During a recent trip to Jordan a waiter at the international chain hotel I was staying at seated me at a table in the midst of several smokers. When I asked for a “no smoking” table he took me to another, still surrounded by smokers, and replaced the ashtray with a no smoking sign.  I could barely breathe and eat my sandwich to my room.  more…

The Union Health Minister of India, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad recently announced a plan to hold a diabetes census across the country. “We intend to start mandatory testing for diabetes in the age group 25-70 years across the country in the next two years. The idea is to figure out the actual number of the population that is suffering from diabetes or is likely to suffer,” said Mr. Azad. more…

As the knowledge-driven, post-industrial global economy of the 21st century evolves, the role of research and training for research will become increasingly important. China seems to have heard that message. 

During a recent visit to China, I had the pleasure of interacting with investigators and doctoral students at the Institute of Nutritional Sciences (INS) of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. INS is a young institution.  Established in 2003, it has already spawned twenty-one laboratories, focusing on nutritional research – spanning from diabetes to food safety. Each laboratory has a number of core investigators and several doctoral and post-doctoral students.  more…

“China pips India as the world’s most diabetic nation” ran the headlines in Hindustan Times (March 26, 2010).  It almost sounded as if India’s pride had been hurt. Such a deep sense of defeat was not expressed even when China led the world winning 51 gold medals to India’s one and only in the 2008 Olympic Games! more…

In general, past trends may help to reliably predict the future of simple systems. Not so with complex dynamic systems, which are hard to predict, and when it comes to complexity and dynamism, new India is hard to beat, and therefore, hard to predict.

In one of my earlier blogs (1 March, 2010), I asked whether and how India might meet the gigantic challenges of educating its very large young population (nearly 50% of India’s population is under 25 years of age) – often touted as India’s “demographic dividend” for economic growth. more…

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released its elegantly titled report, “A Population-Based Policy and Systems Change Approach to Prevent and Control Hypertension” (Washington, DC. National Academies Press, 2010). more…

Given the sheer size and complexity of the country, it is always impossible to talk of India in any singular or modest sense.  India has the largest population of young people, and will add 220 million to her workforce by 2030.  Wouldn’t that make India a young and vibrant country? more…

The massive global hunt for genes for common diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and type 2 diabetes, has raised huge expectations. The idea that knowledge of disease genes can remarkably improve prediction of risk, and lead to better ways of prevention and targeted treatment has excited the world, and resulted in a pouring of resources into this field.  more…