JAMBHALI, India – Farmer Kusum Gaikwad’s work start at 4 am daily. First, she burns the firewood and farm residue to heat water for 10 family members. By 7 am, she reaches the fields, manoeuvring through thousands of sugarcane plants, removing weeds, and checking for pests and diseases that could hamper their growth. This is […] Continue reading ->
Growing up in Bangladesh where several infectious diseases transmitted by helminths (worms) take a large health toll, Tilak Chandra Nath has always been fascinated with the challenges of addressing diseases of poverty. During his postgraduate training as a TDR-supported fellow at the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Indonesia in 2016, he studied parasitic diseases, focusing […] Continue reading ->
A wave of record-setting heat waves, beginning in March, have led to new Government guidelines for emergency cooling including measures like heat stroke rooms. Even so, public health experts are only beginning to grapple with the multiple ways in which heatwaves can kill – and map out mitigating measures for both healthy people as well […] Continue reading ->
It’s one of the world’s oldest health technologies with recorded use by the Greeks and Romans – and modern eye glasses appearing on the noses of Venetian monks and scholars as early as the 13th century. And yet only about 36% of the estimated 1.25 billion people who need corrective eyewear for common distance vision […] Continue reading ->
PAUD, MAHARASHTRA STATE, INDIA – It is 11:15 on a Wednesday morning, and the March sun is hot but not yet punishing in this part of western India. Mathabai Jadhav, 65, waits patiently for her turn at the Paud Rural Hospital, some 30 kilometres from the city of Pune. At least two dozen patients like […] Continue reading ->
A new programme aiming at providing 1.2 million rapid cholera diagnostic tests has been launched in 14 African and Asian countries. “Routine use of diagnostics will bolster cholera surveillance in impacted countries, and must be leveraged to better target vaccination efforts, which play a critical role in multisectoral cholera prevention and control programmes,” said Aurélia […] Continue reading ->
Victims of conflict face a double or triple whammy when trying to cope with mental health challenges. Even the most resilient may begin to experience symptoms of anxiety, anger and sleeplessness during wartime that last decades. And those with pre-existing conditions are forced to cope with the acute trauma provoked by experiences of death, destruction […] Continue reading ->
The ‘forgotten crisis’ of Afghanistan has exposed more and more young Afghans to mental health problems and drug abuse amid dwindling donor support and crumbling healthcare under the Taliban regime, said experts at a high-level side event at the recent meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna Austria. Since the Taliban imposed a […] Continue reading ->
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), famous for busting Volkswagen’s Dieselgate, has a new ambition: Taking immediate action to shift to zero-emissions vehicles, significantly cutting ozone (O3) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM2.5 pollution, and avoiding millions of cases of early death and paediatric asthma. Business-as-usual vehicle scenarios will lead to an increase. Because they […] Continue reading ->
PUNE, INDIA – Commerce minister Sunil Barthwal has clarified that India will not sign a new trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) that would limit access by the country’s thriving generic medicine industry to new drug formulations for critical diseases. India is currently negotiating a new trade deal with the EFTA, which […] Continue reading ->