A report by Swachh Bharat Mission says that 74.5 per cent of public places are equipped with toilets. Another report by the Ministry of Jal Shakti states that there are 2.23 lakh Community Sanitary Complexes built across all States and UTs under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) since October 2014. Over 92 lakh toilets have been constructed since the launch of SBM Gramin (SBM (G)) in April 2020.

While toilets are there, are they accessible? This is the question one should ask. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) focuses on 131 health indicators, but not until the NFHS 5 survey did they include the question of accessibility of toilets in the survey. This happened after the inputs from the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare questioned the accessibility.

One might ask, why is the question of accessibility so important? The answer is quite simple. Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need and is also included under the Sustainable Development Goals by the UN.

Are These Numbers Real?

This thought crossed my mind because back in 2021, I went on a solo trip, on a bus to Udaipur from Delhi. There, the bus made two stoppages. This was done so people could get a quick dinner and freshen up, relieve themselves and be prepared for the rest of the journey. This was a nightmare. The bus only stopped for 10 minutes. While some men used the washroom, others went to the bushes.

For the women, there were three cubicles. One of them was broken, and the other one did not have a light bulb, which meant only one was usable. There was a long queue for that cubicle, and time was short. There was no point in trying to find an isolated corner, because it was past midnight, in an unknown area.

I waited anxiously. When finally, my turn came, I saw an overused, dirty washroom. The toilet seat is in a horrible condition. I wanted to touch nothing there. But I had to pee. So, I used my mask to cover my nose from the odour, folded my pants so they did not touch the floor and squatted. It was quite a task to balance.

On my way back to Delhi, I made sure to not drink any water for over a 13-hour bus journey. I dehydrated myself so I did not have to use the washroom. When I did reach, I was severely dehydrated and was sick for three days.

I shared my experience with my friends only to realise that many women have faced the same. There are no washrooms for women.

A friend of mine told me that it is because these roads and dhabas are mainly designed to serve men. They are the ones who travel at night or are on the roads most of the time. As a result, the few women who do travel or are on the road suffer.

Health Risks Women Are Prone To

Well, it is true, but partially. While holding your pee for too long can lead to health risks, peeing on a dirty toilet seat cannot lead to infections unless your urethra is in contact with the bacteria present on that toilet seat. However, nobody wants to sit on a dirty toilet seat, even if you do not get an infection. A safe and hygienic toilet is a basic need.

One of the regular saleswomen, Usha, who visits my house shared her experience with me. “Being on the road constantly means I must use the dirty public washrooms. But I do not want to use them. So, sometimes I ask my regular customers to let me use their washrooms. Some say yes, and some say no. I understand they are also concerned about their safety and privacy,” she says. As a result, Usha spends most of her day not drinking enough water and holding her pee when she is at work. Due to this, she also suffered from a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).

Her friend, Halima too faced similar problems and due to increased levels of uric acid in her body, she suffered from Hyperuricemia.

Other health risks are kidney stones and other kidney problems, headaches, dull skin, xerostomia or dry mouth, fatigue, and urinary incontinence, which means losing control over your pelvic floor muscles leading to uncontrolled leakage of urine, seizures and weakness.

What Can You Do?

Wear comfortable clothes and capris. Capri pants are comfortable and are short in length, which means this won’t touch the toilet floor when you squat or sit.

Carry Essentials

Even though you cannot get a UTI alone from sitting on a toilet seat, it is always safe to carry a toilet seat sanitiser. If nothing, it can help you get rid of the bad odour so you can use your stand and pee device inside the toilet. You can also use disposable toilet seat covers if your knees are weak, and you cannot squat. Always flush with your seat down.

Always keep disposable gloves, a portable bidet (fill it with water before use), a pocket liquid handwash, wet wipes, tissues and sanitiser handy. Do not forget to keep extra sanitary pads. It might sound a lot, but I promise that it all fits in one pouch. Use this travel-friendly pouch every time you are on the road, or using a public washroom.

What Can We Learn From Others?

However, in case we do not get these technologically advanced toilets here, you can always pack a travel-friendly toilet kit!

Childhood obesity is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious public health concerns across the world, and in India too. Once considered a problem limited to adults, excess weight is now affecting children at younger ages and increasing their risk of chronic diseases early in life.

According to The World Obesity Atlas 2024 by the World Obesity Federation, India ranks second globally in the number of children living with overweight and obesity, just behind China. The report estimates that out of 56 million children affected in the country, around 20 million are likely to be obese, while the rest are expected to fall in the overweight category.

Read: Childhood Obesity In India To Surge To 56 Million By 2040, Says Global Report

The situation is not limited to India. Globally, the number of children aged 5 to 19 years living with overweight or obesity is projected to reach 507 million by 2040, rising sharply from 419 million in 2025.

Experts say the rise is closely linked to how children eat, move, and spend their time today.

Childhood Obesity Is More Than A Cosmetic Issue

Dr Ruchi Golash, Pediatrician at CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI, explains that childhood obesity goes far beyond appearance and can have long-term health consequences.

“Excess weight in childhood is not just a cosmetic concern. It significantly increases the risk of conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease and early heart problems,” she says.

Read: 1 In Every 8 School-going Children Is Obese In Kolkata: Study

Children who develop obesity early in life are also more likely to remain obese as adults if the issue is not addressed in time. This makes early prevention and lifestyle changes especially important.

The Role Of Excessive Screen Time

One of the biggest lifestyle changes affecting children today is the rise in screen time. From online classes and gaming to streaming videos, children are spending several hours each day in front of screens.

Dr Golash notes that this shift is contributing significantly to weight gain.

“Prolonged screen use reduces physical activity, disrupts sleep patterns and often encourages mindless snacking,” she explains.

Exposure to screens, especially before bedtime, can also interfere with hormones that regulate hunger and fullness. As a result, children may feel hungrier and eat more than their bodies need.

Ultra-Processed Foods Are Becoming The Norm

Another major factor behind rising childhood obesity is the shift in dietary habits.

Ultra-processed foods such as packaged snacks, sugary beverages, instant noodles and bakery products have become widely available and heavily marketed to children. While convenient and appealing, these foods are typically high in calories, sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.

“They are low in fibre and essential nutrients, which means children consume a lot of energy without getting adequate nutrition,” Dr Golash says.

Regular consumption of these foods can lead to rapid weight gain, insulin resistance and early metabolic problems, increasing the risk of long-term health complications.

Decline In Outdoor Play And Physical Activity

Sedentary lifestyles are another key contributor. Compared to previous generations, children today spend far less time playing outdoors.

Academic pressure, safety concerns and the lure of digital entertainment have gradually replaced active play with more sedentary activities.

“Even children who do not overeat can gain weight if they are not physically active enough,” Dr Golash explains. Reduced muscle activity slows down metabolism and allows fat to accumulate more easily in the body.

What Parents Can Do To Prevent Childhood Obesity

Experts say parents play a central role in preventing childhood obesity and helping children build healthier habits.

Dr Golash advises families to start with simple lifestyle changes such as limiting daily screen time, encouraging outdoor play and prioritizing home-cooked meals.

“Setting reasonable screen-time limits, promoting daily physical activity and reducing sugary drinks can make a significant difference in a child’s overall health,” she says.

She also emphasizes that conversations about weight should focus on healthy habits rather than appearance.

Early and supportive interventions, she adds, can help reverse unhealthy weight gain and protect a child’s long-term heart and metabolic health.

Pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to catch early, can now be detected early with a simple blood test, but powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

The AI-based test analyzes metabolic fingerprints in a blood sample and spots pancreatic cancer at its earliest stages with up to 94 percent accuracy.

The study published in the journal Nature Communications showed that the diagnostic tool called PanMETAI can be a non-invasive and cost-effective screening tool to save lives lost due to pancreatic cancer -- one of the deadliest forms of cancer worldwide, with only a 13 percent five-year survival rate.

The tool combines with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics to identify pancreatic cancer with remarkable accuracy. NMR is a method that captures the unique chemical fingerprint of hundreds of metabolites in a patient's blood.

"By combining the power of AI with the rich metabolic information captured by NMR spectroscopy, we have created a tool that can detect pancreatic cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages. Our goal is to bring this technology to clinical practice so that more patients can benefit from timely diagnosis and treatment," said Yu-Ting Chang, Professor of internal medicine (gastroenterology and hepatology) at National Taiwan University, Taiwan.

The researchers noted that the PanMETAI platform enables high-precision pancreatic cancer prediction, facilitating early detection, which will enhance treatment outcomes.

Pancreatic Cancer: How PanMETAI makes early-stage detection

Pancreatic cancer is hard to treat as the symptoms are rarely seen in the initial stages, and most patients receive their diagnosis at an advanced stage, when treatment options are limited.

The PanMETAI platform tapped the current screening methods -- blood marker CA19-9 -- for early detection.

Using 500 microliters of blood serum, the platform was able to extract over 260,000 metabolic signals in the study. It then analyzed the datasets using an AI model.

By integrating these metabolic profiles with age, the cancer marker CA19-9, and a protein biomarker called Activin A, PanMETAI correctly distinguished cancer patients from high-risk controls in nearly every case, said the team.

The researchers then validated the model in an independent Lithuanian cohort of 322 participants. The results proved that the tool works reliably across diverse populations.

Further, the team found that NMR metabolomic data were essential to boost early-stage detection sensitivity.

These capture subtle metabolic shifts -- such as decreased HDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and glutamine (an essential protein), and elevated lactic acid, glucose, and glutamic acid -- that occur before the cancer becomes clinically apparent.

Pancreatic Cancer: A Global Health Burden

Pancreatic cancer is the 12th most common cancer worldwide.

Data from the Globocan reveal there were 510,992 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2022, with China, the US, and Japan reporting the highest number of cases.

The pancreas is a 15cm long gland found behind the stomach and in front of the spine. The organ is key to digesting food and curbing blood sugar levels in the body.

Cancer develops in the pancreas when a change in the cells of the organ causes them to grow uncontrollably. Most pancreatic cancers start in exocrine cells, which produce digestive enzymes to help digest food and are secreted into the small intestine.

While there are hardly any early symptoms, the ones appear can include:

• eyes or skin turning yellow (jaundice)
• itchy skin
• darker pee and paler poo than usual
• loss of appetite or losing weight without trying to
• fatigue
• a high temperature, or feeling hot or shivery

Rates of binge drinking have raised among gen Z since their teenage years. As per a recent research by the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), data from nearly 10,000 people born across the UK in 2000-02 who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study was analyzed. The research found that the gen Z is challenging their reputation as the "generation sensible".

What Did The Research Find?

The study found that 7 in 10, which is 63 per cent of 23-year-olds report binge drinking in the past year.

Nearly a third or around 29 per cent also said they did so at least monthly, which is up from 10 per cent at age 17.

The study also found that while drug use is relatively limited in the teenage years, by 20, almost half of them, or 49 per cent have used cannabis and a third, around 32 per cent have tried harder drugs like cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy.

Researchers compared substance use in the same group at ages 17 and 23. By 23, the share reporting binge drinking at least once in the past year rose by 15 percentage points, from 53% at 17 to 68%. Binge drinking refers to consuming six or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting.

Drug Use Among Gen Z Sees Sharp Rise

Drug use among Gen Z has increased substantially as they move from their teenage years into their early 20s. The share of young people who said they had tried cannabis rose by 18 percentage points between ages 17 and 23, climbing from 31 per cent to 49 per cent.

Use of harder drugs showed an even steeper rise. The proportion of young people who said they had experimented with harder substances more than tripled, increasing from 10 per cent at 17 to 32 per cent by the age of 23. Meanwhile, the number who reported using these drugs at least 10 times in the past year went up from 3 percent to 8 percent.

Gambling and Vaping Also Increasing

The study also examined other potentially addictive behaviors. Nearly a third of the group, about 32 per cent, reported gambling by the age of 23. However, only 4 percent described their gambling as problematic.

Vaping saw one of the most noticeable increases. Daily vaping rose sharply from 3 percent at age 17 to 19 per cent by age 23. In comparison, cigarette smoking remained relatively stable, increasing slightly from 8 per cent to 9 percent.

Study Questions the Idea That Gen Z Drinks Less

Lead author Dr Aase Villadsen said the findings challenge the common belief that younger generations are moving away from alcohol.

She explained that while recent reports have suggested Gen Z drinks less than earlier generations, the new study indicates that this may not hold true once some members of this generation reach their early 20s.

Although late adolescence and early adulthood are often periods of experimentation, Villadsen said the rise in binge drinking and drug use during the early 20s is concerning, especially if these behaviors begin to become long-term habits.

She noted that the sharp increase in these behaviors between adolescence and early adulthood highlights how risks can intensify during this stage of life.

Villadsen also stressed that prevention strategies should focus on groups that appear to be more vulnerable. For instance, young men were found to be about seven times more likely than women to report gambling problems and were also more likely to use harder drugs.

Experts Warn About Alcohol’s Impact on Young Brains

Dr Katherine Severi, chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, as reported by The Guardian, said young people are particularly vulnerable to alcohol’s effects because the brain continues to develop until the mid-20s.

She said it is worrying that despite frequent claims that younger generations drink less, the findings suggest that Gen Z drinkers in their early 20s may be consuming alcohol at similar or even higher levels than millennials did at the same age.

Severi also pointed to higher rates of heavy drinking among university students as a major concern. According to her, this reflects the influence of the broader alcohol environment rather than individual choices alone.

She explained that affordability, easy availability and heavy promotion of alcohol are major drivers of alcohol-related harm, and students are often exposed to all three.

Severi added that universities have a responsibility to ensure students can study and live in a safe environment. She also said commercial ties with alcohol companies, such as sponsorships of sports clubs or campus events, should not take priority over student health and wellbeing.

The findings come from Substance Use and Addictive Behaviours: Initial Findings From the Millennium Cohort Study at age 23, a briefing paper by Aase Villadsen and Emla Fitzsimons that will be published on the CLS website.