I traveled to Nepal in August through a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to cover child marriage in the country. Here is the two-part series I wrote for GlobalPost. Child marriages burden young Nepalis DOLAKHA, Nepal — Suntali Thami grew up in a tiny village here in this remote district set in […]
Category Archives: Health
Listen to my radio story, India’s Bias for Boys, on PRI’s The World. Click on the mp3 below or on the “play” button here. Read the accompanying text on PRI’ The World site.
LAMAHI, Nepal – United States President Barack Obama set up the Global Health Initiative to take a more comprehensive approach to improving health care in developing nations. In particular, his administration has given great weight to saving the lives of women and to supporting countries’ priorities in health care. But there’s one exception: abortion. In […]
My blog from GlobalPost’s Global Pulse: KATHMANDU, Nepal — Healthcare providers, advocates and academics have told me during my travels in Nepal these past two weeks that one of the biggest challenges to improving the country’s healthcare system is the nation’s political instability. Nepal is in the process of trying to draft a new constitution […]
My blog for The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: The ride there was actually quite lovely. It was coming back when we realized just how harrowing doing something as basic as driving to town can be for the people of Nepal’s rural areas. Pulitzer Center intern Anna Tomasulo and I arrived Monday night in Dolakha, […]
For GlobalPost’s Global Pulse Blog: GHORAHI, Nepal — Asmani Chaudhary grew up dirt poor in a village in Nepal’s Terai region, which runs along the border with India. A member of a long-disadvantaged Nepali community called Tharu, Chaudhary was raised in a mud hut that housed her entire 30-member extended family. Now, at age 37, […]
MUMBAI, India — Maqbool Beg has been driving a rickshaw for 42 years. Now, at the age of 62, his children have grown, his beard has turned white, his teeth are red from years of chewing betel nut. And he suffers from high blood pressure. But he keeps on driving. He needs the money. Thanks […]
MUMBAI, India — Subash and Vimal Barve live in a 200-square-foot shack deep in the slums of Ghatkopar East, a suburb of Mumbai. Outside their home, rats run over broken cement slabs and children pick through a fly-infested dump that ends at the couple’s doorstep. Inside, Vimal prepares a pot of chai as Subash, blind and HIV […]
MUMBAI, India – Nearly four decades ago a janitor at a Mumbai hospital raped a young nurse, strangling her with a dog chain. The nurse, Aruna Shanbaug, plunged into a vegetative state from which she never recovered. Thirty-seven years later, the courts say she could be allowed to die — should those who care for […]
MUMBAI, India — “Chai Baby,” “Baby Masala” and “Made in India.” These are a few of the many blogs written by infertile Westerners trying to start a family through surrogacy in India. For the most part, the blogs tell tales of frustration, nervous anticipation and joy. Commercial surrogacy has boomed in recent years as a […]