Feature Article

We are writing to make known to the international medical community the shocking imprisonment of Binayak Sen on May 14, 2007, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. A well known paediatrician and public-health specialist, Sen's is a rare example of the cost of involvement in civil rights activism by physicians. He is being charged by the local police with illicit communication with Maoists in custody. (Correspondence)

On July 1, England joins the growing list of countries that have introduced laws to protect the public and employees from the harmful eff ects of passive smoking. From July 1, smoking in almost all enclosed public or work places will be illegal, with fines for smokers who break the law and for those who fail to prevent smoking on their premises. (Editorial)

Long-lasting insecticidal bednets (LLINs) are one of the major ways to control malaria, and they are widely accepted worldwide by communities in areas affected by malaria. One LLIN costs about US$5 to manufacture and is effective for about 5 years.

Rajasthan's Karauli district has been reeling under droughts for the last four years. To tackle this, people of this region are reviving pokhar -- a 200-year-old traditional water harvesting system.

Anumita Roychowdhury's story on fuel efficiency (

The first assessment of European mammals by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (iucn) says one-sixth of them are facing the threat of extinction

There is a logic to the idea of neglected diseases. Historically the diseases poor people get largely in the poorer parts of the world haven t got enough attention from policy makers in national governments and multilateral agencies precisely because they

May 21, 2007

Diseases that affect the poorest of people are usually neglected. Since the poor do not have the capacity to pay for treatment, the pharmaceutical industry and researchers do not invest on these

The preferred paradigm to address the obvious shortage of drugs for neglected diseases has been ppps between governments or international agencies on one side and the pharmaceutical industry on the