WORLD Diabetes Day arrives as new research sheds light on the extent of discrimination Pakistanis living with diabetes encounter — including children who will eventually become part of a workforce unprepared to support them. The International Diabetes Federation’s latest survey, placing Pakistan at the top of global workplace
Each monsoon in Pakistan heralds less a renewal of life and more a rehearsal for ruin. The 2025 floods, which swept through the vast industrial triangle of Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala and their adjoining areas, were neither the first calamity nor will they be the last. What has
The Gender Parity Report – Islamabad Capital Territory offers a detailed assessment of gender equality across justice, education, economy, health, and governance. While progress is visible in areas like female judicial representation and school enrolment, wide disparities remain in employment, leadership, and healthcare access. The report highlights persistent
The world’s leading researchers, clinicians, survivors, and health advocates gathered in Bangkok for the 37th International Papillomavirus Society (IPVS) Conference, a pivotal meeting themed ‘Research Toward the Global Elimination of HPV-related Diseases and Cancers’. Held on October 23-26, against the dazzling backdrop of Thailand’s capital, the conference became
Monsoons bring rain, which in turn bring floods and stagnant water. This in turn leads to lots of mosquitoes and the mosquitoes bring disease. This is about as close to an iron rule as one can get in Pakistan: monsoon season brings dengue and malaria season. This is
OVER the past two decades, Pakistan has faced several HIV eruptions and the ignominy of ranking second among nations with the sharpest rise in HIV cases in the Asia-Pacific region. Sadly, not even the scale of the crisis has spurred the government into action. The Sindh health minister
The world treats defence as an existential priority – and rightly so, because lapses in readiness can trigger cascading crises. Climate change now carries the same gravity for vulnerable regions like Pakistan and whole of South Asia. It shuts factories during heatwaves, collapses bridges in flood season, pushes
Last week, Pakistan’s polio tally for 2025 went up to 30. The latest case was recorded in district Torghar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where over half (19) of this year’s polio cases have come from. While the tally for this year is still much lower than the 74 cases
FOR more than three decades, Pakistan has fought poliovirus with collective determination, reducing cases by 99.6 per cent. Despite concerted efforts, poliovirus has survived in two countries, posing persistent risk to the health and lives of vulnerable children in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As we commemorate World Polio Day
AS temperatures begin to drop, smog makes an unwelcome arrival in many parts of the country, particularly Lahore and urban Punjab. This health and climate crisis has been brewing for some years, while the state — nudged on by civil society and experts — has begun to take steps to
THE world rightly sees child domestic workers as modern slaves, while domestic labour is categorised as informal work, or invisible labour. In July 2022, a qualitative study by the International Labour Organisation revealed that one in every four Pakistani households employs a minor, showing a predominance of girls
The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) advanced major child protection reforms in 2024–2025, including the drafting of the Prohibition of Child Labour in Domestic Work Bill 2024 and advocacy for harmonizing the minimum marriage age at 18 years across all provinces. The Commission launched the