Latest news with #MSSRF
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Covid cases may surge every 6 to 8 months: Soumya Swaminathan
Trichy: People should follow Covid guidelines as the virus is likely to stay and surge in months, chairperson of MSSRF Chairperson and advisor to Union ministry of health and family welfare Dr Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday. Soumya Swaminathan participated in the launch of the livelihood support programme for small-scale fishermen at MSSRF Fish For All Research and Training Center in Poompuhar, Mayiladuthurai district. Responding to questions from reporters about the spread of Covid-19, Soumya Swaminathan said, "There are possibilities of Covid-19 surge every six to eight months. The virus is here to stay with us, just like the common cold. People should be careful and follow Covid-19 guidelines." Stating that the virus spreading among people is likely to cause mild effects, Soumya Swaminathan said, "Elders and those with underlying health conditions need to be more careful, however." On Covid vaccination , Soumya Swaminathan said the vaccines were safe and are less likely to cause side effects any more. "Those who had contracted Covid earlier, may have reactions to comorbidities," she added. Earlier, MSSRF began an initiative for five villages in Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts. Head of the centre, S Velvizhi stated that training and development activities would be conducted for 1,500 families in the next three years. Addressing MSSRF's upcoming projects, Soumya Swaminathan said, "We are starting new research on the impact of prolonged heat and humidity on the health of fisherfolk in coastal districts." She added that MSSRF is developing an early warning tool integrated with artificial intelligence for fisherfolk to warn them about the health impact. She further stated that fisherfolk have a high possibility of high blood pressure and diabetes due to exposure to salty wind and consumption of salty food, according to surveys. "People should have a check-up once a year and keep their blood pressure under control," she said.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Covid likely to surge, people should follow guidelines: Soumya Swaminathan
Trichy: People should follow Covid guidelines as the virus is likely to stay and surge in months, chairperson of MSSRF Chairperson and advisor to Union ministry of health and family welfare Dr Soumya Swaminathan said on Monday. Soumya Swaminathan participated in the launch of the livelihood support programme for small-scale fishermen at MSSRF Fish For All Research and Training Center in Poompuhar, Mayiladuthurai district. Responding to questions from reporters about the spread of Covid-19, Soumya Swaminathan said, "There are possibilities of Covid-19 surge every six to eight months. The virus is here to stay with us, just like the common cold. People should be careful and follow Covid-19 guidelines." Stating that the virus spreading among people is likely to cause mild effects, Soumya Swaminathan said, "Elders and those with underlying health conditions need to be more careful, however." On Covid vaccination, Soumya Swaminathan said the vaccines were safe and are less likely to cause side effects any more. "Those who had contracted Covid earlier, may have reactions to comorbidities," she added. Earlier, MSSRF began an initiative for five villages in Mayiladuthurai and Cuddalore districts. Head of the centre, S Velvizhi stated that training and development activities would be conducted for 1,500 families in the next three years. Addressing MSSRF's upcoming projects, Soumya Swaminathan said, "We are starting new research on the impact of prolonged heat and humidity on the health of fisherfolk in coastal districts." She added that MSSRF is developing an early warning tool integrated with artificial intelligence for fisherfolk to warn them about the health impact. She further stated that fisherfolk have a high possibility of high blood pressure and diabetes due to exposure to salty wind and consumption of salty food, according to surveys. "People should have a check-up once a year and keep their blood pressure under control," she said.
India Today
27-05-2025
- Climate
- India Today
Shift in rain patterns, weather big concern as climate change hits India
India is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to projected climate change impacts, with heat stress emerging as the single largest concern. The prospect of extreme heat and heat stress arises from the widespread, rapid changes in ocean temperatures combined with steadily rising atmospheric heat India Heat Summit 2025 is deliberating on the issue of rising temperatures and shared solutions. The summit will also advise the government on long-term measures to deal with its deliberation is also focusing on issues related to unseasonal rainfall and the very frequent heavy rainfall occurring in the western parts of India, including the record-breaking rains in Mumbai on Monday—breaching a hundred-year record. Environmentalists are concerned about such frequent incidents of high-intensity rain occurring in a short Swaminathan, environmentalist and Chairperson of MSSRF, told India Today that Urban flooding is rising due to multiple factors—partly climate change, and partly poor planning. While total rainfall hasn't changed much over the decade, it's now falling in fewer hours, making it harder for cities to cope. "Yes, climate change has intensified rainfall — but it's also a planning failure. We need to rethink urban design. We can't keep building the same way in Delhi, the Himalayas, and coastal areas. That approach must change," she Chitale, environmentalist at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, points out that erratic rainfall and early monsoons aren't entirely new phenomena—they've been observed over many years. However, what has changed is the intensity and concentration of rainfall in short show that regions like Rajasthan, Gujarat, central Maharashtra, and Karnataka have seen rainfall increase by up to 30% over the last decade compared to the previous 30-year average. This rise isn't spread evenly across the season; instead, it is marked by short, intense downpours, such as those seen recently in Mumbai—an outcome of increasingly erratic monsoon stresses the need for proactive prevention through robust early warning systems. He highlights India's ongoing efforts, such as the Monsoon Mission weather forecast model, as important steps forward. But he adds that what's crucial now is scaling these systems across urban India with detailed observation networks to provide timely alerts and minimize damage from such extreme agree that these extreme weather patterns are a direct result of climate change, but also point to significant governance gaps. Aarti Khosla from Climate Trends noted that warming oceans are carrying more moisture, leading to more intense and erratic rainfall. She emphasised that cities are ill-prepared for such events, lacking resilient infrastructure for transport, public health, and emergency response. According to her, the early onset of the southwest monsoon, as seen in Mumbai, is a warning sign—and India must urgently integrate weather data with urban planning to protect vulnerable to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN's climate science body, India is projected to be one of the most vulnerable regions to escalating heatwaves, humid heat stress, and other extreme weather events in a 1.5C warmer world—threats that could bring irreversible over 90% of its workforce employed in the informal sector, in the world's most densely populated country, India faces heightened exposure to both the physical dangers and economic risks of rising heat recent years, the country has experienced record-breaking temperatures year after year, with early summer arriving as soon as February or March. Heatwaves have become more frequent, prolonged, and many areas, temperatures have soared close to 50C in recent years—leading to increased illness and loss of life, especially among vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and outdoor spans five distinct climatic zones—tropical, arid, semi-arid, temperate, and alpine—all of which are now experiencing severe disruptions due to rising the north, accelerated glacial melt and glacial lake formation are intensifying flood risks. Forest fires and water scarcity are putting pressure on hill ecosystems in states like arid and semi-arid regions are seeing erratic rainfall patterns, upending agricultural cycles. Traditional climate zones are flipping: flood-prone areas now face droughts, and vice India's 7,500-km coastline, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are witnessing increased cyclogenesis—leading to stronger, more frequent storms, saltwater intrusion, humid heatwaves, affected fisheries, and rising sea level studies show a clear spatial-temporal shift in heatwave occurrences across India, with rising trends in three major regions: north-western, central, and south-central to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the most affected states and union territories include Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and economic and social toll of these extreme conditions is enormous. The Reserve Bank of India estimates that extreme heat and humidity could lead to a 4.5% loss in GDP by 2030 due to reduced labour in monsoon patterns and rising temperatures could further reduce GDP by 2.8% by 2030, potentially lowering living standards for nearly half the population by effective mitigation policies, India could face annual GDP losses of 3-10% by climate-induced extremes intensify, it's critical to assess temperature-related risks across key sectors like energy, industry, agriculture, and urban May 2024, India's power consumption surged by 15%, reaching a record peak demand of 250.07 GW, driven by extreme heat and surpassing all previous temperatures have increased the demand for residential cooling, industrial operations, and irrigation, making India more reliant on thermal power to meet its growing energy project a 9-10% increase in energy demand in 2025, driven in part by a sharp rise in air conditioner sales—highlighting both the rising energy demand and the growing disparity in generation to transmission to distribution, high temperatures strain energy systems. Experts note that as a conductor heats up, its molecules vibrate more, increasing resistance and reducing became evident in 2022, when India experienced its worst electricity shortage in over six years, leading to power cuts in homes and industries. For the manufacturing sector, such supply disruptions can severely impact production timelines and raise impact of heat stress extends far beyond the power grid. According to the World Bank, over 34 million jobs in India could be at risk due to heat exposure. Between 2001 and 2020, India lost around 259 billion hours of labour—worth US$ 624 billion (INR 46 lakh crore) annually—due to extreme heat and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)—the backbone of the economy—are especially vulnerable to productivity declines, infrastructure damage, supply chain disruptions, and job 2022, heatwaves forced India to ban wheat exports after extreme temperatures slashed yields—highlighting the vulnerability of both the agriculture sector and global food supply scientists say heat stress has reduced rice yields by 15–20% across different to NDMA, broader impacts of heat stress on agriculture include declining soil moisture, water insecurity, increasing pest varieties, crop wilting, reduced food quality and nutrition, lower milk production, and impacts on animal growing threat of heat stress calls for urgent mid- and long-term strategies—both structural and non-structural—to limit economic and social fallout. Heat Action Plans remain India's main policy tool but require stronger coordination, greater investment, and cross-sector build resilience, India will need investment in cooling infrastructure, better urban design, early warning systems, and adaptive social protection. The real challenge lies in not just recognising heat as an economic threat, but also in mobilising targeted finance to tackle it and protect challenge is unique: it must build heat resilience while sustaining economic growth to create jobs and lift millions out of poverty. This calls for coordinated solutions from national, state, and local governments, industries, and Heat Conference being organised by Climate Trends aims to bring together these stakeholders to address what may be India's single greatest climate Watch
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Investing in TB Vaccines Is Urgent for India and the Asian Region: Dr. Soumya Swaminathan
New Delhi: Dr Soumya Swaminathan , Chairperson of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and former Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization, has called for urgent and sustained investment in tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, particularly for high-burden countries like India. Speaking at the first day of the World Health Summit (WHS) Regional Meeting during the panel discussion Asia Region TB Vaccine R&D Financing, Dr. Swaminathan emphasised that an effective TB vaccine could save millions of lives and generate significant economic benefits. Referencing the World Health Organization's TB vaccine investment case, Dr. Swaminathan explained how a viable vaccine could avert deaths, reduce treatment needs, prevent catastrophic healthcare expenditure, and lead to measurable gains in GDP. 'It's a continuum—people get infected, some clear it, some develop active disease. But even subclinical TB carries a significant risk of mortality, and the outcomes worsen without early diagnosis or treatment,' she said. Acknowledging India's contribution to TB vaccine research, Dr. Swaminathan noted that the overall TB vaccine pipeline remains stagnant, with several candidates stuck in early trial phases for over a decade. 'These candidates neither move forward nor drop off. What we need is decisive action—to either advance them or let them go,' she stated. She pointed to M72, a promising candidate now in Phase 3 trials with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust, as an example of the high costs and slow timelines that dominate vaccine development. 'It's a $500 million project. But we cannot afford to spend that amount on every candidate,' Dr. Swaminathan stated, adding that TB trials take years to reach endpoints. 'Then comes data analysis, regulatory submissions, and finally, scale-up. That's the traditional timeline.' Drawing on her experience with the WHO Solidarity Trial during the COVID-19 pandemic, she explained how digital tools, international collaboration, and adaptive regulatory approaches had helped compress vaccine timelines. 'We had 35 to 40 countries participating, and everything was done online. The cost was negligible. That model can work for TB too,' she said. Dr. Swaminathan also praised India's ability to execute large-scale adult vaccination campaigns, as demonstrated during COVID-19. She urged stakeholders to apply similar urgency and innovation in rolling out TB vaccines. 'COVID showed us that timelines can be compressed. I was involved in the Solidarity Trial. It spanned 35–40 countries, was fully digital, and the cost was negligible compared to traditional trials. Vaccine companies contributed doses, doctors volunteered their time, and forms were designed to be completed in minutes—even in busy ICUs. ICMR was involved in that too,' she said. 'Similarly, regulatory agencies came together during COVID. They didn't take years to assess dossiers. Benchmarks were set. WHO created target product profiles, and global regulators like the FDA and EMA aligned on efficacy and safety standards. Minimum safety data was accepted to proceed, with continued monitoring post-rollout. Manufacturers even scaled up production before final efficacy results were available—governments absorbed that risk,' Dr. Swaminathan added. India launched the COVID Suraksha programme and invested significantly. So, it's possible to compress a 10–15-year vaccine development timeline into something much shorter—if the global community aligns. 'Of course, TB is not COVID. Endpoints take longer. But that doesn't mean we must accept the status quo. We don't have to wait decades for results.' Highlighting the inefficiencies in the current system, she advocated for a global mechanism to evaluate and prioritise the most promising TB vaccine candidates. 'Right now, companies are very protective of their own candidates. We're not making the most efficient use of our limited resources.' She concluded by urging policymakers, global health agencies , and vaccine developers to collaborate, invest, and rethink the way TB vaccines are developed and deployed. 'It's not just about science. It's about saving lives—and doing it faster.'
