My grandfather passed away last year. Surrounded by travel weary loved ones (from an extended family that also extends across continents), this man from rural India was promised a peaceful […]
Global health
John Middleton and Jim Parle: Food crime—why should doctors care?
Food crime is big business. It is everywhere. It is international. The same organised crime networks that profit from drugs, cigarettes, booze, people, or any other kind of international traffic […]
Sandra Lako: The impact of Ebola in Sierra Leone
Today is the 228th day of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. A year ago I would not have believed anyone who told me that I would be in the […]
Christmas Appeal: The 12 days of constructing an Ebola management centre
Sunday: As soon as you touch down in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Ebola hits you—or the awareness of it. Health forms to fill in, chlorine handwashes before you even enter the terminal […]
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 […]
K M Venkat Narayan: Is health simply organized kindness?
My big public health hero (who is a hero to many) Dr Bill Foege once said that, “Civilization is organized kindness,” and my three days in Copenhagen made me feel […]
Christmas Appeal 2014: A silent hunger
I have been in Pakistan for six months, two thirds of the way through my nine month mission. Before working in Pakistan, I had spent some time working in the north […]
Christmas Appeal 2014: Gibson Chijaka—I cannot hold back my joy
My name is Gibson Chijaka, and for the last two years I have endured dozens of nauseating tablets every day. Today, I am so happy and cannot hold back my […]
Barbara Bokhour: Patient centered care in an epidemic—why it matters
As the Ebola outbreak in west Africa continues, finding ways to control the epidemic is paramount. In some of the hard hit African countries, we have seen the reluctance of patients […]
Christmas Appeal 2014: An intensive care unit in a conflict zone
Two people with gunshot wounds are brought to the MSF hospital in Leer. They were at a celebration the previous evening when someone entered and started shooting. Five people were […]