Food Inflation Eases Slightly In India

“India said Thursday that annual food inflation eased marginally for a second straight week after surging to nearly 18 percent last month, providing relief to consumers and policymakers,” Agence France-Presse reports. For the week ending Jan. 8, food inflation decreased to 15.52 percent from 16.91 percent the previous week. “The drop comes at a time when India’s central bank is considering hiking interest rates to contain annual inflation, which is running at 8.43 percent, driven by rises in the cost of food, fuel and commodities,” the news service notes (1/20).

IRIN Examines Cholera Management In Chad

IRIN examines the challenges associated with managing cholera in Chad after the epidemic has died down. According to the news service, “proper sanitation facilities, as well as safe drinking water, are out of reach for most Chadians. And tackling this, experts say, must be the priority post-emergency.” As of mid-December, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded 6,369 cases of the disease and 180 deaths, indicating that the rate of infection was slowing. “Once an epidemic is over, the government must work on improving basic water and sanitation infrastructure and promoting hygiene for the long term,” said Abakar Mahamat, director of Intermon Oxfam Chad. “It is difficult to effectively teach proper hygiene to students when schools do not even have adequate washroom facilities,” he adds (1/19).

Bangladesh Undergoes National HIV Surveillance After Three-Year Gap

Bangladesh recently launched nationwide HIV surveillance blood-testing “after a gap of more than three years,” bdnews24.com reports. “Experts say the delay could see a jump in HIV cases and further complicate the already ineffective prevention campaign,” the news service writes. Blood samples from about 13,000 people, including sex workers, men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and others will be tested for HIV (Hasib, 1/19).