ABSTRACT
The world is progressing in terms of communication, innovative technology and cure of various diseases through advanced pharmacological preparations. Unfortunately, populations are still struggling with ill-health, disabilities, poverty, hunger, inequality, gender disparities and conflicts. Several questions come to mind in this regard: why are prosperity, health, peace and progress not evenly distributed and what is the best approach to address the issues associated with population health? The capability approach may offer a possible model. This approach is a blend of 5 key concepts: capabilities, functioning, agency, endowment, and conversion factors. It proposes an innovative approach to examine and enhance the quality of life and well-being of individuals. This reflective paper provides an overview of the capability approach, critically analyses population health from the theoretical lens of the capability approach and highlights the relevance of this approach to achieving the Sustainable Developmental Goals
Subject(s)
Quality of LifeABSTRACT
Pakistan is a developing country with the second highest infant and child mortality rate in South Asia. In this region, malnutrition underlies much of the high infant and under five child morbidity and mortality rates. Although struggle to tackle the issue of malnutrition among young Pakistani children has been going on since many decades, till yet a realistic solution for this growing problem has not been found. This paper aims at reviewing literature to analyse the biological, maternal, socio-cultural, environmental, and politico-economical determinants of malnutrition among young children in Pakistan so that need based interventions can be recommended to prevent and overcome this growing issue. A systematic search of national, regional, and international literature was undertaken from peer-reviewed databases for 1991-2011 including MEDLINE, CINAHL, and PubMed. The search was augmented by reviewing the literature from WHO and UNICEF websites, books, local newspapers, and reference lists of articles thought to be relevant. Determinants of malnutrition among Pakistani children are multiple and are prevalent at the level of individual, family, and community. An analysis of biological, maternal, socio-cultural, environmental, and politico-economical factors indicate that most of these factors are interrelated; therefore, to tackle this issue, there is a need to plan composite interventions at the level of malnourished children, their families, and the Pakistani community.
ABSTRACT
This paper reports the case of a family in which three children were presented at Emergency Room [ER] with poisoning after the use of a pesticide at home. Initially, the cases were managed as routine cases of organophosphorus poisoning; however, the death of two children made the health team members realise that the poison's effects were delayed and devastating. Later, the compound was identified as Aluminium Phosphide [ALP], and the life of the last surviving child in the family was saved