The world is watching the on-going ‘Rohingya Crisis’ in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, the epicenter of the tension. As of now, more than 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims have been affected and thousand stranded and forced to leave their homeland. About 73,000 thousand Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since 9th October after an insurgent group attacked Burmese border police posts, charging a crackdown in which troops have been accused of murder and rapes. The Rohingyas were also accused of gangrape and murder of Buddhist woman in Rakhine province.
Myanmar Military has said that more than 400 Rohingyas have died in the violence in Rakhine region. Buddhist-majority Burma calls it ‘ethnic cleansing’, while Rohingya human rights activists countered that as many as 1,000 civilians have been massacred by the government soldiers. Over 2,625 houses have been burnt down. The Telegraph UK reported that new satellite imagery depicts the collateral destruction of a Muslim village, and raised serious concerns about level of devastation in Northern Rakhine state may be far worse than originally thought. 
Rohingyas are considered as the most ‘persecuted’ Muslims in the world. The de-facto Leader and state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi is now on target of many human rights organization as she is the flag bearer of peace in the world. The Nobel peace prize laureate is now being criticized by many Islamic countries for not standing against the brutality on the Rohingyas Muslims. The government has blamed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the insurgent pact that launched attacks on Myanmar military check posts one week ago. 
Meanwhile, an estimated of 40,000 Rohingya Muslims living in India, are illegal immigrants. Now the government has planned to deport all of them. But deporting them back to the place where they fled from doesn’t seem a very safe option for the Rohingya Muslims. Union Minister of state for Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju said, “As far as we are concerned they are all illegal immigrants. They have no basis to live here. Anybody who is an illegal immigrant will be deported”. In a major setback to the Rohingya Muslims, the Burmese government has cut down all the aids provided by the United Nations, including refugee camps, food, sanitation and other basic amenities. Now the world awaits for the next update on Rohingya crisis but the roots of this turmoil lies in the history of Myanmar which has different versions. 
Why This Crisis and Who are Rohingya Muslims
The Buddhist-majority government of Myanmar framed new citizenship laws in 1982 after getting independence from the British rule. Close to 90% of the Myanmar population are Buddhists. Myanmar never could accept the Rohingyas as part of their culture and ethnicity. For the last 35 years, they have been living technically homeless and stateless. Only 40,000 Rohingyas are treated as citizens in Myanmar.
Rohingya Muslims, called as the Boat People, claim that their ancestors have lived here before 1948. So technically they should be acknowledged as the citizens of Myanmar. The Myanmar government in this regard asks them to provide documents dating back 1823 to prove it. Myanmar government considers the Rohingyas as Bengali as they were brought to Burma during British Burma time. British went back, may be forgotten, left these people behind. 
When British left India, Rohingyas wanted the Rakhine state to be merged with Eastern Pakistan (Bangladesh). They approached Mohammad Ali Jinnah with this request. Jinnah refused the request quoting it as an internal matter of Myanmar.Deprived and left aloof, Rohingyas concentrated at Rakhine and Myanmar remained hostile to this group. The government didn’t grant their citizenship rights and also voting rights. In 2012, in a skirmish between Rohingya Muslims and Burmese, at least 100 Rohingyas were killed. It led to sense of hatred among the Rohingya Muslims and the formation of ARSA. On 25th August, they launched an attack on Myanmar police posts killing more than 15 policeman and 15 civilians. This escalated the tension between them leading to ‘ethnic cleansing’ by Myanmar army. Houses were burnt, thousands of Rohingyas have been persecuted and many fled to the neighboring border of Bangladesh in search of refuge.Dhaka now refused to accept more refugees citing their over population crisis. Prime Minister Sheikh Haseena said to BBC, “We are already an over populous country, cannot afford more. It is a matter of national security.”
Nobel Laureates Condemns Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is being widely criticized for her stand on the Rohingya violence. She has said, “We have to separate terrorists from the civilians.”  She has defended the governments stand at many occasions. Now her fellow Nobel laureates have condemned her to be idle on this violence when the world awaits her strong revolutionary remark which she is known for. Desmond Tutu has appealed Suu Kyi to end the violence against her country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. The 85 years old archbishop said in heartfelt letter to Suu Kyi, “I am now elderly, decrepit and formally retired, but breaking my vow to remain silent on public affairs out of profound sadness”. He further criticized the Nobel laureate in the strongest words, “Your emergence into public life allayed our concern about violence being perpetrated against members of the Rohingya. It is not ethnic cleansing, it is genocide.
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai also condemned Suu Kyi for her vow of silence on the Rohingya violence. She urged the global community to intervene to protect the Myanmar Minority Muslims. “We need to wake up and respond to it- and I hope Aung San Suu Kyi responds as well,” she further resorted.Modi’ Visit to Myanmar and India’s Stand on Rohingyas
Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Myanmar but it seems that he didn’t touch the volcano of Rohingyas violence. He also stated that this is an internal matter of Myanmar. State Minister Kiran Rijuju has cleared that India is not bound to accept any international law when there is internal national security is concerned. He also slammed the international organizations to criticizing India for ‘harsh’ policies.  He added, “We cannot throw them in Indian Ocean or shoot them to deport, we are identifying them to deport.”
Most of the Rohingyas in India are registered under United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC), known as UN refugee agency. The Centre has stated that it has started the deportation process for Rohingyas but Aung San Suu Kyi has said that it is not going to be easy to Myanmar to accept these Rohingyas back in Burma. Rohingyas are mostly concentrated in Jammu & Kashmir. Few extremist organization and the separatists are alleged to provoke and brainwash these refugees.
Now the ‘Jews of the East’, the Rohingyas, are being read and watched by the world but despite so much of writing, criticism and uproar, the violence is increasing in Myanmar. The world is looking towards the East criticizing the crisis but, ironically, unwilling to open its doors to welcome the Rohingya Muslims. 

NEW DELHI: Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday unveiled new tougher rules to tackle on-board disruptive and unruly behaviour by air passengers. 

Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju said that the new rules will allow for the formation of a national, “No Fly List” of such unruly passengers. He said the promulgation of the No – Fly List in India is unique and first-of-its-kind in the world. 

Emphasizing the Government’s commitment for ensuring safety of air passengers, Mr. Raju said the concept of the No-Fly List is based on the concern for safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft, and not just on security threat.

Unruly behavior of passengers at airport premises will be dealt with by relevant security agencies under applicable penal provisions. The revised rules will be applicable to all Indian airlines on both domestic and international carriage of passengers. The CAR would also be applicable to foreign carriers subject to compliance of Tokyo Convention 1963.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said that the new rules have been promulgated after a lot of deliberation and consultation with all stakeholders. 

The revised rules define three categories of unruly behavior – Level 1 refers to behaviour that is verbally unruly, and calls for debarment upto three months; Level 2 indicates physical unruliness and can lead to the passenger being debarred from flying for upto six months and Level 3 indicates life-threatening behaviour where the debarment would be for a minimum of two years.

The complaint of unruly behavior would need to be filed by the pilot-in-command. These complaints will be probed by an internal committee to be set up by the airline which will decide the matter within 30 days. 

The airlines will be required to share the No-Fly list, and the same will be available on Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website. 

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of India have signed an agreement to improve incomes and strengthen drought resilience for 165,000 farming households in the five driest districts in Andhra Pradesh.

The total cost of the project is US$148.8 million of which IFAD will provide $75.5 million.

“The project aims to build smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity to drought. It will also help farmers shift to more diversified yet profitable cropping systems which require less water, as well as to diversify income and food sources by integrating small ruminants into farm production systems,” said Rasha Omar, Country Director and Representative, IFAD.

The southern region of Andhra Pradesh is one of the areas in India that is most vulnerable to changes in climate patterns. For example, rainfall is low and unreliable, with frequent droughts. Soils have low water-holding capacity and groundwater is depleted. Soil fertility is poor and smallholder farmers often do not have access to improved and drought tolerant seed varieties. In the past, farmers have not had access to the information and techniques that would help them adapt to changing weather conditions and secure food for their households throughout the year.

The new project will help farmers to produce drought-tolerant crop varieties, manage soil fertility and moisture, and access weather information. It will also introduce practises such as harvesting and storing rainwater, managing rangelands to prevent overgrazing, and establishing backyard poultry-raising. The project area will include Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool (in the Rayalaseema region) and Prakasam.

A specialized United Nations agency and international financial institution, IFAD has financed 28 rural development programmes and projects in India since 1979, with a total IFAD investment of $1 billion or $2.75 billion when co-funding from the Indian government and others are included. These projects have directly benefitted more than 4.5 million rural households. The India country programme is IFAD’s largest and India is a leading contributor to IFAD and a permanent member of IFAD’s Executive Board.

IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided about US$18.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached some 464 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub.

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health threat in India. A high burden of infectious diseases, unregulated sale of antibiotics, financial incentives for healthcare providers to prescribe antibiotics, patient expectations, rising incomes, and limited public health response have helped drive the emergence of resistance, suggests an article in The BMJ, a leading international medical journal, that has published a special collection on antimicrobial resistance. The series has been brought out in collaboration with the WHO (South-East Asia) Region. The article, authored by Manish Kakkar and colleagues discusses factors contributing to antibiotic resistance in India, and examine policy initiatives to address it. Resistance to commonly used antibiotics is increasing. This complicates clinical management, and newer, more expensive antibiotics need to be used. Resistance to newer, broad spectrum drugs such as carbapenems, which are the antibiotics of last resort, has been seen in parallel with their increased use, the article says. Shigella has highest levels of more than 50 per cent to nalidixix acid, norfloxacin and ampicillin.Salmonella typhi is resistant to flouroquinolones and cephalospporins, chloramphenicol and trimethoprism sulfamethoxazole. The article suggests, Pseudomonas spp is resistant to imipenem (15 per cent), amikacin and ciprofloxacin (20 per cent each). It has high resistance to piperacillin-tazobactam (42 per cent), and meropenem (50 per cent). As many as 12 per cent samples carry the genes for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1), the enzyme that confers resistance. Acinetobacter spp has maximum susceptibility to colistin (99 per cent), followed by imipenem, and meropenem (53 per cent) and 13 per cent of samples carry the NDM-1 gene.   More importantly, the article suggests that there is a rising trend towards antibiotic resistance with rise in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus from 29 per cent in 2008 to 47 per cent in 2015; Carbapenem resistant isolates of Escherichia coli increased from 10 per cent in 2008 to 13 per cent in 2013 while Carbapenem resistant isolates of Klebsiella pneumonia increased from 29 per cent in 2008 to 57 per cent in 2014. In S typhi isolates, resistance to flouroquinolones has increase from 8 per cent in 2008 to 28 per cent in 2014 though resistance to antimicrobials that are not used commonly (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, aminopenicillin) is decreasing.
The region is home to a quarter of the world’s population. Dr. Kamran Abbasi, executive editor of The BMJ said, “As our articles highlight, this region is probably most at risk of emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance.”
Several antibiotics are ineffective against common infections, resulting in prolonged, more severe infections, and deaths.
Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO-SEARO, highlighted multiple reasons for this. “Poor prescription practices, irrational use of antibiotics in livestock, and an overall lack of awareness have led to the present situation. A One Health approach is needed in which health, veterinary and agricultural sectors work together to address the issue,” she said.
The collection brings forth examples from Thailand, Indonesia, and India in developing national action plans to combat antimicrobial resistance. New ways to analyse the magnitude of antimicrobial resistance in each country and mechanisms for better surveillance using information technology are proposed.
“It is a critical situation requiring urgent action from the remarkable nations of the region. We hope that this collection of articles will inform national and regional responses to antimicrobial resistance and improve the health of people. The BMJ is committed to helping create a healthier world through our coverage of major challenges in international and global health,” said Dr. Abbasi.
The initiative is expected to bring together policy makers and governments to commit to urgent actions on this front, and invest in research for new antimicrobials and containment strategies. The collection will be launched at the 70th WHO regional meeting in Maldives and followed by a meeting with key stakeholders in Delhi, India at the end of September 2017.

Canada will host the Women Deliver Conference in 2019, which will bring over 6,000 world leaders, influencers, advocates, academics, activists, and journalists from more than 150 countries. The Conference will be held in Vancouver from June 3-6.

“Prioritizing the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women is not optional, but in fact, foundational to drive change and progress for all, and this is reflected in our new feminist foreign policy,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently while making the announcement. “Canada is proud to host the next Women Deliver Conference as a global convener to bring us all further in advancing human rights for women.”

The Women Deliver 2019 Conference – the world’s largest of its kind – will present new knowledge, promote solutions, and serve as a fueling station for accelerating action, including policy changes and investments, for the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women and achieving a more equal world.

This conference will come at a time when support for the empowerment of girls and women is more critical than ever in order to maintain and increase the gains in health, education, and economic participation of women, as well as close the existing gaps in reproductive rights and health care services that advances gender equality for women and girls in the developing world.

“At Women Deliver we believe that evidence, solutions, and action speak the loudest. They are what give hope and spur action to do better for girls and women,” said Katja Iversen, President/CEO Women Deliver. “Canada is showing strong political leadership for women’s health and rights, and we at Women Deliver are thrilled to have our fifth global convening in Canada, a country that is steadfastly dedicated to promoting gender equality at every turn.”

The Women Deliver 2019 Conference will engage a broad spectrum of voices, including indigenous populations, youth, and those impacted by conflict, with an additional 100,000 participants anticipated to be joining virtually. It will continue the momentum generated at Women Deliver 2016, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. That conference – one of the first major global conferences following the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – was attended by nearly 6,000 people from 169 countries. The conference presented more than 100 solutions to improve the lives of girls and women, and spurred action across the globe.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Katja Iversen encourage all to use this unique opportunity and make June 2019 ‘Women Deliver Month’ throughout Canada across all sectors – including arts, sports, and business; in every province and city – and show the world that women’s health and rights are core Canadian values.

As a leading, global advocate for the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women, Women Deliver brings together diverse voices and interests to drive progress for gender equality, with a particular focus on maternal, sexual, and reproductive health and rights. We build capacity, share solutions, and forge partnerships, together creating coalitions, communication, and action that spark political commitment and investment in girls and women.

More than 180 million people do not have access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability around the world, UNICEF.

“Children’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene. ”In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children’s most basic means of survival – water – must be a priority.”

People living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack basic drinking water than populations in non-fragile situations, according to a recent UNICEF and World Health Organisation analysis. Of the estimated 484 million people living in fragile situations in 2015, 183 million lacked basic drinking water services.

In Yemen, a country reeling from the impact of over two years of conflict, water supply networks that serve the country’s largest cities are at imminent risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair. Around 15 million people in the country have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation.

In Syria, where the conflict is well into its seventh year, around 15 million people are in need of safe water, including an estimated 6.4 million children. Water has frequently been used as a weapon of war: In 2016 alone, there were at least 30 deliberate water cuts – including in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Raqqa and Dara, with pumps destroyed and water sources contaminated.

In conflict-affected areas in northeast Nigeria, 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, leaving 3.6 million people without even basic water services.

In South Sudan, where fighting has raged for over three years, almost half the water points across the country have been damaged or completely destroyed.

“In far too many cases, water and sanitation systems have been attacked, damaged or left in disrepair to the point of collapse. When children have no safe water to drink, and when health systems are left in ruins, malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera will inevitably follow,” said Wijesekera.

In Yemen, for example, children make up more than 53 per cent of the over half a million cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhoea reported so far.  Somalia is suffering from the largest outbreak of cholera in the last five years, with nearly 77,000 cases of suspected cholera/acute watery diarrhoea. And in South Sudan, the cholera outbreak is the most severe the country has ever experienced, with more than 19,000 cases since June 2016. 

In famine-threatened north-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children, are in urgent need of safe water. More than 5 million children are estimated to be malnourished this year, with 1.4 million severely so.

In the Indian context, preserving every drop of groundwater is critical to India’s water security.

The fresh water demands of a rapidly growing population have resulted in the decline of per capita availability of fresh water from 3,000 cubic metres to 1,123 cubic meters over the past 50 years. This is well below the global average of 6000 cubic metres.

Apart from access to safe drinking water for women and children at the household level, performance of services and institutions such as schools, health centers and anganwadi centers are also impacted. For example, the 2015-16 drought led to a severe drinking water crisis in most villages across 10 states in India, affecting the health and wellbeing of nearly 40 million children. An assessment conducted by UNICEF in nine drought affected states found that among villages that had almost become Open Defecation Free (ODF), about 60 to 90 per cent of the households had to resort back to Open Defecation due to lack of water.

Both floods and droughts result in disruptions in access to safe drinking water, adequate hygiene and sanitation. This further increases the risk of disease outbreaks, hence putting vulnerable children and women at risk. UNICEF is working with the Government to make communities more climate resilient and mitigate the impact of climate change.

A new treatment option for stomach cancer may be in the offing. Researchers from School of Life Sciences and Special Centre for Molecular Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have found that anti-arthritis drug diflunisal can be used to kill Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium responsible for stomach-related problems ranging from chronic gastritis and ulcers to cancer. 

The development assumes importance as stomach cancer is the second-most common cancer among men and third-most among women worldwide. Its symptoms and signs are often reported late when the disease has progressed to advanced stage. Cause of gastric cancer includes Helicobacter pylori infection, diet and lifestyle factors, consumption of tobacco and alcohol as well as genetic susceptibility. Gastric ulcers are also caused by H. pylori as it damages mucus that protects stomach and small intestine.

JNU researchers made the discovery about new use for arthritis drug while investigating a protein called beta-clamp in the bacterium which is a crucial target for drugs. A screening process with all drugs approved by the US’s Food and Drug Administration showed that diflusinal was able to inhibit the growth of the bacterium very well. 

In a paper presented in a recent issue of journal, FEBS Letters, the research team led by S. Gourinath, Professor at the School of Life Sciences, observed “diflunisal inhibits the growth of H. Pylori in the micro-molar range”. 

Speaking to India Science Wire, he pointed out that since diflunisal is an FDA approved drug, it could be taken in combination with the existing quadrapole therapy, which could reduce the length of treatment for H. Pylori infection. Quadrapole therapy involves administration of antibiotics, H2 blockers, Proton pump inhibitors and stomach-lining protectors for four to six weeks. 

Diflunisal is presently used to relieve mild to moderate pain.  It reduces pain, swelling, and joint stiffness caused by arthritis, and is categorised as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It works by reducing the levels of prostaglandins, chemicals that are responsible for pain, fever and inflammation. Diflunisal blocks enzymes that make prostaglandins resulting in their lower concentrations.

The team of researchers included Dr S Gourinath, Preeti Pandey, Vijay Verma, Gunjan Gautam, Nilima Kumari from School of Life Sciences  and Suman Kumar Dhar from Special Center for Molecular Medicine. (India Science Wire)

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched two new contraceptives, an injectable contraceptive MPA under the ‘Antara’ programme and a contraceptive pill, ‘Chhaya’, in the public health system to expand the basket of contraceptive choices to meet the emerging needs of couples. The contraceptives, which are available for free in Medical Colleges and District Hospitals at present, have so far been launched in 10 states that includes Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana, West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Goa. The contraceptives are safe and highly effective, the ‘Antara’ injectable being effective for three months and the ‘Chayya’ pill for one week, and will help meet the changing needs of couples and help women plan and space their pregnancies. Training of healthcare practitioners from all the states has been completed as well, with a pool of state and district level doctors and staff nurses being trained to support the roll-out.

To help improve the supply and distribution of contraceptives, the Ministry had recently launched a new software, Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS), designed to provide robust information on the demand and distribution of contraceptives to health facilities and ASHAs.

In addition, Mission Parivar Vikas, a central family planning initiative has also been launched by the Ministry. The key strategic focus of this initiative is on improving access to contraceptives through delivering assured services, ensuring commodity security and accelerating access to high quality family planning services.

• The mission is being implemented in 146 high focus districts with the highest total fertility rates in the country. These districts are in the seven high focus, high Total Fertility Rates (TFR) states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam, which constitute 44% of the country’s population.

• The main objective of the Mission Parivar Vikas family planning initiative is to bring down the Total Fertility Rate to 2.1 by the year 2025.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, through its sustained family planning efforts, aims to achieve its goal of increasing modern contraceptive usage and ensure that 74% of the demand for modern contraceptives is satisfied by 2020, with continued emphasis on delivering assured services, generating demand and bridging supply gaps. The Ministry’s focus remains on increasing awareness and demand through a holistic communications campaign that has simultaneously been rolled out across all states of India.

Simple technology such as basic mobile phones can help in improving TB management, experts suggest. At least two pilots, conducted in India, have shown increased adherence to treatment regimen and improving the percentage of notification of Tuberculosis, particularly in the private sector.

India has 2.6 million TB cases annually and as many as 1 million patients are still missed. However, lack of standardization of TB treatment in the country is a bigger challenge with the treatment being provided by unqualified people to corporate hospitals. More than half the patients receive treatment in the private sector where there is no mechanism for monitoring and follow-up with a high percentage of patients dropping out which results in drug resistance.

Tuberculosis was declared a notified disease in India in May 2012 and the Centre created a specialized web portal—Nikshay—where TB cases are to be mandatorily reported.

A study conducted by Apollo Hospital in Mysore involving 2,500 private practitioners showed that 80 per cent did not diagnose or treat TB. Of those managing the disease, 70 per cent were not aware that TB was notifiable while those aware did not know the mechanism of notifying the disease and took shelter under the provision of privacy of patients in not notifying the disease as it identified the patients.

According to Dr Suneetha Narreddy, an infectious diseases expert from Apollo Hospital said they had launched a pilot project wherein they engaged with private practitioners to upgrade their knowledge on diagnosis including notification of TB and management of TB and drug resistant TB.

Apollo Hospital created software which was connected with Nikshay and the TB patients who came to the hospital for treatment. Details and data of all TB patients was fed into the software which automatically went to the Nikshay site. The hospital also sent out SMS regularly to the patients reminding them of the medication and IVRS calls twice a week to ensure that they stuck to the regimen. If there were some drop outs, they were contacted by the social worker and counseled about the importance of adhering to the regimen.

During June 2015 and March 2017, 500 cases of TB were notified with Nikshay. These included 17 MDR Tuberculosis cases. Of the total number of cases, 151 successfully completed treated while treatment in going on in 203 patients while 80 have shifted to other hospitals in the outskirts (Apollo is a tertiary care facility). Unfortunately, 11 stopped treatment, 27 died and 22 are not traceable.

Dr Narreddy said 94 per cent had taken all doses though 6 per cent had missed one or more doses. A feedback from 350 patients suggested that 93 per cent found SMS and IVRS calls useful while 9 per cent wanted reduced frequency of calls and SMS.

Results of another pilot project conducted in Khuntia district in Jharkhand suggested that diagnosis and treatment was four times higher among those patients who used mobile application under the project, according to Dr Archana Trivedi, Senior technical Advisor, The Union South East Asia Office.

The project was conducted in three blocks of Khuntia district covering a population of 45,000. The applications were provided to Rural Health Care Providers, NGOs and Laboratory Technicians to manage patient information and counseling.

The RHCP feed the patient details into the mobile as soon as they came for testing. Once testing was done, the results of the test were sent by the Lab Technician to the patient as well as the RHCP. If the patient did not turn up for treatment within seven days after the test report was provided, the RHCP would contact the patient and counsel him/her to come for treatment as well as the importance of sticking to the regimen.

Heavy metal poisoning is a growing concern in many parts of the country. A new method for removing chromium-6, a highly toxic heavy metal, from waste water has been developed by a group of scientists from India and Ethiopia. They claim it to be low-cost and safe.

The new method uses water hyacinth, a weed known for its ability to spread rapidly over water bodies. It is used for cleansing polluted water bodies owing to its remarkable capacity of absorbing pollutants. 

In the new study, hyacinth was made into a powder and then mixed with water containing chromium-6. The powder was allowed to settle down and after two minutes the liquid above the powder was removed and analyzed for chromium-6. It was found that chromium-6 levels decreased significantly in water. 

This is because water hyacinth particles attract chromium which then gets ‘stuck’ to it thereby leaving water chromium ‘free’. For every litre of water, only 0.04 grams of powdered water hyacinth is required to reduce the amount of chromium-6 to ‘safer’ levels over a period of 30 minutes. Using higher amount of hyacinth or allowing the powder to stay in the water for longer did not have any further effect on chromium-6 levels. It was also found that acidic water further encouraged the ‘sticking’ (adsorption) of chromium-6 particles to the powdered water hyacinth. 

“Use of water hyacinth as an adsorbent is a low-cost and very effective way of removing an extremely hazardous element from industrial waste before it becomes dangerous to humans,” said Dr Neetu Rani of Indraprastha University, New Delhi, who led the study. The results have appeared in Journal of Water Reuse and Desalination.

Exposure to chromium is toxic to humans. Even in small amounts, chromium affects the liver, kidneys, nervous system and lungs. Chromium-6 is highly toxic and can cause cancer. Steel, paint and pigments, chemical industries, and those engaged in electroplating and leather tanning are a major source of this pollutant. Though there are many methods being used to remove chromium-6 from industrial waste such as reverse osmosis, they are expensive and not very effective.

The research team included Dr Neetu Rani, Dr. Tuisem Shimrah from Indraprastha University, and Dr Bhupender Singh from Arba Minch University, Ethiopia. (India Science Wire)