Science and Technology › Health and disease
Non communicable diseases, nutrition and food safety
Diseases that are not caught from others, nutrition and food safety: cancers, diabetes, heart disease, inherited blood disorders, diseases carried in drinking water such as fluorosis, fortification, food labelling and tobacco. Prelims has asked about fluoride among the pollutants in India's drinking water.
Showing 3 of 5 subjects, those that changed from 1 to 15 July 2026.Show all
Codex Alimentarius Commission
Copy link to Codex Alimentarius CommissionPrelims
Codex is the joint food standards body of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, whose standards are the reference for food trade under the World Trade Organization.
What changed
14 Jul 2026New subjectalso in news
- The 49th session adopted seven standards steered by India, including dried coriander seeds, fresh curry leaves, vanilla and large cardamom, and approved new work on cashew kernels. Codex is the joint food standards body of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
Cancer
Cancer as a notifiable disease
Copy link to Cancer as a notifiable diseasePrelims and Mains
Making cancer notifiable obliges doctors and hospitals to report every case to the State, which fills the gap left by cancer registries that cover only a small share of the population; the Centre holds that notification is meant for communicable diseases.
What changed
4 Jul 2026New subject
- Telangana became the seventeenth State to make cancer notifiable, while the Centre holds that notification is meant for communicable diseases. India's cancer registries cover only about 10 to 16 per cent of the population.
Global Status Report on Cancer, 2026
Copy link to Global Status Report on Cancer, 2026Prelims and Mains
The World Health Organization's report gives the global count of cancer cases and deaths and shows the survival gap between rich and poor countries.
What changed
8 Jul 2026New subject
- The World Health Organization's report estimates about 20.6 million new cases and close to 10 million deaths a year, rising to about 35 million cases by 2050.
- Five year survival from breast cancer is about 87 per cent in high income countries against about 42 per cent in low income countries.
Mains: the survival gap is largely a matter of price and access, which is the case for using compulsory licensing.
The Hindu, 8 Jul 2026 · The Indian Express, 20 Jul 2026: WHO's Global Status Report on Cancer puts the inequity in survival, not in incidence (opens in a new tab)