Gender bias stymies women’s progress in STEM: UN

11/02/2021 0 Comments read Gender, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 11.02.2021 (Scidev.Net): While women play a critical role in science and technology, women career scientists still face gender bias, accounting for only 28 percent of engineering graduates and 40 percent of graduates in computer science and informatics, according to UNESCO.

On the sixth UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science today, 11^th February, UNESCO has published one of the chapters on gender in science entitled To be Smart the Digital Revolution will Need to be Inclusive from the UNESCO Science Report scheduled for publication in April.

The chapter highlights that women are not benefitting fully from employment opportunities open to highly educated and skilled experts in cutting edge fields, such as artificial intelligence. Also, women founders of start-ups struggle to access finance, and in large tech companies they remain underrepresented in both leadership and technical positions.

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Novel drug treatment offers hope to XDR-TB patients

03/02/2021 0 Comments read Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.02.21 (SciDev.Net): A new three-drug, all-oral, six-month treatment is providing hope to patients in Tajikistan with highly drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, which until now had limited treatment options and a poor prognosis.

Tajikistan is the first country in Central Asia and second in the world after Ukraine to provide patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) access to the novel BPaL regimen treatment under operational research conditions from December 2020. The regimen consists of three drugs – bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid.

“The BPaL regimen offers the shortest possible treatment course for XDR-TB patients, excludes injectable drugs, it’s easy to use and more affordable. Conventional treatment regimen for patients with XDR-TB consists of 7- 8 antibiotics for a minimum of 18 months, including any of the injectable drugs, which not every patient can tolerate”, says Veriko Mirtskhulava, senior epidemiologist at KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, an international NGO devoted to eliminating TB.

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Conure cheer amidst Coronavirus

31/12/2020 3 Comments read Features

By Neena Bhandari

Turbulent, terrible, torturous is probably how many would describe Year 2020. It exposed and widened the social, economic and political frailties and fault lines, relegating important environment, development and other health issues to the backburner, and stalled progress made in the key Sustainable Development Goals of education and gender. While timely lockdowns did help in slowing the transmission and spread of the virulent virus, confined isolation made the plight of the vulnerable worse.

2020 began with my annual trip to meet family and friends in India, which included a memorable visit to Amritsar and the Wagah Border. I returned to Sydney via Singapore, a week before the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11^th. On the flight I wore a mask, which I had hurriedly purchased before departing Delhi on a cold, hazy February night.

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