“Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink,” said a mariner, who had returned from a long sea voyage, to a man on his way to wedding ceremony in The Rime of Ancient Mariner. The sea level in Bangladesh is rising as a consequence of all the evil we are doing by polluting Mother Earth […]
Category: South Asia
Priyanka Shah: Antimicrobial Resistance—a ticking time bomb
It is estimated that by 2050 infections that have become drug resistant will result in a global loss of 10 million lives annually. This chilling revelation was the crux of a report released last month, titled “Tackling Drug-Resistant Infections Globally: Final Report and Recommendations,” commissioned by the UK government, and led by renowned economist Jim O’Neill. […]
Madhukar Pai and Barry R Bloom: TB elimination—India can lead the way
As the Prime Minister of India speaks to the US Congress today, a neglected epidemic threatens India’s progress. It’s not Ebola or Zika, but rather tuberculosis—an ancient disease that silently kills one Indian every 90 seconds. In one year’s time TB will sicken over 2.2 million Indians and kill 300 000. Between 2006 and 2014, […]
The SOCHARA Team on providing community health in India
The Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action (SOCHARA), an Indian NGO, is recognised widely for its promotion of community health through networking, innovative training, research, policy engagement, and solidarity with movements and networks such as the People’s Health Movement, medico friend circle, and COPASAH. Recently the occasion of SOCHARA’s silver jubilee gave us […]
Soumyadeep Bhaumik’s review of South Asian medical papers—May 2016
It is summer in South Asia, and it seems to be getting hotter than ever before (though I have been spared this year). Climate change is expected to have major consequences in the region with Bangladesh at the top of the risk index for global climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) […]
Yogesh Jain, R Srivatsan, and Antony Kollannur: Heatwave in India
Severe heat wave conditions have been reported across India through the month of April this year. The situation has been especially severe in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamilnadu. Most affected are the vulnerable poor, the elderly, and those with health complications. We spoke to some people to see how they cope with the heat: “We […]
Jane Parry: Organ donation is an emotive topic, and rightly so
Recently, there was a very moving piece in The Guardian about a doctor’s experience of a family donating their dead child’s organs for transplant. It got me thinking about organ transplantation here in Asia, specifically in Singapore, and why donation rates there are so low. Singapore has an opt-out organ donation policy: a 2009 amendment […]
Vivekanand Jha: National dialysis programme in India—how to get it right
With the announcement of a National Dialysis Service, India is set to join the growing list of nations that provide free or highly subsidised treatment to patients with end-stage kidney failure. Dialysis is expensive—it consumes 2–6% of the healthcare expenditure [1], even though end stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients account for only 0.1–0.2% of the […]
Meena Putturaj: The art of data collection in health systems research
Data collection is a crucial aspect of any research project. Depending on the nature and scope of the research question, collecting quality data requires considerable investment of time and resources. Indeed, any research endeavour is handicapped without the relevant data. During a recent health systems research project, I had to collect a lot of information […]
Soumyadeep Bhaumik’s review of South Asian medical papers—April 2016
Despite the enormous diversity that South Asia encompasses, it has its fair share of common problems in which there is a need for greater co-operation and learning. A key issue is the neglected problem of arsenic groundwater contamination. A study from the Gangetic plains of India found that 100% of the samples analyses had higher […]