June 2, 2023, was a sad day, globally. Three trains crashed into each other in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. As of June, the triple train accident has led to 288 deaths and 1,100 injured people, making it the most significant such casualty of the decade. The aftermath has been further tragic. There […]
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Challenging the marginalisation of ethical narratives in research with women survivors of violence in Afghanistan
This co-written blog post has emerged from a series of conversations between the authors and grows out of reflections on the research experiences of Dr Ahmad in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has systematically written and implemented policies to envelop women in silence. Silences and camouflage now define and govern how women conduct their lives. […]
Community-based-rehabilitation: empowering rural Sub-Saharan African communities to tackle NTD-related disabilities.
Neglected tropical diseases and their related disabilities in rural Sub-Saharan Africa Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a category of twenty tropical infections that affect more than 1 billion people worldwide who reside in poor and low-resource communities. According to the World Health Organisation estimates, Africa accounts for 40% of the worldwide NTDs burden, disproportionately […]
Integrating community based rehabilitation services with primary health care: a need of the hour
Rehabilitation has often been incorrectly perceived as an expensive and specialised clinical service required only by a selected few, suffering from disability. Whenever one hears the word “Rehabilitation”, the image created in one’s mind is of an institutional setup with state-of-the-art equipments and highly trained manpower located in an urban setting. As per the […]
Latin America: the underdog of research
During my undergraduate studies in Honduras, a professor told me, “Health professionals in hospitals are more useful than researchers because that is where the real demand is.” This sentence stuck with me and left me with a lot of questions… What role do researchers play in my country? And why is the curative approach […]
We are all accountable for making person-centered care a reality
Person-centered care (PCC) is essential to advance universal health coverage. It is an approach through which health is co-produced with care recipients, care providers, and communities and reflects and respects peoples’ needs and preferences. Health systems are human systems, which is why it is critical to shift from health systems designed around diseases toward […]
Look to Ebola survivors for lessons to prevent the next outbreak
Universal health coverage (UHC) is defined as ensuring health for all and a great aspiration for humankind. Sadly, this is constantly being undermined by the threat of infectious diseases. Global health security and universal health coverage are two sides of the same coin. Hence, it is impossible to achieve one without the other. This […]
Preventing femicides in Latin America: a biosocial approach
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive violation of women’s rights that predominantly occurs at the hands of men and represents a growing public health crisis. While intimate partner violence and sexual coercion are prevalent types of GBV, femicide is by far the most severe. Latin America (LATAM) has gained the unfortunate distinction of being […]
The good, bad and ugly of gaming landscape in Pakistan: Gamers’ mental health
In 2023, 87.35 million people in Pakistan were Internet users, with an Internet Penetration Rate of 36.7%. This rapid rise in digital life integration has created a gap in understanding digital media use and its influence on youth. This could lead to clashes between indigenous culture and what digital media promotes, such as individualism, […]
The opportunities and perils of the digital age for gender equality
Last month (6-17 March 2023) gender equality activists convened at the Sixty-seventh Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York and virtually. This year’s theme was centred on, “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. This theme […]