CNS: August 2017

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.

[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.

Private public partnership and sustainable development: In harmony or in conflict with each other?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Are public private partnerships helpful or harmful to increase progress on sustainable development? CNS spoke with Gerifel Cerillo, the coordinator of 'Tanggol Bayi' - an association of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the Philippines on this issue. Gerifel will also be a key participant at the forthcoming 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand (7-9 September 2017).

[Webinar] Can mHealth help accelerate progress towards ending TB?

Bottom Line: Men escalate domestic violence and women bear the brunt of it

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Mobina was married in 2009, at the age of 22, to a driver. Being the youngest of 8 siblings (4 brothers and 4 sisters), her vegetable-seller father (who died in 2010) and her brothers spent beyond their means in her wedding. But this could not satiate the greed of the sister of Mobina’s husband. She was harassed to bring more dowry. The daily dose of domestic violence forced Mobina to return to her parental home after just one year of her marriage.

[SDM Health Justice Lecture Series] Inter-sectoral response is vital to #endTB: Disability rights and TB

Tackling social taboos to end TB

Dr Abha Jaiswal, CNS Correspondent, India

Addressing social stigma is pivotal to eliminating TB. The ‘TB Free India Summit’ was one such initiative organized by the International Union Against TB and Lung Diseases (the Union), USAID and Challenge TB to promote zero stigma and zero discrimination towards TB patients. A key highlight of the meet was a cricket match between celebrities and parliamentarians at Dharamsala, India on April 7-8, 2017.

Traversing TB’s undulating journey of ambitious targets and facile strategies in achieving SDGs

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda

TB is one of the oldest human infectious diseases, but it was only in 1882 that the German Nobel Laureate Dr Robert Koch discovered the cause of it—Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 135 years down the line of this discovery the disease still remains a silent killer. TB cases are still far from declining at the intended rate to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending TB by 2030.

[Watch webinar recording] [Listen/ download podcast] Mobile health (mHealth) is being used in different ways by TB programmes in some high-burden countries. A recent study published in June 2017 shows that presumptive-TB case-referral by healthcare providers using mHealth went up manifold.

[Watch lecture recording | Listen to podcast] Dr Sunil Khaparde, Deputy Director General (DDG), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; is the head of India's TB programme. Nandita Venkatesan works with The Economic Times and is a 2 time-intestinal TB survivor and patient-rights advocate. She lost over 90% of her hearing (profound deafness) due to a rare side-effect of a second-line TB drug. She recently gave a TEDx talk on her long ordeal and taking to Bharata Natyam dancing for healing.

Women should not live in fear, but act with courage

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

"One day, when my first child was barely 6 months old, my husband kicked away the water and food I had served him. On asking him the reason, he started pulling my hair and thrashing me. I was stunned at his sudden violent behaviour. But this was just the start of a never-ending saga of domestic violence that continues till today", said 30 years old Lakshmina. She hails from a Dalit community in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. The only sister of four brothers, Lakshmina is illiterate. She did start her schooling, but one day, while going to school, she met with an accident and hurt herself. Her doting mother immediately stopped sending her to school, saying that she did not want to risk her daughter’s life.