The UN Incheon strategy Implementation and the Pakistani quagmire; ground realities.

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is the regional developmental arm of the United Nations. There are over 650 million persons with disabilities living in the region. In 2012, member countries, including Pakistan, launched the new decade of persons with disabilities from 2013 to 2022, adopting the Incheon Strategy to 'Make the Right Real', based on the Put Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities" and aimed at accelerating the disability inclusive development with 10 measurable goals and targets. The year 2017 marked the mid-point of that decade at which point member countries were to submit the Government Members Report on the Implementation of Incheon Strategy. The ambiguity in usage of terms, variable definition of disability, and use of impairment screens in population census of Pakistan has resulted in flawed data and underreporting of persons with disabilities. Pakistan provided data on only 13 of the 30 core indicators as part of its midpoint review. There is lack of awareness among ministries regarding the Incheon Strategy implementation.

Emotiv EPOC+ fed electrical muscle stimulation system; an inexpensive brain-computer interface for rehabilitation of neuro muscular disorders.

Advancements in the Neuro-rehabilitation across Pakistan is warranted to effectively and efficiently deal with the disease burden of neurological conditions. Being a developing country, an in-expensive treatment approach is required to culminate the rise in the disease occurrence in Pakistan. Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have come up as a new channel for communication and control, eliminating the need of physical input, opening doors to a wide array of applications in terms of assistive and rehabilitative devices for paralyzed patients and those with neuromuscular disorders. Even with a promising prospect, BCIs and electroencephalograms (EEG) can be very expensive and therefore, they are not practically applicable. For this reason, the purpose of the current study was to come up with a possibility of an inexpensive BCI for rehabilitation of patients with neuro-muscular disorders in Pakistan by using a low-cost and readily available equipment like Emotiv EPOC+ EEG headset and electrical muscle stimulator.

Role Of Generics In Treatment Of Hepatitis C Infection.

With the discovery of newer and newer DAAs, the cure of Hepatitis C seems to be a reality. But their high price and availability is a big hindrance. Sofosbuvir launched by Gilead costs about $ 84000 per 12-week course. Since its launch there is a huge debate regarding the complex pricing mechanism of DAAs. The pricing involves negotiation of patent holder with health insurance companies through their Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). Several rebates are also involved in this pricing mechanism amongst which only few are declared ones. Different countries are adapting different strategies to overcome this pricing issue. The branded companies have also issued licenses to companies to form generic version of the drugs and to market them to selected middle and low income countries. Few countries that are not in the list have rejected the patent and started producing their own generics. It is due to these generics that the price of DAAs had undergone a significant reduction but their manufacturing and efficacy needs regular scrutiny.