Bill Gates gives India ‘A’ for its focus on solving malnutrition problem
WASHINGTON, Sep 17: Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has said he would give India “an A” for its focus on solving the problem of malnutrition. “Well, India, for its income level, acknowledges that some of these nutritional indicators are weaker than it would like. That kind of frankness and focus on it, I think is very impressive,” Gates told PTI in an interview.
He said India is more focused on the issue than any other government, Gates said. “It’s using the public feeding system and the Midday Meal System to try and get fortified foods out, but it’s still a huge opportunity,” Gates said. “I would give India an A for focus on the problem,” he said.
“India is a great example where if we can reduce malnutrition, it literally helps drive meaningful economic growth,” said the co-chair and Board Member of the Gates Foundation.
Responding to a question, Gates said India can play an important role in this area.
“It’s the place where these new approaches like the probiotic where we have the trials going on. The cost of getting the anaemia in one-time infusion down, it’s the Indian private sector making investments in that. And as we see the success of the interventions, that will clearly indicate that in Africa, which has an even more challenging malnutrition problem than India does, what should be the priority in those countries,” he said. (PTI)
Boy rescued after being trapped between boulders for nine hours
CONCORD (NEW HAMPSHIRE), Sep 17: Rescuers freed an 11-year-old boy who slipped between two boulders near his school and was trapped for more than nine hours, a New Hampshire fire chief said Monday.
The boy was pried out of the boulders in Windsor at about 3.15 am. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation and released, according to the Wediko School, where the boy is a student.
“On Sunday evening, while under supervision, a student exploring a rocky area on campus slipped between two boulders when sticks and debris gave way beneath them,” the school, a residential treatment center for boys, said in a statement Monday.
“Despite multiple staff members’ efforts to free the student, they were unsuccessful and promptly called local emergency rescue services,” the statement said. “Emergency responders worked tirelessly through the night, successfully rescuing the student in the early morning.” Firefighters got a call to respond shortly before 6 pm Sunday, where they found the boy “lodged between the crevasse” in a large boulder, Hillsborough Fire Chief Kenny Stafford said. They used ropes and a lubricant to rescue the child, he said.
First responders from at least five other communities, as well as the state police and Fish and Game Department, assisted with the rescue in Windsor, in southern New Hampshire.
Manchester Fire Battalion Chief Jon Fosher said crews at the location reached out to the department in part because Manchester had a heavy rescue truck with a four-person crew.
He said trying to move the giant boulders to try to free the child wasn’t an option. Rescuers had initially attempted to break away some of the stone, but the child was still stuck, he said. “We basically had to tunnel underneath the boulder to get access to the child’s feet which allowed us something to push on from the bottom,” he said.
Rescuers also used dish soap and applied friction-reducing sheets to the boy’s knees and back to help them lift him up and out.
Fosher credited teamwork from all those working to free the boy for the success. (PTI)