Health
High hopes for tuberculosis in Bangladesh
Sunday, April 10th, 2011Reader’s Digest January 2011 High hopes for tuberculosis in Bangladesh PDF
A look inside the Cerebral Palsy Children’s Association of Penang
Friday, September 24th, 2010CNNGo September 13, 2010 — Psychedelic colors are projected onto the walls around the room. Giant tubes like lava lamps glow in one corner while directly opposite, a ball pond shimmers as rays of light emerge from below.
My mind is captivated, but rather than being for my benefit, the snoezelen room is designed to stimulate [...]
Taking toxins out of ship-breaking
Sunday, September 5th, 2010DHAKA, 3 September 2010 (IRIN) – A Dutch engineering company is trying to make safer the dangerous job of dismantling old ships contaminated with chemicals – by building the world’s first “green dock wharf” in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has long been a final destination for decommissioned ships from around the world. Their scrap metal is valuable, but [...]
“Spectacular” reduction in child mortality rates
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010DILI, 14 July 2010 (IRIN) – Timor-Leste, one of the world’s newest and poorest nations, has achieved significant declines in infant mortality, under-five mortality and fertility rates, according to the country’s latest Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).
Preliminary data from the survey – the full results of which will be released later this year – indicate [...]
Timor-Leste trials healthcare from the people, to the people
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010Timor-Leste gets creative at the grassroots level in battling a chronic shortage of healthcare professionals
Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 13 July 2010 — A firm belief in community is helping medical experts in Timor-Leste develop strategies for fighting a chronic shortage of healthcare professions.
“The healthcare system is still grossly under-utilised. And where we really fall down is [...]
UN urges Asia to focus on gender in HIV policies
Monday, June 28th, 2010BANGKOK, 28 June 2010 (IRIN) – The UN is urging Asia Pacific governments to step up their efforts to address gender inequalities in HIV response as rates of infection among women in the region continue to rise.
Some 1.6 million women are living with HIV in the Asia Pacific region, while 35 percent of all HIV [...]
Millions of Bangladeshis poisoned by arsenic-laced water
Friday, June 25th, 2010BANGKOK, 25 June 2010 (IRIN) – A fifth of all deaths in Bangladesh are linked to drinking water contaminated by arsenic, while up to 77 million people – half the population – have been chronically exposed to the poisonous metalloid, according to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal.
Researchers tracked 12,000 people over [...]
Cuban connection helps healthcare woes
Friday, April 2nd, 2010DILI, 29 March 2010 (IRIN) – Well before 8am, the reception at Bairo Formosa health centre in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, is bursting with people. The medical staff – a Timorese dental specialist, public doctor and six Cuban medics – see up to 600 patients a day.
Since independence in 2002, one of the biggest [...]
East Timor’s ticking AIDS timebomb
Friday, April 2nd, 2010AFP DILI December 30, 2009 — The tiny nation of East Timor could face a deadly AIDS epidemic, with promiscuity among youths, low condom use and general ignorance leading to a sharp increase in reported cases, doctors said.
“Most likely it will be a disaster in the near future,” said Dr. Daniel Murphy, founder of Bairo [...]
Lifesaving lessons in childbirth
Friday, April 2nd, 2010DILI, 2 September 2009 (IRIN) – In 2005, a woman was taken to hospital in Maliana District, Timor-Leste, after experiencing labour pains for three days at home. She delivered a stillbirth and was referred to the national hospital in the capital Dili with complications that needed eight operations. Her husband left her and her family [...]