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…]
Rob Malley for Iran Envoy: A Test Case for Biden’s Commitment to Diplomacy 
Wealth Of Indian Billionaires Increased 35% During Covid Pandemic 
The ‘humanitarian’ left still ignores the lessons of Iraq, Libya and Syria to cheer on more war 
Oxfam Report Makes Strong Case For Economic Recovery To Be Led By Reduction of Inequalities 
Get the vaccine shot but do not throw away the mask to fight COVID-19 
Impressions from the Farmers’ Protest- Will It Last? 
Republic Day May Be Just the Right Time for the Government to Reach Out to Farmers, Minorities and Political Prisoners 
Government, Farm Laws And Farmers: Is it an uneven match? 
Biden in the White House: Is US on the mend? 
Indirect Deaths 
J’accuse: Joe Biden’s policy on Israel isn’t “transformative” or “decent” 
The ‘Insurrection’ and Its Discontents: ‘American Exceptionalism’ Revisited 
Life in a Rehabilitation Center 
Why can’t Supreme Court hear on this issue? 
Remembering Michael Madhusudan Dutt 
Taiwan Tension: U.S. carrier group enters South China Sea What’s Right vs The Right on 26th January 
Villagers Will Bring Stray Cattle To Yogi Adityanath’s Residence On 26 January 
Review: “The Unraveling of America” by Wade Davis – Covid, Omissions, Truth Spectrum & UDHR Article 25 
PUCL and 100 Organisations demand the repeal of the UAPA 
The Great Reset Initiative or The Great Neoliberal Capitalist Lie 
While Repeal of Three Controversial Farm Laws is a Must, A Wider Vision is Also Needed Urgently 
The Sangh Parivar Should Prevail Upon The Government to Change Its Stand on the Three Controversial Farm Laws 
The Captive Media in the USA 
‘Un-Trumping’ America 
Pulling together to tide over the pandemic: Lessons from Bengaluru 
Kashmir: Romance And Rigours Of Snow 
Freedom 
Widespread Opposition of Arrest Warrant Against Eminent Journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta 
Common Myths About Human Progress 
Post-Trump World: Is Democracy Dying in America As Well? 
Brainwashed To Violence 
Revisiting The Back-Stabbing Of Netaji By Hindutva Gang On His 125th Birth Anniversary 
400 + Days of Unjust Arrest: Free Akhil Gogoi 
Complex Life Threatened 
American trust in the mainstream media hits an all-time low 
40th Anniversary of Gang Of Four Trial In China 
How Aakar Patel Under-Read The Character Of Hindu Rashtra? A Review Article 
What is Progress? 
Immortal Wins: India Defeats Fortress Australia 
For nearly two decades now Countercurrents has provided millions of readers around the world with deep insights and analysis of news, events, trends that are usually ignored by mainstream media. A key quality of this unique information platform has been its eclectic and open minded choice of themes, ranging from caste, gender and communalism to issues related to ecology, rapidly[Read More…]
