Our society necessitates the next level of literacy on July 2, 2019Aristotle used the term illiteracy minimally in two perspectives: the inability of reading and writing, and conscious use of a language. For language constructs reality, as great power lies within words to influence and guide our actions and behaviours, and literacy determines the quality of action. In most cases, Aristotle’s first perspective appears as a […]
The aftermath of HIV surge in Sindh on June 4, 2019Not long ago, HIV infections, a deadly health hazard, were believed to be pandemic only in Africa. That is no longer the case. The United Nations has declared Pakistan the second fastest HIV growing country across Asia. In Larkana and Shikarpur districts of Sindh, around 700 people have tested HIV-positive in recent screenings. The surge […]
Shifting emphasis in research from quantity to quality on May 28, 2019In reviewing literature for my current research, I have gone through a vast array of publications, both by Pakistanis and international researchers who have been working in and on Pakistan. Articles by a sizeable number of my compatriots lack something. Sometimes it is clarity, sometimes it’s coherence or articulation; it is never the content. I […]
The death of a youth is a catastrophe on May 22, 2019The youth are the central pillars of a society’s future. This generation works as a mediator between the elderly and the children. They have to bid farewell to the former and welcome the latter with its energy and ideas. When the middle generation itself is struggling to survive, nobody can save the society from sinking. […]
Revisiting Pakistan’s polio problem on May 18, 2019The incidence of polio – a crippling, but preventable disease – has significantly decreased worldwide owing to efforts under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. However, it is still endemic in three countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Combating polio and other infectious diseases has now become a global obligation, since the virus can spread to other […]
Paradigms to investigate the HIV epidemic on May 16, 2019I remember this story from my childhood days. Several people join a person anxiously looking for lost keys. After a while one of them asks how and when the keys were lost. They learn that he had dropped them in another place. So why is he looking for them elsewhere. Because, he says, it was […]
Viral hepatitis is Sindh’s silent killer on May 10, 2019Viral hepatitis is the eighth most frequent cause of mortality across the globe. According to Wold Health Organisation’s global data, 330 million people worldwide have been infected by hepatitis B and C. Out of these 20 million people will die between 2015 and 2030. In this grim picture, Pakistan and Egypt are two major contributors; […]
Hazardous heatwaves on May 7, 2019A heatwave is described as a period of at least five days with a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius above the normal average. These waves are ravaging several countries across the globe, whilst affecting almost one third of the world population, in terms of wildfires, wasted crops, health problems and killing people. The underlying cause […]
Tackling the HIV burden on May 6, 2019The acquired immune deficiency syndrome counts among the deadliest diseases of our time. The human immunodeficiency virus interferes with the immune system, making one vulnerable to other infections, which are otherwise less likely to affect one. In the absence of a vigorous treatment, an HIV infection leads to AIDS. A treatment to kill the HIV […]
A perilous crossroads on May 1, 2019Vaccination is a bulwark against deadly infectious diseases. Done right, it protects whole populations from diseases that can cause disability and premature death. History bears witness to catastrophic epidemics that decimated large populations. In 1918, the Spanish flu infected more than a quarter of the world’s population and killed between 30 million and 100 million […]