CNS: March 2025

Is long-acting HIV treatment as good as taking daily pills?

(L to R) Dr Ishwar Gilada, Dr Jurgen Rockstroh, Gujarat CM B Patel

Treatment for people living with HIV (antiretroviral therapy) is lifesaving and revolutionary as it has made HIV akin to any other chronic disease. It has been proven that those who are on treatment and remain virally suppressed, live healthy and normal lifespans - comparable to those without the virus – and there is zero risk of any further HIV transmission from them.

Right to safe abortion cannot be dislocated from human rights

[हिंदी] Abortion is a human right. Yet, abortion-related stigma - rooted in patriarchy, misinformation, and control - continues to restrict access, fuel legal persecution, and force people into unsafe conditions in several countries. This Global Day of Action to Destigmatise Abortion, there is a stronger call for an end to criminalisation, medical gatekeeping, and harmful cultural narratives that shame and silence people who undergo abortions.

The funding crises forced upon by the US government on several low- and middle-income countries is an opportunity in disguise to improve programme efficiency and outcome and invest optimally in health and development responses from domestic coffers.

A female migrant worker who lives in an urban slum in India’s national capital Delhi lost both her children to TB. When the best of standard TB diagnostics and latest treatments are available (and also made in India), even one TB death is a death too many. Over 1.25 million people died of TB worldwide in 2023, as per the latest WHO Global TB Report 2024. Every TB death is a reminder that we could have done better to prevent, find, treat TB and support those dealing with the disease.

[watch AMR Dialogues] [हिंदी] In 2017, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), "A study on the public health and socioeconomic impact of substandard and falsified medical products," showed that 10% of medical products in low- and middle-income countries were substandard or falsified, indicating substantial under-recording and a much larger problem confronting us.

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#CSW69 Side Event panel discussion on "Are we on the right track to deliver on gender equality and human right to health?" will be held on 18th March 2025.

In-Person participants, scan QR code to register or click here

Venue: Stimson room at the NY Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036. USA.

Is patriarchy petrifying governments to deliver on gender equality?

[हिंदी] Despite a legally binding treaty and several other declarations, agreements and promises on gender equality and human rights, governments have failed to keep the promise. Gender inequality is not caused by natural calamities but by deep-seated patriarchy, which has sinister links with capitalism, privatisation, religious fundamentalism and militarisation.

Before 2025 World TB Day I spent a day accompanying TB affected street activists (TASA) - women who help find more TB among homeless women and female migrant workers in urban poor localities of India’s capital Delhi and link those in need to public services.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), substandard and falsified medical products affect people all around the world. At least 1 in 10 medicines in low- and middle-income countries are substandard or falsified.

[हिंदी] Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is a chronic infectious disease caused by a slow growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. But stigma and discrimination against persons affected by leprosy is propelled by us - human beings. This stigma is not only manmade, but is also unjustified, violates human rights and is a result of being blind to the fact that leprosy is curable.