Skip to main content

PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,677 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYHealth & medicine

More than 1.16 crore antenatal check-ups conducted at over 12,900 health facilities.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The claim came from a government infographic about welfare and benefits for pregnant women. It said that more than 1.16 crore antenatal check-ups had been conducted at over 12,900 health facilities. FACTLY checked that figure against information about the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), which provides free antenatal care at designated government facilities on the ninth of each month.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) introduced in Nov 2015. Around 4 crore doses administered to children.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The review checked an infographic’s claim that IPV was introduced in November 2015 and that around 4 crore doses had been administered to children. It reports, citing the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s 2017–18 annual report, that IPV was introduced into India’s Universal Immunization Programme in November 2015 and expanded nationwide by June 2016. The report’s figures distinguish doses administered from doses supplied: 4.56 crore doses had been supplied to states and union territories by June 2017, while around 3.45 crore had been administered by December 2017. The review therefore did not treat the 4.56 crore supplied as doses already administered. It concluded that the administered total might have reached around 4 crore by the time the claim was made in May 2018, and rated the claim TRUE. That conclusion includes an estimate about a later total, rather than a cited figure showing exactly 4 crore doses administered by May 2018.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) launched in May 2017. Around 15 lakh doses administered to children.

Publisher’s rating: UNVERIFIED

FACTLY’s review addresses the claim that the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) launched in May 2017 and that around 15 lakh doses had been administered to children. It reports that the vaccine was launched that month to reduce infant mortality and morbidity caused by pneumococcal pneumonia. On the administration figure, however, the review’s available data were lower than the claimed total: “Till December, 2017, around 11.20 lakh doses of PCV have been administered to children.” The review places that figure in the rollout’s limited geographic scope at the time. It says PCV had been introduced in Himachal Pradesh, six districts of Uttar Pradesh, and 17 districts of Bihar. Thus, the reported 11.20 lakh doses relate to those areas, not a nationwide rollout. The excerpt does not give a later administration count that would show whether the total had reached 15 lakh. FACTLY’s conclusion rests on this gap in the available evidence: it reports the May 2017 launch and a December 2017 count of approximately 11.20 lakh doses, then says more updated beneficiary data were unavailable. The review therefore does not establish that the claimed 15 lakh doses had been administered, but the cited count also does not rule out a later increase. The excerpt does not describe an independent data collection method; it presents the reported rollout and administration figures and notes the absence of a more current figure.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

3.15 crore children vaccinated.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The claim concerns the number of children vaccinated under Mission Indradhanush. The review says an answer provided in the Lok Sabha in August 2018 stated that “319.28 lakh children have been immunized by August 2018.” It then compares that reported total with the claim of 3.15 crore children. The review’s stated check is a comparison with that parliamentary answer: it gives the figure as 319.282 lakh, equivalent to 3.19 crore, and concludes that the claim is true. The reported total is slightly higher than 3.15 crore, so the evidence supports the claim as a rounded, lower-bound figure rather than an exact count. The article adds that large-scale vaccination efforts had taken place before. It cites earlier campaigns involving Japanese encephalitis and measles, including a report that 3.6 crore children were vaccinated during Phase II and 11.8 crore during Phase III. That context does not alter the Mission Indradhanush count; it qualifies any impression that the campaign was India’s first large-scale child immunization effort.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

India has validated elimination of maternal and neo-natal tetanus in may 2015, before the global target of December 2015.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

FACTLY examined a claim in a government infographic about eliminating diseases and vaccination: that India had validated elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus in May 2015, before the global target of December 2015. The review reports that a response in the Lok Sabha from August 2016 addressed that assertion. It quotes the response as saying that WHO certified maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination in India in May 2015, ahead of the global target date of December 2015. That official response supports the central dates and the substance of the claim: the certification was in May 2015, while the stated global target was December 2015. The review’s quoted wording says “certified,” whereas the claim uses “validated”; FACTLY treats the two as consistent in this instance and concludes that the claim is true. The excerpt provides no separate WHO document or independent verification of the certification, so the basis described here is the Lok Sabha response as reported by FACTLY. The review places this assertion among five claims about disease elimination and vaccination in the infographic. Its conclusion is specific to the tetanus claim; the other claims discussed in the article concern different diseases and immunization figures.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Action plans to eliminate leprosy by 2018, measles by 2020 and Tuberculosis by 2025 implemented.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

FACTLY checked whether India had implemented action plans with stated elimination targets for leprosy, measles and tuberculosis. Its review cites a December 2017 answer in the Lok Sabha, which it says showed that the government had set target years for all three diseases. The answer’s reported evidence concerns ongoing work and progress toward the targets, rather than showing that the diseases had already been eliminated. For leprosy, the cited answer said that India had already reached the national elimination threshold—one case per 10,000 people—in 2005. It also described a separate short-term goal: reducing Grade II disability cases to fewer than one per million people, following the WHO’s 2016–2020 strategy. For measles, the answer reported that, as of December 18, 2017, more than 6.5 crore children had been vaccinated with measles-rubella vaccine in 13 states and union territories. For tuberculosis, it reported that incidence fell from 217 per lakh per year in 2015 to 211 in 2016, while mortality fell from 36 to 32 per lakh per year over those years. FACTLY also notes that measles vaccination was not new: the government introduced measles vaccine through the Universal Immunization Programme in 1985 and added a second dose in 2010. The review concludes that action plans had been implemented, but qualifies that these were continuing efforts by successive governments. The evidence presented supports implementation and recorded activity; it does not establish that the 2018, 2020 or 2025 elimination targets were achieved.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

Mission Indradhanush completed four phases covering 528 districts.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The claim concerned the number of districts covered by Mission Indradhanush after four phases. FACTLY’s review describes the scheme as a campaign launched in December 2014 to strengthen immunisation and reports figures from Lok Sabha answers. Its cited April 2017 answer said three phases had been completed across 497 districts, while the fourth phase was still underway in 68 districts across eight north-eastern states, beginning in February 2017. That evidence did not show that all four phases had already been completed at that point. The review’s stated fact-check conclusion was that 565 districts had been covered under the scheme, and it treated that total as supporting the claim. However, the excerpt does not identify when the 565-district figure was measured or explain how it relates to the claim’s specific figure of 528 districts. The cited 2017 answer supports the three-phases-completed/fourth-ongoing status at that time, not the completion of four phases across 528 districts. The review also cites an August 2018 Lok Sabha answer about funding, but that passage gives no district-coverage or phase-completion count. Thus, the article’s conclusion and its quoted evidence do not fully reconcile the claim’s specific timing and figures.

FACTLYHealth & medicine

80.63 lakh pregnant women immunized.

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

The claim concerns the number of pregnant women immunized under Mission Indradhanush. FACTLY identifies it as the fourth of five claims in an infographic about government achievements in disease elimination and vaccination, and describes it as related to the preceding claim about the immunization program. The review says the supporting figure came from an answer provided in the Lok Sabha in August 2018. [S1: “The fourth claim, related to the previous claim is that ‘80.63 lakh pregnant women immunized’.”; “According to an answer provided in Lok Sabha from August 2018, a total of 81.78 lakh pregnant women have been immunized under mission Indradhanush.”] The reported total, 81.78 lakh, is 1.15 lakh higher than the 80.63 lakh figure in the claim. Thus, the review’s stated evidence supports the claim as a minimum—at least 80.63 lakh had been immunized—while giving a larger total for the same program. It does not establish from the excerpt why the infographic used the lower figure or whether the figures refer to different reporting cutoffs. [S1: “Claim: 80.63 lakh pregnant women immunized. Fact: A total of 81.78 lakh pregnant women have been immunized under mission Indradhanush.”]

FACTLYHealth & medicine

1675 hospital beds added in the functional AIIMS

Publisher’s rating: UNVERIFIED

The review examines a government infographic’s claim that 1,675 hospital beds had been added in functional AIIMS. It places the claim in the context of six AIIMS that it describes as functional, while distinguishing the institutions’ total bed capacity from beds added during the period attributed to the government. The article does not establish that the claimed number was added during that period. The central evidence reported is that the six new functional AIIMS together had more than 4,000 beds. But the review says it was not clear how many of those beds had been added during the current government. That distinction matters: the total number of beds across the six hospitals does not, by itself, verify the claimed increase of 1,675. Accordingly, the review concludes that the claim could not be verified on the information it discusses. The excerpt does not provide a breakdown of beds by hospital, a before-and-after comparison, or further records that would establish the number added. Its finding is therefore limited to the lack of clarity about the claimed addition, rather than a conclusion that the hospitals had no beds or that no beds were added.