カテゴリー: Global health
‘Mothers won’t die, babies can survive’: new maternal hospital opens in world’s largest refugee camp
As aid cuts strip back food and supplies, the facility offers a rare hope for Rohingya women who previously faced frightening and risky conditions to give birthKutupalong camp is at its quietest just before dawn. A thin grey light over the hills of Cox…
Soaring oil prices and the blockade are preventing food, fuel and medicine being delivered to millions of people in desperate need, say NGOsThe volatility of global oil prices caused by the US and Israel’s war on Iran is taking a toll on the most vulne…
Aid cuts mean the ethnically-cleansed refugees from Myanmar face a return to cooking over toxic flames, or keeping children out of school to spend all day scouring for firewoodFour years ago the US recognised the genocide of my people, and nations arou…
Enslaved by debt, victims often feel compelled to sell an organ to repay loans – but can find themselves even worse off after the procedureShafeeq Masih* faced an impossible choice: remain trapped for ever by the debt he owed to the owner of the brick …
This week, the first students completed a three-year degree course, ready to treat displaced people and pro-democracy fighters unable to risk government-run hospitalsIt was a remarkable, but secretive, ceremony that took place earlier this week for a c…
With medication largely unaffordable in the country, experts hope community support and a change in diet could reduce soaring type 2 diabetes ratesA return to the traditional lentil and rice dishes that have nourished generations of Nepalis could save …
Women across Afghanistan describe the traumatic impact of disappearing clinics and contraceptionParwana* no longer recognises her own children. Once known for her beauty in her village in Kandahar province, the 36-year-old sits on the floor of her moth…
‘A potential treasure trove’: World Health Organization to explore benefits of traditional medicines
UN body to study possibility of integrating centuries-old practices into mainstream healthcareFrom herbalists in Africa gathering plants to use as poultices to acupuncturists in China using needles to cure migraines, or Indian yogis practising meditati…
Five families around the world share their struggles to keep their children away from UPFsParents and young people: share your concerns about ultra-processed foods (UPFs)The scourge of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) is global. While their consumption is …
Far from hospitals, nomadic Gujjar women routinely go into labour – and die – on their herder communities’ long seasonal treksDawn had just broken across the trail through the Pir Panjal mountains when Fatima Deader felt the first labour pains. She and…
Mahnoor Omer hopes the case will put public pressure on the government to make sanitary products affordable in a country where they cost too much for most womenFor a 25-year-old, seeing her name written on official papers at Lahore’s high court was dau…
Modi’s Ayushman Bharat scheme put hospital treatment within reach of tens of millions of Indians for the first time. But the government’s unpaid bills may derail the reformsWhen the world’s biggest healthcare scheme works, it allows tens of thousands o…
Fast-fashion recycling: how ‘the castoff capital of the world’ is making Indian factory workers sick
Reports of lung disease, skin conditions and even cancer are rising in Panipat, which recycles 1 million tonnes of textile waste a yearThe air inside Panipat’s recycling factories is heavy with lint that glints in the light before settling over every s…
Despite vaccination hesitancy, the end may be in sight for cervical cancer, which kills 64% of women with the diseaseThe questions come fast and furious: “Why only girls?”, “will it affect her periods?”, “can it cause infertility?”, “is it halal?” Insi…