Prevent children from falling into wells
This is reference to Taniya Dutta’s article Indian boy trapped in well with snakes rescued after 105 hours (June 14): this is simply wonderful news. After what must have been four traumatic days for the boy, his parents and all his his near and dear ones, young Rahul can be home safely. Considering 40 children have died in similar accidents from 2009 to 2019, according to the National Disaster Response Force, Rahul is fortunate to survive four days in such dire conditions, although he is likely to live with the trauma for some time. We should all congratulate the rescue team for completing what was evidently a tricky operation.
It is high time that local governments begin implementing safety measures to ensure children don’t fall into wells, particularly in rural areas. Parents should be careful, of course, but governments need to secure all possible accident-prone zones so that the likelihood of such cases occurring in the future is drastically reduced.
K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India
Remove stigma around mental health with education
This is in reference to Justin Thomas’ opinion piece entitled The Berlin car crash proves 'running amok' is a global phenomenon (June 12): I would argue that the following line – “the stigma around help-seeking for mental health is not the only factor at play here, but it is a major one” – tells half the story. Adding the word “teaching” before “stigma” tells it fully. Yes, teaching stigma has a major influence.
Harold A Maio, Fort Myers, Florida, US
A global government to deal with pandemics?
This is in reference to the article US health agency approves Covid-19 vaccine for nation's youngest (June 16): vaccines and antiviral drugs have suppressed infections from spreading widely and helped people recover. But human beings are a long way away from defeating viruses. This is more so because the world is interconnected. And yet, despite the best efforts by some, epidemics and pandemics will continue to be a part of our existence.
It isn’t enough for the World Health Organisation to issue statements raising the alarm. We need a strong global action to tackle this challenge from start to finish. This is an appeal to leaders from all over the world to come forward and form a sort of federal global government that can more nimbly deal with such global-scale issues, without interfering with the internal administration of any country.
Raj Kishore Panda, Bhubaneswar, India