Using ICT to end TB

Francis Okoye, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria

Photo credit: Ashok Ramsarup

As the world advances, new idea and technologies are taking root in all fields, especially in the medical field. This brings us to the idea of using information and communication technologies to help control TB. The new technology being applied is called mobile health or mHealth, and in a webinar titled ‘Can mHealth help accelerate progress towards ending TB?’ hosted by CNS, experts explained how the new technology is being applied in India in the rural as well as urban areas. Mobile health technology is being used in different ways by TB programs in some high burden countries.

[Podcast] Avert delays in translating scientific gains into public health outcomes

[SDM Health Justice Lecture] Transforming scientific research outcomes into public health gains

26/9 Webinar: Scientific highlights of the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health

[Webinar recording] [Listen/download audio podcast] The 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health will be held during 11-14 October 2017 in Guadalajara, Mexico on the theme of "Accelerating towards elimination".

Leveraging mHealth for tackling TB in India

Urvashi Prasad, CNS Correspondent, India
India accounts for a large part of the world’s TB burden. As highlighted by Dr Suneetha Narreddy, Infectious Diseases Expert, Apollo Hospitals,  Hyderabad, during a webinar organised by CNS, there are approximately 2.6 million cases of TB annually in India. Unfortunately, nearly 1 million cases are missed every year on account of poor notification, especially from the private sector where 50% of patients are treated, as well as the absence of standardised diagnostic and treatment practices.

Dr Paula I Fujiwara, Scientific Director, The Union on World Lung Day 2017

Presentation of Dr Paula I Fujiwara of The Union in 2017 World Lung Day Webinar by bobbyramakant on Scribd

Technology can help improve TB management: Experts

Aarti Dhar, CNS Correspondent, India
[First published in the India Saga] 
Simple technology, such as basic mobile phones, can help in improving TB management, experts suggest. At least two pilots, conducted in India, have shown increased adherence to treatment regimen and improved the notification of the disease, particularly in the private sector.

[Podcast] Voice from the Pacific: Gender justice is central to development

Dr Dean E Schraufnagel, Director, FIRS on 2017 World Lung Day

Presentation of Dr Dean E Schraufnagel, Director, FIRS in 2017 World Lung Day Webinar by bobbyramakant on Scribd

[Focus] Gender justice is integral to development in the Pacific

Women united will never be defeated…

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

That was the reverberating chant that greeted the dawn of the third and final day on 'Action' theme at the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), which was organized by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

[Podcast] Can music/ rap help power social movements? Listen to rapper Sofia Ashraf in conversation with CNS' Shobha Shukla

[Focus] Powering people's movements through music and rap: Sofia Ashraf in conversation with CNS Editor Shobha Shukla

[Podcast] People's movements give hope for development justice to be a reality!

[Focus] Power of people's movements gives hope for a better and a just tomorrow!

Anger gives way to hope, for "if winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Anger of day one gave birth to HOPE on the second day of the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), which is being organised in the 'Land of a Thousand Smiles' - Thailand - under the aegis of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). Feminists from the Asia Pacific region, kindled a new optimism to collectively strike at the rise of authoritarian, patriarchal, late capitalism, by organising movements, for a more equitable and just world, through hope and love.

[Podcast] No excuse for inaction: Growing call to deliver on promise of gender justice

[Focus] Patriarchy abhors accountability: High time to walk the talk on gender justice!

[Podcast] Lesbians, transgenders, indigenous ethnic minorities need special focus for sustainable development of all

[Focus] Stateless, indigenous, ethnic minorities: Are they on the development blindspot?

Anger begets hope and drives constructive action for a better tomorrow

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

More than 300 feminist activists, women human rights defenders and global allies are gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand under the banner of '(re)Sisters, (per)Sisters and Sisters', for the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017). This 3 days Forum (7-9 September 2017) has been organised around the framework of 'Anger, Hope and Action'.

Collective action and structural changes are vital for gender justice

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Judy Taguiwalo, politician and women's rights leader

[Watch video, listen podcast] Judy Taguiwalo is a politician as well as a women's rights activist of Philippines. She is the former Minister of Department of Social Welfare and Development of Philippines. Since her student days she has been in the forefront of advancing women’s rights, in relation to societal changes, and has been a member of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) since 1987.

[Spotlight] Feminism is about solidarity, not about matriarchy

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Globally, and in the Asia Pacific region, an authoritarian patriarchal rule is ascendant and feminist space is under increased attack. In order to exist, we sisters (or rather like minded feminists, who do not necessarily have to be females) will have to resist and persist. Resist this patriarchal ascendency and the consequent threats to civil society. And persist to challenge the exploitations and inequalities that are driving us towards unsustainable development.

[Podcast] Judy Taguiwalo, former Social Welfare Minister of Philippines, calls for development justice

[Focus] Building people's movements and solidarity with other sectors are key to women's rights

Patriarchy abets the malaise of bride kidnapping

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Aizhamal Bakashova, SHAZET, Kyrgyzstan
(CNS image archives, 2015)

Bride kidnapping (marriage by abduction or capture) is still rampant in many Caucasian countries, including Kyrgyzstan. In fact, the 2015 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) committee report expressed its alarm at the high prevalence of marriages in Kyrgyzstan that result from bride kidnapping, which appears to be socially legitimized!

Women human rights defenders spearheading struggle for a better tomorrow

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Photo courtesy: Bee Pranom Somwong,
Protection International

The talk about 'sustainable development' and 'no one left behind' looks difficult to believe when people's lives, livelihoods, human rights and dignity are violated in pursuit of the so-called development . Bee Pranom Somwong, who works with Protection International, and is also among the key participants at the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), which opens later this week in Chiang Mai, Thailand (7-9 September 2017), was recently in conversation with CNS (Citizen News Service) on the current development model.

Is global development agenda rooted in local realities?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Photo courtesy: Reasey Seng, Cambodia

Global processes for development should be rooted in and informed by the grassroots movements. But is there a gap or disconnection? Can we do better to ensure that development discourses at all levels are plugged in affected communities on the frontlines?

Will struggle of women human rights defenders lead to a just social order?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Photo courtesy: Maria Chin Abdullah, Malaysia

• "On 14 September 2016, the Red Movement leader threatened me with the following statement: I will ambush her in the near future… She won’t feel peace even with 10 or 20 bodyguards, we will whip them… She may no longer walk on this earth."

Are development projects only for the rich?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Photo courtesy: Channy

Channy Yeam belongs to the minority indigenous Pu Nong tribe, who inhabit the Kbal Romeas village in Stung Treng Province’s Sesan District of Cambodia. She spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) on the disastrous impact of the development projects, like hydro-electric dams, on the lives of local inhabitants and indigenous communities.

Profit and power over people will fail us on SDGs, says Fiji activist

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
A shrinking civic space is a reality in most countries today. Human rights defenders are being targetted by the State, even though the State is supposed to be the vanguard of human rights. In order to exist, civil society and women human rights defenders (WHRDs) will have to resist the regressive advances of the States that encroach upon their space and rights, and persist in their efforts to effectively insist for development justice.

[SDM Health Justice Lecture Series] Transforming research outcomes into public health gains: An urgent priority to #endTB

[Watch recording] [Listen to podcast] Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, has kindly consented to deliver the September 2017 e-talk/ online lecture as part of the Shanti Devi Memorial Health Justice Lecture Series. She will speak on "Transforming research outcomes into public health gains: An urgent priority to #endTB".

The woes of the 'foreign brides': Xenophobia still lurks around

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Photo courtesy: Tsu-ying Liang, TASAT

Thirty years ago, Taiwan's economy was booming and was better than that of most South East Asian countries. At that time, even China's GDP was lower than Taiwan’s and their foreign policy was not welcoming foreigners. So back then many Vietnamese and Indonesian women migrated to marry Taiwanese men - they preferred them over those from other wealthy countries like Korea or Japan, because many Vietnamese and Indonesians are Chinese descendants.