Rani has had debilitatingly painful periods ever since she started relying on injectable contraceptives. When she reached out to her doctor for help, she was told to be patient and that “this happens, it is quite normal.” But it does make it very difficult for her to manage her periods. Not only does she have to […]
Sumit Mazumdar and Indranil, The Hindu, 7 July 2020 For most regions across the country, the long lockdown has just got over. As the “unlocking” begins, it is becoming increasingly apparent how the Indian state had chosen its sides and revealed its elitist bias during one of the most stringently enforced lockdowns worldwide. Several news […]
Alfred Itunga and Beate Ringwald, LVCT Health blog, June 2020 It is Friday evening, at 10 pm. Our children whose bedtime has long passed are still playing in the background. This is when we, Alfred* and Beate** meet online to discuss our work. It is not the usual time for work meetings. But nothing is […]
‘Invisible lives behind visible waste’: Experiences of sanitation workers and waste pickers in India
This blog post first appeared on the BMJ Global Health website on the 4 June 2020. By Shrutika Murthy, Varun Sai and B Ramanamurthi. India’s municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system rests on the back of a faceless workforce, comprising a myriad of actors: sanitation workers in the formal sector are contracted directly by the government municipalities and […]
by Jaideep Gupte and Kunal Kumar for Thomas Reuters Foundation, published 9 April 2020 With cities seriously threatened by the pandemic, India’s response to Covid-19 will depend on the successful use of its smart cities investment What are smart cities if they cannot help us live a good healthy life? Cities are expected to house 40 […]
This article first appeared on the IDS website on the 15 April 2020. By Annie Wilkinson Even though I knew what could happen, it was still a shock. I’d spent time in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic and had seen how a disease can ravage a society. I was prepared for fixations on the daily case […]
This article first appeared on the Health Systems Global blog on 24 April 2020 In collaboration with HSG’s Thematic Working Group on Health Systems in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (TWG-FCAS), Haja Wurie (COMAHS/ARISE, Sierra Leone) and Julia Lohmann (LSHTM, UK) reflect on the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of health […]
Sabina Faiz Rashid, The Daily Star, April 17 2020 Reading different narratives, survey results, and media reports and articles on the coronavirus pandemic, one is overcome with a range of emotions: depression, paralysis, anger, denial, helplessness—emotions that are reflective of being privileged, of having the luxury to dwell on them. For the vast number of […]
By Wafa Alam for Kalerkantho Online, 7 April 2020 ‘Our job is to bring awareness to the community. Who will do it if not us?’ said a community health worker working in informal settlements in Dhaka amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic known as COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis and brings with it […]
