Absence of preventive measures and affordable and accessible health care leads to nearly 500 encephalitis deaths in Uttar Pradesh.
IT is a strange paradox. In a country that aspires to be a superpower and boasts of rapid economic growth, 488 children died in a State, Uttar Pradesh, from encephalitis alone this year. It is nothing less than a national shame and tragedy. In six districts of Bihar, close to 200 children died this year. These are deaths that occurred in hospitals and hence were reported; the actual toll could be far higher.

Closure of the Western Gandak Canal by the Bihar Government for structural repairs and maintenance work has given jitters to the Mayawati government in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Apparently, poll-bound UP does not want to earn the wrath of farmers in its eastern districts - Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj and Kusinagar - that are dependent on this canal system for irrigation.

Criticised for not doing enough to tackle the spread of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, where hundreds of children die or are disabled every year, the Centre has now approved the setting up of dedicated wards in seven hospitals in the districts worst affected by the deadly infection.

In Gorakhpur, thousands have become a burden on their poor families

Lack of rehabilitation facilities for thousands of children, disabled here after a Japanese encephalitis attack, has made life a burden for them. Already reeling under acute poverty, these children are now an economic burden on their families. The monthly allowance given by the Uttar Pradesh government to the disabled in 2005-06 was abruptly discontinued.

LUCKNOW: The flood situation in the 12 districts of western Uttar Pradesh continued to be grim on Wednesday with Moradabad, which has been inundated by the Ramganga, being the worst affected even as the Ganga, Yamuna, Ramganga, Kosi and their tributaries showed a receding trend.

The situation in Barabanki, Bahraich, Gonda, Balrampur and Maharajganj districts of eastern U.P.

LUCKNOW: Even as widespread rains ended the dry spell over UP on Saturday, monsoon continued to elude Lucknow. While many places in eastern parts recorded rains, skies remain overcast in the city, but barring a brief shower in the wee hours, the clouds did not precipitate into rains.

Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: The dance of death continues in the eastern districts (Purvanchal region) of Uttar Pradesh. The dreaded acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) has so far killed 199. The victims are mostly children and people below the poverty line.

This comes at a time when the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) appears to have been contained by the SA-14-14-2 vaccine imported from China.

Amita Verma
Aug. 25: Even as the nation reels under the impact of the swine flu, Japanese encephalitis (JE), the dreaded disease that strikes in Purvanchal region year after year, has already claimed nearly 200 lives in 2009.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday called for formulation of long-term flood prevention and irrigation schemes along the 550-km Indo-Nepal border in the State, emphasising that quick exchange of information about rainfall in the catchment areas of rivers originating in Nepal was imperative.