swapna Majumdar reports.

Panchayats Health Rajasthan

VIOLENCE AND HEALTH

Traumatised by violence

Women in Kashmir do not physically encounter violence as much as men do, but their feelings of helplessness and subsequent guilt resulting from the violence around them is taking a toll. Freny Manecksha reports.

Health J & K

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Retired Scientist
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