Your Doctor wants Your Appointment, Thanks to these Startups

J Vignesh

Bengaluru:





Vinutha Shetty is a Bengaluru-based dentist with a difference -she visits the patient's house instead of the patients coming to a clinic. She is among 33 dentists on the payrolls of Mobident, one of the growing number of startups that are reversing the way traditional healthcare works.“Lack of time (to go visit a doctor), awareness and accessibility are the main reasons why we think that this model will work. We can catch the problem early. Prevention is better than cure,“ said Vivek Madappa, cofounder of Mobident.
The company's “portable dental clinic in a suitcase“ comes with a portable chair too. “Majority of the population requires only basic protection and not serious treatment. We have figured out what is enough for a home,“ said Madappa.
Just as Mobident onboards dentists, firms such as non-communicable diseases screening startup Chikitsak and cervical cancer screening startup AIndra partner non-governmental organisations to take their kits across to the rural masses. In the process, they also create micro-entrepreneurs, who were previously unemployed or were getting low salaries.
“They (rural patients) find this (model) a blessing in disguise...when people come to their doorstep. This has made a considerable difference. People being aware and nipping it (the disease) in the bud, is very helpful for them. Our NGOs redirect them to take corrective action,“ said Milind Naik, cofounder of Chikitsak. Chikitsak uses a camera bag-like kit which consists of nine devices including an android tab, a printer and a simple coloured health chart to screen patients. The whole screening costs just `50 and measures around 17 basic health parameters including ECG, anaemia, blood pressure and BMI. The startup also helps its NGO health workers earn `11,000-12,500 a month. “The rural masses do not have proper awareness. This model is an income generation option for rural women who are part of self-help groups.They earn a lot of respect and also help in detecting problems early,“ said Devi Prasad Shetty, director of Karnataka-based NGO Suraksha, which manages more than 1,800 self-help groups across the state.
The micro-entrepreneurship model helps these startups put more feet on street. Basic training is all that is required to transform workers into “makeshift“ doctors.“One NGO based out of Karnataka, Cancer Care India, will be one of our early adopters. They will go district to district and scan people,“ said Adarsh Natarajan, CEO, AIndra. “Essentially micro-entrepreneurship is something we are keenly looking at. We cannot put so many feet on the ground. These entrepreneurs will be incentivised to take it forward,“ he said.
The AIndra device banks on the pap smear test, a method of cervical screening to detect potentially cancerous cells. The cells are first smeared on a glass slide and stained with a chemical reagent (pap stains) and put under a digital microscope.
The set-up has an on-board computing unit, which classifies the sample as either normal or abnormal and sends it to a pathologist to confirm the findings. “Massive disruption can happen in the health industry. We are doing (this) for dentistry, but it can be done for any specialisation. The challenge is how you provide a career, how you use technology to deliver services. That will be the innovation. More people will replicate the model,“ said Madappa.
Source: Economic Times, 15-12-2016

Nutrition rank gives food for thought

New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Indian Food Cos Far Short Of Providing Nutritional Qualities To Fight Malnutrition

The largest food and beverage manufacturers in the country need to pull up their socks when it comes to offering nutritious products to consumers.Research by the Netherlands-based The Access to Nutrition Foundation (ATNF) has found that food and beverage companies in India are falling far short of what they need to do to help fight malnutrition.
For instance, despite having the strongest nutrition and under nutrition-related commitments and policies, Nestle India, maker of Maggi noodles, scored the second lowest for nutrition qualities of its products among all the companies assessed under the India Access to Nutrition Spotlight Index. On the other hand, Mother Dairy scored the highest. “India faces the serious and escalating double burden of malnutrition, with a large undernourished population, as well as growing numbers of overweight and obese people who are developing chronic diseases,“ said Inge Kauer, executive director of ATNF. “Food and Beverage (F&B) manufacturers in India have the potential, and the responsibility, to be part of the solution to this double burden of malnutrition.“ Factor this: India is home to the largest number of stunted children in the world -48 million under the age of 5 -while at the same time, childhood obesity is reaching alarming proportions.The obesity prevalence rate reached 22% in children and adolescents aged between 519 years over the last five years, the report said.
Under the index, companies have been scored out of a maximum of ten in two ways -corporate profile and prod uct profile. While the former assesses companies' nutrition and undernutrition-related commitments and policies, practices and disclosure in seven areas of their business, the latter assesses the nutritional quality of the products of all companies included in the India Index.
The leading companies on the corporate profile -Nestle India and Hindustan Unilever -with scores of 7.1 and 6.7 respectively -have done more than the other seven companies assessed to integrate nutrition into their business models.
In the product profile segment, Mother Dairy , Hindustan Unilever and Amul, on the other hand, sell the largest proportion of healthy products among the Index companies. Mother Dairy scored 5.6 out of 10, Hindustan Unilever scored 4.6 and Amul scored 4.4.

Source: Times of India, 15-12-2016

Hindus least educated religious group in world, but excel in West: Pew study

PTI





'41% Of Them Have Never Been To School'

Hindus continue to have the lowest level of educa tional attainment among all the major religions of the world despite having made strides in the sector, a Pew study said on Wednesday .“Hindus have made substantial educational gains in recent decades. Hindu adults (ages 25 and older) in the youngest generation analysed in the study , for example, have an average of 3.4 more years of schooling than those in the oldest generation,“ Pew said.
However, Hindus still have the lowest level of educational attainment of any major religious group in this study , which is topped by Jews.
Globally , the average is 5.6 years of schooling, and 41% of Hindus have had no formal education of any kind. One in ten have post-secondary degrees, the report said.
At the same time, despite large gains by Hindu women across generations, Hindus still have the largest educational gender gap of any religious group, said the report titled `Religion and Education Around the World Large' released by Pew Research Center.
In its report, running into 160 pages, Pew said Jews are more highly educated than any other major religious group around the world, while Muslims and Hindus tend to have the fewest years of formal schooling.
Drawing on census and survey data from 151 countries, the study also finds large gender gaps in educational attainment within some major world religions. “For example, Muslim women around the globe have an average of 4.9 years of schooling, compared with 6.4 years among Muslim men.And formal education is especially low among Hindu women, who have 4.2 years of schooling on average, compared with 6.9 years among Hindu men,“ the report said.
“On average, Hindu men have 2.7 more years of schooling than Hindu women, and over half of Hindu women (53%) have had no formal schooling, compared with 29% of Hindu men,“ the report said.
Even in the youngest generation of adults in the study, the report said Hindu women were considerably more likely than Hindu men to have received no formal education (38% vs 20%).
The vast majority of the world's Hindus live in India (94%) or in the bordering countries of Nepal (2.3%) and Bangladesh (1.2%).
“In these three countries, Hindus tend to have low levels of education. Hindus had average 5.5 years of schooling in India, while it was 3.9 years in Nepal and 4.6 years in Bangladesh,“ Pew said.
“However, in countries outside the Asia-Pacific region, where Hindus are a small religious minority , they are more educated -and often are the most highly educated religious group in a particular country ,“ the report noted.
For instance, Hindus in the US have 15.7 years of schooling, on average -a full year more than the next most highly educated US religious group (Jews), and nearly three years more than the average American adult (12.9 years). Hindus in Europe also are highly educated, averaging 13.9 years of schooling, Pew said.





Source: Times of India, 15-12-2016

DU to soon offer master's in cyber security and law

Manash Gohain

New Delhi:





Delhi University will start a centre on cyber security and law from the coming academic session. The university administration has already started the consultation process and a concept note has been circulated to create a blueprint for the centre, sources said.The centre will initially offer a master's programme on cyber security and law.The university also plans to offer short term courses on skill development.
“We are trying to start the centre along with the school on mass communication and journalism,“ said DU vicechancellor Yogesh Tyagi.
In its latest report, Nasscom has stated that increasing incidents of cyber attacks and data protection efforts are expected to create $35-billion revenue and employment opportunities for around a million professionals in India by 2025.
“Cyber security and law will be major issues in the coming years with a significant increase in internet accessibility. It will generate employ ment as well,“ said Tyagi.
Such developments are in sync with the mission of digital India, said Tyagi. “It is important for every institution to contribute to the development and growth of the nation.“
Final blueprints of the centre of cyber security and law, and the school of mass communication and journalism are likely to be in place by January . The administration will then take them to the committee of courses and statutory bodies for approvals and development of course contents.

Source: Times of India, 15-12-2016

Indian Journal of Public Health: Table of Contents

Bachelor of public health course to upgrade the competencies of health assistants	p. 169
Rajesh Kumar DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.188991  PMID:27561393
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DR B C DASGUPTA MEMORIAL ORATION
	Challenges in new vaccine introduction in a national program in India	p. 171
	Dipika Sur DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.188995  PMID:27561394
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DR K N RAO MEMORIAL ORATION
	Low-quality scientific evidence for the continuation of universal Vitamin A supplementation among under 5 children in India	p. 176
	Umesh Kapil, Aakriti Gupta DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.188999  PMID:27561395
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DR P C SEN BEST PAPER AWARD
	Taking stocks of antimalarial activities: A study on knowledge and skill of health personnel at primary care setting in the state of West Bengal, India	p. 181
	AB Biswas, Sarmila Mallik, Dipta Kanti Mukhopadhyay, Aditya Prasad Sarkar, Susmita Nayak, Asit Kumar Biswas DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189003  PMID:27561396
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES
	Assessment and comparison of pregnancy outcome among anaemic and non anaemic primigravida mothers	p. 188
	Rohini Sehgal, Alka Kriplani, Perumal Vanamail, Leema Maiti, Shobha Kandpal, Neeta Kumar DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189011  PMID:27561397
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	Comparison of satisfaction with maternal health-care services using different health insurance schemes in aceh province, Indonesia	p. 195
	Zurnila Marli Kesuma, Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189013  PMID:27561398
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	A comparative study of skeletal fluorosis among adults in two study areas of Bangarpet taluk, Kolar	p. 203
	MN Shruthi, Anil Navale Santhuram, HS Arun, BN Kishore Kumar DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189014  PMID:27561399
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	Quality of life and sociodemographic factors associated with poor quality of life in elderly women in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala	p. 210
	RS Rajasi, Thomas Mathew, Zinia T Nujum, TS Anish, Reshmi Ramachandran, Tony Lawrence DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189016  PMID:27561400
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REVIEW ARTICLE
	Personal vis-a-vis social responsibility for disparities in health status: An issue of justice	p. 216
	Ayan Jha, Madhumita Dobe DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189020  PMID:27561401
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COMMENTARY
	Public Health Research and Scheduled Tribes: An ethical lens	p. 221
	Katia S Mohindra DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189026  PMID:27561402
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BRIEF RESEARCH ARTICLE
	Evaluation of governmental oral health-care infrastructure in the state of Haryana	p. 224
	Ashish Vashist, Swati Parhar, Ramandeep Singh Gambhir, Ramandeep Kaur Sohi, Puneet Singh Talwar DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189030  PMID:27561403
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE YEAR 2015
	Annual report of the association for the year 2015	p. 228
	PMID:27561404
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AUDITOR’S REPORT
	Auditor's Report	p. 236
	PMID:27561405
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
	Students' perception of quality of medical education in a medical college in West Bengal, India	p. 238
	Netra Pal Singh DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189034  PMID:27561406
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AUTHORS REPLY
	Students' perception of quality of medical education in a medical college in West Bengal, India	p. 239
	Dipta Kanti Mukhopadhyay DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189035  PMID:27561407
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BOOK REVIEWS
	Comprehensive textbook of biostatistics and research methodology	p. 241
	Prasad J Waingankar DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189036
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	Public health approaches to non-communicable diseases	p. 243
	Arun Kumar Sharma DOI:10.4103/0019-557X.189037
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MINUTES OF THE 60TH ANNUAL GENERAL BODY MEETING
	Minutes of The 60th Annual General Body Meeting	p. 244
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Rooting out graft

A strong Lokpal and protection of whistleblowers hold the key to eliminating corruption.

If we go by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s televised announcement on November 8, the reason to implement demonetisation on such a massive scale was to fight corruption. The narrative has changed somewhat lately and the need to modernise the Indian economy and move towards a cashless society have been presented as additional factors. But the need to counter corruption clearly remains a priority.

Modi’s electoral success in 2014 took place in the wake of a formidable anti-corruption mobilisation initiated in 2011 by Anna Hazare. At that time, thousands of people demanded the creation of a Lokpal. This was one of the most popular movements in post-independence India — it called to mind the movement Jayaprakash Narayan had spearheaded in the 1970s. As Gujarat CM, Modi supported the creation of Lokpal in an open letter to Hazare on April 11, 2011. The Lokpal Bill was passed in Parliament in December 2013 as the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act. A little less than six months later, a new government was in charge. But three years later, there is still no Lokpal.

The government has argued that the search committee has not been formed because there has been no leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. Last month, the Supreme Court did not appreciate this reasoning while examining a PIL filed by the NGO Common Cause. The bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi: “When you say the government is committed to cleansing corruption, then this (Lokpal) is the step in the right direction. Why should there be a feeling that the government is dragging the feet? For the last two and a half years, there is no leader of Opposition. This position is likely to continue for next two and a half years. Will you allow the law to become redundant, just because there is no leader of Opposition?” The Court heard the matter on December 7 again, and asked Rohatgi to place before it the Parliamentary Standing Committee report recommending that the law to appoint the Lokpal should be amended. The Court is supposed to hear the matter again on December 14 but voting for any amendment to the law in Parliament will probably take time.

Another Lokpal is also likely to take time and may even become a dead letter — the Delhi Jan Lokpal, which Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan (who had introduced the first Lokpal Bill in 1968) called a “jokepal” because of the dilution of the project they had conceived with Arvind Kejriwal during the Anna Hazare-led movement. This bill was passed by the Delhi assembly in December 2015, but it was returned by the Centre — along with 13 other bills in June.

In the absence of Lokpals, RTI activists remain particularly important among those exposing corruption cases the most effectively. The Right To Information Act, that was passed in 2005, is, despite all its loopholes, one of the major contributions of the UPA government to, as the Act itself says, “promoting transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority”. However, the implementation of the Act has been dogged by two difficulties, which the government can address. First, according to Venkatesh Nayak, the co-convenor of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI) and coordinator of Access to Justice Programme at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, about 1.8 lakh appeals and complaints were pending before the 29 information commissions across the country in 2014-15. This is either due to lack of response from the public officers to demands for information or unreasonable delays in providing information. This problem can be partially solved by reducing the number of vacancies, which represent 24 per cent of the 149 posts of information commissioners across the country.

Secondly, RTI activists are under immense pressure. In 2011, the Central Information Commission had passed a resolution saying that “if it receive(d) a complaint regarding assault or murder of an information seeker, it will examine the pending RTI applications of the victim and order the concerned department(s) to publish the requested information suo moto on their website as per the provisions of law”. This resolution has not been systematically implemented and the situation has deteriorated even more. According to NCPRI data, till date, 146 RTI activists have been harassed (death threats being the most common form of harassment), 118 have been assaulted (many of them were severely wounded) and more than 50 have died (including four cases of suicide and half a dozen killings possibly unrelated to the cause they were defending). RTI activists are under so much pressure because they deal with serious forms of corruption, including land transactions. To protect them, the Whistleblower Protection Act (WBP Act) was passed in 2014 by the UPA government. It turns out, however, that it needs to be upgraded in several respects. The NCPRI has suggested 14 significant avenues for improvement, including the inclusion of a definition of “victimisation” in the Act and the addition of a clause permitting a whistleblower to publicise allegations of wrongdoing through the media.

The Asia Centre for Human Rights has also made three recommendations — mandatory and immediate registration of FIR on complaints about the use of force or attacks against RTI activists; inquiry by a police officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police within three months; trial of the accused within six months if the offence is established by investigation. These changes aiming to protect the lives of the whistleblowers have not been introduced. But amendments were introduced in Parliament in May 2015 to dilute the WBP Act. One of them implied that the Official Secrets Act, 1923 applied to whistleblowers; this means they can be prosecuted for possessing government documents on which their complained were based. The amendments also excluded from the ambit of inquiry any matter of “public interest” affecting the “sovereignty and integrity of India” or matters related to “commercial confidence”.

In August 2015, Modi used an Independence Day speech to make his point: “Corruption had eaten away our country like termites. So if I have stopped so much corruption, there will, of course, be many who will curse me. Only those who looted the nation are not enthused by this government”. While he was using a past tense in his first sentence, Modi’s demonetisation drive shows that corruption remains a problem. The magnitude of the challenge would indeed justify the creation of a proper Lokpal and the protection of the whistleblowers.

Jaffrelot is senior research fellow at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris, professor of Indian politics and sociology at King’s India Institute, London; Basim-U-Nissa is a student at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po

Source: Indian Express, 14-12-2016

It’s her field too: Policies for women farmers a welcome beginning

On September 25, 2015, at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, and fight inequality and injustice. One of the targets is, “By 2030, end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.” Closing gender gaps in agriculture and investing in smallholder women farmers will have a profound impact on the achievement of these goals.

In the last decade, the number of women farmers in India and other developing countries around the world has increased significantly, with men migrating towards off farm jobs and moving to cities. Today, women are over 40 % of the agricultural workforce in India. In fact, 80% of all working women of the country are employed in agriculture. The increasing proportion of women farmers also means that agricultural yields and the overall agricultural output of India depends, to a large extent, on women’s participation. According to some estimates, if women farmers are provided the same resources as their male counterparts, such as land ownership, availability of credit, access to farming equipment and new technologies, yields can increase by as much as 30% per household, and countries can experience an increase of 2.5 to 4 % in agricultural output. To achieve such outcomes, countries need to eliminate gender inequalities in agriculture.

Less than 10% of India’s land is owned by women. The inability to show land in their names deprives women of access to credit and many government schemes. Moreover, women are unable to afford newer technologies that will increase yields, are unaware of or cannot afford expensive and improved seed varieties, do not have adequate knowledge about the new farming systems in India, and also carry the additional burden of domestic responsibilities.

In India, the word kisan or ‘farmer’ is perceived to be addressing a male farmer. As a result, the mindset of the masses, and to a great extent that of policy makers, continues to address issues for the kisan community as catering to male farmers only. As a result, there still exists a wide gap between the policies, plans and related enabling programmes on the one hand and the situational reality of women farmers on the other. To this end, government initiatives such as the ‘Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana’ (MKSP) under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) are a welcome beginning.

It is time to ensure that women farmers in India and around the world get the recognition they deserve as farmers.

Purvi Mehta is senior adviser and head of agriculture, Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Source: Hindustan Times, 14-12-2016