OWSA Contributor

The World Health Organization on Monday announced Nepal has eliminated rubella as a public health problem, a remarkable achievement for a country making concerted efforts to protect its people from vaccine preventable diseases.

The crisis has exposed Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate-driven disasters, underlining a pressing need for international support

Of Islamabad's approximately 41,520 registered Afghan citizens, many retain memories of earlier refuge. Before 2006, some 25,000 had lived in a refugee camp within the Islamabad Capital Territory.

Sri Lanka’s Government has a “historic opportunity” to end decades of impunity and deliver justice for victims of past violations, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) has said, urging sweeping reforms to address crimes committed during and after the country’s civil war.

For Pakistan, the challenge now is twofold: to address the immediate humanitarian needs of thousands of displaced people, and to commit to the long-term infrastructure, environmental and policy changes needed to withstand the storms of a warming world.

The research surveyed 313 doctors using anonymous, self-administered questionnaires. Results are stark: 81.2 per cent of participants scored below the acceptable threshold for knowledge of medical ethics – defined as less than 60 out of 100 – for routine clinical ethical guidelines.

The council also criticized the government for excluding minorities from all reform commissions, which were set up to recommend measures aimed at combating discrimination and promoting social justice.

The global human rights watchdog said that Afghanistan now faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, exacerbated by donor governments’ aid cuts and the return of 1.9 million refugees expelled from Iran and Pakistan.