Young blood: Pakistan's bulging youth population needs employment opportunities

In Pakistan, some 15,000 youngsters turn 18 each day and will be eligible to vote in this year's election. What lies ahead for South Asia's second youngest country and its booming youth population? Hina Shaikh gives a detailed overview, the challenges and opportunities

Book review: the new Pakistani middle class by Ammara Maqsood

The book unveils multiple facets of the country's middle class, its trajectory since Pakistan's creation and its understanding of and experience with the concept of a modern progressive nation and religion. Hina Shaikh reviews Dr Ammara Maqsood's ethnographic debut

Cross-party involvement and reform in Pakistan

Despite early signs of growing cross-party cooperation, Pakistan continues to be beset by political disagreement. If evidence-based policymaking is to succeed in Pakistan, new forums will have to be developed for political debate and cooperatio

May-thurner syndrome: A cause of acute left Iliac vein obstruction in early postpartum period: A case report

May-Thurner syndrome (MTS) is a rare disease common in middle aged females, characterised by left-sided lower limb Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) due to compression of the left iliac vein by the overriding right iliac artery. Pregnancy and puerperal phases are one of the hypercoagulable states further predisposing towards thrombus formation. Treatment includes both conservative and interventional (venous thrombectomy with or without stenting). Here we report a case of a 34- year-old female in her early postpartum period who visited the Agha Khan University Hospital in July 2016, with the onset of acute pain and swelling in the left leg. Her workup revealed left-sided Acute DVT, secondary to MTS. Her case was successfully managed with conservative treatment. This case is an important addition to medical literature in the sense that DVT occurring on the onset of postpartum period should not always be attributed to the hypercoagulability, secondary to pregnancy. With early diagnosis and aggressive m a na g em ent, M TS ca n be e a s il y m a n age

Toolkits to help women who have experienced or are at risk of female genital cutting: A review

In recent years, written guidance and other tools to assist professionals in multiple sectors has been issued to increase their awareness about female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), knowledge of how to respond appropriately, and means of delivering optimal care to women who have undergone FGM/C. A long-standing human rights-framed issue, FGM/C is a global health concern and is most often carried out on young girls. Apart from practicing origin countries, increased international migration has given rise to FGM/C in countries in the Americas, Europe, and Oceania, and compelled domestic legislation to outlaw FGM/C. This prohibition makes FGM/C an area in which the emergence of operational guidance and educational materials in the form of toolkits is a relatively recent intervention phenomenon. This project sought to evaluate existing toolkits and formulate recommendations for future toolkits. Methods: This review sought to examine Internet accessible toolkits and other web-based resources, regarding issuance, derivation, distribution format, scope of delivery/content, and target audience. Each toolkit was assessed as to the country of origin, date of issuance, format, target audience, content, and evidence underlying the content, using the following search terms: FGM online resources in other countries, toolkits FGM survivors and health care professionals. These search terms were used as key words in Google with no limit on date published. Results: A total of 44 toolkits were included in the initial review and evaluation of these toolkits found 30 were geared toward women with FGM/C and health care providers. The majority of the toolkits were produced outside the United States. Toolkits were issued by international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies in many countries, including the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand. The toolkits were found to be variable in quality of content and timeliness of information presented. They were found to communicate epidemiological and legal information, but lack the provision of skills development or a presentation of evidence-based practices in working with women who have experienced FGM/C. Discussion: While some of the toolkits addressed prevention efforts in connection with FGM/C, others aimed to inform care practices for affected women and girls in accord with applicable laws. However, there is a need for skills development and tools that can be used by health care providers to ensure effective best practices are implemented when working with women who have experienced FGM/C