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In the middle- and low-income developing countries like Pakistan treatment of diabetes is very expensive and people can't afford the cost of medications in this way households face many financial hardships. Therefore, the study was focused on how cultural myths influence the patients in managing diabetes at household level to avoid the use of medications. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship of treatment cost and household budget and further to explore the cultural myths in regards to managing diabetes. The study was carried out in Cantonment area of Rawalpindi city. Further the research study was qualitative in nature and selecting 20 diabetic patients through purposive sampling technique of non-probability sampling type. Moreover, for this study research methodology was exploratory and data were collected through face-to-face interview. Interview has been recorded with due permission of the respondents and transcribed in order to analyze or generate various themes. In this study findings identified in six theme, mode of treatment, affordability of treatment, bearing of expenditure, budget disturbance, Cultural belief and practices, and Cultural myths in management of diabetes. these were found that patients who bear expenses on self without any health insurance or not having any panel of hospital facing issue to manage the diabetes. Due to costly medicines their household budget was badly disturbed and most of them let the visit of doctor, use medication only once in a day just to pass the whole month from these medicines. Further most of the patients never conduct hba1c test regularly and the reason is non-affordability of test cost. Only those who are on the panel of certain hospitals conduct this test after every three months. Furthermore, due to costly medications patients looking for alternative solutions as they choose cultural belief and myths to control diabetes just to satisfy the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The researchers explore the stigma of postpartum depression and role of lady health workers in bringing the women to the health facility and following up on their treatment. In-depth interviews were conducted from the registered patients (n = 22), Lady Health Visitors (n = 2) and Lady Health Workers (LHWs) (n = 2) in a public primary and tertiary healthcare facility in peri-urban areas of district Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Stigma of depression and lack of awareness was perceived as one of the major reasons for women to struggle with the label of postpartum depression and seeking medical treatment. Lady health workers played a significant role in health education and bringing them to the health facility. The services rendered by LHWs can be enhanced through comprehensive training as they can play an effective role in spreading awareness and educating the patients of postpartum depression in peri-urban areas and their families, consequently, ensuring their treatment and its follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old age social exclusion is a crucial issue all over the world. This article seeks to generate a better understanding of the dimensions of old age social exclusion and the ways it affects older people in rural areas of South Punjab, Pakistan. This study employs an ethnographic approach to probe the old age social exclusion in this backward region. This study generates data through in-depth face-to-face interviews with 38 respondents. The participants' age-group range is from 60 to 80 years. At the analytical phase, the author conducted a detailed thematic analysis which provided with the major themes related to old age social exclusion. The themes which emerged are: 1) Diseases in old age and lack of medication leads to social exclusion; 2) Poverty in old age leads to social exclusion; and 3) Old age abuse leads to social exclusion. These themes collectively give insights into the causes and effects of social exclusion on older people in the rural areas of south Punjab, Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological anthropology is one of the most current academic discipline; the intellectual study of the association between the individual and culture debatably instigated in the late nineteenth century, when W. H. R. Rivers and his contemporaries commenced an expedition to Melanesia to examine the perceptions of the local people. Objective: objective of the study is to find relationship between old age and psychological disorders. Study Design: Cross sectional. Study Locale: The study was conducted in Rawalpindi city. Material and method: A structured questionnaire was designed to investigate all the variables of the study. A sample of 500 respondents were drawn from the older population (older persons) of Rawalpindi city by using convenient sampling technique. Data entry and analysis was done by using SPSS. Results: There was a significant relationship found between old age and psychological disorders. According to this study, older people are suffering from psychological disorders namely; anxiety, sadness, depression, isolation, insomnia, dementia, and feeling of being useless. Conclusion: Older persons are more vulnerable to the mental illness and psychological problems. Some problems are prevailed in high proportion among elder persons such as anxiety, insomnia and feeling of being useless. Good mind is bound with good health, this clearly depicts that older persons are not suffering from poor psychological health but also they are facing adverse health conditions. Statistical observations show that some of the older adults facing more than one psychological problem, their ratio is 6.2% of total sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Older Persons (OPs) are the knowledge and experience banks who hand over their life experiences to run society to the youth to further take up the society for the continuity of life and its progressive upward mobility. Objective: The aim of study was to explore the interrelationship of older persons' health care and social protection in the light of United Nations Principles for Older Persons in Rawalpindi city. Study Design: Cross Sectional Study. Materials and Methods: Structured questionnaire was developed to collect information on Older Persons' health, economic and psychological status. In this regard, an extensive questionnaire was designed and pre-tested vigorously. Place & Duration of Study: The data collection was done in various union councils of Rawalpindi city. The study duration was three months and lasted from September 2013 to December 2013. Results: Family is concerned about the welfare of OPs but the financial liabilities. In 82.8% cases children were found to be caring whereas in 17.2% cases kids were totally forgetful. 46% OPs were primarily nursed by their spouses and 34% by sons or daughters. 44.3% OPs still managed their financial affairs. In 66% case no secondary financial facility was provided by the government. 28.9% cases were those where OPs requested help from other sources. Conclusions: The Islamic Jurisprudence, Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and UN Principles demand the governments and states to intervene in the situation and make sure that the OPs are enjoying equal access to independence, (social) participation, care, self-fulfillment and dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focused on recognizing the local approaches of farming in designing and implementation of development projects. These approaches are representative of a particular ecological, social, economical, and political system, shaped by the constraints and opportunities associated to the area. Effective and successful development projects must include the local perceptions, their approaches and practices, as the locals are the ones most representative of their issues and have the most workable solution to them. The traditional agriculture has completely been clutched into the nexus of modern farming methods, due to which they are being abandoned by the farmers. Modern farming which is representative of development has increased the competition, transitioning, breaking the community into people experimenting on modern technology and those who are still finding means to adapt their traditional agriculture to the fast changing needs of the societies. The research was carried out in the villages of Ghora Gali and Aruka through qualitative and quantitative methods. Sustainable development in Pakistan thus needs to be reinvented in the local perspective considering approaches and practices and, eradicating the alien chains of development completely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is greatly dependent on the political will of the governments, mode of governance, capacities of a state and the abilities of its people. It also requires a legal environment under which communities are empowered to pursue programs and projects. Raising awareness for sustainable development is different in many respects because sustainability calls for a long-term perspective, integrity of human support systems, equity, democratic and decentralized participatory decision-making and wise use of resources. It requires inter-personal communication to create a demand and capacity for a healthy and supportive environment. It is a universally acknowledged fact that people are both the 'means' and an 'end' to development. Often, this simple truth gets obscured because we are used to talking in abstractions, in aggregates, in numbers. Human beings, fortunately too stubborn to lend themselves to become a mere abstraction, are conveniently forgotten. Quantitative Sciences especially Economics, in discussing the means of development, often talk about investments and capital. Physical capital has taken a center stage, to the exclusion of many other factors of production. Human capital is measured neither quantitatively nor qualitatively. Nor does it receive the attention it deserves. On the other hand, many societies, despite an abundance of financial capital, have been unable to develop. The experience of the OPEC nations is illustrative in this respect. Human capital human institutions and skills were missing in most of these nations, and without it their vast windfall gains could not be translated into real development. This paper is based upon an empirical research held in a village of District Sheikhupura. The emphasis of paper was to see the theoretical basis of development theory and to compare it with the Indigenous Population's Perception on Development. Objective of doing so was to remove the biases against the local perception and practices aiming development through increasing self-reliance and social empowerment due to which the dream of sustainable development could only be fulfilled in Pakistan. Data collection was done through the exploratory method while using main techniques of participant observation, in-depth interviews, focused group discussion and key informants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted in the village Dagal, Rawalpindi District by using the statistical technique in which the sample of 187 farmers were drawn out of the population of 3680, to cultivate insight and beliefs regarding the indigenous farming practices and how it is related with sustainable agricultural development. During the study a mixture of qualitative techniques including interview guide(s), focus group discussions (FGDs) and case study were used. The study revealed that indigenous knowledge is a long term process and demands a complete approach to achieve destined goals. On the other hand it was also found that the lack of knowledge is a hindrance to achieve required outcome(s) from modern techniques. Thus, the public institutes need to be strengthened so that the transitional lag may be bridged and farmers may also get required production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultures globally are man-made survival strategy based on responding to various environmental, ecological, demographical, topographical, geographical, political, social, psychological and economic factors for diversity. The point raised here is if the nature accepts the diversity due to which the living styles, languages, dressing, and other related aspects of aesthetics then why don't human accept socio-cultural diversity. The paper focuses its discussion on medical anthropology. Anthropologists have long been involved in studying the health systems of various societies that they choose for research. The understandings of various cultures and its medical practices helped anthropologists to understand why people prefer to have a unique and indigenous thought patterns as regards health notions and practices. Pakistan being a member of third world brethren still holds its position among the conventional medicalization. National life is divided into various strands of medical belief system and thus practices regarding diagnosis, curing, treatments, rehabilitation. Health bureaucracy blindly follows the Western medical approaches upon which there are intellectual debates internationally to accept the cultural notions in order to improve the global indicators while accepting the local cultures and their interpretations on such vital aspects of man's civilized life. There is a need to reiterate the health policy as well as the brain set of medical care systems to give the cultural perceptions and thus medical anthropology a due role in deciphering the dream into a reality. This paper attempts to educate the readers about the importance of cultural factors in understanding the disease, illness and healing in cultural settings and also to discuss the role of ethno-medicine that has been acknowledged throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper is an attempt to build a case for the revitalization of Indigenous Knowledge System which is intellectual property of a native community that resides in a particular environment and enjoying a friendly ecological interaction with ecological niche. The commercialization of development theory with mere economic terms and statistics has hijacked the integrity of indigenous knowledge and resources. The local populations are under continuous mental stress to produce more and more to earn their living and monetary resources. This paper has a long term vision of refreshing the local knowledge as it discusses the gradual shift in development theory towards giving space for locally based knowledge system as a viable option for launching sustainable development. In fact, all considerable countries of the world are struggling to devise an alternative but sustainable strategy for their livelihoods. In such a case that most of the world's brethren is reviewing their local knowledge systems then why Pakistan lags behind the same. For Pakistan, sustainable development would simply mean non-reliance upon any foreign developmental model. The development that is sprung out of native and local resources both human and natural would call for development not only for the current generation but for the ones to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]