Honouring Champions of Healthcare

Dear readers,
Thanks for your continued support! We really appreciate your long association with us. You will be glad to know that this time we are bringing to you a special issue on Double Helical National Health Awards 2017.
The prestigious event of the Indian healthcare sector witnessed a high profile gentry including eminent doctors, bureaucrats, politicians and social workers. This initiative to recognise and honour innovation and dedication in healthcare was widely appreciated. The Double Helical award recipients are champion healers whose extraordinary efforts in fulfilling the goals, values, and mission of inclusive healthcare were duly recognised at a credible platform.
Celebrating and promoting the finest achievements in the medical field since 2016, Double Helical Awards have grown to become the most-sought-after event in healthcare sector. Honouring the healthcare professionals and institutions that have genuinely made a difference to people’s lives, Double Helical provides a platform to recognise innovation, people, products and services that are helping to transform the healthcare sector in the country and ushering in affordable, high quality and inclusive healthcare for patients. No wonder that Double Helical awards has become a mega annual event, keenly-awaited in the healthcare sector of the country.
This is the third time when the awards were conducted by the magazine. In March 2016, Double Helical launched the first Double Helical Conclave and National Health Awards in New Delhi to take a closer look at the current scenario, discuss the way forward for the sector and recognise and reward excellence in the healthcare arena. The discussions and speeches brought forth fresh perspectives through engaging dialogues with the healthcare visionaries, experts, and other key stakeholders, while the awards ceremony honoured the deserving professionals and institutions working for the betterment of healthcare services. The event was followed by ‘Double Helical State Health Awards-Rajasthan’ at Jaipur, in November 2016.
Apart from awards, this special issue also carries a very informative and breaking story “Battle Against Diarrhoea.” In India, about 1.2 lakh children under the age of five succumb to diarrhoea every year. The Health Ministry has recently launched intensified efforts to reduce child deaths due to diarrhoea, and made it a national priority to bring health outcomes among children to a level equitable with the rest of the world.
According to the Health Ministry, there are around 10 crore children below five years of age across the country and last year thanks to the interventions carried out as part of IDCF, about 6.3 crore children were reached. This year in order to expand the cover, the target is to cover all the under-5 children.
In an apt recognition of his tireless efforts to control the consumption of unhealthy products, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda was recently honoured with WHO Award for Global Tobacco Control.The award was presented to him by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia at the ‘National Consultation on Accelerating Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for achievement of SDGs’.
Accepting the award. J P Nadda attributed it to the collective endeavour of the ministry, members of NGO, social activists, civil society organizations and many more who are contributing to this cause in their own ways across the country. He added that tobacco is a prime driver of poverty; it affects the family, the community and the country as a whole,and requires a multispectral approach to control it.
The ministry deserves accolades for the steps it has been taking to tackle serious health issues such as the increasing trend of alcohol and tobacco consumption. Significantly, tobacco users have reduced by 81 lakhs and the consumption of tobacco by the youth sees a marked decrease. There has been a 54% relative reduction in prevalence of tobacco use among minors (15-17 years) and 28% reduction in the age group of 18-24 years. Further, age of initiation among youth has also increased by one year. But this is not enough. The government has to do a lot more to reduce the intakeof harmful substances and discourage their promotion at various levels.
There are many more such insightful, engaging and interesting stories to broaden your horizon on healthcare issues. Happy reading to you all!

Warm regards,
Amresh K Tiwary,
Editor-in-Chief