The collection brings together over 60 authors to identify health priorities and recommendations to improve public health
The British Medical Journal (BMJ), an international medical journal, published a collection titled Health in South Asia. Reportedly, the collection brings together over 60 authors from across South Asia and internationally to identify health priorities and recommendations for action to improve health of populations in this fast-growing region of the world.
Dr Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, a leading international expert in maternal and child health from the Aga Khan University, Pakistan, and Dr Samiran Nundy, Dean of the Ganga Ram Institute for Postgraduate Medicine and Research (GRIPMER), India, have steered this initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Bhutta underscored the importance of scientific collaboration and partnerships in the region to address priority issues and gaps in public health. “We have the cumulative knowledge and skills to move the entire region to a much higher level of human development and living standards, provided we work together, health could well be that bridge to peace” he stated.
Echoing the sentiment, Dr Nundy reinforced the need to foster stronger ties amongst South Asian countries. “We have the same problems – poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to health care and now with the increasing number of corporate hospitals and deterioration of the public system, an increasing gap between the quality of medical services available to the rich and the poor. It’s now time we get together and work out regional solutions. The BMJ collection is a start,” he said.