Death of infants in Malkangiri district due to preventable diseases has come under judicial scanner.

New Delhi: More newborns die on the first day in India than in any other country, according to the latest ‘State Of The World’s Mothers ’ report. Every year, over 3,09,300 children (29% of the global share) in India don’t live beyond the first day because of complications associated with preterm birth, hygiene and maternal health, the report says.

The report by the United States-based Save the Children, which ranks 176 countries on maternal and child mortality, will release globally on Tuesday.

Often criticised for its dismal efforts in preventing infant deaths, India, according to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) data, has succeeded in reducing deaths of newborns aged 28 days or less.

The data shows that in 2011, the country's neonatal mortality rate (NMR) stood at 31 per 1,000 live births, down six per cent from 33 in 2010. The figure had remained at 37 for the period 2004-07.

Will make future diagnosis of rare genetic disorders easier

A global team of researchers has identified the gene behind a rare brain disorder in a four-year-old boy from Punjab who has not been able to walk or sit without support since he was born. His condition, undiagnosed till now, has been attributed to mutations in DARS gene which scientists discovered through newly developed genome sequencing technologies that make it possible to strike at the root of rare diseases.

Turkish Woman Born Without Uterus Is 6 Weeks Pregnant

London: In January 2014, the world may see a child born to a woman who has undergone the first ever successful womb transplant. The breakthrugh procedure was carried out last year by Turkish surgeons on 21-year-old Derya Sert, who was born without a uterus. Doctors from Akdeniz University Hospital in the Turkish city of Antalya announced this week that Sert is now six weeks pregnant and doctors have been able to hear a heartbeat.

More than 30 million students in rural China are now benefiting from a nutritional lunch program launched by the government, according to Vice Education Minister Lu Xin on Friday.

Uttarakhand continues to perform well and Uttar Pradesh poorly on key health indicators as per the findings of the Annual Health Survey (AHS) conducted in 284 districts of nine States.

The nine States for which health indicators were released on Friday constitute 50 per cent of the country’s population. While Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) – the number of deaths of children less than one year of age per 1000 live births – of 100, three districts of Almora, Pithoragarh and Rudraprayag in Uttarakhand recorded a comparatively low IMR of 20.

Fishes found dead at the Thiruvallam stretch of the river

After children, the next victims of the polluted waters of the Karamana river at Thiruvallam are the fishes in the river, several hundreds of which have been found floating dead since Wednesday. Barely three weeks after 20 children from the region were diagnosed with leptospirosis, prompting local health officials to splash the river banks with posters cautioning the public against stepping into the river or using the water, several hundreds of dead fishes were found floating along the shorelines of the river, including near the Pallathukadavu bathing ghat, from where the children were suspected to have contracted the disease while practising swimming.

Over 10,433 cases of measles have been reported in Punjab during the last five months, including 144 new cases during last 24 hours.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Rs. 22,507-crore National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) that seeks to address healthcare challenges in towns and cities with focus on urban poor.

The scheme will now be introduced as a sub-mission under the National Health Mission (NHM). The mission will be implemented in 779 cities and towns, each with a population of more than 50,000, and cover over 7.75 crore people.