A total of 3038 laboratory-confirmed cases of Influenza have been reported including the H3N2 subtype till 9th March 2023. H3N2 is a subtype of the Influenza A virus. 

It is a highly contagious respiratory illness that affects humans and animals including birds, and pigs. 

It is known to cause more severe illness in young children and in older adults. 

India normally sees 2 peaks of seasonal Influenza: January to March and in the post-monsoon season. 

This time the number of cases is more than normal, predominantly H3N2.  

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme is being used to keep track of all cases of Influenza-like illness and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections presenting in health facilities. 

In February a total of 436,523 cases of Influenza like Illness and 6919 cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness has been reported.  

The public health facilities are also providing the drug Oseltamivir free of cost. The drug was shifted to Schedule H1 from Schedule X of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act in February 2017. 

 ICMR network of laboratories: An integrated surveillance network for Influenza Like Illness and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness is being used to detect the human influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2. 

The surveillance architecture consists of 28 sites, which is comprised of 27 DHR-ICMR’s Virus Research & Diagnostic Laboratories and National Influenza Center at ICMR-National Institute of Virology Pune (WHO Collaborating Center for Global Influenza Surveillance & Response System)  Government guidelines: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released the guidelines on categorization, treatment protocol, ventilatory management. To access these guidelines -  click here.

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, a nationally renowned Diabetologist while addressing the Annual Conference of DIPSI (Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group of India), said Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus has already assumed epidemic proportions in India and prevention of Diabetes in Pregnancy is critical to the well-being of India's future generation. 

He said that a woman who gets Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is likely to pass on to her progeny a higher preponderance to develop Type-2 diabetes and that too at a relatively younger age. 

He praised Dr. V. Seshiah and his team who recommended conducting a "Spot Test" for blood sugar in every pregnant woman and today they have developed a "Single Procedure Test in Pregnancy”.  

The preventive project of diabetes in pregnancy taken up by Dr. V. Seshiah is in tune with the preventive healthcare preferences of the government to ensure the health and well-being of the youth whose energy and productivity are crucial for the next 25 years.

The second International Symposium on Health Technology Assessment (ISHTA) 2023 was held in New Delhi with a focus on affordability, availability, and accessibility of healthcare technologies through evidence generated by Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for Universal Health Coverage. 

The event was organized by Health Technology Assessment in India, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with WHO India Country Office and Center for Global Development. 

The symposium included the release of a video on ‘The Journey of HTAIn’ and a book, ‘Policy Briefs (volume 2),” containing policy briefs of HTA studies conducted in India. 

The event was attended by various ministers, secretaries, and delegates from 23 countries.

A study done using the sample of LASI (Longitudinal Aging Study in India) estimated the prevalence of Dementia among the elderly (>60 years) to be 8.44% - equating to 10.08 million people in the country.  

The subsample of LASI participants received an extensive cognitive assessment, clinical rating, and diagnoses of dementia. 

A semi-supervised machine learning model was developed to predict the status of dementia among participants without a diagnosis. 

Dementia was higher among participants who were females, lived in rural areas, and received no education. 

This study helps in making the long-term plan and social care policy.

One death each in Haryana and Karnataka was attributed to H3N2 influenza. 

The real-time surveillance data of IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme) reported 3,038 laboratory-confirmed cases of various subtypes of influenza up till 9th March 2023 and 1,33,412 cases of Acute Respiratory Illness/Influenza Like Illness (ARI/ILI) in the first nine days of March 2023. 

ICMR is conducting integrated surveillance of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) to detect human Influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 through a network of 28 sites. 

For the first nine weeks of 2023, Influenza A H3N2 has been the predominant sub-type followed by Influenza B Victoria and Influenza A H1N1pdm09, across India. 

Considering the efficient use of fertilizers, NITI Ayog has devised a task force under the chairmanship of Prof. Ramesh Chand to:-

Policy measures to produce, package, market & distribute organic fertilizers as an alternative to inorganic ones. 

Formulate Public Private Partnership models with gaushalas, Dairy cooperatives, and Farmer Producer Organisations to ensure sustainable bio-farming. 

The report released today on "Production and Promotion of Organic and Bio-fertilizers with Special Focus on Improving Economic Viability of Gaushalas" provides accurate estimates of operational and fixed costs of Gaushalas and setting up Bio-CNG plant and PROM (Phosphate Rich Organic Manure) plants and recommendations on the economic viability of Gaushalas.

Researchers at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have found that grazing by livestock leads to lower carbon storage in soil compared to grazing by wild herbivores. 

The soils from the wild and livestock areas differed in one key parameter called carbon use efficiency (CUE), which determines the ability of microbes to store carbon in the soil. 

The soil in the livestock areas had 19% lower CUE. 

This difference appears to be due to the use of veterinary antibiotics such as tetracycline on livestock. 

When released into the soil through dung and urine, these antibiotics alter the microbial communities in the soil in ways that are detrimental to sequestering carbon.

To read the complete article  -  click here

The UN’s Meteorological Organization targets new Global Greenhouse Gas monitoring infrastructure that provides standardized, real-time tracking of greenhouse gas.

It will integrate space-based and surface-based data and clarify the source of greenhouse gas emissions.

It will help the policymakers to understand the gap and come up with climate change mitigation plans.   

The plan might be fully operationalized in the next 5 years.

On March 6th, 2023, a Post- Budget webinar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized using digital innovations in healthcare and medical research.

Advised to learn from the pandemic’s impact on the supply chain for life-saving drugs - Comparison of the healthcare- pre & post-pandemic period. 

Affordable medical care- Ayushman Bharat scheme saved Rs. 80,000 crores & Jan Aushadhi scheme saved Rs. 20,000 crores for patients. 

Strengthening health infrastructures: 260 new medical colleges, doubling the number of medical seats in graduate and PG courses compared to 2014, and opening 157 nursing colleges.  

Strengthen the digital health initiatives for health care & medical research.  

Increase the opportunities for startups in the healthcare sector, to use indigenous digital technology to support the healthcare system. 

Encouraged the pharma sector to expand its market size.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, National Sample Survey Office have released the report on Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS) in its 78th round. 

The survey covered the entire country except for Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 

The survey conducted was for the collection of information 1) Household level - on access to drinking water, hygiene, sanitation, etc. 2) Individual-level - on education and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) skills Individual-level; on particulars of migration bank or financial account-related information Construction/ purchase of houses or flats for residential purposes after 31.03.2014. 

The information so collected is aimed to generate information on important national indicators of Sustainable Development Goals. 

Key findings: 95% of rural and 97.2% of urban populations reported access to improved drinking water sources. 78.7% of rural and 97.1% of urban households reported access to latrines.

To download the report -  click here

The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change in June 2022, notified the Forest (Conservation) Rules 2022, which prescribed the mechanism for the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes. 

New Rules omitted a clause (present in 2014 and 2017 Rules) that required any proposal to mandatorily have the consent of local tribespeople and other traditional forest dwellers of the area, before proceeding for Stage 1 clearance (approval of central government). 

This was pointed out by National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) highlighting violations of rights like pushing the State and Union Territory governments for diversion of forest land at the earliest and unfair FRA compliance reports. 

NCST says the requirement for consent and recognition of rights prior to stage 1 clearance provided a legal space for the completion of the process for recognition of rights under FRA.

For further reading about forest conservation rules - click here