The pandemic brutally highlighted the limitations of our healthcare system. However, it is not just COVID-19 that revealed the capacity issues with our system, the burden of several chronic diseases like cancer, TB, HIV, and diabetes are some other instances of how our healthcare infrastructure is reeling under immense pressure. Continue reading Is India’s healthcare system fit to fight the rising cancer cases?
By: Anushka Pardikar, Anubhav Kumar and Rishabh Shrivastava In Part I of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace series, we examined the status of compliance with the various provisions of the PoSH Act, 2013. We looked specifically at the extent of sensitisation and awareness programmes conducted by major government organisations in the country. In this part, we analyse the composition of the Internal Complaints … Continue reading Workplace harassment: Inclusivity and transparency is missing from complaint committees
By Dr. Jaimini Sarkar Background Do you remember the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the nationwide lockdown to tackle the spread of COVID-19 across the country in 2020? The move sparked a debate on whether it was the right step to control the infection or not? Was the timing of imposing and lifting the lockdown apt? Was there any science and evidence behind … Continue reading Is lockdown an effective strategy to control infections like COVID-19? Might be! – shows this new study from Pune
By Rishabh Shrivastava Monkeypox is not a new disease, unlike COVID-19. Monkeypox has been there for quite a long time. The first case of monkeypox was reported in Congo in 1970. Since then a lot of research and development has taken place around this disease. Monkeypox is very similar to smallpox which was eradicated in 1980. Clinically, monkeypox is less severe than smallpox (with 3%-6% … Continue reading WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency but it might not be as lethal as COVID-19 and hence no need to panic! Here’s why
By Anushka Pardikar Workplaces in India continue to be biased, misogynistic and unsafe for women. After the pandemic introduced work from home model, the issues of harassment and bullying have become furthermore complicated. The organizations and experts working on issues of safety at workplaces have reported an increase in the number of harassment incidents that women employees continue to face. All of this is despite … Continue reading Workplace harassment: Sensitization on PoSH act isn’t a priority for government institutes, shows RTI reply
By Rishabh Shrivastava Conversion therapy is one of the most brutal forms of human rights violation that people from queer community often experience. With no legal framework and a notified ban, a lot of medical professionals continue to prescribe this illegal and unscientific practice. This causes a great deal of mental and physical pain to queer people, infringing their health and privacy rights. Queer people … Continue reading Visual story: Criminalizing conversion therapy of queer people in India
By Anushka Pardikar It was in 2001 that the World Health Organisation (WHO) published the preceding World Health Report titled Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope. The 2001 report laid bare the impending crisis that the world was likely to set into considering the enormous public health and socio-economic impact of mental health illnesses. According to the report, the gravity of the crisis coupled with … Continue reading What are 5 key messages from WHO’s recent and largest review of global mental health?
By Aatif Iqbal In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, in New York City’s Greenwich village, police raided Stonewall Inn which was a popular place of gathering for young members of the LGBTQI+ community. Police rounded up the illegal liquor sellers, and arrested many patrons. This action of the police enraged the masses as it was seen as harassment to LGBTQI+ community members. … Continue reading Here is everything you want to know about Pride Month
By Dr. Ameya Bondre To, The heterosexual man. Subject: Nine questions that may help you deconstruct your homophobia. Dear Sir, You represent a community whose hatred, prejudice and stigma have driven people to guilt, shame, depression and even suicides in India. Do you know how? Sample this – 1. Gay people are bullied and ridiculed in schools and colleges; and there is no real difference … Continue reading An open letter to straight men in India
By Anushka Pardikar Climate change is universal and all-encompassing, yet, its effects are unequally distributed in a manner that one section of the society is disproportionately affected by repeated occurrences of climate disasters. The gravity of impact is directly proportional to the ability of individuals and communities to respond to climate risks which is in turn dependent upon social identities, and lived reality. It is … Continue reading Climate change is impacting gender and sexual minorities and we need to talk about it!
By Mehak Bajpai The verdict is in. A US jury on Wednesday ruled that Johnny Depp was defamed by Amber Heard through her op-ed in the Washington Post titled “I spoke up against sexual violence, and faced our culture’s wrath.” Depp had also alleged that the op-ed made him lose significant movie roles and be ostracised in Hollywood. He claimed that his children and other … Continue reading Johnny Depp, Amber Heard and the dystopian social media carnival
By Dr. Ameya Bondre With the recent marriages of Microsoft and Facebook to ‘metaverse’ (“virtual reality + digital second life”), we are now on the verge of always being online and enter the mind of a computer. With the existing toll on mental health due to our parallel digital lives, what would this lead to? A mental health catastrophe, as suggested by a coalition of global scholars to ‘Meta’ CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Science and … Continue reading Social Media and Mental Health: The debate is ignoring the realities of the developing world
India is experiencing the hottest month of March in 122 years as per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data. The data also notes that the number of heatwave days are only increasing with time. The country has witnessed a massive jump of 45% in the number of heatwave days between 1981 to 2020. Continue reading Fighting heatwave: Learning from Ahmedabad, making cities heat resilient
By Yuvraj Singh Walia Almost seven months ago, in late 2021, the world witnessed the start of a horrifying border crisis of grave human rights violations between Belarus and the European Union. The crisis, still ongoing, has taken a devastating form wherein humans are being used as weapons to further vested interests, and cause turmoil and disruption. This dismal state of affairs needs immediate attention … Continue reading The Chess Game and the Fate of the Pawns: The Belarusian Border Crisis
So, is the only difference the fact that they identify as Muslim? Continue reading Cut from the same cloth
