Search

Copyright of Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal is the property of World Health Organization and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Slums are among the most deprived communities in society. They live in insubstantial houses on insecure land. Their houses generally have no proper system of sanitation and no clean drinking water. My study explores under which socio-political conditions slum dwellers are living. In this research quantitative approach was used with close ended questions. Two communities were selected i-e Bhutto colony and juggie community. SPSS17 was used for the interpretation of this data. The data was analyzed by using crosstabulation. This research will be useful for the developmental and policy-making departments of government, NGOs, and academia. It will provide original findings and promote further research an important area as slum communities represent a sizable number of voting constituents, typically marginalized by political agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper would discuss freedom of expression and restrictions on the freedom with particular reference to the provisions of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the „Justiciability Doctrine" as enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The question whether the freedom of expression claims are justiciable or not, in third world countries like Pakistan and how it helps in the advancement of rule of law and good governance would be explored. The focus would be on the cultural relativism narrative developed ever since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The claims of „Universalism" associated with human rights especially freedom of expression would be criticized with respect to the Margin of Appreciation Doctrine as reflected in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and adopted in other jurisdictions. Freedom of expression and the rights of minorities in Pakistan would be discussed with a special mention of proselytization and forced conversions. Lastly, the role of legislation and judiciary in Pakistan for the protection and advancement of the freedom of expression guarantee would be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that affect the performance of primary school teachers in terrorism affected areas. The main objective of the study was to measure and summarize the perceptions of teachers themselves about the factors that affect teachers' performance in terrorism affected areas. The study was descriptive in nature. All the primary school teachers in district Swat constituted the population of the study. Hundred teachers, fifty male and fifty female were randomly selected. In this study five factors were identified. The first factor focuses on the financial position of teachers in terrorism affected areas. The second factor focuses on the environment of schools. The third factor discusses the parents' cooperation during the terrorism. The fourth factor focuses on the security of schools and teachers and the fifth factor focuses on the psychological effect of terrorism on the performance of teachers. A self-developed closed ended questionnaire on five point rating scale was developed, and collected data regarding the five factors, financial resources of teachers, physical environment of school, security, parents involvement in teaching and learning process, psychological effects of terrorism on teachers. The collected data were tabulated, analyzed and interpreted by using statistical techniques as percentage of the responses .The main findings of the study were that mostly teachers faced the economic challenges in terrorism affected areas. Financial resources of teachers were destroyed. Salaries were delaed. Side businesses were destroyed. Continuous attacks on school affected the learning ability of students that affected the performance of teachers. Mostly parents became IDPs and the remaining did not take interest in the education of children. Teachers were not safe in school neither security was provided to teachers. Due to fear of attacks on school the teachers gave less time to teaching. Anxiety and emotional complained of teachers increased. There was no significant differences in the opinion of male and female teachers. It was recommended that the government should provide security to teachers, parents and schools. So that to reduce the depression and anxiety of teachers. The government should support the teachers financially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effectiveness of microcredit to enhance family income, eradicate peshgi and improve the wellbeing of brick kiln laborers. A survey was carried out to determine the effectiveness of microcredit among laborers working at brick kilns located in Lahore and Kasur districts. Linear regression analysis was run at 418 cases to track patterns in the data. The results of study indicated that microcredit significantly increased the family income, eradicated peshgi and improved the wellbeing of borrowers. Furthermore, segregated data indicated that female, married, aged, illiterate, beneficiaries having 6 and above children, beneficiaries having 9 and above family members, family income more than 20001, family expenditures more than 20001, beneficiaries who consulted their families and repeaters experienced higher benefits of microcredit scheme. The researchers recommend increasing the microcredit access to the poor people living in urban slums and rural areas, where the facility of formal lending institutions is lower and people are forced to take peshgi (advance) for meeting their basic needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Madrassa system has been providing an alternative mean to get education, which is religious in nature, according to the Islamic traditional values and is also affordable. Madrassa system in Pakistan, as a part of education-a social institution, is performing the functions of education institution. Acquisition of political culture and incorporation of political norms is political socialization. One of the important variable to understand the society's political socialization is the level of political efficacy. More efficacious the members of the society are, more positive is the political socialization of the society which ultimately leads to the good functioning of political system of the society. The present study aims to study the political efficacy of the madrassa students of the Lahore district of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership and management has a fundamental part in the quantitative development and qualitative expansion of an educational institute. The administration of a school has a big role towards the students' performance whereas the real supports of administration are leadership and management .Role of leaders qualification on the performance of the students are primary level in community model schools and government girls primary school in the Punjab were seen in this research. Following standard methodology and using documentary fact for establishing the role of the leaders qualification on the performance of the students, this research demonstrated that it does have significant impact. The study was made on population comprising of 350 school (174 Community model school and 175 Govt. Girls primary schools) from 35 district of the Punjab. The results show that community model school are better in students performance than Govt. Girls Primary School because they have more qualified leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the current study is to find out the male's perception about female political participation. Prior researchers in this area were mostly quantitative hence the current study is a qualitative study to get an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. This study used purposive sampling technique and the findings of the study are based on 20 in-depth interviews and 2 focus group discussions. The study concluded that religious, economic and patriarchal mind-set is the main factors that hinder women in the field of politics. The findings of the current study can be effectively used to make women participate in a more productive way by increasing the awareness at the grass root level and by making appropriate policies and the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the process of microcredit disbursement among brick kiln labourers and paying off loan in monthly installments. In depth interviews were conducted with the brick kiln labourers to solicit their experiences and difficulties regarding acquisition of microcredit. The process of acquiring microcredit involves many steps from the awareness about microcredit to disbursement of the loans. A local NGO was responsible to guide brick kiln labourers about different steps of getting microcredit. The study explains how the prevalence of inequitable and manipulative practices involved at different stages of acquiring microcredit may restrict labourers' right of access to the facility of loan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asia and East Asia are two sub regions of Asia. South Asia consists of seven countries India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. On the other hand, East Asia consists of China, Hong Kong, North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. This article throws light on the Social and Economic relations of two countries, one from East Asian Region, China and other from South Asian Region, Pakistan. Pakistan and China has long history of reliable and time tested relationship. Pak-China friendship has been proven to be model of friendship between two neighboring states. Both states have strong political, defence, social and economic relations. This article is an attempt to explore new trends in Pakistan and china relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]