Contents
Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. Before Edward Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccination in 1796, infectious diseases and viruses killed millions. The introduction of anaesthetic gases during surgical procedures in 1846 eliminated the excruciating pain of surgery. And before Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928, people died unnecessarily from cuts and grazes.
But the benefits of modern medicine are not felt equally around the world. In this issue, we explore the forgotten patients in global healthcare settings – the marginalised groups who fall through the cracks or are actively shut out of healthcare provision, then ignored or silenced when they raise concerns.
Just like free speech, healthcare is an indisputable human right. But for many around the globe, both these rights are being removed in conjunction with each other. Through telling their stories, this edition aims to shine a light on these injustices and – we hope – empower more people to speak up for the right to health for themselves and others.
Up Front
A bitter pill to swallow: Sarah Dawood
Not all healthcare is made equal, and pointing this out can have serious consequences
The Index: Mark Stimpson
From elections in Romania to breaking encryption in the UK: a tour of the world’s most pressing free expression issues
Features
Rape, reputation and little recourse: Samridhi Kapoor, Hanan Zaffar
Indian universities have a sexual violence problem that no one is talking about
Georgian nightmare: Ruth Green
Russian-style laws are shutting down more conversations in Georgia, with academia feeling the heat
Botswana’s new era: Clemence Manyukwe
From brave lawyer to president – could the country’s new leader put human rights front and centre?
Venezuela’s prison problem: Catherine Ellis
The disputed new president has a way of dealing with critics – locking them up
Forbidden words: Salil Tripathi
The Satanic Verses is back in India’s bookshops. Or is it?
The art of resistance: Alessandra Bajec
A film, a graffiti archive and a stage play: three works changing the narrative in Tunisia
A tragic renaissance: Emily Couch
The pen is getting mightier and mightier in Ukraine
In the red zone: Alexandra Domenech
Conscription is just one of the fears of an LGBTQ+ visual artist in Russia
Demokratia dismantled: Georgios Samaras
The legacy of the Predator spyware scandal has left a dark stain on Greece
Elon musk’s year on X: Mark Stimpson
The biggest mystery about Musk: when does he sleep?
Keyboard warriors: Laura O’Connor
A band of women are fighting oppression in Myanmar through digital activism
Behind the bars of Saydnaya prison: Laura Silvia Battaglia
Unspeakable horrors unfolded at Syria’s most notorious prison, and now its survivors tell their stories
Painting a truer picture: Natalie Skowlund
Street art in one Colombian city has been sanitised beyond recognition
The reporting black hole: Fasil Aregay
Ethiopian journalists are allowed to report on new street lights, and little else
Special Report: The forgotten patients - Lost voices in the global healthcare system
Whistleblowing in an empty room: Martin Bright
Failures in England’s maternity services are shrouded in secrecy
An epidemic of corruption: Danson Kahyana
The Ugandan healthcare system is on its knees, but what does that matter to the rich and powerful?
Left speechless: Sarah Dawood
The horrors of war are leaving children in Gaza unable to speak
Speaking up to end the cut: Hinda Abdi Mohamoud
In Somalia, fighting against female genital mutilation comes at a high price
Doctors under attack: Kaya Genç
Turkey’s president is politicising healthcare, and medics are in the crosshairs
Denial of healthcare is censoring political prisoners – often permanently: Rishabh Jain, Alexandra Domenech, Danson Kahyana
Another page in the authoritarian playbook: deny medical treatment to jailed dissidents
The silent killer: Mackenzie Argent
A hurdle for many people using the UK’s National Health Service: institutional racism
Czechoslovakia’s haunting legacy: Katie Dancey-Downs
Roma women went into hospitals to give birth, and came out infertile
An inconvenient truth: Ella Pawlik
While Covid vaccines saved millions of lives, those with adverse reactions have been ignored
Punished for raising standards: Esther Adepetun
From misuse of money to misdirecting medicines, Nigerian healthcare is rife with corruption
Nowhere to turn: Zahra Joya
Life as they know it has been destroyed for women in Afghanistan, and healthcare provision is no different
Emergency in the children’s ward: Shaylim Castro Valderrama
The last thing parents of sick children expect is threats from militia
Comment
We need to talk about Sudan: Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Would “a battle of narratives” give the war more attention?
RFK Jr could be a disaster for American healthcare: Mark Honigsbaum
An anti-vaxxer has got US lives in his hands
The diamond age of death threats: Jemimah Steinfeld
When violent behaviour becomes business as usual
Free speech v the right to a fair trial: Gill Phillips
Are contempt of court laws fit for the digital age?
Culture
An unjust trial: Ariel Dorfman
A new short story imagines a kangaroo court of nightmares, where victims become defendants
Remember the past to save the future: Sarah Dawood, Diane Fahey
Published exclusively, the issues of antisemitism and colonialism are recorded through poetry
Where it’s more dangerous to carry a camera than a gun: Antonia Langford
A singer meets filmmakers in Yemen, and both take risks to tell her story
The fight for change isn’t straightforward: Shani Dhanda
The Last Word, on exclusion and intersectional discrimination
