Every year, World Toilet Day is observed to raise awareness about the global sanitation crisis and encourage action to solve it. The goal set by the United Nation is to achieve safe toilets for all by 2023, as a part of their Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN also states that 3.5 billion people live without proper sanitation and many children also lose their lives due to poor sanitation and unsafe water. This is why World Toilet Day is observed to raise awareness on this issue.

Theme

This year, the theme for World Toilet Day 2024 is "Toilets - A Place for Peace'. This focuses on the growing threat to sanitation that is caused by conflict, climate change, disaster and neglect. When there is a threat to using toilets, it can lead to many health risks.

Not using toilets for too long may lead to Urinary Tract Infection or UTI. For many who do not have access to clean toilets do not drink enough liquid or hold pee for too long. Doctors suggest that holding in pee for too long can cause bacteria to multiply and lead to UTI. By not drinking enough water, your bladder fails to tell the body to pee often, and can cause the bacteria to spread through the urinary tract, which can lead to infection.

Symptoms of UTI:

• Burning or stinging feeling while urinating
• Pain in pelvis or lower abdomen
• Constant urge to empty the bladder
• Strong or foul smelling urine
• Consistently dark urine
• Blood in urine

Holding in pee for too long can also cause your bladder to stretch, making it difficult or even impossible for the bladder to contract and release pee normally. It can also damage your pelvic floor muscles or could lead to kidney stones.

World Toilet Day History And Significance

To prevent such conditions, it is important that everyone has access to clean and safe toilets. In terms of history, the day was established in 2001, by the World Toilet Organization (WTO), which was founded by Jack Sim. However, it was officially recognised by the UN in 2013. The Government of Singapore worked with WTO to create the first UN resolution called Sanitation for All.

India too promotes safe and hygiene toilet through its Swachh Bharat Yojna.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most common cardiovascular disorders, with an estimated prevalence of 3.8% in individuals aged less than 60 years and 9.5% in those aged over 60 years. MI remains a leading cause of death and is a significant public health concern worldwide.

But a heart attack isn't one single disease with one single mechanism. Being able to classify the type of myocardial infarction quickly can improve diagnosis and treatment.

In view of this, four major cardiac societies—the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association (AHA) and the World Heart Federation (WHF)—have jointly launched the Fifth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction.

The Fifth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction replaces numerical labels with three clinically meaningful categories.

The new approach aims to help healthcare professionals make more consistent diagnoses and enable patients to understand their condition better.

The new definition also aligns with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding, which captures statistics on the extent, causes and consequences of different diseases.

“People may think of an MI as a heart attack caused by a blocked coronary artery but there are many different causes of MI,” explained ESC Chair, Professor Nicholas Mills from the University of Edinburgh, UK.

“The previous universal definition used a numerical system to categorize the different types of MI but this was not always easy to apply in clinical practice, leading to inconsistencies in diagnosis and treatment. The ESC, ACC, AHA and WHF have worked together to devise an updated and simplified classification system for MI, which aims to address these limitations.”

What Does the Fifth UDMI Mean?

The Fifth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction updates the classification to better reflect underlying pathophysiology, align with the clinical evaluation of patients, and incorporate objective diagnostic criteria.

Notably, it could facilitate wider study of less common mechanisms of primary MI, such as spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD), a condition occurring predominantly in women that is currently underdiagnosed.

What Are the 3 New Heart Attack Categories?

The new system considers the underlying cause of MI and aligns the diagnosis with established approaches to clinical evaluation. It recognises that MI occurs in three clinical settings: primary MI, secondary MI and procedure-related MI.

In this updated approach to MI classification, all MIs fit into one of these three clinical categories, and the new document outlines the diagnostic tests and investigations required for each.

1. Primary MI

Primary MI arises spontaneously due to an acute problem in a coronary artery. It is most commonly caused by a rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque, but there are other causes, such as a tear in the coronary wall (spontaneous coronary artery dissection [SCAD]), spasm or a clot.

2. Secondary MI

Secondary MI arises from an imbalance in oxygen supply and demand in the heart caused by another condition, such as very high or very low blood pressure or a very fast heartbeat.

3. Procedure-Related MI

The third setting—procedure-related MI—is one that occurs within 30 days of a cardiac procedure, such as coronary stenting, or a heart operation, such as coronary artery bypass surgery.

“Clinicians often do not use the previous numerical terminology—e.g. type 2 or type 4c—in patient discussions as it is rather complex. With the new approach, we can now talk with patients about the cause of their MI so that they can understand their condition and recognize why the next steps, such as further tests and treatments, are needed,” said ACC/AHA Chair, Professor Kristin Newby from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, US.

US President Donald Trump has announced drug pricing deals with nine more drug makers, including international pharmaceutical companies and smaller biotech firms, as part of his push to make healthcare more affordable.

Currently, US consumers pay nearly three times more for prescription medicines than people in other developed nations. Trump has been pressuring drug makers to bring the prices closer to those paid in other countries.

The latest deals, the White House said in a statement, bring the administration’s total to 26 drug makers. According to Trump, these represent 90% of the domestic pharmaceutical market, while the remaining 10% is “also coming in” and “have no choice.”

Which Companies Signed the Deals?

The latest agreements build on the administration’s broader “most favored nation” (MFN) drug pricing policy.

The White House said the nine companies are:

• Alcon
• Astellas Pharma
• BeOne Medicines
• BridgeBio
• CSL
• Kyowa Kirin
• Sun Pharma
• Teva Pharmaceuticals
• UCB

What Do the Deals Mean?

The White House said the agreements will lower prices on medicines used to treat costly chronic and rare diseases, including hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, macular degeneration, glaucoma, liver disease, skin conditions and various cancers.

The deals give every state Medicaid program access to MFN prices on products from the nine companies, generating billions of dollars in savings.

The agreements also guarantee MFN pricing for all new innovative medicines the companies bring to market, which the administration says will prevent foreign price controls from benefiting from US pharmaceutical innovation.

$19.6 Billion US Manufacturing Investment

The nine companies have committed to investing at least $19.6 billion collectively in US manufacturing in the near term, according to the White House.

Astellas, Sun Pharma, Teva and UCB also agreed to donate active pharmaceutical ingredients to the federal government’s strategic reserve, known as SAPIR, aimed at reducing reliance on foreign supplies and preparing for emergencies.

Previous Drug Pricing Deals

Over the past year, the administration reached deals with 17 other drug makers, including Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly reportedly agreed to price cuts in exchange for making their medicines more widely available through Medicare.

Trump also signed an executive order in May 2025 to revive the MFN policy, calling for prices to be increased outside the US and to “end global freeloading.”

The biggest savings from earlier drug pricing deals have come from weight-loss medicines.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly reportedly agreed to price cuts in exchange for making their medicines more widely available through Medicare.

Will Americans Pay Less?

It remains unclear how many medicines are covered by the new deals or how large the discounts will be, making the potential savings for patients and the government difficult to determine.

The White House did not release details of the agreements, while some companies described certain terms as private. The administration and several companies said the deals will also bring future savings on innovative medicines and expand US manufacturing.

Beyond weight-loss drugs, consumer watchdog Public Citizen has questioned how much price relief Americans are actually receiving from the administration’s agreements, Reuters reported.

Medicaid already receives steep discounts from drug makers under existing law, while most Medicaid beneficiaries pay little out of pocket for prescriptions.

A new Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study based on 20 tertiary-care hospitals has found that patients with drug-resistant bacterial infections face higher mortality, longer hospital stays and substantially higher costs of treatment than those infected with drug-sensitive strains. The study analysed nearly 1.6 lakh hospitalised patients between April 2022 and April 2025.

The findings, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, focused on four major Gram-negative bacteria: E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Of 26,213 patients with confirmed infections caused by these bacteria, 61.1% had carbapenem-resistant infections.

ICMR Says India Is Facing A 'Superbug' Crisis

The new study found that mortality was consistently higher among patients with carbapenem-resistant infections. For Klebsiella pneumoniae, mortality was 31.2% among patients with resistant infections versus 23.5% among those with susceptible infections.

For E. coli, the figures were 24.4% versus 17.3%. For Acinetobacter baumannii, mortality was 37.9% versus 32.8%, while for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, it was 28.9% versus 20.2%.

The risk was particularly severe with infections that were resistant to carbapenem, where mortality reached 46.4% to 50.8%.

Also read: H1N1 In Delhi: 166 Fresh Cases In 24 Hours, Tally Rises To 2,612

Drug Resistance Also Comes With A Bigger Treatment Cost

The study also found that antibiotic treatment costs were 1.1 to 2 times higher for drug-resistant infections. Treatment of resistant E. coli, for example, averaged $420 per patient, compared with $211 for susceptible infections.

The corresponding costs were $587 versus $505 for K. pneumoniae, $655 versus $436 for A. baumannii, and $702 versus $510 for P. aeruginosa.

Patients also spent longer in hospital. Those with resistant E. coli infections stayed an average of 23.1 days, compared with 17.8 days for susceptible infections.

Also read: Exclusive With Leading Pulmonologist: When Should You Worry About H1N1 Symptoms?

“AMR Is No Longer A Distant Threat”: ICMR

Dr Kamini Walia, senior scientist at ICMR and an author of the study, said, “Antimicrobial resistance is no longer a distant threat—it is already costing Indian lives.”

She added. “Our study shows that carbapenem-resistant infections carry substantially higher mortality and treatment costs.”

But Walia stressed that simply developing or prescribing stronger antibiotics is not enough. The answer, she said, is “better infection prevention, timely diagnostics and responsible antibiotic use.”

That is important because every time antibiotics are used, susceptible bacteria can be eliminated while resistant ones survive and multiply. Misuse or incomplete or inappropriate treatment can accelerate that process.

Also read: India Records 3,395 Active COVID-19 Cases, 26 Deaths, Kerala And Maharashtra Among Worst-Hit States

Avoid Delay In Treatment

According to The Times of India, Dr Rahul Pandit, a critical care specialist at H N Reliance Hospital said that Mumbai hospitals are also seeing more patients with carbapenem-resistant infections.

“It takes longer to treat a patient with a drug-resistant infection. Developing a culture, identifying the organism and determining its resistance pattern can take a few days, although molecular diagnostics can help us do this faster,” he said.

When the usual antibiotic no longer works, doctors may need to use combinations of drugs or newer, more expensive medicines.

ICMR Has Been Monitoring AMR For Nearly 13 Years

ICMR has been tracking antimicrobial resistance through its Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance and Research Network (AMRSN) since 2013. The agency says AMR can lead to prolonged illness, higher healthcare costs and increased mortality, while inappropriate antibiotic use remains one of the major challenges.

ICMR's current priorities include strengthening surveillance, improving infection prevention, expanding rapid diagnostics and developing alternative treatments such as bacteriophages and monoclonal antibodies.