Medical research

Honduras: Fighting dengue with mosquitos

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Promising results from deadly disease study has researchers and patients buzzing The sky over El Manchén is as blue as ever. This suburb of Honduras’ capital is still bustling, with people jostling to get to work and cars honking in the heavy traffic. To the naked eye, this densely populated area seems much like it … Read more

Position Paper: Medical Care for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Survivors

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Noting that merely 2.4% of women survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), disclosing to someone, sought medical care (NFHS-V) (1), a national medical symposium was organized to understand barriers to access health care for the survivors of SGBV. The symposium sought to lay out an action plan to support requisite changes in policy and … Read more

Which COVID-19 patients can safely be managed in the community?

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In regions where few people have received COVID-19 vaccines, health systems remain vulnerable to surges in SARS-CoV-2 infections. During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, healthcare facilities and staff across the country struggled to cope with the surge in the number of cases of COVID-19 due to a shortage of hospital beds for people … Read more

Standardised Mortality Surveys

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This collection of files includes an overview of the whole process of conducting a mortality survey and templates for concept papers, the protocol, questionnaires and consent and other related forms. Surveys that use this standardised intersectional protocol do not require MSF Ethics Review Board (ERB) review if the Medical Director of the relevant section takes … Read more

I’ve treated more lethal war wounds in Syria than I had imagined,’ says Nashik doctor

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Thousands of lives are at stake in war zones such as Syria. Tending the wounded and the ill becomes a bigger challenge in places like these, especially since local healthcare services are nearly negligible. Doctors, who are assigned the task of looking after people at war zones, work amidst several challenges, and Dr Gopal Shinde, an … Read more

India skips 6 Of 16 key WHO recommendations on TB

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India does not implement six out of the 16 key World Health Organisation (WHO)- recommended tuberculosis (TB) control policies in diagnosis, patient care and treatment, a new global report has found. Four other policies that are a part of the national policy are not being fully implemented.   Click here to read more    

Why India’s TB control is faltering: Poor diagnostics, drug supply disruptions and no counselling

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India’s tuberculosis control programme is not fully equipped to prevent, diagnose, and treat patients. The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program uses outdated diagnostic techniques, suffers from repeated medicine stock-outs and lacks capacity to counsel tuberculosis patients, according to the Out of Step report released by the Stop TB Partnership and Médecins Sans Frontières last week. Click here … Read more

Educating nurses in resource-poor areas

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Jai Defranciscis is an Australian nurse with a passion for paediatrics and education in resource-poor settings. Last year she joined the international medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – heading to South Sudan for a year, working with refugees fleeing fighting between armed groups. This is her … Read more

Cryptococcal Meningitis: A neglected NTD?

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Although HIV/AIDS has been anything but neglected over the last decade, opportunistic infections (OIs) are increasingly overlooked as large-scale donors shift their focus from acute care to prevention and earlier antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation. Of these OIs, cryptococcal meningitis, a deadly invasive fungal infection, continues to affect hundreds of thousands of HIV patients with advanced … Read more