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The ‘Avon ladies’ of Pakistan selling contraception door to door
From 8am to 4pm, 25-year-old Samina Khaskheli travels door-to-door in rural Pakistan handing out free samples of condoms, birth control pills, and intrauterine devices. “I was told ‘This is sinful’,” Samina says about the initial opposition to her selling birth control. She took the job warily.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Time for India to be innovator nation in bio-pharmaceuticals: Expert
India has a "strong potential" to become a hub for biopharmaceutical innovation and the time has come for it to emerge as an innovator nation in this sector, a top industry leader has said. Observing India's potential, Michael Rosenblatt, executive vice president of Merck & Co, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, said yesterday that India can play a "leading role" in collaborative research in biopharmaceutics.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- innovation
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Hepatitis C drugs remain unaffordable in many countries, says WHO study
In the latest effort to quantify the burden of expensive medicines, a new study found that the cost of two widely used hepatitis C treatments remains out of reach for people in many poor countries and poses a “financial and ethical dilemma” for payers and doctors. The study found that if a patient paid for treatment out of pocket, the cost of a full course of Sovaldi alone would equal one year or more of average earnings for people in 12 countries.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- public health
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India’s Practo Plans to Take Digital Health-Care Success Abroad
Practo Technologies Private Ltd.’s audacious goal of bringing order to India’s chaotic health-care system is starting to bear fruit, helping to transform it into the country’s biggest online medical network. Now the startup is planning to go global.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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How to Break Down the Stigma and Taboo Around Menstruation
Girls around the world, and particularly in developing countries, dread getting their periods. They can’t access proper sanitary wear and often don’t have underwear to hold pads in place. School bathrooms aren’t clean and hygienic, and some schools don’t have running water so that girls can keep their hands and bodies clean while menstruating. Ahead of Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, The Conversation Africa’s education editor Natasha Joseph chatted to Dr Lindsay Kelland, from South Africa’s Rhodes University, about the Siyahluma Project Group, which is working to change the discussion around menstruation.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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$1.3B Lost to Five Diseases Every Year
Uganda will lose $1.3b in 14 years by 2030, which is about $92.8m (about 306b) annually, in treatment and loss of opportunity due to five preventable tropical diseases, new data at the World Economic Forum indicates.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: The Promise of Digital Health in LMICs
Having started my career as an emergency physician in countries across Africa — from Angola and Mozambique, to the Sudan and the Caucasus — I was regularly faced with long and often dangerous journeys to reach my patients. I would fly in by plane and then travel on my bike, crossing rivers — it was the only way they could receive the treatment and medical care they needed. Often I couldn’t stay for long, or sometimes I came too late.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Diagnosis App Scoops Africa Health Prize
An app that allows rural doctors to seek advice remotely from experts won Africa's first prize recognising new technology that boosts health on the continent.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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