Stories about Health from March, 2012
Bulgaria: “You will win, Captain!”
After the announcement that the famous Bulgarian football player Stiliyan Petrov (Aston Villa F.C., England, and current captain of the Bulgarian national team) was diagnosed with acute leukaemia, netizens created a Facebook group [bg] to show their moral support: “You will win, Captain, the whole country is with you!” reads...
Chile: Twitter Debates Therapeutic Abortion While the Senate Waits
While the senate continues to postpone the debate over the legalization of therapeutic abortion, the exchanging of opinions has continued unabated in Chilean cyberspace, most noticeably following two televised debates on the subject.
DR of Congo: Health Challenges in Goma Due to Clean Water Shortage
Passy Mubalama reports [fr] that the Town of Goma in North Kivu, DRC is facing multiple challenges due to shortage of clean water. She explains that water provision has been a problem since the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano in 2002 that destroyed the pipe that conducted clean water to Goma.
India: How Many Lives More To Ignite A Movement?
Rita Banerji makes a strong case of negligence of the civil society of India in addressing the violence against the girl child and the obsession with male progeny and masculine lineage.
India: Renewing the Pledge Against Tuberculosis on World TB Day
In India, where TB is one of the biggest health challenges, the World Tuberculosis (TB) Day was observed in various parts of the country. A nationwide communication campaign has recently been launched in India, giving her a new superhero, Bulgam Bhai, to help fight the TB battle.
Spain: Documentary in Production on the Healing Power of Flamenco
Sin Ruido, or Noiseless in Spanish, is a documentary on Flamenco Dancer Inma Lobato and her work teaching and training people with mental problems. The film [es] will focus on the impact the lessons have on the well-being of the students in Spain, Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina.
Ukraine: Oksana Makar's Gang Rape Case
Foreign Notes, EUobserver.com, and Ukrainiana write about Oksana Makar's horrible gang rape case. Media mentions, updates and fundraising info [ru, uk] is here (support site), here (Vkontakte page), and here (Twitter).
Video: Studying, Creating and Editing Videos with Cerebral Palsy
Christopher Hill is a young man living with cerebral palsy, and through the video One switch. One head. The world. produced, directed and edited by himself he explains how he uses one button to connect to the world through his computer. (via engadget)
China: Shanghai International Adult Products Expo
The 9th Shanghai International Adult Products Expo kicked off with pole dancers and adult movie stars from Japan on March 18, 2012. Off-beat China has posted a set of photos on the exhibition's opening.
Video: Surfers, Fishermen and Radiation in Post Earthquake Japan
Journalist Lisa Katayama and filmmaker Jason Wishnow are documenting the lives of people dealing with radiation in a post-earthquake Japan. In We Are All Radioactive, they are including 50% footage made by themselves in the areas around Fukushima Power Plant, and 50% footage made by residents who were given waterproof digital cameras.
Cuba: Aggression Against Women
Pedazos de la Isla blogs about the wives of two dissidents who maintain that they suffered miscarriages as a result of “violent operations carried out against them by the Cuban political police.”
Cuba: Antúnez Released
Uncommon Sense reports that “Cuban human rights activist Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez was released from jail Wednesday, three days after he was arrested.” Pedazos de la Isla supplies more details.
Trinidad & Tobago: The Gender Card (and other political missteps)
The Eternal Pantomime is upset that the Prime Minister has played the gender card in her attempt to justify the state paying for travel expenses for her sister: “If you take what is fundamentally an issue of misuse of public funds and turn it into a plea for sympathy because...
Taiwan, U.S.A: Taiwanese Pig Farmers Protest American Beef Imports
Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated mainland Chinese media report on the recent demonstration by Taiwanese pig farmers against the importation of U.S beef and mainland Chinese netizens’ response on the issue.
China: Citizens Call for Public Monitoring of Organ Transplantation
After years of speculation, China's Ministry of Health has confirmed that executed prisoners are in fact harvested for organs. Now, netizens want to know: how are donors matched with patients, and do those handing down death sentences also profit from the organ trade?
Haiti: Criticizing the UN
The Haitian Blogger calls the cholera outbreak in Haiti “criminal negligence” by the United Nations and goes on to say that the “UN occupation of Haiti is illegal, criminal and based on lies.”
Haiti: Nowhere to “Go”?
“The draw-down of hundreds of non-governmental organizations which have been in Haiti since the disastrous 2010 earthquake was inevitable. But with their departure, so, too goes their purse and the millions earmarked for cleaning latrines”: Haiti Grassroots Watch examines “what…that mean[s] for the half a million displaced still living in...
Puerto Rico: Online Campaign to Stop Unnecessary C-Sections
Unnecessary Caesarean is the name of the campaign launched on the first week of March in Puerto Rico, aiming to curb the very high percentage of caesarean births in the country: many of them programmed C-sections that don't respond to medical needs.
Cuba: Doctor goes on Hunger Strike
Havana Times explains why Cuban doctor Jeovany Vega Jimenez is beginning a hunger strike.
Cuba: Trying to get the Pope's Attention
El Cafe Cubano reports that Cardinal Jaime Ortega has met with the Ladies in White to inform them that the Pope's schedule is “too busy” and he will likely not be able to meet with them during his visit; Translating Cuba, meanwhile, publishes a letter to the Pope in which...
China: Net Initiative to Help Occupational Lung Disease Sufferers
A netizen initiated charity project 'Love Save Pneumoconiosis', was launched in mid 2011, to help out sufferers of pneumoconiosis. This occupational lung disease, caused by inhalation of dust, particularly affects migrant labourers in rural China.
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