Growing support globally to end HIV medicine stockouts in India
Several networks of people living with HIV are pouring in support to the ongoing indefinite sit-in (since 21st July 2022) outside offices of India's AIDS programme, to demand an end…
Bobby Ramakant
No #HealthForAll without peace: Attack on healthcare facilities is war crime, must stop
Slogans like 'every life matters' sound so clichéd and hollow when we see the ground reality in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia armed conflict: healthcare workers, healthcare facilities and transport are getting…
When people with HIV can live normal lives then why 680,000 AIDS deaths in 2020?
When we know how to prevent HIV transmission, and how to keep every person living with HIV healthy, then how can one fathom deaths of at least 680,000 people due…
Will India’s One billion vaccination-dose-milestone be catalytic for vaccinating all?
On 21 October 2021, India crossed its milestone of administering over 1 billion (100 crores) doses within 278 days since it began the vaccination rollout (on 16th January 2021). The…
What if TB, HIV medicines stop working? Experts unite against drug resistance
A picture containing text, person, person, suit Description automatically generatedOne year and 10 months ago when first case of corona virus was reported in Wuhan, China, entire world was terrified…
Malaria vaccine: Vital addition to toolkit for preventing malaria but no magic bullet
It is indeed a breakthrough scientific achievement that we Diagram Description automatically generated with medium confidencenow have the first-ever and only malaria vaccine to prevent malaria in children. This is…
Science must guide India, UK: Stoking vaccine nationalism will fail us all
One of the seven sins we should not commit as warned by Mahatma Gandhi, is "science without humanity". But are we conscious enough to ensure that the global fight against…
World Lung Day | Air is deadlier than we thought it is!
While we observe World Lung Day, let us also pay heed to the latest policy guidelines on one of the major preventable risk factors of deadliest of lung diseases: air…
UK’s decision to consider vaccinated Indians as ‘unvaccinated’ stinks of apartheid, lacks scientific merit
Recent decision of the United Kingdom (UK) to consider fully vaccinated Indians along with some other nationalities as 'unvaccinated' lacks scientific merit and instead stinks of white supremacy and apartheid…
Step up the pace globally if universal vaccination could lead us out of the pandemic
The Covid pandemic has hard drilled the lesson why health and social security of each one of us is inter-dependent on health and social security of one another. But do…
Why is public transport not good enough to make private vehicle ownership unnecessary?
If the goal is to protect environment from automobile pollution, improve road safety, and end economic disparities in the society, then vehicle scrappage policy is not likely to deliver on…
Who Should Be Held Responsible For Deaths Due To Negligence?
by Bobby Ramakant and Sandeep Pandey When India was reeling under the severest impact of the Covid pandemic, and the peak of around 450,000 new cases was reported in 24…
#WorldLocalizationDay: Peasants rise up to demand genuine food-system reforms
Food nourishes life. Our farmers produce more than enough food to feed all the people on the planet but due to socially unjust and ecologically unsustainable food systems, many people…
Save Lakshadweep: Stop ‘reform’ which is not socially just and ecologically sustainable
There is a growing call to save Lakshadweep islands from attempts to destroy them socially, culturally and ecologically. One of the key demands is for the government of India to…
Why reduce speed limit to 30 km/h? “Answer is blowin’ in the wind”
Due to the Covid lockdown in 2020, though the number of road traffic accidents declined yet deaths did not decline in the same proportion because people drive at higher…
Experts demand compulsory licensing for generic production of a drug against Covid-19
Should not a medicine (Remdesivir) that has shown lifesaving effect in certain cases of Covid-19 be made available to all those who need it without delay? Even if Big Pharma…
Land to the tillers for genuine food system change
The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC)'s observance of 29 March as "Land of the Landless: Land to the Tillers", reminds us of the words of Mahatma Gandhi: "In reality, the toilers…
Instead of reducing maximum speed limit, Thailand increases it to 120 kph
Thailand was among the countries globally that promised last year to reduce the maximum speed limit to 30 kilometre per hour (30 kph) to reduce road traffic crashes, and thus,…
Is policing pandemics different than maintaining law and order?
Among the first responders in times of emergencies or crises is often expected to be the police. This was no different when Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to a grinding…
Growing call for federal democracy in Myanmar
Written by Constanze Ruprecht and Bobby Ramakant Growing number of civil society networks for peace, health and human rights from around the world are unifying their call for federal democracy…
Market solutions will make roads unsafe for everyone
India along with 193 countries had promised to halve deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 2020 (as part of UN Sustainable Development Goals). But we have failed to…
Community health work is work
This year the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) day is different in a way that never before the UHC message was so loud and clear. From first case of coronavirus eleven…
Not symbolism but embodying Mahatma Gandhi in our lives is vital: Medha Patkar
It is high time to move beyond mere tokenism when we commemorate Mahatma Gandhi, and begin truly embodying Gandhian values in all aspects of our lives. This rallying call was…
Strong unions are pivotal for safety of healthcare workers and patients
In May 2019, all 194 countries that set the agenda of the World Health Organization met at the 72nd World Health Assembly and endorsed the establishment of World Patient Safety…
For a better world, our lifestyle must be based on as less resources as possible
Senior activist Medha Patkar launched a youth led, Towards A Better World campaign, in an online session where several youth leaders of Fridays For Future (a global movement led by…
COVID-19 and the Need for the Immediate Nationalisation of the Indian Healthcare Sector
Co-Written by Asmita Verma, Surabhi Agarwal and Bobby Ramakant The Epidemics Act, 1897 gives the central and state governments authority to impose any regulations which may be necessary to contain…
Speed is not enough, accelerating progress is key to end TB: new WHO report
Global fight against tuberculosis (TB) is making modest gains, although largely not yet on track to end TB. 2019 Global TB Report of the World Health Organization (WHO) launched…
Corporations that abuse human rights are a threat to SDGs and our planet
One of the major processes at the United Nations (UN) that gives hope for a better tomorrow where "no one is left behind" is the UN binding treaty on transnational…
Reject false solutions to climate crisis: Manila initiative on rights of climate migrants gives hope
The writing is on the wall: rich countries, whose wealth and progress is at the cost of resource exploitation of conquered nations and the unabated combustion of fossil fuels for…
TB is preventable & curable: Zero new infection & zero deaths must become a reality
TB is preventable, treatable and curable. Science shows how can we effectively prevent, accurately diagnose, treat with effective regimen, and eventually cure TB. But are not we failing to translate…
Preventing TB is rooted in medical ethics and human rights
With quarter of world’s population infected with latent TB (not active TB disease), and in the light of scientific fact that every new case of active TB disease comes from…
Is Universal Health Coverage an opportunity to end AIDS and TB?
At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, a special United Nations High Level Meeting (UNHLM) will be held on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). 193 countries have promised to…
Preventing TB is a critical cog in the wheel to #endTB and #endAIDS
Every case of active tuberculosis (TB) disease comes from an individual with latent TB infection. And every new case of latent TB infection is a sign of failing infection control,…
Why I did not renew my driving license?
Because I realized (better late than never) that it is government’s responsibility to provide safe, convenient, affordable, accessible and humane ways of commuting for all its citizens. When governments fail…
Innovative MACH gives hope for multi-disciplinary global health response
Although 193 governments adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which warrant an integrated and multisectoral response to deliver on those promises, the progress has been lackadaisical in the past four…
Are we on track to #endmalaria?
This year’s World Malaria Day theme, "Zero Malaria Starts With Me" re-energizes the fight to eliminate malaria which, despite being preventable and treatable, still kills over half a million people…
Healing is different from cure, conveys Pirates Of Chemotherapy
When we first heard of a dramatic comedy theatre play on breast cancer, it was difficult to comprehend how will the three go together? Comedy, theatre and poignant theme of…
Business as usual will fail us on cancer control, SDGs
193 governments including those of India, committed to reducing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancers by 25% by 2025 and one-third by 2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goals or…
It’s Time: Match words with actions to #endTB
Alongside boosting research and development of new tools to prevent, diagnose and treat TB, there is an acute need to optimally deploy and maximally utilize existing tools for preventing, diagnosing…
Tobacco Endgame Is Critical ‘Cog In The Wheel’ For Sustainable Development
Although governments have promised sustainable development by 2030 by adopting UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but tobacco triggered pandemics threaten to stall or even reverse the progress made. Tobacco is…
Connecting ‘Silos’: Interdependence Is Key To #EndTB in Sustainable Development Era
(CNS): When major weak-spots go beyond the purview of health ministry, inter-sectoral programming becomes critical to progress towards ending tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, globally. Indian government has committed to…
Inter-Sectoral And Well-Coordinated Battle To #endTB Is Imperative To Deliver On Agenda 2030
(CNS): Growing political commitment of governments globally to #endTB is indeed welcoming but governments need to walk the talk too to #endTB and deliver on promises of integrated sustainable development…
Right To Road Must First Go To Pedestrians, Non-Motorised Vehicles
(CNS): "It did not strike me even for a second how fatal it could be for my child to ride a two-wheeler as a pillion rider - without a…
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