Poverty rate among American women and children has reached new record high, said the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011, released on Friday by the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China.

According to data from the United States Census Bureau, over 17 million women lived in poverty in 2010, including more than 7.5 million in extreme poverty and 4.7 million single mothers in poverty, said the report.

Nepal has been conferred with the 2012 Resolve Award in recognition of its achievements in health, in particular maternal and neonatal health.

Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Office and the leader of the Nepali delegation to the 65 World Health Assembly, Shanker D. Bairagi, on Tuesday received the award on behalf of the Government of Nepal.

Newborns in Jammu and Kashmir are more vulnerable to death in comparison to any other state, a survey by the Census Department has cautioned.

The survey under Sample Registration System (SRS) has shown that J&K was recording the highest death rate among neonates belonging to the age group of below 29 days.

While hospitals and medical colleges in West Bengal are grappling with frequent cases of infant deaths, the State Health department has issued a directive to all State-run hospitals to conduct an in-house inquiry in the event of three or more infant deaths on a single day.

Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya told The Hindu on Wednesday that the directive was issued to make sure that there was no negligence by hospital authorities in providing treatment to newborns.

Dhaka: About 28 percent of Bangladesh's total population (41.7 million) is living in urban areas, said a Unicef report released on Wednesday.
Among the top 21 mega cities of the world, according to the report, Dhaka ranks 9th position with 14.3 million people, while Tokyo 1st with 36.5 million, Delhi 2nd with 21.7 million, Sao Paolo 3rd with 20.0 million.

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday ordered a probe following reports that as many as 358 children had died in Srinagar’s premier children’s hospital since January 2012. It admitted to 35 deaths having occurred in the last fortnight alone.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “The Cabinet (which met here Wednesday) has taken a serious note of the situation in G.B. Pant Hospital.” He said Sher-i-Kashmir Instit-ute of Medical Sciences director Showkat Zargar has been asked to review functioning and report back to the Cabinet in one week.