Health matters newsletter: bringing down stress around exams

Health Matters On the anxiety during exam season in India and the need to prioritise mental health; the solving of the mystery case of hair loss in Maharashtra, the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade, and more It’s examination season in India, and as anyone who has ever been through the board exams here knows, it is a period of high stress and anxiety -- both for students and parents. A study by NIMHANS, Bengaluru adds weight to this: of 8,542 students from 30 universities in India who were surveyed, 12.3% of the participants reported suicidal ideation in the 12 months before the study period, and 5.2% reported a suicide attempt, reports Afshan Yasmeen, while Athira Elssa Johnson speaks to experts who stress the need for better data to achieve India’s goal of 10% lower suicide mortality by 2030. Here’s a round-up of news from outside India: the threat of polio remains real with Pakistan confirming two new poliovirus cases in Sindh, and Punjab; in Uganda, the second Ebola death has raised concern over disease surveillance; and if you thought infectious diseases were an affliction of developing countries, here’s a zinger: the U.S. recorded its first measles death in a decade, and known anti-vaxxer and head of the department of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr, has had to revise his stance on the vaccine. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has said abrupt disruptions to foreign aid and service delivery threaten the gains achieved in controlling new HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths, in tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases: a stark reminder of this is the closure of Hyderabad’s Mitr Clinic, India’s first transgender healthcare centre, following the USAID freeze, reports Siddharth Kumar Singh.