Manipal: A fresh approach, focusing on gender and taking into account indoor pollution and women's education, was necessary to solve the problems of low birth weight in babies and anaemia among women and children, according to Dr N K Ganguly, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Speaking at the college of dental surgery graduation ceremony at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) on December 9, he said there were also ethical and social challenges on the cloning of organs, stem cell cloning and advances of human stem cell biology.

He said a recent survey had revealed that the quantum of health care was mostly hogged by the rich and was hardly available to the poorest people, including tribals and schedule caste/schedule tribe communities. Access to drugs was also a real challenge in India, he said.

Even the World Bank had found it necessary to improve financing of health care and health research through 'new insights', he added.

PTI