WHO award for Rajasthan Health Dept.                                                    

Children of today better off than 20 years ago’                                        

Pasta-like rocks best bet for life on Mars: Study                                     

New species of wasp identified in Goa                                                     

India has 20 health workers for 10,000 people, study finds                      

WHO drops being transgender from list of mental disorders                   

WHO award for Rajasthan Health Dept.

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• Rajasthan’s medical and health department has been selected for the World Health Organisation (WHO) award for its contribution in the field of tobacco control.

More in the news:

• State’s Health department is among five in south east asian region of WHO to receive award for its accomplishment in its area of tobacco control.

• The Health Department of the State is the only government body in the country which will be awarded for its tobacco-free initiatives.

• WHO has selected five organisations from the South-East Asian region for the World No Tobacco Day Awards.

  • Three other organisations in the South-East Asian region have been selected from Thailand and Indonesia.

  • Further, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, New Delhi, is also among the recipients of the award.

What works for Rajasthan ?

• The Medical & Health Department of Rajasthan had launched several campaigns against tobacco consumption at places such as schools, colleges, police stations and government offices during 2018-19.

• Further, in 2018, Rajasthan had fined 23,800 people for smoking in public places under the COTPA-The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.

  • COTPA has been enacted to prohibit advertisement of, and to provide for the regulation of trade and commerce in, and production, supply and distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products in India.

• Under COTPA, smoking in public places (including indoor workplaces) has been prohibited. This has been implemented from 2nd October 2008 in the whole of India.

                                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu

Children of today better off than 20 years ago’

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The Global Childhood Report, published by the NGO Save the Children, has said that at least 280 million children, or 1 in 8, are dramatically better off today than at any time in the past two decades.

• Global Childhood Report present End of Childhood Index that ranks the best and worst countries for children

End Of Childhood Index :

• End of Childhood Index that evaluates countries on the wellbeing of children. Save the Children has evaluated countries on eight indicators to determine the wellbeing of children and teenagers (0-19 years).

• Save the Children’s third annual End of Childhood Index compares the latest data for 176 countries – more than any other year – and assesses where the most and fewest children are missing out on childhood.

• Singapore tops the ranking with a score of 989. Eight Western European countries and South Korea also rank in the top 10, attaining very high scores for children’s health, education and protection status.

•  Central African Republic ranks last among countries surveyed, scoring 394.

India Specific :

• Child mortality rate reduced by 55% in the last two decades in India. It was 88 deaths per 1,000 live births in year 2000 now it was recorded 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017.

•  India’s performance is better than Pakistan (74.9) only while Sri Lanka (8.8), China (9.3), Bhutan (30.8), Nepal (33.7) and Bangladesh (32.4) have all outperformed India.

•  Low height for age, among children below age five, fell 25% globally from 198 million children to 149 million between 2000 and 2019.

•  In India about 38% of children under five were stunted, the second-worst performance compared to its neighbours after Pakistan (40.8%). China (6%) had the lowest rate in the region, followed by Nepal (13.8%), Sri Lanka (17.3%), Bangladesh (17.4%) and Bhutan (19.1%).

• Despite efforts at giving free universal education about 20% of them (aged 8-16) were still out of school as of 2018.

• India halved its number of child marriages in 18 years to 2018, while marriage rates for the poorest girls fell at least as much as for everyone else.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

Pasta-like rocks best bet for life on Mars: Study

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the field of Space.

Context :

• A NASA study has found that the rocks on the surface of Mars that look like layers of pasta may be the most obvious sign of life on the planet.

Key Highlights of the study :

• According to the study, the bacterium that controls the formation of such rocks on Earth is ancient and thrives in harsh environments that are similar to conditions on Mars.

• The bacterium is known as Sulfurihydrogenibium yellowstonense; popularly known as Sulfuri.

• The bacterium belongs to a lineage that evolved prior to the oxygenation of Earth roughly 2.35 billion years ago.

  • It can survive in extremely hot, fast-flowing water bubbling up from underground hot springs.

  • It can also withstand exposure to ultraviolet light.

  • Further, it survives only in environments with extremely low oxygen levels, using sulphur and carbon dioxide as energy sources.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

Forbidden planet discovered in Neptunian Desert

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the field of Space.

Context :

• Astronomers have used the Next-Generation Transit Survey telescope in the Atacama Desert of Chile to identify an exoplanet in the Neptunian Desert.

• The exoplanet has been described in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The Forbidden planet :

• The newly discovered planet is formally known as NGTS-4b but has been nicknamed “The Forbidden Planet”

• The “Forbidden Planet” orbits a star called NGTS-4, which is located about 920 light-years away from Earth. T

• he planet circles its star once every 1.3 Earth-days. It’s the first time a Neptune-like planet has been found so close to its star.

• It has a radius 20 per cent smaller than Neptune, and temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius.

• It is about 20 times the mass and 3 times the radius of Earth.

•  It also retains an atmosphere of gas. The fact that it has an atmosphere has surprised researchers as it has been believed that gaseous planets couldn’t survive in Neptunian deserts

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

New species of wasp identified in Goa

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• A new species of wasp from the genus Kudakrumia has been recently identified by scientists in Goa.

More in the News:

Parang rangnekar :

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

India has 20 health workers for 10,000 people, study finds

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• According to a study based on National Sample Survey Organisation, India has 20.6 health workers per 10,000 people.

Key Highlights :

• India has 20.6 health workers per 10,000 people.

• The number of health workers is less than the World health Organisation’s minimum threshold of 22.8. However, the numbers have increased from 19 health workers per 10000 people in 2012.

• The distribution of health workers is uneven between urban and rural areas. Rural areas with nearly 71% of India’s population have only 36% of health workers. Delhi has the highest concentration of health workers followed by Kerala, Punjab, and Haryana.

• The study has further noted that there is uneven distribution of health workers in private and public health sector with more than 80% of doctors and 70% of nurses and midwives being employed in the private sector.

• Recently, a WHO database has put India into the “critical shortage of healthcare providers” category. India has low density of health professionals with the number being lower than those of Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, United Kingdom and Brazil.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

WHO drops being transgender from list of mental disorders

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues related to Governance

Context :

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to no longer categorize being transgender as a “mental disorder”.

More in the News:

• According to the newly-revised version of the International Classification of Diseases (known as ICD-11), “gender identity disorders” have been reframed as “gender incongruence.”

• Gender incongruence is defined as a marked and persistent incongruence between a person’s experienced gender and assigned sex. “Gender incongruence” is now listed under a chapter on “sexual health”, as opposed to “mental disorders”.

• According to Human Rights Watch, the WHO’s removal of ‘gender identity disorder’ from ICD will have a liberating effect on transgender people worldwide.

• International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) is a handbook of recognised medical conditions.

  •  It defines the universe of diseases, disorders, injuries and other related health conditions. The updated ICD list (ICD 11), was drafted in 2018 and was recently approved. It will take into effect from January 2022.

                                                                                                            Source :- The Hindu

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