ISLAMABAD: In light of 43 polio cases reported across the country so far this year, the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments met on 31st October to devise a strategy for eradicating the virus responsible for the crippling disease. Emphasising accountability, the meeting decided to have a zero-tolerance policy against fake finger marking, with strict measures to address any violations. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), the joint campaign
Child Rights in Focus
Poverty, cultural norms continue to henna stain the hands of female children way before their age of consent KARACHI.Although the national obsession with female matrimony is enough to pressurize even elite parents to expedite their search for a son-in-law, for low-income families, marrying off a teenage daughter means having one less mouth to feed. Therefore, child marriages have emerged as a reprehensible yet critical survival strategy for the indigenous communities in rural Sindh. In
Residents have set up a temporary school with volunteer teachers RAWALPINDI: Families in Sumbul Syedan village, Murree, have withdrawn their daughters from schools recently handed over to NGOs, opting instead to educate them in makeshift tent schools. Unhappy with the former Government Primary Girls School’s privatisation, residents set up a temporary school with volunteer teachers in a tented open area to avoid sending their daughters back to the NGO-operated institution. A resident, Syed Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Around 20-25 percent of children in Pakistan never receive even a single drop of their mother’s milk, primarily due to misconceptions and a lack of awareness among women and their families, who often consider breast milk to be either less nutritious or even harmful, leading child health and nutrition expert Prof. Zulfiqar Bhutta said citing the National Nutritional Survey 2018. “Besides poverty, lack of awareness is a major driver of undernutrition in many
KARACHI: The media monitoring organisation Uks Research Resource Centre hosted a webinar on ‘SafeWords: Combating Sexist Abuse in Urdu and Punjabi’ in collaboration with WACC to showcase the findings and achievements of their year-long project about sexist and abuse in Urdu and Punjabi on 31st October. Speaking about the project, the director of Uks said that they started a 365-day campaign ‘#pehlaysochophirbolo’ or ‘#thinkbeforeyouspeak’ where they undertook several activities for collecting data on the
KHYBER: Nine female teachers of the recently established Government Girls Degree College in Bara are awaiting payment of their salaries for the last 10 months. The aggrieved staff told Dawn during a visit to the college in Alamgudar area in Bara that they were faced with serious financial issues as they had now started borrowing money for their personal expenses from their relatives and friends. All the nine female subject specialists, having the required educational
SWAT: Residents have complained the Government Primary School Rahimabad No 2 in Mingora’s Rahimabad area doesn’t have a permanent building, forcing more than 900 students both boys and girls to attend classes in rented shops and garages. They said the school, established years ago, never had a proper structure, raising concerns about the safety and learning of students. The residents said they sent their children to school for a brighter future. “Despite being in
LAHORE: A prep class student was allegedly raped by a school employee in Faisal Town on 31st October. Lahore Operations DIG Faisal Kamran confirmed the incident, saying the police acted swiftly and arrested the suspect who was said to be an employee of the same school. The police also registered a first information report (FIR) on the complaint of the girl’s father who said the suspect took her daughter to a house adjacent to
KARACHI: Expressing concern over rising maternal mortalities and health complications due to unsafe abortions, speakers at the launch of a study on 30th October called for making reproductive healthcare services safe and accessible across Pakistan which saw 3.8 million abortions in 2023 from 2.25m in 2012 — a 56 percent increase since 2012. They were speaking at the launch of the study titled ‘Safeguarding Women’s Health: Trends, Inequities, and Opportunities in Pakistan’s Abortion and
GENEVA: A record 8.2 million new tuberculosis cases were diagnosed worldwide last year, the World Health Organisation said — the highest number since it began global TB monitoring in 1995. The WHO said its Global Tuberculosis Report 2024, released on Tuesday, highlights “mixed progress in the global fight against TB, with persistent challenges such as significant underfunding”. While the number of TB-related deaths declined from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25m last year, the
Lahore schools considering schedule changes to prioritise the health of children Lahore: A three-day school closure and potential schedule adjustments in Lahore is being considered as the city grapples with deteriorating air quality, local officials announced. Amid severe smog conditions, schools could close on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays to reduce health risks, pending a review by the environmental authorities, Express News reported. The Punjab Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson said a decision is expected following
ISLAMABAD: Polio crippled another child in the Chagai district of Balochistan, where a 5-year-old girl was paralyzed by the wild poliovirus, bringing the national polio case count to 43 this year. The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed the case on 30 October 2024, highlighting the ongoing challenge Pakistan faces in its fight against polio. This case marks Chagai’s first polio diagnosis this year and brings Balochistan’s