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July 27, 2024
 

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Cesar Chelala

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Cesar Chelala
Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant for several UN agencies, and a writer on human rights, medical and foreign policy issues. He is a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America Award. His articles have been published in more than 70 countries worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013
The sounds of neighbors being ravaged in Syria
How does one assess Syrians' losses? People are behaving at the most base level in a conflict that shows no sign of ending two years after it started.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2013
Afghanistan's legacy of child opium addiction
A report just released by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan states that there were 2,754 civilian deaths and 4,805 civilian injuries in that country during 2012. Unmentioned is a serious side effect of the conflict: the high number of opium-addicted children in Afghanistan.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2013
Healthy paths to inevitable peace in the Mideast
Peace between Israelis and Palestinians will not be achieved overnight, but it is only through a massive effort involving the citizenry that reconciliation and cooperation can occur between both peoples.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2013
U.S. should extradite ex-officer under Pinochet
On Dec. 28, 2012, Judge Miguel Vásquez charged eight retired army officers with the murder of Victor Jara, a popular songwriter, guitarist and theater director who was killed days after the 1973 military coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2013
What's the point in working yourself to death?
Working for long periods under extreme stressful work conditions can lead to sudden death, a phenomenon the Japanese call karoshi, literally translated as "death from overwork," or occupational sudden death, mainly from heart attack and stroke due to stress. Karoshi has been more widely studied in Japan,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 17, 2012
The focusing ability of an extraterrestrial canine
By topping Gerd ("Torpedo") Muller's record of goals scored in a year, Lionel Messi only confirmed what many people until now believed to be the truth: He doesn't belong to planet Earth, he is an extraterrestrial being.
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2012
Mom's lesson in the sand offers hope for peace
As a writer on human rights issues I don't lack reasons for concern. There are not too many countries nowadays where human rights in some form are not abused, where violence does not strike in one of its multiple forms.
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2012
The politics and insanity of the Cuba embargo
An open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama:
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2012
What grooms a physician to oversee torture?
It was an unusual event in July at the Libertad (Freedom) prison in Uruguay. Miguel Angel Estrella, an Argentine pianist, was giving a concert in the same prison where he had been imprisoned and tortured 32 years earlier.
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2012
Should Bush and Blair be tried for war crimes?
In what is the latest of many calls for the trial of former U.S. President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner has demanded that both leaders be tried for their role in the Iraq war. Given the tremendous loss of lives and the...
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2012
Disease hindering the development of Africa
The high cost of treating certain diseases, most notably HIV/AIDS, when coupled with the indirect costs from lost worker productivity, is having a serious negative impact on African economies. More effort must go toward primary care, especially in rural areas, accompanied by activities to promote health,...
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2012
When babies were kidnap victims in Argentina
The recent conviction of two former Argentine dictators for their role in baby thefts brings to my mind a meeting I had in 1991 with Adriana Calvo de Laborde, an Argentine physicist who in 1977 had been imprisoned by the military while she was 6½ months pregnant.
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2012
Why 'Burma' should remain the country's name
Myanmar's electoral commission has told opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop calling the country Burma and instead call it Myanmar, its official name.
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2012
Two Peace Prize laureates fail to communicate
"The lead interrogator at the Division Interrogation Facility had given me specific instructions: I was to deprive the detainee of sleep during my 12-hour shift by opening his cell every hour, forcing him to stand in a corner and stripping him of his clothes. Three years later the tables have turned....
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2012
A woman of courage in war-ravaged Somalia
Somalia can be considered one of the most troublesome countries in the world, one frequently called a "failed state," ravaged by violence and instability.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2012
Demographic threat shadows a world power
For the last two decades, demographics and its effect on Russian society and future development prospects have been at the center of discussions on that country.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2012
Unforgivable crimes against the people of Syria
That some of my ancestors came from Syria may be one reason for the horror I feel over the tragic events in Houla, Syria, where at least 108 villagers, including 34 women and 49 children were massacred last month. Who is responsible for this tragedy?
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2012
China, too, faces challenge of an aging society
Parallel to its economic development, China is facing the challenge of a rapidly aging population. This is happening at a time when urbanization and industrialization is quickly increasing in the country. It is a trend that has weakened traditional family support networks, particularly for the elderly....
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2012
Lorca would have cheered Obama's decision
You will never know how much I love you
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2012
Chance to improve public health in Myanmar
In 1998, the publication Burma Debate included my article "The Health of Burma's Women and Children," which was a critical assessment of the health situation in the country. It was a groundbreaking article in that as soon as it was published I received a midnight call from UNICEF's representative in...
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
When did summer in Japan stop being fun?
Summer in Japan is now consistently brutal enough to drive you indoors and keep you there until autumn.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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