Posted in Culture, tagged alcohol, Culture, fasting, Food, health, Muslim, Ramadan, religion, Switzerland on August 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »
The end of Ramadan means the end to a month of fasting for Muslims everywhere. For the swissinfo.ch podcast, a Tunesian coworker told me what it was like to observe Ramadan in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, it seems that the Swiss are consuming less alcohol. I asked some federal experts to weigh in on some possible reasons for this.
Click here to listen to A measured drop in sipping.
For more details on the alcohol story, click here to read Swiss alcohol consumption declines.
Posted in Health, tagged AIDS, education, health, sex, Switzerland on June 20, 2013| 1 Comment »
Recognize it? This imaginative model of female genitalia was made by a Swiss sex educator. She prefers this style to the clinical-looking plastic ones. © swissinfo.ch
When I suggested doing a special on sex education in Switzerland, I never imagined the creativity it could involve. And I never thought that such a whimsical rendition of female genitalia (in my favorite colors, even!) would be the lead image on swissinfo.ch for 24 hours.
For the article, part of my research included observing a secondary school lesson in Basel on AIDS prevention. The kids, aged 13-15, were friendly as well as funny. Their regular teacher had invited an external man-woman team to lead a 90-minute session. Too short! The kids clearly had a lot more questions about sex in general; what’s unclear is how they’ll find the answers. You can read my article here: In terms of sex ed, schools do their own thing
Meanwhile, my coworker made a video about the teacher in Bern who sews the plush models: Teacher makes her own sex educational models
Posted in Health, tagged health, healthcare, hospitals, India, medicine, pharma industry, pharmaceutical on March 26, 2013| 1 Comment »
This pharmacy manager in Mumbai told me that some customers request generics to save money.
I was in India recently doing research for swissinfo.ch. There I met a number of doctors, patients and drug industry experts who were able to give me a sense of how healthcare works in India — particularly when it comes to the affordability and availability of medicine.
The main story is here: Doing business in the developing world’s pharmacy
If you have extra time to kill or would rather listen than read, there’s a 14-minute audio feature: Examining healthcare in India
Another piece focuses on the 20-bed Suradeep Hospital, pictured below: ‘Medicine in India is definitely affordable’
This hospital in Mamallapuram treats a lot of tourists.
Posted in Animals, tagged Animals, cats, dogs, Food, health, horses, Switzerland on February 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Hercules the kitty liked visiting these rabbits, who were being raised for meat.
Europeans are uneasy in the aftermath of a scandal involving horse meat found in hamburgers and lasagna. A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about how people are comfortable eating some animals and not others.
Click here to read “Animal lovers question morality of eating pets“.
Posted in Current affairs, Health, tagged Culture, female circumcision, FGM, health, law, Switzerland on July 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Amal was one of my sources for this story. She asked if we could take a photo together, so I did my best holding the smartphone at arm’s length.
A change to the Swiss penal code on female genital mutilation (FGM) came into force on July 1; it aims to prevent Swiss-based families from having their daughters circumcised, whether in Switzerland or abroad.
I did a pair of stories on this topic for swissinfo.ch; you can find them at the links below:
Law tightened on female genital mutilation
Susan's News 