Children are allowed to tuck into food during Ramadan, but some Iraqi boys and girls who join the adults in fasting during the Muslim holy month are seen as young heroes in the war-ravaged nation.

Iraq’s increasingly conservative society is seeing more children — some as young as four — refrain from food during the daylight hours and thus earn the respect of their parents and peers.

Religious scholars say girls should only start fasting from the age of nine and boys sho…

Nearly 53,000 children in China have been sickened by milk powder contaminated by an industrial chemical, the government said Monday, dramatically ramping up its previous figures.

Earlier the health ministry said 12,892 infants were in hospital with 104 babies in serious condition, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

As the World Health Organization questioned Beijing’s handling of the crisis, premier Wen Jiabao appeared on state television promising to head off…

The best family health insurance policy would be one that is tailor-made to suit your requirements as well as your budget. Considering that its function is to shield against any medical contingency, it would be wise to opt for the best health insurance cover after due comparison with other family health insurance plans with a good financial advisor who would give you an unbiased view of the plans and services of the company. Check out for a good financial advisor with your friends.

Should you need any further information that you, as a consumer, would require on the plans and specified family health insurance covers offered by a particular health care company, ask your freinds who have availed of health insurance plans from that particular company and ensure that the company is quick and prompt in settling claims. Also enquire about good agents who would render prompt services.

12 key points to ascertain before cutting the cheque

• Is the monthly/yearly/semi annual premium affordable?
• Upto what percentage of the medical costs would I be reimbursed?
• Would I be reimbursed if I use the services of a medical professional not included in the insurance firm’s network? If so, how much?
• Will the plan cover any pre-existent medical problem?
• Does the plan cover terminal illness like cancer or AIDS or chronic conditions like asthma or diabetes? If yes, how would they be treated?
• What are the procedures for obtaining medical care and reimbursement, in an emergency?
• Does the plan cover reimbursement of alternative medicine procedures?
• Does the plan cover the costs involved in delivering a baby?
• What are my doctor’s/friend’s opinion about their experience with this Plan?
• What is the percentage of members who “disenrolled” from the Plan?
• How many complaints filed by patients against the Plan were upheld by the Insurance regulatory development authority(IRDA)?
• Most important, what sort of accreditation/rating has the Plan received from independent government and non-government Commissions like CNBC TV- 18, Outlook Magazine and other established financial magazines.

The World Health Organisation warned Friday that so-called “electronic cigarettes”, which claim to be a nicotine replacement therapy, could in fact prove highly poisonous.

“It’s 100 percent false to affirm this is a therapy for smokers to quit,” WHO anti-tobacco official Douglas Bettcher told journalists.

“There are a number of chemical additives in the product which could be very toxic,” he warned.

Electronic cigarettes are usually made of stainless steel and…

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Friday around half a million women die each year from complications in childbirth and 10 million more suffer life-long disabilities, while the issue of maternal mortality does not get the attention it deserves.

“Globally, more than 500,000 women die each year because of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth,” UNICEF said in its Progress for Children report based on surveys carried out between 2005 and 2007.

More…

Women’s rights are dwindling across Europe, anti-globalisation activists warned, blaming growing religious extremism and neo-liberalism.

The trend has been observed across the continent and even in Sweden, a country normally seen as a pioneer in gender equality issues, Maria Hagberg, a Swedish member of the European Feminist Initiative (EFI) network, told AFP.

“We have seen a backlash in recent years in Europe and also in Sweden, which is known as the most egalitarian cou…

Starbucks stopped serving milk in many of its Chinese outlets on Friday as a crisis over poisoned dairy products that have left four babies dead and thousands of others sick spiralled.

The move by the US coffee chain came amid a government-ordered mass recall of dairy products after an industrial chemical initially reported to be only in milk powder was also detected in regular milk, yoghurt and ice cream.

Supermarket shelves across the country were emptied of many produc…

Face lifts and medical tourism: Top five questions answered

1) What is facelift surgery? Are the signs of aging in your face bothering you?

Then facelift surgery may be the right solution for you. A facelift is a surgical procedure to improve visible signs of aging in the face and neck and is technically known as rhytidectomy.

2) Who is the right aspirant for face-lift?

Facelift surgery is a good choice for you if:
• You have down to earth goals in mind to enhance your appearance.
• You are physically healthy and have an optimistic outlook.
• You don’t smoke. Finally you should not go for a facelift to fulfill someone else’s desires or to fit into someone else’s image.

3) Will non-surgical rejuvenation treatments achieve the same results as that of a facelift?

Non-surgical rejuvenation treatments cannot achieve the same results as that of a face lift surgery, but may help delay the time at which a facelift becomes appropriate and complement the results of surgery.

4) How Competent Is My Doctor? How Safe and Hygienic Is The Facility?

However, when traveling outside of your country for a face-lift it can be harder to verify the authenticity of the doctor, hospital and surgical methods. In some places, medical qualification standards are very different than they are in your country. There are many free services online to check out on the medical certification of your doctor such as the

• ASPS Member Surgeon Abroad program and Corresponding Members Service
• Doctors practicing outside the U.S. can be Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada/UK.
• Most important of all, check out with your friends who had already undergone face-lifts or the family doctor about the quality of treatment offered.

5) How do you protect yourself from complications after surgery?

• Make sure you are medically insured in your own country.
• Research all potential complications before surgery with your family doctor.
• Maintain contacts with the hospital and the doctor from where you underwent surgery.

With its cobbled streets and medieval towers with names like “Fat Margaret”, the capital of Estonia is an unlikely rival to Las Vegas but it has seen a casino boom that has brought cash and a darker side to the tiny country.

There are more than 90 casinos in Tallinn, where the population of 400,000 people has now been boosted by gamblers from across Europe who are spreading an addiction to the poker tables and fruit machines to the locals.

Some addicts have committed suic…

Australia’s resources boom is contributing to a rise in HIV infections in the nation as cashed-up miners contract the disease during trips to Asia and Papua New Guinea, an HIV support group said Wednesday.

The rate of infection of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, increased in Australia by five percent during 2007, according to new national statistics.

Researchers at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney found the…

Most Indians support plans to tighten existing laws for a complete ban on smoking in public places, according to results of a survey published Thursday.

Some 92 percent of the 1,030 people who answered the survey in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, strongly favoured curbs on lighting up at work or in hotels, bars, restaurants, cinemas, schools and hospitals, it said.

Eighty-four percent also agreed that breathing second-hand smoke was a serious health hazard, mirro…

French scientists claim to have deciphered how a germ that causes potentially lethal food poisoning can be transmitted from a mother to a foetus.

The discovery was made among lab animals but is likely to be valid for humans too, which opens up potential targets for drugs that could block the transmission pathway, they said.

The listeria germ causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to meningitis and convulsions if it invades the nervous system.

Unpasteurised dair…

A polio vaccination campaign in southern Afghanistan would go ahead despite the killing of two doctors in a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban, the World Health Organization has said.

“Today, the country and Kandahar team has finally decided to continue the campaign to take forward the mission of polio eradication for which our two colleagues sacrificed their lives,” Kabul-based WHO official Tahir Mir said.

The WHO had said on Tuesday that the campaign targeting 1.2 mi…

A ban will be imposed on flavored cigarettes that are marketed to children in flashy packages, Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised during an election campaign rally on Wednesday.

“As a parent, I was appalled to see tobacco being marketed in a way that is so enticing to children: flavoring and packaging them like candy, gum or a fruit roll up,” said Harper after meeting with parents in Thorold, Ontario.

“This just isn’t right. This practice can’t c…

The US Food and Drug Administration Tuesday said it would block the import of more than 30 generic drugs made by Indian pharmaceutical company Ranbaxy, saying the company had failed to meet manufacturing standards.

Due to extensive violations of US requirements, the FDA issued the import alert for drugs manufactured at two Ranbaxy factories in Dewas and Paonta Sahib, the agency said in a statement.

The FDA said the move would not create any shortages as other firms could …

Women in Vietnam have broken their silence about domestic violence and have finally decided to take some remedial action.

Gripping her skull to ease a constant pounding headache, Lieu explains how she came to a decision that would have been unthinkable in Vietnam just a few years ago — to divorce her husband.

Speaking in a measured voice, her eyes steady, the 29-year-old from Hanoi recounted two years of living hell, of the abuse, humiliation and physical violence she su…

Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu confirmed that three babies have died, 158 are in hospital with acute kidney failure and thousands of others fell ill after drinking tainted milk in the country.

Giving the government’s first detailed account of a scandal that erupted last week over milk powder contaminated with a chemical used to make plastics, Chen said 6,244 babies had fallen ill after consuming the product.

While many of those had recovered, 1,327 remained in hospital …

A new study has revealed that elderly people who walk an hour or more each day are less likely to die and or be prone to serious illness compared with their less active counterparts.

The research was carried out among 248 Italian volunteers, living in a mountain community, whose average age was 85.9 years.

During the 24-month experiment, 12 percent of the volunteers died, but the mortality was a third higher among those who walked less than an hour each day.

T…

The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a landmark appeal court ruling that made it legal for a patient with multiple sclerosis to grow cannabis for therapeutic use.

Upholding the October 2006 ruling, the higher court said that “exceptional circumstances” meant an “illegal scheme can be justified when committed out of necessity.

“The state of necessity is established,” it added.

The judgement followed a decision by the public prosecutor’s office to challenge…

A new study released Tuesday linked a controversial chemical widely used in baby bottles and plastic food containers to diabetes, heart disease and liver abnormalities in adults.

The report published in the September 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reviewed the effect on adults of the chemical known as bisphenol A (BPA).

It found that adults with the highest concentrations of BPA in their urine had nearly triple the odds of cardiovascula…

Polio vaccinations for over a million Afghan children have been cancelled, the World Health Organization said Tuesday after two doctors were killed in a Taliban suicide attack.

“Campaigns in the southern region are cancelled,” WHO spokeswoman Sona Bari told AFP.

The programme was due to start on September 21 and was intended to reach 1.2 million children aged under five in Afghanistan’s southern regions, she said.

Two Afghan doctors working for the WHO were ki…

The chemical street drug methamphetamine, or “meth”, is becoming more popular than cocaine or heroin in many countries, experts at a conference in Prague said Monday.

Participants at the First Global Conference on Methamphetamine discussed how public health, law enforcement and civil society can join to tackle a social issue that only looks to get worse.

“The rates of amphetamine-type stimulants have increased more than any other drug group worldwide,” said Louisa Deghena…

A total of 1,253 Chinese children have been sickened by contaminated milk powder and 53 of them are in serious condition, the health ministry said Monday, vastly increasing previous estimates.

“As many as 10,000 infants may have drunk the contaminated Sanlu milk powder,” the health ministry said in a press release.

It said that 340 children remained in hospital, and that out of these 53 were in a serious condition. Source-AFPBRSPH …

A doctor has revealed that the British bride who died ten days after marrying a local man in India may have been killed by asthma triggered by eating spicy food.

Charlotte Bending, a 24-year-old mother of two, wed Jitender Singh in the northern Indian state of Haryana after they had met while working together in Plymouth, England, the Times of India reported.

She died on September 8 after she complained of a sore throat and collapsed, her doctor Bharat Bhushan was quoted …

A militant group combatting the spread of AIDS hung a banner across the facade of one of Paris’s most famous churches Saturday in a protest against Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to France.

The banner on the Sacre Coeur basilica read “the condom is life,” in a reference to the Roman Catholic Church’s objections to the contraceptive device which also blocks the transmission of the AIDS virus.

Activists of the Act-Up association also rolled a hug black carpet edged in pink down …

Scientists have figured out how tuberculosis tricks the immune system, a discovery that could lead to new anti-TB drugs, according to a study published Sunday.

In experiments with mice, they identified a key mechanism whereby TB bacteria provoke a form of death in host cells that enables the infection to spread through the lungs, they reported.

Tuberculosis infects more than nine million people every year, and in 2006 claimed nearly 1.7 million lives, World Health Organis…

Scientists on Sunday said intelligible speech is learnt in part through nerve signals from the vocal tract, a discovery that could open up an ambitious avenue of therapy for the deaf.

Muscles and receptors in the mouth and throat retain a memory of their position and feeling when a word is uttered, and their signals provide key input for the brain as it hones the power of speech, they suggest.

Researchers David Ostry and Sazzad Nasir at McGill University in Montreal carri…

Researchers can’t stop singing the praises of the “Mediterranean diet” which, a study released on Friday says, dramatically cuts the risk of many life-threatening diseases. This diet regime can successfully dodge ailments like heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

Piecemeal evidence over the last three decades has shown that a diet rich in grains, fruit, vegetables and olive oil but stingy on meat and dairy — washed down with a modest daily dose…

Chinese authorities announced a nationwide probe Friday into a milk powder suspected of killing one baby and sickening dozens of others, in the latest safety scandal to rock China’s food chain.

China’s health ministry also ordered all its departments nationwide to immediately report every baby with kidney stones and having problems urinating, symptoms of drinking the tainted milk formula.

One baby has died in northwest China and dozens of others have been hospitalised acr…

Another birthday has arrived for the world’s oldest man, a Japanese centenarian, who will soon turn 113 years. As the number of centenarians in Japan hits a record high, the small but highly advanced island-nation mourns its looming demographic crisis. Official figures show that Japan’s birth rates have been falling drastically in recent years.

The number of centenarians is expected to stand at 36,276 at the end of September, the health ministry said. Women account for an overwhelmin…