POVERTY STILL HAUNTS

We need a dynamic long-term economic plan

Mohammad Ali Sattar

Henry Kissinger has recently remarked that Bangladesh is no more a basket case. It was this Kissinger who earned disrepute in this country for his inhospitable remark- 'bottomless basket case'- on Bangladesh he made regarding the aid flow that arrived and was grossly embezzled during the Mujib era.
   It is time our national politics should revolve only around economic development and end leaks and pilferage. Over the years the performances of key players were miserable. Politicians were blinded by their ambition for power.
   Most of the old guards are still around since 1972 and have been putting their labour to keep things moving, but without pace. None of the political parties have come up with programme to fight corruption and root out poverty. Since liberation billions of dollars have come as aids and grants and loans but poverty still remains our major concern.
   The major parties were more engrossed in implementing their political programmes mostly centering local and national polls. They preached democracy without practising it. These elections were also held under doubtful circumstances. Never did we witness a massive economic programme, especially for the poor. The macro-economy has been made to suffer right from the beginning. A central economic planning was never thought of. We still long for a long-term policy.
   The population of Bangladesh has doubled in the last 35 years. Today we have more mouths to feed and this feeding is being done by the marginal farmers who toil in the field round the year. These people have been struggling all their life in making the agro sector vibrant. Every year they fight droughts and floods, every year they are faced with multifarious problems like lack of or high price of fertilizers and pesticides, non-availability of power to run irrigation pumps, seedlings, etc. They are not treated with the care and attention they deserve.
   We have seasonal crops. The production cost is sometime high. The growers most of the time finds it hard to cope with the high price of raw materials.
   They nevertheless go on doing their job in feeding the whole nation. We have had bumper rice harvest a number of times in the past. But seldom did we find the market serving the common people. The boon of a bumper production became bane for the people. In the first stage the growers suffer in cultivation due to factors mentioned above, and in the second stage the common people find it hard to buy those in the market due to unreasonable price. Therefore our sufferings remain and it has remained for years. There are clearly two classes of sufferers, the growers and the middle and lower class consumers. There have been no serious and pragmatic measures taken to mitigate the sufferings of these two classes. Under any economic classification these two classes have to be addressed.
   Our hopes of graduating from agro-based economy to an industrialized one have remained a dream. Neither our agriculture reached the reasonable level nor did we take off in industrialisation. The result is a nondescript and faceless economy.
   In the early 80s the jute sector suffered a huge setback due to unfavorable international market conditions and faulty domestic policy. The sector, once the highest foreign exchange earner, was doomed. The 'golden fibre' is only a dream now. We have to go a long way to get back our lost pride and wealth.
   Concerning rice, for many years we have been successfully meeting the demand of the domestic market. We met the shortfalls by import. The dairy farming and poultry did not receive enough attention. The micro economy has found some support through the NGOs. Though not above controversy, these NGOs have given some life in our rural economy.
   For years together, the parties in power have failed to give impetus to our economy. They have failed to give direction to the field workers in agriculture. We did not have a strong economic planning by any government till date. The future politics of Bangladesh should be only the politics of economic advancement.

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Ovarian cancer: pros and cons

Medical Correspondent

Ovarian cancer doesn't get the kind of attention breast cancer gets.
   It's not as common, and because survival rates are poor, it does not produce an army of survivors to raise awareness. It's traditionally known as the "silent killer" because it was thought to reveal no symptoms in its earliest, most curable stages.
   But ovarian cancer is silent no more. First, researchers recently reported a cluster of symptoms that can indicate ovarian cancer. And advocates - both survivors and families - are beginning to make noise and encourage awareness for this disease.
   September is now being observed each year as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and advocates are waving the teal flag, teal being the ovarian cancer version of a pink ribbon. Advocates and researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Centre hope to get people talking about ovarian cancer. What's there to say? Start with these eight things you need to know:
   Symptoms do exist. Bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating, feeling full quickly, and frequent or urgent urinating are shown to be more common in women with ovarian cancer. These are vague symptoms and often mistaken for gastrointestinal problems. But if they persist for several days, get checked out by your gynaecologist. "You can explain away these symptoms to yourself. But the only way to be sure it's nothing is to go get a pelvic exam," says J. Rebecca Liu, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the U-M Medical School and a gynaecologic oncologist at the U-M
   Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
   There is no screening test for ovarian cancer, like a Pap smear or mammogram. The CA125 blood test measures the amount of a certain protein that's often elevated with ovarian cancer. But the test is not foolproof. "There are a lot of benign conditions that can cause higher levels of CA125," Liu says. Early detection is a key area of research. U-M researchers are looking for markers in the blood that indicate ovarian cancer, an approach that could in time lead to a blood test to screen for ovarian cancer.
   All women need yearly pelvic exams. Maybe your doctor says you don't need a Pap smear every year, but Pap tests just check for cervical abnormalities. A pelvic exam is not the same thing. In particular, older women should not discontinue their yearly gynaecology visit as ovarian cancer is more likely to occur in women older than 60. "A pelvic exam is key because it's the best screening we have right now," Liu says.
   Survival rates are significantly better when ovarian cancer is diagnosed in an early stage. With stage I ovarian cancer, the earliest stage, 95 per cent of women are alive five years after diagnosis. Only 30 per cent of women with stage III or IV ovarian cancer survive five years. More than 22,000 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year and more than 15,000 will die from the disease. Some 70 per cent of women have advanced disease when they are diagnosed.
   Ovarian cancer is difficult to treat because it's often resistant to current treatments. It may respond to chemotherapy drugs initially, but when it recurs - which it usually does - the cells will no longer be killed by that drug. Researchers are focusing on new molecularly targeted therapies that hone in on and destroy the cancer cells, and they hope this will overcome the resistance. A new clinical trial recently opened to patient accrual at U-M looking at whether the drug Avastin, which has been successful for colon cancer, can improve survival in ovarian cancer.
   It's most common in older white women. Most patients are older than 60 and post-menopausal. Women who have not had children are at higher risk. Women who have taken birth control for a number of years lower their risk.
   A small number of ovarian cancers are hereditary. It's linked to the same genes that are linked to breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2. If ovarian cancer runs in your family, particularly on your mother's side, and if family members were diagnosed at a young age, you might consider genetic testing.
   The best person to treat ovarian cancer is a gynaecologic oncologist. These specialists are skilled in the comprehensive management of female reproductive cancers, including surgery and chemotherapy. Studies have shown gynaecologic oncologists are two to three times more likely to provide surgical care consistent with national guidelines. Women with ovarian cancer treated by gynaecologic oncologists have 10 per cent to 25 per cent better survival rates than women treated by general oncologists or gynaecologists. While your regular gynaecologist can perform diagnostic tests, if you are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you should see a gynaecologic oncologist.
   Symptom check-list
   Bloating
   Pelvic or abdominal pain
   Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
   Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency)
   Symptoms are persistent and represent a change from the normal
   Women who experience these symptoms almost daily for more than a few weeks should visit their regular gynaecologist.

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SWAY

Rayyan Kamal

Valentine's Day, or Singles Awareness Day, depending on your relationship status, is around the corner - one whole day allocated to celebrating love and your special someone. It is peak season for floral boutiques, though they are not the only ones poised to reap the benefits of this holiday. Any smart company can profit. For example, there's a singing group at Yale that delivers "singing Valentines" to students' loved ones at any time and place during the day for a small fee. Once, my economics lecture was interrupted by six breathless girls rushing in, singing to the object of someone's affection, and rushing out. Even the professor seemed to welcome this unexpected break.
   Valentine's Day is a big deal on campus, and, as we know, nothing brings more attention to an issue/holiday than sex. Sex Week at Yale (SWAY), which is an annual fortnight of activities that usually begins on the Monday of the holiday, is slated to be more packed with intriguing events and high-profile visitors this year than ever before. From speed dating to workshops on relationships to classes on "How to Pick Up Women" to lectures by a renowned sex therapist to a "Great Porn Debate" that will appear on national TV, all the aspects of love i.e. lust will be covered.
   One of my friends is an organiser of SWAY, and he was telling me about the interesting reactions the planners are getting from Yale students and teachers alike. In response to an e-mails sent out to the entire student body, sexweekatyale@gmail.com apparently received several angry letters condemning them as perverts and decrying their lack of morals. My friend said they were expecting e-mails like those, e-mails to which they must respond with their generic "we apologise for offending you and will immediately take you off our mailing list." However, he felt that much of Sex Week - especially the parts dealing with relationships and the workshops that aim to help couples make sex more pleasurable ("Let's not pretend that the majority of couples at Yale haven't consummated their relationships," he chuckles) - is less about sexual perversion than about making people happier.
   Coming from Bangladesh where sex is rarely discussed, I don't really know what to make of SWAY. Though I'm trying to keep an open mind, I can't pretend to be comfortable in the presence of porn stars discussing their work. However, stifling discussion never succeeds in preventing the act, and I suspect that a surprisingly high number of upper-middle class youth, at least in Dhaka, are sexually active. I doubt keeping mum on the subject is the best solution, though initiating discussion would probably suggest that the elders were authorising this behaviour, and that might aggravate the situation even further.
   My suitemates are trying to persuade me to attend the "Great Porn Debate" with them. They tell me it will be very academic - the relationship between sexual repression and the tendency to watch pornography, the question of whether pornography should be outlawed, the assertion that the sexually promiscuous and the morally upstanding are two mutually exclusive categories will all be discussed. They have no idea what they're talking about.
   But I think I'll go.
   Rayyan Kamal is a sophomore
   at Yale University.

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