Applying Public Health Principles to Better Manage the COVID-19 Pandemic: "Community Participation," "Equity," and "Cultural Sensitivity".

Although coronavirus vaccine roll-out is beginning, standard public health practices will, for most people, remain their first line of protection for some time. Three principles guiding the pandemic control process, namely community participation, promotion of equity, and cultural sensitivity, can help people adhere to public health advice. These three principles can enhance intervention effectiveness, decreasing the rate of infection and protecting human rights, promoting social harmony and preventing unrest.

Impact of humanities and social sciences curriculum in an undergraduate medical education programme.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of humanities and social sciences curriculum in an undergraduate medical education programme. METHODS: The qualitative study was conducted from May 2016 to May 2017 at a private medical college in Karachi where humanities and social sciences subject is an art of the undergraduate curriculum as a 6-week module at the start of Year 1 of the five-year programme. Focus group discussions were held with students from all the five years as well as with faculty related to humanities and social sciences, basic sciences and their clinical counterparts. The views of alumni of the undergraduate programme who are now members of the faculty at the institution were also explored and semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional academic leaders. MAXQDA software was used to identify the themes for analysis. RESULTS: Of the 50 participants, 27(54%) were students, 21(42%) were faculty members and 2(4%) were academic leaders. From the 11 sub-themes, 5 themes were identified: Expectations, Strengths, Challenges, Way forward, and Institutional role and responsibility. Faculty members perceived humanities and social sciences as encouraging creative and critical thinking, boosting students' confidence and positively impacting their behaviour. Student perception seemed to change as they progressed through the years and they appreciated its impact at different stages. CONCLUSIONS: The existing humanities and social sciences curriculum can be further strengthened by integrating contents throughout the five-year programme and continuing it as a longitudinal theme rather than limiting it to a one-time exposure at the start of the programme.

Recommendations: putting an end to child labour in Pakistan!

Child labour is rampant in Pakistan since ages. Laws, policies, programmes and strategies to eliminate child labour have been in place with little gain. Implementation of laws and sustainability of programmes offer barriers to eliminate the menace. We recommend a new approach of regulating child labour as a strategy to eliminate it in the longer run. Model districts with drop-in-centres offering free education to the working children should be constructed. The key stakeholders should unite on a common platform to formulate guidelines defining the nature and duration of work for children in various sectors such that they have sufficient time to visit the drop-incentres. Once a generation of children is educated, the cycle will start to break itself and gradually we will overcome child labour.

Situation analysis of child labour in Karachi, Pakistan: a qualitative study.

In Karachi, large employment opportunities, burgeoning population and the availability of cheap labour might be the contributing factors for the increasing prevalence of child labour. A literature review was conducted in 2007 that included published and unpublished literature since 2000. Various organizations working in the field were also covered, while the perception of the child labourers was covered through three focus group discussions. Common health issues among the child labourers in Karachi included respiratory illnesses, fever and generalised pains, as well as drug and sexual abuse. Organisations working for child labour could be broadly categorised into those working for legal advice and advocacy; those generating statistics; and those that are providing interventions. Discussion with children showed that irrespective of the immediate cause, the underlying determinant for child labour was poverty. The best practices identified included evening schools and drop-in centers for working children with provision for skill-based education and basic health facilities. There is need to have more such centres.