The global health emergency that jolted the world from its slumber made us realize the value and importance of health, probably the only positive outcome of the pandemic. Baring few nations, others struggled hard to cope with their crumbling health infrastructure. In India too, Health sector which had long been overshadowed and ignored in both priority and fund’s in the[Read More…]
All those concerned are eagerly looking forward to significantly increased allocations for health and education sectors in the new union budget, particularly in the former, as so much loss has been suffered in these two sectors that several years of steady, even if slow, progress has been pushed back. People suffering many serious non-Covid diseases were denied essential medical help[Read More…]
A futuristic vision was very much evident in India at different points of time starting with the Bhore committee report. At the international context, a futuristic orientation in health and wellbeing was discernible from an official and institutional framework related to proclamation of goals, firstly the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), followed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Around the same[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr. Swati Sapna & Upasna Gaba The World Health Organization (WHO) defines generic medicine as “a pharmaceutical product, usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product that is manufactured without a license from the innovator company and marketed after the expiry date of the patent or other exclusive rights.”(1) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that[Read More…]
Healthy families are the foundation for healthy communities. When people are healthy, humanity moves forward. There is nothing more important than good health, and reliable healthcare for all the family. Universal health coverage (UHC), which aims to ensure that all people receive quality and adequate healthcare without suffering financial hardship, is an integral part of achieving the UN-mandated Sustainable Development[Read More…]
According to WHO, “Universal Health Care (UHC) means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. UHC does not mean free coverage for all possible health interventions, regardless of the cost, as no[Read More…]
by Dr. Chandrima Chatterjee, Dr. Parul Malik and Dr. Arathi P Rao Globalization has been described by the economist Brian Easton [1] as “problematic”. He also mentions that often writers avoid explaining about globalization analytically but rather, relate it to a series of phenomena such as capital flow, international organizations and policies as the likes of “free trade”. There is[Read More…]
by Dr. Arathi P Rao, Dr Parul Malik, Dr. Anil K Bhat and Dr. Kesavan Rajasekharan Nayar The concept of “Health Literacy” (HL) is gaining importance, more so in the COVID-19 era and is now being frequently applied in various studies. The levels of HL are being assessed for patients, their caregivers and the population in general (students, teachers etc.).[Read More…]
As a coup de grâce to the Bernie Sanders campaign Joe Biden declared that he would veto Medicare-for-All. This could drive a dedicated health care advocate to relentlessly pursue Med-4-All as a final goal. However, it is not the final goal. It should be the first step in a complete transformation of medicine which includes combining community medicine with natural[Read More…]
“Swasthya seva hamara adhikar Ise degi hamari Sarkar” The spread of Corona Virus in India and the subsequent misery of the Migrant population has exposed the underbelly of dismal healthcare in our country. There is a daily outcry of shortage of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, ICU’S, absence of functioning rural healthcare centres, etc. It is a great pity that while[Read More…]
Co-Written by Iffat Jahan Azhar Prof. Mohammad Akram According to World Health Organisation (WHO), healthcare services, all over the world, aim to ensure that necessary services are accessible to people at affordable prices. But it seems different in low and middle income countries including India, where government’s spending on healthcare is very little and healthcare financing is heavily relying upon[Read More…]
A lot had already been written about the high morbidity conscious Kerala society and especially what was being called in the early eighties as the ‘Kerala Paradox’. This essentially is a conceptual complex which meant that the morbidity rate was very high in Kerala compared to the low mortality and it also meant that the state could achieve better health[Read More…]
Dr Sandeep Pandey, Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant Mahatma Gandhi’s talisman is perhaps the best guiding light to reform the public health system in the wake of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic: “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test- “Recall the face of the[Read More…]
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 to 2.5 to 3 % of GDP, remains around 1 to 2 %. The the existing health care infrastructure is flawed and inadequate; the hospitals are under-staffed, under-financed compelling the[Read More…]
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 cost.Mohalla in Hindi means neighborhood or community. These clinics serve as the first point of contact for the population, offer timely services, and reduce the load of referrals to secondary[Read More…]
On 10th May, the high-profile police officer from Mumbai, Himanshu Roy committed suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver. In a suicide note recovered later, Roy is reported to have said that he is taking this extreme step out of extreme depression due to an incurable cancer. Mr. Roy had been living with cancer since 2000 with[Read More…]
The general ward of a Government Medical College is equated to hell with mosquitoes,flies, bed bugs and the real proverbial hospital stink! When I overheard while lying on the trolley after the first “merciless cutting “,that I would be in Ward 25, it came as a more painful shock than the actual pain. I wondered what crime I had[Read More…]
In today’s world, where almost everything is a click away for many, access to healthcare, descents into alcoholism, and misperceptions about illnesses can still take us back to the eighteenth century. In this brief article, the idea is to give an overview of the interplay between the aforementioned determinants while presenting some evidence from the ground. The World Health Organization[Read More…]
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 largely on account of the abysmal and chaotic healthcare system owing to the declining budgetary healthcare support by the government. India now ranks close to the bottom of the pile[Read More…]
USers (better known as “Americans”) have been expressing a preference in survey polls for access to a universal health care system for quite some time. Considering their frustration with so-called representatives who do not advocate in their interests and expressed desires, perhaps they should be called The Great USed. In the late Reagan years, 70 percent of the adult population[Read More…]
Co-Written by Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese With just a week left before Congress’ budget reconciliation process ends, the Senate is once again peddling a poorly-thought out plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If Senators vote before the September 30 deadline, they only need 50 votes instead of the filibuster-proof 60 votes to pass amendments. And once again, people are rising up[Read More…]
The Explosion of Choices 
A Prayer from a Science Fundamentalist in Kerala 
Every Day Is An Earth Day: Suggestions for Living in an Ecozoic Future 
US Involvement in the Yemen War: A Tale of Hypocrisy 
Can a Formula 1 Star Send a Message to the Saudi Government? 
Poll-thirsty leaders want votes, not voters! 
Biden’s Appeasement of Hawks and Neocons Is Crippling His Diplomacy 
Fifty years After Naxalbari by Bernard De Mello 
The Great Forgetting 
Opposition Unity and Politics Will be Greatly Helped By A Common Program 
Natural Farming Gives More Benefits, But Gets Only Limited Support 
Lenin’s Birthday 
What Happened When Marathas Came To Liberate Hindus Of Bengal: A Peep Into ‘Hindu’ Narratives Of Bengal History! 
Defeating the Virus- The Crusader Dr KM Kamble 
Why I decided to boycott the Israeli elections 
China’s Xi Jinping to attend Joe Biden’s climate summit 
I Can’t Breathe: In India, in the USA, or anywhere else, Transform the Oppressive System that is Choking 
Workers’ Movement For Trade Union And Democratic Rights At Anakapalli In Visakhapatnam Dt. Of AP 
A Dark Earth Day 
Earth Day 2021 
How children are taking European states to court over the climate crisis – and changing the law 
A Palestinian Prayer for Ramadan: May the Voices of the Oppressed Be Heard 
Key U.S. air base in Turkey sits on property stolen from Armenians during the genocide 
Ramsey Clark Described His Government As Humanity’s Ever More Threatening and Treacherous Enemy 
Revisiting NEP 2020 From The Perspective Of Global Education And Knowledge Society 
Save Peri-Urban Areas From Neglect, Create Hubs of Greenery and Water Conservation 
A Nudge Here, An Appeal There–Why Participative Restrictions May Be Better Than Enforced Lockdowns 
Climate crisis: Time is fast running out, and World Bank changes tone 
Profiting from Hajj: Commodification of Spirituality 
Charlie Chaplin – Book Review – ‘Hasre Dukh’ (Beaming Sorrow)- By Bha. D. Kher- 
The Ukrainian crisis and Biden’s interests 
Voices from the Margins, and Engaging Slave Selves and Narratives 
Free Hidme Markam 
US sanctions on Venezuela violate the human rights that they claim to protect, says UN Special Rapporteur on Sanctions 
SAPACC Request PMs of India, Bangladesh And Bhutan To Declare A Planetary Climate Crisis 
Faith, Politics and Public Health: Covid 19 
Joji – A Brilliant Peek Across the Kerala Village Lives 
US’ China policy at inflection point 
Paper Value Pledges And Time Passing Tamil Politicians 
The Doomsday Glacier Lives up to its Billing 
When I founded Countercurrents.org in 2002, Disha Ravi who was arrested for sedition yesterday was a two-year-old toddler. In 2002, the CO2 level in the atmosphere was 370 ppm. Now it is 415 ppm. In just 19 years CO2 levels increased by just over 2ppm/year. The level of cumulative greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including Methane, Nitrous Oxide etc is[Read More…]
