· April, 2011

Stories about Health from April, 2011

Belarus, Ukraine: “Chernobyl: The First Month”

  23 April 2011

At OpenDemocracy.net, Barys Piatrovich, a Belarusian writer and journalist, recalls the first month after the Chernobyl catastrophe of April 26, 1986: “It was difficult for me to write this text. I've been working up to it for over twenty years. More than once I have started to write but given...

Chile: Nurse Expedites Organ Transport Using Twitter

  21 April 2011

Cristina Bizama, a nurse at Talca hospital in Chile, has devised a way to speed up the transport of organs from the city of Talca to the capital, Santiago, some 260 kilometers away. Everything started with one tweet: "Incredible! There is no way to transport 5 organs to [Santiago]."

Zambia: Tweeps Discuss Need For Condom Distribution in Prisons

  21 April 2011

Issues such as HIV/AIDS and homosexuality are emotive issues in Zambia. The former has claimed a lot of lives in the last quarter of a century and the latter is an issue that people dare not talk about publicly. Some Zambians on Twitter have however, brought an interesting aspect to the homosexuality debate - that condoms should be distributed in Zambian prisons, where sodomy is known to be practised.

Hungary: A Medical Doctor on Twitter

  18 April 2011

Debrecen-based Bertalan Meskó, a medical doctor who tweets under the name @Berci and has more than 6,000 followers, reported on his blog [en] that he was listed among the Top 10 Medical Tweeters on Project IVLine. He wrote this about his Twitter experience: “Whenever I have a question about my...

Ukraine: Chernobyl Charity Walk on April 22

  16 April 2011

On April 22, a group of volunteers from the British and French embassies in Ukraine will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe and fundraise for the Children of Chornobyl Relief and Development Fund (CCRDF) and the British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association (BLESMA) by walking 63 miles (110 km)...

Japan: A Japanese medical aid worker's diary

  13 April 2011

Anonymous translator ( @anontrans) translated into English some blog entries posted by “a Japanese nurse who was dispatched to Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Japan as a member of one of the first disaster medical assistance teams to be sent from Tokyo just several days after the earthquake and tsunami that struck the...

Chile: Refinery Reopens in Spite of Intoxication in School

  6 April 2011

The Chilean Ministry of Health closed down a school on March 23, 2011, after 40 cases of citizens and students near a refinery suffering poisoning by sulfur, copper and other sulfur-containing materials. A court sentenced the shutdown of the plant, but it allowed its reopening in less than 24 hours after Codelco, the company that owns the refinery, lodged an appeal. Children were allowed to go back to school on April 4.

Belarus: Sickening statement on homosexuality

  5 April 2011

Ihar Ivanou of Belarus Digest reports from a medical conference in Minsk where homosexuality once more has been characterized as an illness that needs treatment, despite the fact that same-gender relations are not prohibited in Belarus.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines:

  4 April 2011

Abeni blogs about a “heinous crime [which] came on the eve of Child Awareness month…”, using the opportunity to make a statement about a society in crisis.

Jamaica: Senior Citizens Ill-treated

  4 April 2011

“The accomplishments of a nation meaningless if the weakest of its citizens cannot expect be treated with dignity, be treated as a human, the most basic of rights”: Beyondbee is saddened and angered by news that a senior citizens’ home was mistreating its charges.

About our Health coverage

Juhie Bhatia
Juhie Bhatia is the Global Health editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.