A week ago, I was writing about rights—in this particular instance, the right to safe water, having personally experienced the city of Santiago without water during my stay in Chile. […]
Global health
Shauna Mullally on fixing the lack of medical equipment in Africa
I see a lot of medical equipment that isn’t working. In fact, that’s my job. I’m a biomedical engineer and I spend a lot of time in Africa working with […]
Richard Smith: Syria, now’s top sorrow
Climate change will soon destroy us. Global poverty is increasing. Non-communicable disease is sweeping the planet. Communicable disease is far from defeated and may re-emerge in new and terrible forms […]
Rej Bhumbra: Global surgery—global wellness
The Chinese phrase, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” is widely used, […]
Christopher Exeter on the Global Burden of Disease study
Mid December saw the launch of the decennial Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study at the Royal Society in London. The study is the global rating of mortality, morbidity, and […]
Suchita Shah: Everywhere, but not a drop to drink: water shortage in Santiago, Chile
“Water is another matter, has no direction but its own bright grace” [from “Water” by Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet]. I turn on the kitchen tap but no water flows. Surprised, […]
Saleyha Ahsan on providing medical care in Syria
It had been raining for three days solid before I arrived at Atme refugee camp, in North Syria. I was there with Rola*, a British Syrian doctor and medical co […]
Lifebox Q and A: El Salvador—education, education, education
A pulse oximeter in the operating theatre doesn’t make surgery safer; it’s the anaesthesia provider using the oximeter effectively who will save lives. For Lifebox, the BMJ’s Christmas charity, provision […]
Farah Kidy on volunteering in India with the Institute of Rural Health Studies
After years of planning and plotting, I was finally getting ready to head off to India. This was going to be a voyage of discovery; I was going to explore […]
Andrew Moscrop: Primary healthcare in Nepal
I am willing it not to snow anymore. It has snowed for the past two days as I walked to the settlement of Simikot. There is an airstrip here, but […]