perspective-health - Page 3

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…

Rabies Deaths

The population of stray dogs in Karachi has been steadily increasing for quite a few years, with no humane plan of action in place to control it. Multiple attacks, injuries and deaths are reported every year, yet the government remains clueless in ensuring both prevention and timely treatment. This year, the…

Beyond the CRC review

Pakistan’s sixth and seventh periodic review before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), held in Geneva on January 15-16, 2026, marked an important moment of reflection and accountability, examining progress made since the previous review in 2016. More than a formal reporting obligation, the review…

Abandoned Newborns

Earlier this month, a newborn baby was found abandoned in a garbage bin in Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Town. Police have been informed, and legal proceedings are expected, though the baby’s condition remains undisclosed. For a society that claims reverence for life, the image of a newborn discarded among refuse should…

HIV Negligence

Medical negligence in Pakistan is often discussed in the abstract — as a system failure, a resource constraint or an unfortunate by-product of poverty. But when nearly 4,000 children in Sindh are living with HIV, many of them infected not at birth or through personal behaviour but in healthcare facilities meant…

Stray Dogs, Unsafe Streets, and Forgotten Children

A few days ago, I watched a boy no older than 10 or 12 dragging a sack of garbage larger than his own body. He was doing what thousands of children across Pakistan do every day, collecting recyclable waste to earn a living. Suddenly, several street dogs began barking. Moments…

Pregnancy Without Protection: Pakistan’s Struggle with Population Growth and Maternal Health

35-year-old Gul Rukh Bibi still remembers the silence that followed the birth of her eighth child: there were no congratulations, no whispered prayers, no relatives arriving with sweets. Only the quiet certainty that her life was about to change. Her husband had warned her months earlier that another daughter would…

Golden Children

On the global stage, human statues are performance artists who usually stand motionless at city centres for purposes of arts and entertainment. But this trend, cloaked under the guise of street performance, has been exported to Pakistan and particularly Karachi in borderline abusive conditions. At various junctions across the city,…

Violence Without Touch

Pakistan has experienced rapid growth in internet access, smartphone usage, and engagement on digital platforms. While this expansion has created new opportunities for communication, employment, and civic participation, it has also been accompanied by a marked rise in online threats, harassment, and technology-facilitated offences. The increasing number of complaints submitted…

Rabies Danger

RABIES has consistently emerged as a lethal yet overlooked health concern. Reportedly, the scourge took 22 lives in Sindh this year. Figures from three tertiary care hospitals in Karachi reveal an alarming spike in dog-bite incidents, taking the year’s reported tally to over 42,000 cases. The Indus Hospital recorded over…

Polio Shame

EVERY announcement of a vaccination campaign reflects Pakistan’s recognition of the polio problem and a resolve to defeat the crippling virus. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has launched the final nationwide polio drive of 2025 with the goal to immunise over 45m children. The minister said that the number of polio…