[video] Window is closing to fully vaccinate the global population so that we have the best chance for ending Covid

[video] Good roads & infrastructure for cars & motor vehicles but no safe space for cycling or walking: Why?

[video] Food systems: Localize, transform, reverse liberalization

[video] Nothing without us: Civil society solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic

Who should be held responsible for deaths due to negligence?

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 hours around mid April 2021, then an interesting chronology of events were taking place regarding the Covid vaccination programme (along with Kumbh in Uttarakhand and elections in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh). 

Were people the missing link in Covid response?

Highest level of political leadership in Covid response is indeed unprecedented if we look at other health responses such as those for HIV, non-communicable diseases, TB or other communicable diseases that affect our lives. But were people having any voice in helping shape the response to the corona virus pandemic? To what extent did governments adapt important game-changing learnings over the past decades from several other health and development struggles? 

[video] Peasants Rise Up: Rice, bullets and 'build build build'

Putting people first is a critical cog in the wheel for responsive health systems

 

Shobha Shukla - CNS

 
Imagine a world where no one was suffering from any of the preventable diseases, be it non-communicable diseases (NCDs) or infectious diseases, or had to die untimely due to diseases that were primarily avoidable! Also imagine a tobacco free world - imagine a world where healthy balanced nutrition for all was a reality - where health for all was not just a chant but a reality for everyone where no one was truly left behind.

#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 are forced to go hungry. Moreover farmers who help nurture life, continue to struggle for their livelihoods and human rights. In lead up to 2021 World Localization Day, farmers from all continents worldwide are uniting to demand genuine reforms in our food system that also localize supply-chains and help recover people’s connections to nature and community.

[video] Future of farmers' movement: #WorldLocalizationDay

When the health system became the cause of death

Well known Hindustani classical singer Padma Vibhushan Channulal Mishra, chosen as one of the proposers of Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha elections, lost his wife and elder daughter to Covid in private hospitals in Varanasi. Younger daughter has accused Medwin Hospital of charging Rs. 1.5 lakhs for treatement of her sister and not being able to explain the cause of death. Pandit Channulal Mishra has asked for a probe into his daughter’s death from the Chief Minister. The family has also asked for the CCTV footage of the ward where deceased daughter was admitted for a week. Madhurima Kundu, a Ph.D. student at Jawaharlal Nehru University was admitted for four days at Sultanpuri Government Isolation Centre for Covid patients in Delhi and has described the pathetic conditions related to availability and behavior of doctors, medical and para-medical staff, sanitation, food, medicines, linen and monitoring of oxygen in a petition filed in High Court. The ill patients had to go down to the reception to ask for every basic thing and stand in queues in scorching sun to get medicines. 

Peasants Rise Up: The oppression of small milk farmers

watch full episode of Peasants Rise Up here

Aside from the pasteurisation law, the government has already introduced the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act in 2016 and the Seed (Amendment) Act in 2015. Pakistan, as a member of the WTO, is bound by the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and is compelled to pass legislation that would protect the interests of intellectual property rights holders, which are mostly transnational corporations. 

[video] Covid and TB, HIV and other infections or chronic diseases

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 recall the Administrator appointed in Lakshadweep immediately and ensure democratic rights to decision-making are held by the islanders.

Tobacco race: where quitters and non-runners are the real winners

Shobha Shukla - CNS

According to a recent study published in the The Lancet smoking killed 7.69 million people globally in 2019, while the number of smokers rose to 1.14 billion as the habit was picked up by young people around the globe. It was also the leading risk factor for death among males (over 20% of male deaths). Another worrisome finding is that 89% of new smokers are addicted by the age of 25, thanks to the continuous nefarious tactics of Big Tobacco, which is working round the clock to addict a new generation of customers.

[video] Covid humanitarian crisis in India: Global Health Matters Live Event Series

Scaling-up interventions for non-communicable diseases in south-east Asia

Baralee Meesukh

The human cost of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is high with the World Health Organization (WHO) attributing over 71% of the annual global deaths to NCDs. The burden of NCDs is also unevenly increasing among low-income populations. Three-quarters of all deaths due to NCDs are in low- and middle-income countries.

[video] Milking us dry: Pakistan's dairy sector in crisis | Peasants Rise Up 3rd episode

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 speeds which continued to result in fatal accidents. Every year, more than 1.3 million people die in road traffic crashes – that’s one person every 24 seconds. Excessive speed is at the core of the road traffic injury problem, with 1 in 3 deaths on the roads in high-income countries attributed to speed. It is estimated that 40-50% of people drive above the speed limit, with every 1 km/h increase in speed resulting in a 4-5% increase in fatal crashes. The risk of death and injury reduces considerably when speeds are lowered.

[podcast] Lessons learnt: What the COVID-19 experience in India can teach us about HIV vaccine research, delivery and access

Today is HIV Vaccine Awareness Day! IAVI and CNS bring to you a very special podcast, Lessons Learnt: What the COVID-19 experience in India can teach us about HIV vaccine research, delivery and access, where three experts discuss the past, present and future of HIV research in the current COVID context, and the implications of this research on scientific and clinical practice, and community participation.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, aCast, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, and other podcast streaming platforms.

[video] Peasants Rise Up (Petani Bersuara, Petani Menuntut - 2nd episode from Indonesia)

Do not miss the writing on the wall: Managing asthma well is key to living life normally

If essential and lifesaving medicines and proper care are available, accessible and affordable for all people with asthma, they can manage their asthma properly and lead a normal life. On this year’s World Asthma Day, Dr Guy Marks, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia and President of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) reminded us that even as asthma continues to be the most common chronic illness in children globally, it affects adults as well.

Peasants Rise Up (Sri Lanka): Women struggle to break free from sugar company’s control

 (you may also read it here on Asian Peaseant Coalition)

The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) and PAN Asia Pacific’s No Land, No Life! Campaign, has launched the Peasants Rise Up broadcast series. The series, hosted by Bobby Ramakant of CNS and Christina Sayson, tackles landlessness, corporate control of agriculture, human rights, and other issues currently faced by the peasantry across Asia. The Peasant Rise Up series is part of the Global People's Summit for a Just, Equitable, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems. It celebrates the success stories of the peasant movement and highlights the call for land to the tillers as necessary for a truly radical food systems transformation.

Do not miss the writing on the wall: Managing asthma well is key to living life normally

Shobha Shukla - CNS

If essential and lifesaving medicines and proper care are available, accessible and affordable for all people with asthma, they can manage their asthma properly and lead a normal life. On this year’s World Asthma Day, Dr Guy Marks, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia and President of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) reminded us that even as asthma continues to be the most common chronic illness in children globally, it affects adults as well.

[video] Is it better to burn or bury a corpse?

[video] Understanding the four new labour codes

[video] Covid vaccine: Are we moving towards self-reliant India?

[video] Press freedom in times of Covid-19

World Asthma Day | 4th May, Tuesday

 Join us on World Asthma Day (4th May, Tuesday) at 2pm Singapore/ Manila/ KL time (1pm Bangkok/ Hanoi/ Phnom Penh/ Jakarta, 12:30pm Myanmar, 12 noon Bangladesh, 11:30am India/ Sri Lanka, 11:45am Nepal).

[video] Labour movement and Madhu Limaye

[video] Event Summary: Comic Launch: Corporate Capture of the UN

[video] Protest against profiteering from illness: Growing people's demand for free Covid vaccines for all

Quid Pro Quo system?

smoke from the electric crematorium in Lucknow

Narendra Modi once said he is a Gujarati and understands business. As time passes his business model is getting exposed and he is becoming more shameless like any ordinary businessman. It is quite clear to the people that he is not withdrawing the three controversial farm laws because all the three laws are meant to benefit the private corporations at the cost of farmers. In fact, the farmers’ movement has also openly targeted Adani and Ambani in addition to Narendra Modi as their enemies. Graphic flex banners are visible at the protest sites at Singhu and Tikri.