Too brown, Too dark, Too Ugly
Top left to bottom: Advertisements for Fair & Lovely, Clean and Dry Intimate Wash and Vaseline’s Fair & Handsome, from Recently, a close member in my family gave birth to a beautiful…
Healthcare
Sexist doctors: Speak up, talk about it
Image courtesy The lady in front of me in the queue put a packet of condoms on the counter and we both could see the cashier’s eyes flicker over her left hand,…
In conversation with Prof. Harendra De Silva
In this video, Prof. Harendra De Silva – one of Sri Lanka’s best known paediatricians – speaks about the challenges to child health and safety in Sri Lanka. Speaking about malnourishment, Prof.…
World AIDS Day is passed. Let’s begin forgetting again.
This was the first World AIDS Day I chose to ignore. The first World AIDS Day that I tried to boycott. Every year since I got into this business, December 1st has…
Resource or Burden? A different perspective on the elderly in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy World Bank The elderly, usually grouped into those over 60 years, are often looked at as a vulnerable or dependent group in society, sometimes even as a burden. How reasonable…
There is an urgent need for psychological assistance in the North
: Two years ago, Sri Lanka’s three decade long war ended in May 2009. But, those who witnessed the brutality of the war are still suffering and struggling to forget the traumatic…
Subsidizing Addiction?
It was with this that I opened my article on ‘wildlife conservation’ in 1979. I was being confronted to a national extinction of the in-situ wildlife populations within anthropogenic ecosystems. In other…
From Haiti Hell: Perspectives from the ground a year after the earthquake
Words Hugh Bohane. Pictures Alison Thompson. Australian nurse, filmmaker and author Alison Thompson is making a name for herself, selflessly volunteering to help in dangerous global calamities, such as in the aftermath…
Brief Notes on Mental Health & Psychosocial Support after 2011 Batticaloa Floods
Dr. T. Gadambanathan & Ananda Galappatti The following is a brief response to queries we have received about what considerations should be made during the recovery phase of the flood disaster with…
UPDATE: Google Map on Flood-affected areas in Sri Lanka
View Flood-affected areas in Sri Lanka – January 2011 in a larger map The map above identifies the main flood-affected regions, sites where relief and rescue operations have been conducted, areas prone…
UPDATE: Situation report on flood-affected areas and a call for assistance
The Editors of have received several updates during the course of the day confirming that the situation on the ground is quite severe and we now have a humanitarian crisis in those…
Dementia in Sri Lanka: A conversation with Tami Tamitegama
Tami Tamitegama is the President of the Lanka Alzheimer’s Foundation. Dementia is a global and growing problem, and when juxtaposed with Sri Lanka’s ageing population, places demands on our healthcare system the…
CELEBRATING PRIDE IN SRI LANKA
11th June 2010 – 11th July 2010 marks PRIDE month in Sri Lanka. Historically stemming from the watershed Stonewall riots in 1969, which broke out when police raided a gay bar in…
The vicious cycle that is eating away Sri Lanka’s healthcare: The Sri Lanka Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), the Ministry of Health and the Treasury
There has been a lot written about the blunders of the Ministry of Health after the death of two young children. However, even though the rubella vaccination has been secured from a…
