Category: Uncategorized

Ingredients in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Index Home For Indians, lands beyond the Himalayas were always an enigma. Till the beginning of 20th century, parts of Tibet were still unexplored. While, a couple of Chinese pilgrims did travel through India between 4th and 7th centuries, there is no such Indian account of Chinese society. Further, almost all foreign invasions into India were… Continue reading Ingredients in Traditional Chinese Medicine

World AIDS day 2023: Let communities Lead

Index Home HIV stigma, perpetuates inequality Stigma befriends some diseases.In ancient times it was Leprosy, followed by Syphillis, and in the modern times HIV. In ancient times, individuals with a flat-nose, a tell-tale sign of leprosy, were disqualified from becoming priest. By 1450s, we feared and hid sexually transmitted syphillis. Advent of antibiotics and changing sexual… Continue reading World AIDS day 2023: Let communities Lead

Changing symbolism and slogans in HIV-AIDS philately

Index Home Part 1 (1981-2007) Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Scientific evidence shows that the virus sneaked into human beings around 1920s. We realised its existence, about six decades later, in early 1980s. Mankind had just emerged from successful small-pox eradication, when in 1981, Center of disease control (CDC) reported a cluster… Continue reading Changing symbolism and slogans in HIV-AIDS philately

Plant remedies for health in Indian stamps

Index Home Plants are ancient. Evolution of plants began about 400 million years ago. Humans arrived much later on the scene, only about 4-million years ago. Beginning of agriculture and first civilisation is even more recent, only about 12,000 years old. Tiny, small, large or gigantic; versatility in size, produce, and function of plants has always… Continue reading Plant remedies for health in Indian stamps

Count, analyse and interpret: Data for health

Index Home Latin word datum means ‘to give’. In english this word means a ‘single piece of information‘. As information grows from singular to pleural, it becomes ‘data’. We subconsciously collect and process data all the time. For instance, a mere look at the watch tells us minutes, which our brain processes as remaining time for… Continue reading Count, analyse and interpret: Data for health

“Hospital on a train” & its postage stamps

Index Home We have all heard the story of James Watt, who probably inspired by a fluttering lid of a kettle, invented steam engine in 1769. About 35 years later, Richard Trevithick, a British engineer developed first steam-engine powered locomotive. Thereafter, trains ruled surface transport, as automobiles were more than a century away. By 1850s, passenger… Continue reading “Hospital on a train” & its postage stamps

Telecom and health in 1980 and origins of Telemedicine

Index Home About four decades ago, in 1980 there was no public internet (or World Wide Web). While idea of internet (or connected computers) did exist, it started taking shape only in 1990s. Unlike today, we did not have compact personnel computers, or laptops and even mobile phones. All these developments were also a decade away.… Continue reading Telecom and health in 1980 and origins of Telemedicine

Australian postage stamps on it’s medical legends

Index Home Australia, a continent unknown to the remaining world, was formally colonised by the British in 1788. British sent fleets of convicts, and by 1841 they had more than 1,65,000 of them. With each fleet, came medical personnel, and started setting up hospitals. First tent-hospital was set up in area which is now Sydney in… Continue reading Australian postage stamps on it’s medical legends