Thar desert shines After monsoon on September 21, 2019Tharparkar, one of Sindh’s drought-hit districts, has returned to life after the recent spell of monsoon. Each and every drop of rain brings joy to the faces of the Thari people. No one knows the importance of rain more than the people of Thar as their life depends on rain. Peacocks, which are one of […]
Kashmir and human rights violations on September 13, 2019A presidential decree issued on August 5 revoked Article 370 that guaranteed special rights to the Muslim-majority state, including the right to its constitution and autonomy to make laws on all matters except defence, communications and foreign affairs. In the lead-up to the move, India sent thousands of additional troops to the disputed region; imposed […]
Historical decision: to construct the barrage to stop sea intrusion on September 6, 2019The federal government has announced an ambitious 125 rupees billion barrage project on the River Indus. With support from the provincial government to address environmental issues of sea intrusion and land degradation, a barrage will be built forty-five kilometres from the sea in the south of Thatta and east of Karachi. The unusual consensus between […]
NaiGaj Dam inevitable for revival of Manchar Lake on August 29, 2019NaiGaj Dam is an embankment currently under construction on the Gaj River in the gorge area at the edge of the Kirthar Mountains, about 65 kilometres northwest of the Dadu city of the province of Sindh. The construction began in 2012, and when complete its power station will have a 4.2 MW installed capacity. But […]
Rabies in Sindh amid a shortage of ARV on August 27, 2019As the number of dog-bite deaths across Sindh reaches 11, there has been an immense shortage of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) by some 800,000 dosages, amid a growing population of stray dogs and almost non-existence of facilities in the rural parts of Sindh to face the challenge. Though health practitioners and officials believe that the entire […]
Hope for sickle-cell anaemia and Leber congenital eye disease on August 21, 2019CRISPR-Cas9 is a technology that allows scientists to essentially cut and paste DNA; raising hopes for genetic fixes for disease. However, there are concerns about its safety and ethics. The technology that produced a global scandal in China last year has entered into clinical trials to treat sickle cell anaemia and eye disease. Researchers in […]
A vulnerable time for Congo viral outbreak on August 6, 2019Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a tick-borne viral haemorrhagic fever, is endemic to certain parts of Africa, Russia, Central Asia and Pakistan. Due to its deadly complications and highly infectious nature, CCHF virus can be considered the Asian Ebola virus. In Pakistan, CCHF is endemic in rural Balochistan, and most cases reported in Pakistan originate from […]
An HIV cure that might work on August 2, 2019“The way HIV cure would happen is that we would start with ARV so when the viral load is down, you knock them down” “The issue of taking the current drugs for life isn’t even a patient issue but a donor-and-government issue because there may not be resources to sustain that” There is optimism in […]
World Population Day on July 10, 2019World Population Day seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. First observed in 1989, it was established by the then UN Development Programme Governing Council. It was an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on July 11, 1987. The world population increases […]
Sindh gets health institutes back on July 7, 2019Faced with an acute shortage of financial resources and fiscal space, the federal government has decided in principle to hand over administrative and financial control of three hospitals in Karachi and one in Lahore to the respective provincial governments. This was announced on Saturday by Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Control. Federal Ministry […]