Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Misuse of Prescription Drugs

By Kamala Budhathoki Sarup,
Published in Cape May County Herald.

A friend of mine lived happily until she went through a divorce. She was pregnant at the time. Her husband had a relationship with another woman and so my friend left her husband’s home. I invited her to stay at my home in Court House.

Haunted by the divorce, she was quite depressed and her doctor prescribed medicines like Cymbalta (duloxetine) and Alprazolam (Xanax). Everything was going well until one day I found her in the living room unable to speak or even open her eyes. Later, I found out that she had been misusing the anti-depressant and also drinking alcohol.


I tried to convince her to stop these acts for the baby but she didn’t listen to me. Due to this behavior, I asked her to leave my home if she wouldn't improve herself. She left.

This is not just a story of an individual but is happening to people around the globe. I think this should be dealt with correctly.

The use of medicines in a dose other than prescribed, intentionally or unintentionally, to feel euphoric, is termed as the misuse of prescription drugs. According to a report published by the Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 119 million Americans aged 12 or older used prescription psychotherapeutic drugs in 2015. This is a growing national problem.

The advancement in technologies and the understanding of the human body resulted in the increase in production and the usage of the medicines. People have adapted and are now dependent upon them. Moreover, people have started using them to get the psychedelic effect, in other words, "to get high."

According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, the three classes of medication most commonly misused are opioids, CNS (central nervous system) depressants, and stimulants.

Prescription drug misuse can have serious medical implications and one can die if they overdo it. Community and educational organizations have important roles to play in prescription drug abuse. The role of community organizations will remain an important part of the process. They must be committed to supporting each other's efforts through sharing of information.

With the help of civil society, governments and non-governmental organizations, we should aim to strengthen the national self-confidence and social fabric of traumatized people, to encourage and help them to overcome enormous human security challenges.

We should have services that can monitor the health and mental conditions of those affected so that they are well informed about the impact on their health if they misuse drugs. There is an urgent need to have awareness campaigns at home and at the workplace.

Lack of education will naturally mean lack of awareness about the misuse of it. It also means fewer choices in the job market and lesser bargaining power to negotiate working conditions. Our economy would be severely hit if the number of prescription drug abusers surged to thousands in the next decade.

It is true to say that there is a great possibility of multiplier effects of the disease which can penetrate to the general population in the near future.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Social conditions that foster the implementation of democratic reforms

Women's economic or social status.


Author: 

"I will never forget my husband's simplicity. I cannot believe that he is no more now," says my friend, a 23-year-old who lost her husband in 2003. Twenty-five-year-old her husband had joined the job just one year earlier. He was transferred only three months ago. "Your husband is said to be in hospital. Get ready. We should leave right away on the 2:00 bus," I had told her hurriedly. 

"My husband loves me so much. I love him too, so passionately as though life itself comes with it. Since our marriage we didn't even have time to talk fully," She said. "He should have stayed at home to farm. We shouldn't have let him take such a life-consuming job," Her mother said with great pain.

My friend was a woman like any other in the city, who would talk with anyone and sing around the fields and forests. The house of her was not more than a 15 or 16-minute walk from mine. Though she was the third-born daughter among seven sisters, she was more like the eldest in terms of household work, and in addition she was the most beautiful girl in the city, so all the city boys liked her. Of course, there were some rumors about her marriage when I was in the city.

A number of people would come daily to her house to persuade her to marry, and her mother would harass others telling their number, counting on her fingers. "Your husband has come back." After returning from his job training, he had come straight to see me. He was smartened up with nice clothes and talked with my father of big things about the world.

After training, he had become well-learned, my father had commented. Then we went to the market for the whole day and had tea and talked about his wife. Really I had no fear of the world. I was thoughtless and free in the world. I was in a passionate hurry to exchange my feelings with him and wished to tell him, you are the best. The red nose pin in a case which he gave me, I have kept very carefully in a small box on the floor. Cream powder, hair oil and scent I have kept in the same place. Even to remember those things brings tears to my eyes.

Then, after he started sending letters twice a day, I would wait for the postman every day. I would give him two rupees as a tip to make him happy so he would come first to my house. I used to be greatly pained If I didn't see the postman even for a day, and I used to go and sit under the shade of a tree that leaned over my house, facing south. 

"Did he send any message?" said my aunt. She knew me from my childhood so I sensed that she wanted to help me. "Nothing would happen to her husband." I told her with a trembling voice. I could hardly speak. "OK, now I will hand up the phone. I can't pay the bill any more." She hung up. "At least we should have four children, got it? If one cannot help, there will be another. There is a saying, the brave have twelve."

Only last month, he had written that in a long letter to my friend. "Kamala, I always see only your face in front of me. I have been so restless to meet you. At all times, I have been living with your love." I repeat his last letter again. With no other source of income, my friend is dependent on the pension she receives from his job for her survival. "Kamala, my husband died. I am homeless, loveless," said the teary-eyed.

My friend is not alone. There are hundreds of young women widows, homeless and displaced globally. The overwhelming majority of women victimized are hovering between life and death, due to lack of timely financial support.
Women's lives are torn apart. Many women are living a miserable life, are not educated, do not have access to health facilities and safe drinking water. Women cannot forget how giving women socio/political, and employment power mean improvement overall in women's development.

Published in UPI ASIa Blog: (revised article)

Copyright mediaforfreedom.com

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Supporting Planned Parenthood




  • Kamala Budhathoki 'Sarup'
  • Published in Cape May County Herald.

  • Recently, women from all over the country have been protesting for women's health and rights. Fighting for women's health is not just about women's rights to health, but it is also about women's equality and freedom.

    I strongly support the protesting and want the Trump administration to consider women's health as their first priority, and support Planned Parenthood programs too. We cannot let their health degrade and the funds that support this program to stop. The administration should also recognize the importance of improving women's reproductive health care, treatment, and opportunities.

    Trump banned federal funding for foreign NGOs that supported abortion. As we know, globally, many women become the victim of sexual violence such as rape, forced prostitution, sexual abuse and more. It will not only put the life of the mother but also her newborn at risk in many cases if abortion is not considered. Women will be mentally tortured. We should not stop funding women's reproductive health and abortion because there are dangers of unwanted pregnancy.

    Knowing about Planned Parenthood is a must for every woman around the globe. I too had no idea about it until I participated in one of their training programs regarding reproductive health.

    When I first came to America, I didn’t have health insurance and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get a regular medical checkup without it. But I knew about Planned Parenthood, so whenever I got sick or needed medical attention, I used to go to a local Planned Parenthood medical center in Arlington, Va. and got myself checked.

    I would like to thank the teams and the center as they performed the necessary check-ups without any hesitation. Therefore, I get sad every time I think about the deaths caused by many treatable diseases and other pregnancy-related deaths. If women had the medical care they could afford, it would have saved their lives.

    This is why Planned Parenthood in the U.S. is very important. It provides early detection and screenings for different kinds of diseases like cancer via CBC tests which can be treated in its early stage.

    It is very important for every woman to have access to medical check-ups even if they can't afford it or don't have health insurance, or sometimes both. We all know women who are unable to afford health insurance have a difficult time finding medical treatment and also they will not receive such simple and effective care and therefore women of all ages will be at risk.

    Women's rights also mean they should have control of their own body, sex, and fertility. The right to abortion and family planning is women's economic and legal rights.
    Copyright mediaforfreedom.com



     

    Disabled Children In New Jersey.

    Kamala Budhathoki 'Sarup'

    I worked at the Cape May County Special services school for a year in 2011 and during my tenure I came to realize the importance of quality education to the children who are physically and emotionally disabled. The former principal of Ocean Academy, Mary Margaret Lynn, was so wonderful and kind. She was the most kind principal I've ever met.

    It was wonderful to see the children at the special-services school getting the right kind of education that helps them improve the quality of their life. For children with disabilities, as for all children, education is vital and it is a key to economic development of a community.

    Access to free education is a strong step towards achieving the economic progress for our disabled children. But sadly some countries have barriers such as inadequate resources, teacher training and support, lack of financial support and policies, and hence are unable to educate them effectively. Due to lack of proper environment there is no teaching-learning environment. Disabled children who are still struggling for hand-to-mouth problem because of their lack of courage and opportunities must get help.

    Implementing awareness programs through education is a first strong program towards achieving this goal. I think doing this will be give rise to acts towards helping humanity.

    The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes the right of all children with disabilities both to be included in the general-education systems and to receive the individual support they require. According to UNESCO more than one billion people around the world, of whom nearly 93 million are children, live with some form of disability. Children with disabilities are one of the most discriminated groups, facing daily discrimination in the form of negative attitudes.

    Children are the targets of social attacks by the social inequalities. Disabled children are often likely to be among the poorest members of the population in many countries and they are being bullied. They are less likely to attend school, access medical services, or have their voices heard in society. WHO emphasized on prioritizing good quality education in an inclusive environment to children with disabilities all over countries. WHO further added,
     

    "Countries cannot achieve Education for All or the Millennium Development Goal of universal completion of primary education without ensuring access to education for children with disabilities."

    Minors with disability especially living on or below the poverty line are also "extremely vulnerable" towards sexual exploitation and have no opportunity for education, globally. Children are dropping out of childhood.

    Disabled Children want good education and social protection but for the past decade, the responsible institutions have failed miserably to protect and provide children's right, globally. There are no statistics available on the number of victims. But, once young people feel hopeless, they really do give up. They don't take the steps that might build a constructive future.

    Therefore, I think it is a better way for the New Jersey to spend its revenues toward the objective of making educational reforms. Our educational department's program and its main target has to be disabled children. Furthermore, this program will also cause social and educative motivation in hundreds of suffered class resulting social development at the end. Besides, this concept will get very influential media coverage since it is definitely a new and relevant concept that focuses on disabled children in New Jersey.

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