Losing a patient in the operating room is probably every surgeon’s worst nightmare. I recently happened to experience such an event. Not my first and probably not my last. Yet every time it happens it is accompanied by a troubling few hours or days afterwards. I know the operating surgeon of the case that day […]
Category: South Asia
Jocalyn Clark: Are slums creating equality?
When you fly into Mumbai from the east, there is an extraordinary descent passing over mounds of lush green foothills reminiscent of Hawaii. It’s quite mesmerising. And then even more so is what lays at the foot of these foothills: a vast sprawl of tin roofed shanties, which I later learn is a slum of […]
Jocalyn Clark: How to avoid predatory journals—a five point plan
Increasingly, I’m asked to advise and assist with the problem of predatory journals. While it’s probably only an annoying nuisance to many in the developed world, the increasing number of spam emails inviting articles and conference participation is beginning to feel like a potentially serious problem for developing world scientists and institutions. This demands action, […]
Abhishek Bhartia: What can a hospital in India learn from a vineyard in Spain?
A lot, it turns out, about healthcare transformation. A fifth generation wine producing family in Spain faced the challenge of transforming itself in the late 1990s. The family vineyard in the region of Priorat, south of Barcelona, had been losing money for many years and past attempts to turn it around had failed. One day in September […]
Sandesh Kotte: Reviving the public health system in Telangana, India
The first budget for India’s newly formed state, Telangana, was presented amid a lot of hype and media attention. A cursory look at the budget shows that the allocations reflect the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) party’s promises made in their election manifesto. From the waiver of farm loans, to creating a drinking water grid, to making Telangana […]
Shinjini Mondal: Reframing the challenge of urban slums from Cape Town to Mumbai and beyond
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit South Africa and learn about the health system in Cape Town and the health issues of Khayelitsha, an informal (and notorious) township in Cape Town. I was part of the 2014 Emerging Voices for Global Health group of young health systems researchers, who were attending the third Global […]
Aditya J Nanavati: Are Indian medical students pessimistic about participating in research?
I recently completed my residency in general surgery. Towards the end of my residency, I was introduced to the world of research and publishing. Far from knowing it all, the more I explore this world, the more I realize that I should have been introduced to it much earlier. I believe I speak for the […]
Bheemaray Manganavar: Re-imagining the response to non-communicable diseases in India
It was just another day at the primary health centre (PHC) that I work closely with in the south Indian state of Karnataka. I was in the pharmacy of the PHC, discussing the availability of medicines for diabetes and hypertension with the pharmacist. Meanwhile, an elderly woman arrived at the dispensary window along with a small […]
Chris Baker: Bollywood stars should not endorse food of low nutritional quality—but a ban is not the solution
In India, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 5-19 stands at 22%. Tackling this substantial and growing epidemic requires a population level shift away from poor diets and sedentary activity. Such a shift will be more effective if individual lifestyle change is accompanied by upstream modifications that create healthy environments. Sadly, aspirational advertising […]
Shreelata Rao Seshadri: Tracking India’s battle with malnutrition
For several years now, India has been sharply criticized for being one of the most undernourished nations on earth despite consistently high rates of economic growth. So the First Global Nutrition Report released recently by the International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI) provides a welcome update on the nation’s progress on key nutrition indicators. […]