Although climate change is a global issue, the degree of implications is location specific. So adaptation of the common remedies, as per the principle of sustainable development, to mitigate the health hazards is recommended. Recently, we saw snowfall and altered atmospheric conditions around the Kathmandu Valley. High density of snow invaded the upper hills, unseen…
FIGO is proud to partner with the Nepal Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (NESOG) in support of the Nepalese government’s pledge to extend family planning access in Nepal: to “leave no one behind” and “reach the unreached”. At the Family Planning Summit in London, July 2017, the government reaffirmed its Family Planning 2020 commitments made in 2015.…
Bhutan today faces a burden of increasing overweight and obesity among children, which places them in the high-risk group of non-communicable diseases (NCD). This is happening at a time when concerns remain on hidden hunger, from malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, according to the education ministry. The 2015 national nutrition survey showed that 21 percent of children…
Sri Lanka has made remarkable progress in disease elimination and has already eliminated several communicable diseases such as polio, diphtheria, neonatal tetanus and whooping cough from the country.Currently, the National Immunization Programme vaccinates the population against 13 fatal diseases. The excellent communicable disease surveillance system and the wide coverage of the National Immunization Programme assisted…
Only 64 percent of pregnant women in Nepal obtain the minimum of four antenatal care visits; recommended by the World Health Organization. Every year, Nepal records around 539, 000 unintended pregnancies! Most of the pregnancies occur in the absence of modern contraceptive methods. According to a report prepared by Guttmacher Institute and the Centre for…
The government of Bhutan has finalised the programme that is aimed at safeguarding the health of vulnerable expecting mothers, mothers with newborns and their infants. It is detailed and strategised, clearing a lot of doubts and questions. Whatever it is called – breastfeeding allowance, maternity allowance, or accelerating mother and child health – the intent…
The influx of millions of female workers to work at the garment factories has created unique health challenges, issues and needs that have mostly remained unstudied and unaddressed. Being a fairly new sector that burgeoned over the last three decades, many of the factory settings and management are not yet; well-prepared to accommodate the health…
Color coding of foods and beverages; according to the salt and fat content of the foods will be mandatory; the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine in Sri Lanka said. So, the decision to implement a color coding system symbols; for solid foods, semi-solid foods and liquid foods; was taken after a special discussion;…
As planners, policy makers and development partners meet in the capital to discuss Bhutan’s development, several aspects of Bhutan’s development journey are highlighted. The round table meeting has provided a forum for discourse to take stock of how far the country has come in terms of development and how far it plans to go. Discussions…
More than 900,000 Rohingya — mostly Muslim but some Hindu — live in small bamboo huts in sprawling, overcrowded camps not far from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. More than 740,000 of them arrived in quick, desperate waves after Aug. 25, 2017, the beginning of a savage campaign that United Nations (U.N.) investigators say showed evidence of…
The electronic and press media in Bangladesh has recently highlighted the findings of the 2018 World Air Quality Report published by Greenpeace and AirVisual. As per this report, Bangladesh has the most polluted air in the world, and Dhaka is the second most polluted capital city. An Air Quality Index is a summary scorecard that…
Praava Health, a network of family health centres in Dhaka, has opened molecular cancer diagnostics laboratory in Bangladesh. Praava will soon offer immunohistochemistry services and expanded cancer risk panels to provide more nuanced cancer diagnoses. Data on the cancer burden in Bangladesh are unreliable and sparse. The estimation is that there were more than 100,000…