Suchergebnisse

Memory and history just as space and place seem to intrigue Amitav Ghosh profoundly, as evident from their conspicuousness in most of his fictional works in the last years. This article seeks to focus on the twin dynamics of memory and history with reference to space and place in Ghosh's novel The Shadow Lines as one of the most important postcolonial novels since its publications thirty years ago. Ghosh's unnamed narrator locates his family history in different time periods and continents in order to highlight not only the cross-border contacts of his family and nation as a 'fictional entity', but the ambivalence of creating borders and lines, which tend to destroy human contacts as well as human beings. While narrating a family and generational saga, Ghosh brings out the political and cultural dilemmas of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as new nation-states; thus, the article underlines the significance of political events, shaping and influencing private lives within the domain of postcolonial historical fiction. Lastly, it shows how such a form of fiction plays a significant role in recovering lost histories.

Background: Countries across Africa and Asia have introduced a variety of measures to prevent and treat COVID-19 with medicines and personal protective equipment (PPE). However, there has been considerable controversy surrounding some treatments including hydroxychloroquine where the initial hype and misinformation led to shortages, price rises and suicides. Price rises and shortages were also seen for PPE. Such activities can have catastrophic consequences especially in countries with high co-payment levels. Consequently, there is a need to investigate this further. Objective: Assess changes in utilisation, prices, and shortages of pertinent medicines and PPE among African and Asian countries since the start of pandemic. Our approach: Data gathering among community pharmacists to assess changes in patterns from the beginning of March until principally the end of May 2020. In addition, suggestions on ways to reduce misinformation. Results: One hundred and thirty one pharmacists took part building on the earlier studies across Asia. There were increases in the utilisation of principally antimalarials (hydroxychloroquine) and antibiotics (azithromycin) especially in Nigeria and Ghana. There were limited changes in Namibia and Vietnam reflecting current initiatives to reduce inappropriate prescribing and dispensing of antimicrobials. Encouragingly, there was increased use of vitamins/immune boosters and PPE across the countries where documented. In addition, generally limited change in the utilisation of herbal medicines. However, shortages have resulted in appreciable price increases in some countries although moderated in others through government initiatives. Suggestions in Namibia going forward included better planning and educating patients. Conclusion: Encouraging to see increases in the utilisation of vitamins/immune boosters and PPE. However, concerns with increased utilisation of antimicrobials needs addressing alongside misinformation, unintended consequences from the pandemic and any appreciable price ...