South Asia is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Home to approximately 1.3 billion of the world's population, the region's GDP growth rate of 5.6 per cent in 1990-2000 surpassed the world average of 2.6 per cent, second only to East and Southeast Asia at 7.0 per cent (The World Bank, 2004). During 1980-2000, the GDP per capita in South Asia grew at a rate of 3.3 per cent per annum...

BACKGROUND Early or timely initiation of breastfeeding is crucial in preventing newborn deaths and influences childhood nutrition however remains low in South Asia and the factors and barriers warrant greater consideration for improved action. This review synthesises the evidence on factors and barriers to initiation of breastfeeding within 1 h of birth in South Asia encompassing Afghanistan, B...

I n PNAS, Chaimanee et al. (1) report a previously undescribed species of primate, Afrasia, from the late Middle Eocene of Burma. They identify Afrasia as the sister taxon to the African genus Afrotarsius but slightly more primitive than it and allied with stem Anthropoidea of south Asia. Anthropoidea is the taxonomic group that today includes New and Old World monkeys, apes, and humans. If uph...

BACKGROUND There is little information on the detailed patterns of cervical screening uptake in older migrant women in Australia. This linkage study was performed to assess cervical screening participation in older migrants. METHODS We linked year 2000-2001 records for 14,228 Middle Eastern/Asian-born women 40-64 years of age, and an age and area matched random sample of 13,939 Australian-bor...

Kamran Bashir’s The Qur’an in South Asia addresses the question of how Sunni Muslims India dealt with their intellectual heritage and identified past tradition wake European colonialism missionary activism. He focuses mainly on Muslim scholars Sayyid Aḥmad Khān (d. 1898), Ashraf ʿAlī Thānawī 1943) Ḥamīd al-Dīn Farāhī 1930), who wrote extensively approaches to understanding after mutiny/uprising...