Comments from our Readers 15 - 22 July 2023

Sree Gururaja commented on "Social Contract: Ramesh Shrestha"

11 hours ago

Ramesh, the commercial interests of the private sector cannot be denied . In some countries, India, for instance the private sector is playing a major role in health and education bridging the gaps in capacity and coverage. The issue of quality of government run medical and educational institutions is uneven and not always free. The hidden charges have been exposed and the lack of supervision affected by resource constraints. On the flip side, as we witnessed in India for covid vaccination, the paid private services released the free vaccines for those who could not afford to pay and also motivated them to avail of the two/ three doses as prescribed. The business sector ( as yu can call them) plays a vital role of enhancing access especially in communication - their marketing has brought down the costs of mobile phones and monthly fees largely due to the economies of scale. This has brought in tremendous advantages in the non- urban and remote areas in India. The experience could be different in other countries.
So your assumptions and generalisations may not work.
Sree







Sree Gururaja commented on "Report: Snapshot of Vaccination Rates in South Asia Shows Return to Pre Pandemic Levels"

2 days ago

How encouraging that the decades of sustained advocacy and support has produced these results- for those of us in the India Country Office in 1988-1990 it was exciting times to reach 85% - so this is wonderful news.
Now the challenge doing better with measles and the other preventable diseases.
Feeling good, Sree







Sree Gururaja commented on "Bangladesh - Former Staff Launch "We Were There" : Shamsul Farooq"

Jul 19, 2023

Congratulations!! Look forward to reading the stories. Perhaps the only one publication of its kind.
Sree







Beatrice King commented on "Missing You - My Testimony on Marco Vianello Chiodo : Robert Savio"

Jul 17, 2023

Sad news indeed. Marco May you Rest In Eternal Peace. Yo me you were always such a gentle Giant.🙏







Rohini de silva commented on "Netherlands: Our Former Colleague Sigrid Kaag Resigns as Dutch Deputy PM citing Death Threats : El Pais"

Jul 17, 2023

Sad. Hate continues to overpower love and compromise. Unfortunately good common sense folks like sigrid are being marginalized







Juan R Aguilar commented on "1965: A TRIP BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN / Fouad Kronfol"

Jul 17, 2023

Fouad
Thaks for sharing this wonderful account and the very good pics.
Love from Guatemala.
Juan Aguilar







Mary Pereira Mendes commented on "Missing You - Poonam Buttan, RIP : June Kunugi"

Jul 16, 2023

This is such devastating news. Poonam worked in UNICEF delhi for a short period before moving to USA where we ran into each other at the UN building in NY. She was so lively way back in 1990. Such an untimely passing. May her spirit live on, may her soul rest in peace.







Sree Gururaja commented on "1965: A TRIP BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN / Fouad Kronfol"

Jul 16, 2023

Thanks for writing this up after decades for us to read and enjoy- the adventures of the trio were very interesting to read!
Sree







Myra commented on "1965: A TRIP BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN / Fouad Kronfol"

Jul 16, 2023

I'm amazed at how many details you remember from a trip over 50 years ago. I did a trip to Yugoslavia in 1979 and touched into Albania. I can hardly remember a thing about either country. I'm going to say maybe youth interfered with appreciation but happy that since those days I've learned (thankfully) to love travel and will continue to venture out in our wide, wide world.







Horst Max Cerni commented on "Return to Bali – a personal journey : Tad Palac"

Jul 15, 2023

Thanks Tad for your interesting travel report, Bali certainly is a magical place and I treasure the four hours I spent at a resort near Denpasar airport, when Garuda forgot to pick up the VIP passengers (Liv Ullmann etc) and we had to wait for the next flight. Sadly, there were no temples.