Category Health & Science

Women Bear the Brunt of Violence in Papua New Guinea

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Features, Gender, Health & Science
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler speaking to Foreign Correspondents in Sydney. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 29.07.2017 (IDN): Violence is one of the most pressing issues, especially in the highlands, of Papua New Guinea (PNG) – one of the world’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations.

“Increased access to high-powered guns such as military style M16s and home-made shotguns, and the breakdown of traditional rules of warfare, has amplified the effects of violence, resulting in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year, especially in the Highlands,” says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler. ”We are seeing wounds that one would see in war zones.”

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More Indigenous Doctors Aim To Close Australia’s Health Gap

0 Comments read Health & Science, Indigenous
Vinka Barunga. Photo Credit: University of Western Australia

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 27.12.2016 (IDN/The Wire) – Vinka Barunga was born in the Worrara tribe of the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the remote town of Derby in Western Australia. As a child, she witnessed disease and suicide amongst her people, which made her resolve to one day become a doctor and help break this cycle of suffering. She is one of six, the largest cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students, to graduate in Medicine/Surgery from the University of Western Australia this year.

Australia has fewer than 300 Aboriginal doctors, but things are gradually changing. Vinka is determined to be the first full time doctor in the town of her birth, situated around 2,400 kilometres north of the state capital Perth in the Kimberley region. It is the gateway to the state’s resource rich north, surrounded by mudflats on three sides, with two distinct seasons.

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Cancer Immunotherapy offers hope, when prognosis is grim

0 Comments read Cancer, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Melbourne, 09.10.2016 (The Week): Melissa Baker, 41, had been feeling itchy for a few months and then one evening she felt a lump in her neck. She went to see her doctor and by the end of the week, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was told it was a “good cancer” and that she would be cured with six months of treatment.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. When the first line treatment failed, she underwent a stem cell transplant and nearly died from pneumonia in the lead up to it. The transplant also failed. This was followed by treatment with an expensive targeted chemotherapy drug. After an initial good response, Melissa’s lymphoma started progressing again.

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