perspective-health - Page 11

The Age Of Consent And The Borders Of Belief

ICT Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025 marks a pivotal step toward a safer, progressive Pakistan KARACHI. Child rights organisations and advocates, along with concerned citizens, have warmly welcomed the passage of recent legislation on child marriages, describing it as a landmark step toward protecting the rights and well-being of children. “The passage of the ICT Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025…

THE SCREEN-TIME TRAP

It’s a common scenario. A parent wants to do some chores or wants some free time for his or her self and the child may be causing disruptions or being clingy. Finding no other way to distract the child, the parent gives his/her smartphone to the child to keep them…

Prevention is Cheaper

Each year, climate-induced disasters cost Pakistan billions of dollars and push millions…

Glaucoma for Children

A nice year old Hajra visited the paediatric ophthalmology department at our…

Water, Sanitation A Dream For Public School Students

LAHORE. Despite a billion-rupee budget, schools across the province have no clean bathrooms or drinking water available for students For students spending nearly six to seven hours away from home each day, the school premises become almost like a second home. Yet for the hapless students stuck in public schools,…

Ending Polio

WITH polio cases in Pakistan rising sharply in recent weeks, the government has unveiled the National Emergency Action Plan for Polio 2024-25. The country has already reported 39 cases this year, compared to just six in 2023. The spike has raised concerns about our ability to eradicate the virus, with…

Diphtheria Threat

Karachi faces a diphtheria outbreak, with 28 child deaths in 2023, exposing gaps in vaccination and critical care. Pakistan’s healthcare system continues to show cracks as another preventable tragedy unfolds in Karachi. This year, 28 children have lost their lives to diphtheria – a bacterial disease that could have been…

Malnutrition Epidemic

MALNUTRITION has been a primary factor in Pakistan’s disease burden for many years. Recently, the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, along with representatives from Unicef and Fafen, observed that malnutrition costs Pakistan approximately 3pc of its GDP and highlighted the country’s status as the second highest in diabetic patients, laying significant emphasis…

What Mpox Means For Our Children

The modern world is getting increasingly smaller and interconnected. Whether a newsbreak or a viral outbreak, it travels across continents in the blink of an eye. Just as we were beginning to breathe easier after Covid-19, another virus has silently made its way across our border and made its presence felt. Mpox,…

Child Rights Crisis

As the planet bakes in the hottest summer ever, with each passing month warmer than the last, the climate crisis is depriving children of some of their basic human rights and reducing opportunities for them to secure and live a decent life. Extreme weather events linked to climate change disproportionately…

Babies Galore

OURS is a society where parents start planning their daughter’s marriage soon after she is born. Here the social compulsion for couples to prove their fertility is so great that they have their first child within a year or so after tying the knot. Worse still, women are desperate to…

Malnourished Future

Almost half of the children in Pakistan experience stunted growth, while nearly a third are underweight and suffer from wasting. The long-term consequences of these issues for the future of the country are significant. In Sindh, infant and young child feeding practices are inadequate, with approximately 98 percent of children…

Nature-Based Education

Disconnection from nature is a catalyst for the present environmental crisis and several physical, mental, and emotional illnesses. With mental health challenges on the rise in the US and climate change on the brink of becoming irreversible, there is an urgent need for educators who can help restore our sense…

PHC Education And Training

LET me first clarify that while the title of this article might give the impression that we are educating and training our medical students about quality Primary Health Care (qPHC), we are not. Recently though, some important policy developments have taken place, which are paving the way for sustainable education…