CHILDREN STUNTED IN SRI LANKA: The infant mortality rate (IMR) of Sri Lanka, as per the latest demographic and health survey 2006-2007, is 15 per 1,000 live births. The IMR was 12 per 1,000 live births in 2005. In the same year, IMR in India was 56. The survey also shows that 22 per cent of children are underweight, 18 per cent are stunted and 15 per cent show signs of wasting. Authorities

49 babies die during clinical trials the Union health ministry has ordered an internal probe into the deaths of 49 infants who died during clinical drug trials conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (aiims) over the past two and a half years. Responding to an rti query filed by an ngo, Uday Foundation for Congenital Defects and Rare Blood Groups, the

A survey in Maharashtra villages links malnutrition to lack of sustainable livelihood Over 40 children below five years of age died of malnutrition and related complications in Nandurbar

Aarti Dhar

Five-year plan to also ensure safe water and sanitation, besides child protection

Setting new goals: Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury with Representative of UNICEF Karin Hulshof during the launch of the GoI-UNICEF programme of co-operation 2008-2012 in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: India and the United Nations Children's Fund on Thursday launched a five year action plan to help India achieve its national development goals.

The government of India and the Unicef today launched a five-year (2008-2012) action plan to help India combat the challenges of excessive malnutrition, high infant and maternal mortality rates, lack of quality education, safe water and sanitation. With seven years to go for the realisation of millennium development goals (MDGs), India is way off in terms of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty with 34.3 per cent of its people still live on less than one dollar a day.

BHUBANESWAR: There will be one

The four-month-old baby was crying at the top of his voice while the mother was cursing her fate sitting beside the baby for her failure to buy tinned milk being a wife of a rickshawpuller at Kamrangeer Char area of the city.

Failing to provide tinned milk, she was giving the baby rice powder mixing with water. The baby was also receiving breast milk.

Several hundred head of camel, sheep and cattle shoved and bustled in the blistering afternoon heat to get closer to the well. Many of them were crying and braying from thirst. Nearby, also waiting their turn, half a dozen Touareg nomads sat on donkeys carrying empty yellow water containers. Some had traveled a day or more just to get to this well.