Civil Liberties

 Stepping back from the brink: time for reason and rapprochement between India and Pakistan https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj.r1102   In the  biennial International Congress of Pediatrics,  speakers highlighted the challenges that India and Pakistan face in public health, social determinants of health, climate change, environmental issues, and enormous gaps in health and development equity that need to be closed. Despite this harsh reality, both countries, irrespective of the relative size of their economies, spend a disproportionate amount on their military and nuclear arsenals. Notwithstanding the human costs of the conflict, the costs of the missiles and drones lobbed at each other and the damage in the five days after 7 May 2025 easily ran into billions of dollars. We wonder what could have been achieved had this money been used for public health in either country...We must activate formal and facilitatory platforms for scientific and cultural exchanges and focus on common tangible solutions related to climate, environment, water security, and child rights.