Two 40-foot ocean freight containers of medical supplies were brought to Lady Reading Hospital just days before the horrifying shooting at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, in December that left at least 145 people dead (most of them children). The hospital would soon become the site where most of the people injured were rushed to […]
Summit on the Global Agenda 2014
For the last seven years, every November, around 800 thought leaders from around the world convene in the United Arab Emirates for the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda. Knitted as a global knowledge network of around 80 Global Agenda Councils on a wide range of subjects, the event is widely recognized as […]
Sania Nishtar’s Comments on the Round table on post 2015 at the International Conference on Nutrition, Rome, Italy November 19, 2014
Non-communicable disease is a collective name for four major diseases, CVD, diabetes, some cancers and chronic lung conditions These 4 diseases, are linked by 4 lifestyle and four biological risks. Diet is one of them This afternoon, I would like to make 4 points about the relevance of NCDs to the global development agenda First, […]
First National Conference on Social Franchising in Pakistan was held last week
The First National Conference on Social Franchising in Pakistan hosted by the Marie Stopes Society (MSS) in Bhurban concluded after two days of deliberations on 28 August. The participants at this event were drawn from both the public and private sector entities that are providing reproductive health (RH), family planning (FP) and Maternal and Child […]
Reflections from the UN NCD’s review
My visit to the United Nations’ headquarters during the UN review on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on Friday, July 11, as speaker and moderator for two events, respectively, made me go down the memory lane for some reasons. As a young medical intern working in the then named North West Frontier Province of Pakistan (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), I was always […]
The World Health Organization Is Fighting Childhood Obesity
Earlier last week, the Director General of WHO announced the establishment of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity to strengthen the scientific evidence base for action, to engage all stakeholders and to create awareness and build momentum for action to address this issue. The Director General of WHO has asked that I co-Chair the […]
Governance — Going granular
At the end of each year, analysts tend to review past performance of governments and sectors and whip forecasts and recommendations for the future. In doing so, they generally view things with a technical analytical lens where performance metrics, indicators and benchmarks come into play. Metrics matter deeply for performance with quantitative and qualitative data, […]
World Cancer Day: A sobering reminder
Our senior verifier Farkhanda broke down into tears as she narrated the story to me. I noted that she had been very sad all day yesterday, after having reviewed a child’s funding application. Nine year old SN knew she was suffering from a serious disease, which would be fatal if left untreated. She was the […]
Lessons from Sabir’s story: Why we aim for development and humanitarian objectives at Heartfile
Sabir was not on his bed when I entered the ward, which gave me an opportunity to go through the case notes. He suffered from a heart disease called infective (bacterial) endocarditis, a condition in which an infection ‘somewhere’ in the body can spill into the bloodstream and form vegetations or infected lumps on pre-existing […]
Governance in 2014
Part – I However, assessing governance effectiveness is a challenging task from an empirical standpoint and often information has its limitations in conveying the real impact of poor governance at the granular level – a level that can indicate the quantum of human suffering as a result. It is with a view to outlining this […]