Preventing TB is rooted in medical ethics and human rights
With quarter of world’s population infected with latent TB (not active TB disease), and in the light of scientific fact that every new case of active TB disease comes from…
Health
In Kashmir: Love and respect thy patient
Today, the world over, a number of issues confronting the societies are discussed day in and day out and intellectual…
Is Universal Health Coverage an opportunity to end AIDS and TB?
At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, a special United Nations High Level Meeting (UNHLM) will be held on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). 193 countries have promised to…
Unwarranted Hysterectomies : A Growing Health Scandal
A study commissioned by the National Health Authority (NHA) of India has recently (Economic Times Report dated July 22, 2019) red-flagged claims made for hysterectomies conducted in private hospitals in…
A tale of two positives attracting each other
I met the two of them at the Clinica Condesa Iztapalapa, in Mexico City, where I had gone to attend the 10th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2019). Was…
Writing’s on the wall: No #endAIDS without #endTB
TB and HIV both are preventable, but cutting the chain of transmission of HIV and TB is proving to be a daunting task. Treatment exists for both TB and HIV…
Achieving 100:100:100 + zero HIV transmission is must to #endAIDS
It has been 38 years and 1 month since the first case of HIV infection was detected in 1981, reminded Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of US National Institute of Allergy…
Preventing TB is a critical cog in the wheel to #endTB and #endAIDS
Every case of active tuberculosis (TB) disease comes from an individual with latent TB infection. And every new case of latent TB infection is a sign of failing infection control,…
Killing Fields of Indian Healthcare
“Medicine is a social science and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale”. Rudolf Virchow, 1821-1902 In recent days India’s health system – never the world’s best…
Innovative MACH gives hope for multi-disciplinary global health response
Although 193 governments adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which warrant an integrated and multisectoral response to deliver on those promises, the progress has been lackadaisical in the past four…
America’s Medical Apartheid
By Richard Gale and Gary Null About a decade ago, my late colleague Dr. Martin Feldman and I were invited to be keynote speakers at a conference on anti-aging and…
New milestone for improved treatment for children with TB
(CNS): More and more children around the world are now benefitting from fixed dose combination (FDC) of child-friendly medicines to treat drug-sensitive TB, thanks to the untiring efforts of TB…
Are we on track to #endmalaria?
This year’s World Malaria Day theme, "Zero Malaria Starts With Me" re-energizes the fight to eliminate malaria which, despite being preventable and treatable, still kills over half a million people…
Antibiotic-Resistance: Mystery Killer Spans the Globe
Public health experts have been warning for decades that overuse of antibiotics reduces the effectiveness of drugs that cure bacterial infections. At least 2,000,000 Americans get antibiotic-resistant infections per year.…
India’s Grey Clouds of Depression
Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb. An estimated 56 million Indians suffer from depression, and 38 million from…
It’s Time to bend the curve sharply to #endTB
Co-Written by Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant Although governments of 193 countries had promised way back in 2015 to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, the global annual rate of TB…
The Embarassing state of Kerala’s maternal health care: effect of the Kerala model
Health system in India has seen several incongruities since its independence. Public health expenditure, inspite of repeated promises in election manifestos as well as in policy documents towards raising it…
Business as usual will fail us on cancer control, SDGs
193 governments including those of India, committed to reducing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancers by 25% by 2025 and one-third by 2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goals or…
It’s Time: Match words with actions to #endTB
Alongside boosting research and development of new tools to prevent, diagnose and treat TB, there is an acute need to optimally deploy and maximally utilize existing tools for preventing, diagnosing…
Chronic Kidney Diseases In Narasinghpur, Odisha
A large number of people in all 157 villages of 33 Gram Panchayat of Narasingpurblock in Cuttack district are continuously suffering from Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD). The patients are also…
Through the haze, a better democracy
Although you wouldn’t know it from the rhetoric and actions of the Trump Administration, the U.S. is part of the global society. And while most of the U.S. was focused…
Why Don’t We Talk About Mental Health?
World Mental Health Day-10 October 2018 Among the many challenges India faces, the most underappreciated is the ongoing mental health crisis. Mental illness is actually India’s ticking bomb .The National…
Is it the final countdown to #endTB?
(CNS): The world's eyes and ears are expectantly focussed on the forthcoming first-ever UN High Level Meeting (UNHLM) to #endTB: "United to End TB: An Urgent Global Response to…
AAP Govt.’s Mohalla Clinics-A Revolution in Health Care Services
Mohalla Clinics are primary health centres in the state of New Delhi in India, that offer a basic package of essential health services including medicines, diagnostics, and consultation free of…
India’s Native Grass Root Health Revolution
Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat…They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving – Mahmoud Fathalla, Chair…
Poor Indians turning guinea pigs for greedy pharmaceutical firms
“ A Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) used dignified language to explain the criminality of an American company and support to it by corrupt Indian officials. “They are murders. But we…
What is Unreal, What is Real and the Vaccine Scare
In a few weeks time, school will resume in many countries, and quite a few parents now worry about the dangers of vaccination. Are they real or false? What are…
Where are the nurses in the HIV response?
(CNS): Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, nurses have been at the forefront of the response to this once fatal infection. The nurse is involved at every stage of…
Darker side of private hospitals
( “ If a heart patient knows the actual cost of the cardiac stent, he will realise how much the hospital looted him. He should be strong enough to withstand…
When Cuban Polyclinics Were Born
As discontent increases with overly expensive and totally inadequate US health care, it is time to look closely at the beginnings of the modern Cuban medical system. Like the US,…
Before We Are All Crippled Beyond Recognition
“Things are going in the wrong direction and have to get back on track before something terrible happens,” said Gregory Hartl, a W.H.O. spokesman. “So we’re saying to the Pakistanis,…
Donating yourself – The tortuous journey to donate your organs
The Finance minister , Shri Arun Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant operation successfully recently, following in the footsteps of Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister in 2016. Even as…
Rare Disease Hits Livelihood of Horse Cart Riders
Mohammad Gulzar (48), a resident of Nai Basti, Jamia Nagar, was a small time horse cart rider, until a few months ago. He earned enough to feed his family. But…
Moving on from Primary Health Care
Primary health care is an important strategy which is the backbone of health service delivery. Primary health care is the day-to-day care needed to protect, maintain, or restore our health.…
Fluorosis: A Problem of Serious Dimensions, But Neglected By All Political Parties
--A Review By FMRRC, Karnataka Over 10 crore people in the country are getting water contaminated with excess fluoride : Most stunning admission by government. But it is not…
India’s Public Health Crisis
Indian economy has made rapid strides in recent year but its abysmal health system remains an Achilles heel has impeded millions of people from sharing the gains of India’s…
The Dialectic of Autism
The term dialectic as it is used here is a way of looking at the world that corresponds to the actual structure of the world itself without regard to whether…
DNA—Capitalism’s Genetic Scapegoat
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) web page falsely states that “genetic factors...have a role in causing”… obesity. https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/resources/diseases/obes Obesity which is responsible for the diabetes epidemic kills thousands every…
Addressing Adiposity
"You can't deal with obesity without dealing with poverty and nutrition, and too few educators and parents are getting those connections. It's not enough to put food on the…
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome ( SIDS ) Is A Phenomenon That Is Worldwide And Heart-Breaking
“ We do not put new-born babies to sleep on their tummies,” said the lady in the day care centre we had visited in the US. “We rule out the…
India’s Sick Health Care
India’s economy is soaring but its healthcare system remains an Achilles’ heel. For millions of people, the high cost of treating illness continues to undermine economic progress. This is…
Give Some Place In Your Heart For Kidneys! Please!
Heard so much about the heart, but so less about kidneys, right? Our kidneys don't get a lot of love, and definitely don't get the attention or concern associated with…
State Hospitals’ Neglect Aggravate The Crisis In AIIMS
The number of people sitting outside AIIMS, waiting to be treated, reflects the grim reality of health sector in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, etc. "I am counting the…
Interrogating Our Public Health Care System
Co-Written by Jitamanyu Sahoo & Monis Ahmad The repetition of the ghastly episode were 49 children died in Farrukhabad at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital this September is nothing but a…
India Can’t Afford To Ignore Mental Health
(World Mental Health Day -10th October 2017) According to an India Spend report, the number of Indians suffering from mental illness exceeds that of the population of South Africa. At present,…
Alzheimer’s Burden On Families
What can be more ironic and catastrophic when a renowned linguist loses her language altogether,as the deadly Alzheimer’s disease (AD) fiercely ravages her brain? That is what did happen…
Responsibility For The “Opioid Epidemic”–Corruption, Collusion And Criminal Negligence
The American Medical Association (A.M.A.) has an electronic news bulletin, “AMA Morning Rounds”-- It reads, “The AMA promotes the art and science of medicine and the betterment of Public…
Patients Before Profit: Public vs Private , The Debate In Karnataka
Affordable health care is now becoming increasingly inaccessible to the poor and lower middle classes in India, given the drive to privatization in all parts of the social sector. Sally…
India’s Healthcare System Needs An Overhaul
A report published by Forbes on 11 September 2014 still stands true as not much has changed in the access to healthcare in India. According to World Health Organization’s 2000 World Health Report ranking India’s…
An Open Letter To People With ‘Mental Health’ Issues
As ‘mental health’ issues gain more attention, sympathetic and otherwise, in a wide variety of contexts and countries around the world, the opportunity for inaccurate perceptions of what causes…
Tobacco Endgame Is Critical ‘Cog In The Wheel’ For Sustainable Development
Although governments have promised sustainable development by 2030 by adopting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but tobacco triggered pandemics threaten to stall or even reverse the progress made. Tobacco is…
Connecting ‘Silos’: Interdependence Is Key To #EndTB in Sustainable Development Era
(CNS): When major weak-spots go beyond the purview of health ministry, inter-sectoral programming becomes critical to progress towards ending tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, globally. Indian government has committed to…
Cleaning Up The Air We Breathe
(CNS): My first personal brush with the severity of asthma was several years ago, when one of my students suddenly started gasping for breath in the middle of her Physics…
Socio-Political and Economic Aspects Of Fluorosis
A Presentation made at XL Indian Social Science Congress, Dec 19-23, 2016, University of Mysore, Mysuru , focused on PEOPLES HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN INDIA. It was widely…
Inter-Sectoral And Well-Coordinated Battle To #endTB Is Imperative To Deliver On Agenda 2030
(CNS): Growing political commitment of governments globally to #endTB is indeed welcoming but governments need to walk the talk too to #endTB and deliver on promises of integrated sustainable development…
Decolonisation Of “Modern Medical System: The Need To March Towards People Oriented Holistic System
Text of a Speech circulated on Dec24, 2016, at XL Indian Social Science Congress Organized by Indian Social Sciences Academy(ISSA) , held from 19th Dec. 2016 and 24th Dec. 2016,…
Curing Parkinson’s Will Take More Than Hope
I first learned I had Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in 2007. It is a disorder that kills off brain cells that make dopamine — a substance the body needs to control…
World Cancer Day: Ensure The Right Treatment At The Right Time To Every Patient
(CNS): Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. In 2012, there were an estimated 1.8 million new lung cancer cases (13% of all cancers diagnosed), and 1.59 million deaths…
Can Commons Thinking Drive A New Health System?
Cat Johnson: What would it take to move from planetary imbalance into a state of sustained health and healing? In a recent report, Jamie Harvie, Executive Director of the Institute for…
Cities Of Sickness: Pollution, Dementia And The Modern Condition
London: The journey from Tooting to the British Library tends to be a crowded affair at the best of times. Humans mash in ungainly fashion on the London Underground, though not…
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