Health
Why women are reluctant to visit ob-gyns
It took two years for 42-year-old Solema Begum to meet a gynaecologist for a lump that was developing in one of her breasts.
health / Aedes-infested hospitals treat dengue patients
A tide of anxiety swept over the medical community when a survey by the disease control division of the Directorate General of Health
Mental health / The Crisis Inside
Just over a year ago, a large number of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar crossed the border into Bangladesh and crowded into and around existing refugee camps.
HEALTH / The undead of Rana Plaza
Muhit Faijul is a relatively well-known face in Savar. Talk to youngsters in the region and they will brag about how proud they are to have such a selfless man amidst them.
Cancer: Not just a rich man's disease
“When my husband stopped talking to me, all the responsibility of my treatment fell on my elderly father, who is a farmer. He had to sell off our land, three cows and trees to fund my treatment”
Art for the soul and mind
"NO excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness''—Aristotle. In a particularly distraught moment, I logged on to my Facebook account and reached out to all my friends who I knew battled with one or the other form of mental health issues. Some were going through troubled marriages, some disappointing their parents, some struggling adults, some unable to go to grad school and all battling their minds.
OD-ing on contraceptive pills
Sadia (her name and some others in this article have been changed), 24, while preparing for her upcoming wedding was also worrying about something else—what form of birth control to use. She had been warned by her aunt against using oral contraceptive pills because of the side-effects—that she would gain weight, experience hot flashes. Sadia herself was particularly worried about the hormonal changes due to the pill. Ahead of her wedding, she chose instead to stock up on emergency pills.
Public Health / Combating The Chikungunya Outbreak
At a time when the city is once again experiencing a surge of mosquitoes, residents are concerned about a resurgence of the diseases they carry. The mosquitoes biting us at all hours of day and night though are largely of the Culex variety, which while bothersome, does not bear disease. Aedes however causes dengue and worryingly, chikungunya, which crippled many in the city for some time last year.
Cervical cancer: Don't cure. Prevent.
In Bangladesh, 6,582 women die from cervical cancer every year. If the number seems small at first glance, here's another: 11,956 cases get diagnosed annually, while over 58.7 million women (aged 15 or above) are at risk.
Poorer kids get this much sicker
That children from the slums of Dhaka have an unequal start in life is not a revelation. Sanitation systems are poor or non-existent, poverty affects nutrition levels, and access to advanced health care is limited.
Going gently into that good night
A look into what palliative care is available for those with life-limiting illnesses in Bangladesh.
What is really killing the children of Tripura Para?
Forgotten by healthcare workers for seven years, 10 children in Sitakunda died from a disease that takes a single shot to prevent.
The curious case of the C-section
Ideally, caesareans are a process that should be used only when there's an emergency and when the life of either the baby or the mother is in danger. But in Bangladesh, more than 80 percent of the deliveries in private hospitals are caesarean.
Before cancer: Treating arsenic early
First comes the wheezing. It happens decades before the skin lesions appear – the tell-tale signs of arsenic poisoning.
Got enough iron?
If you feel exhausted all day long for no apparent reason, if your face and palms look as pale as a character in a vampire movie, if you often feel faint, lightheaded and dizzy, especially while working out or climbing stairs - you probably are anaemic.
The Plight of Menstruating Women
My imbrued frock disclosed to my displeasure- my entrance into puberty. Two days prior to my twelfth birthday, it ensued- the 'biological inevitable.' The flowing down of thick red fluid did not place me into perplexity, but it made the next seven days
It Never Works!
Crash diets – that ever popular way to drop some extra pounds fast and a dieting fashion that seems set to remain as shrinking celebrities promote the message that ‘thin is the new black’.
Awareness on breastfeeding
According to World Health Organisation's (WHO) calculations, every year, the untimely death of 15 lakh children can be prevented if they are only breast fed during the first six months after birth.
