RAJASTHAN

The state government aims to improve the health of mother and child with the coordinated efforts of frontline workers — Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAS), Anganwadi Workers (AWW) and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMS).

The state government had signed a memorandum of understanding with Mumbai-based Tata Trust and Delhi-based Antara Foundation on March 2, 2015 for ‘Akshada’ programme. Under a pilot project, three blocks of Jhalawar district — Khanpur, Manoharthana and Jhalarapatan — were selected for the programme implementation. The programme focused on the health of mother and child during the crucial 1,000 days between the conception and two years of the child’s age including maternal anaemia, neo-natal mortality, improving immunisation and nutrition. Looking into the results, chief minister Vasundhara Raje in December 2017 launched the programme in the entire state with the name ‘Rajsangam’.

So far, more than 1.25 lakh frontline workers in the entire state have been trained through video conferencing and soon a person in each district will be employed on behalf of Antara Foundation for strengthening the frontline workers.

The frontline workers will also impart health and hygiene education to adolescents and will especially teach importance of hygiene to adolescent girls during menstruation; encourage institutional deliveries in rural areas, where deliveries are taking place at homes; will aware people about cleanliness so to curb seasonal diseases; inform people about the ill-effects of child marriages and inspire them to stop child marriages; inspire parents to get their children immunised; aware eligible couple to adopt means of family planning and also tell villagers to build toilets at home and use them.

INTERNATIONAL

The Indian Coast Guard is conducting a bilateral table-top exercise on maritime pollution response with Bangladesh Coast Guard at the regional headquarters (North East) of the ICG.

ICG (NE) commander Inspector General said the two-day exercise is being conducted in the backdrop of the MoU signed between India and South Asian Cooperation for Environment Protection (SACEP).

The Bangladesh Coast Guard delegation was led by Captain M Ehsanullah Khan, Commanding officer, BCGS.

World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E.

World Hepatitis Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO (World Health Organisation) has declared theme for World Hepatitis Day 2018 as: “Test. Treat. Hepatitis”.

· World’s Oldest Person, Chiyo Miyako, died at age 117 in Japan

Miyako, born on May 2, 1901, became the world’s oldest person in April after Nabi Tajima, a fellow Japanese national from the southern Kikai island, died at age 117.
Guinness World Records has confirmed that she was the world’s oldest person. Her replacement is yet to be announced by Guinness, but according to media reports, the new oldest person is Kane Tanaka, a 115-year-old woman who lives in a nursing home in Fukuoka, a city in southern Japan.
The world’s oldest man, Masazo Nonaka, 113-year-old lives in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.
Jeanne Louise Calment from France holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest person ever. Born in 1875, she was 122 when she died in 1997.

· BAN2401, a new drug for Alzheimer disease

BAN2401, a new drug that reduces plaques in the brain and slows down the cognition for Alzheimer disease has been introduced by Eisai, a Japan-based company and Biogen, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It is hoped that this drug may be the first to successfully attack both the brain changes and the symptoms of Alzheimer’s dementia.

NATIONAL

“With this initiative, Government is strongly committed to work towards elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030.”

This was stated by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare as he launched the National Viral Hepatitis Control Program to mark the World Hepatitis Day, 2018.

At the function, Shri J P Nadda also released the Operational Guidelines for National Viral Hepatitis Control Program, National Laboratory Guidelines for Viral Hepatitis Testing and National Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Viral Hepatitis.

The Indian Railways organized a programme on Ethics in Public Governance and Launched “Mission Satyanishtha” at a daylong event held at National Rail Museum, New Delhi on 27.07.2018.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, administered the oath to the officers and supervisors at the programme.

“Mission Satyanishtha” launched on 27th July 2018 aims at sensitizing all railway employees about the need to adhere to good ethics and to maintain high standards of integrity at work.

The Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee on data protection in India has suggested amendments to various laws including the Aadhaar Act to provide for imposition of penalties on data fiduciaries and compensations to data principals for violations of the data protection law.

The 213-page report, prepared by a 10-member committee set up last year under the chairmanship of the retired Supreme Court judge, was submitted to Law and Electronics Minister Ravishankar Prasad who said that the government will go through the draft bill and take stakeholder comments before taking Cabinet approval for finalising the legislation.

The United Nations has honoured the Cochin International Airport (CIAL) with ‘Champion of Earth’ award for being the first airport in the world to be completely powered by solar energy.

CIAL is the first airport in the world to receive the highest environmental award issued by the United Nations.

The award will be presented at a gala ceremony on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York on 26 September 2018.