South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation Research Articles

Investigating the impact of RE consumption on CO2 emissions: evidence from the SAARC countries

Purpose. To study CO2 emissions through the use of renewable energy (RE) in the countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, and the Maldives) using the data between 2002 and 2020. Methodology. For the purpose of the study, panel estimation methods were employed including Pooled Mean Group (PMG), Mean Group (MG), and Dynamic Fixed-Effect (DFE). Findings. Hausman test confirms the efficiency of PMG estimation method compared to MG estimation method and DFE estimation method. The results of PMG indicate long-run relationships among the studied variables. Besides, the outcomes of PMG reveal the negative impact of RE on CO2 emissions in the long-run, while in the short-run, the study did not reveal the impact of RE on CO2 emissions. In the case of specific countries, the results show that RE features increased CO2 emissions in a country like Pakistan in the short-run, while RE decreases CO2 emissions in Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan in the short-run. Originality. The study found the impact of RE consumption on CO2 emissions in SAARS countries obtained for the first time in the terms of SAARS region. Practical value. The governments of the SAARC countries can use the results of the study attempting to decrease CO2 emissions.

South Asian regionalism, social development and COVID-19: Lessons for SAARC from the EU's social model

There is little research done on the social agenda of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). As an analysis of the organization's social agenda is relevant to the challenges and opportunities offered by COVID-19, this article aims to draw lessons for SAARC from the development model of the European Union (EU). Erstwhile literature on SAARC has not compared its progress in terms of social development with that of the EU. Hence, this study aims to answer the following questions: What are the key differences between the social development approaches of the two organizations, and what can SAARC learn from the EU's social model? The analysis in this research is largely based on an extensive review of official documents from the EU and SAARC. This article argues that collective social development is in line with SAARC's functionalist approach that prioritizes cooperation in non-controversial areas like human security. Based on the comparative analysis, this article proposes a three-tier social development approach for comprehensive social development across South Asia. This study argues that, despite its socio-economic and political challenges, SAARC has a lot to gain from adopting the EU’s social model.

Mathematical modeling on the transmission of COVID-19 and its reproduction numbers in SAARC countries

In the middle of December 2019, a virus known as coronavirus (COVID-19) generated by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARC-CoV-2) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. As of the 9th of March, 2022, spread to over 212 countries, causing 429 million confirmed cases and 6 million people to lose their lives worldwide. In developing countries like the South Asian area, alarming dynamic variations in the pattern of confirmed cases and death tolls were displayed. During epidemics, accurate assessment of the characteristics that characterize infectious disease transmission is critical for optimizing control actions, planning, and adapting public health interventions. The reproductive number, or the typical number of secondary cases caused by an infected individual, can be employed to determine transmissibility. Several statistical and mathematical techniques have been presented to calculate across the duration of an epidemic. A technique is provided for calculating epidemic reproduction numbers. It is a MATLAB version of the EpiEstim package's R function estimate R, version 2.2-3. in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The three methodologies supported are 'parametric SI,' 'non-parametric SI,' and 'uncertain SI.' The present study indicated that the highest reproduction number was 12.123 and 11.861 on 5th and 14th March 2020 in India and Sri_Lanka, whereas the lowest reproduction number was the lowest was 0.300 and 0.315 in Sri_Lanka and India. The Maximum and minimum reproductive number of Bangladesh was 3.752 and 0.725. In this study, we have tried to point out the worst, best and current situation of SAARC countries.

Bearing the Brunt: The Effect of Terrorism on the Foreign Direct Investment in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Nations

The current state of terrorism has posed serious challenges to macroeconomic environment stability by causing the dislodgment of foreign direct investment (FDI). This study aims to find the impact of terrorism along with other important policy variables such as FDI, Terrorism, law and order, Tariff, and Government regulation in the SAARC member nations, namely, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Utilizing a panel econometric estimation model on annual data from 1990-2019, the results of the study show a significant negative impact of terrorism and law and order situations in the SAARC countries. Whereas the magnitude of FDI is technology-driven in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan where there is a deep focus on the physical structural transformation. This empirically establishes the fact that terrorism is a serious threat to FDI and economic growth for the economies in this region. Key Words: FDI; Terrorism; Tariff, SAARC

Energy Consumption and Economic Growth Linkage: Global Evidence from Symmetric and Asymmetric Simulations

Abstract The literature reveals that linear models do not accurately represent the asymmetric relationship between economic growth and energy consumption (EC). To fill this gap, we examined the asymmetric relationship between EC and economic growth in a non-linear panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework of 85 countries as a whole sample and of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS), the Next Eleven, Big Four in Western Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Group of Seven, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the Arab League as a sub-sample analysis from 1977 to 2014. A second generational unit root test has been applied to check the problem of cross-sectional dependency. Asymmetric co-integration was employed to analyse the co-integration between the variables of interest. Long-run and short-run estimates have been calculated using the non-linear panel ARDL method. Results indicate that positive shocks to energy use tend to have a growth-enhancing effect in ECO and the Next Eleven while in the rest of the regions, the effect is growth contraction. Moreover, economic recovery from a positive shock to energy use is the case in the Arab League, Asia-Pacific region, Group of Seven and in the whole sample. However, a negative shock to EC is observed in the Group of Seven, Asia Pacific region, Big Four in Western Europe and ECO, and the whole sample worsens the economic contraction. We can deduct from this study’s results that information on the asymmetric relationship between the subject variables is needed to design sound economic policy decisions across different economic regions.

Policy challenges and testing the scope for regional trade integration – a case of South Asia

PurposeThe paper presents the facts on the policy challenges and opportunities in the way forward of trade and economic co-operation in South Asia amid the coronavirus disease 2019, which comes to be the least economically integrated region worldwide. Due to tense geopolitics in South Asia, trade is heavily biased toward extra-regional markets despite of existing regional trade agreements (TAs) in the region.Design/methodology/approachHaving tested the stationarity of data with structural break, the paper uses intra-regional trade in addition to other domestic economic variables as exogenous regressors in autoregressive distributed lag multivariate framework, hence raising the quality of statistical inference.FindingsThis paper highlights that intra-regional trade significantly affects the economic welfare as measured by Gross Domestic Product per capita of the people from the region, hence raising the need for higher regional trade openness. If trade barriers are overcome, all the South Asian countries will gain through effective implementation of regional TAs.Research limitations/implicationsThe study relies on the multivariate technique with regional trade share as the main exogenous variable. In addition, the regulatory and economic conditions of all countries are different which also tends to affect the mutual degree of trade relations.Practical implicationsOver the economic reasons, the manmade barriers owing to political differences are the root cause for the low intra-regional trade. Amid the pandemic, South Asian courtiers have the high time to leverage the bilateral trade for mutual benefits. India being the largest economy can play a decisive role in pushing forward the regional trade bloc – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – for achieving its objective through multilateral engagements in a wider perspective.Originality/valueThe present study makes pioneer efforts to examine the dynamic linkages between regional trade and economic growth. The results provide new insight into the dynamics of benefits driven by trade interdependency.

SAARC Academy of Ophthalmology - Tailoring Clinical Standards for Diabetic Retinopathy Care to Available Resources.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a geopolitical union of 8 member states of South Asia, one of the rapidly transforming regions in the world. It houses 25% of the world population, with a similar rise in at-risk population for diabetes and its complications. Diabetic retinopathy (DR), is one of the major causes of blindness and visual impairment. Despite the region's dramatic demographic and economic transformation, its healthcare system is nascent enough to achieve the over-reaching recommendations by developed countries. Our review helps in tailoring the clinical care to the available resources, focusing on an integrated approach for timely detection and management of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR). Our study also recommends urgent measures to be taken to implement diabetes registers by all care providers and take the responsibility of ensuring that patients with STDR are referred for treatment. This tailored framework helps in the screening and treatment of those with STDR in resource-constrained settings, thereby decreasing the health and economic burden in all SAARC countries.

Causality analysis of CO2 emissions, foreign direct investment, gross domestic product, and energy consumption: empirical evidence from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries

Over the period 1980-2016, this study looks into the causal relations between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption (EC), foreign direct investment (FDI), and gross domestic product (GDP) in five South Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). To achieve the research objectives, panel unit root tests, panel co-integration, autoregressive distributed lag model, and Granger causality tests are used. In the long run, GDP has a positive impact on CO2 emissions, while squared GDP has a negative impact, confirming the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, in the short run along with these two countries, Bangladesh also confirms the EKC hypothesis. Among these five countries, Bangladesh and Nepal support the pollution haven hypothesis, but India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka support the FDI halo hypothesis. The EC has a large positive impact on CO2 emissions across five countries. In the long run, the Granger causality test confirms one-way causation from EC to CO2 emissions and bidirectional causality of FDI and CO2. These countries might encourage clean energy technology through FDI without jeopardizing GDP and environmental quality. The findings of the study provide a guideline for these countries to reduce CO2 emissions, achieve a long-term green GDP, and combat global warming.

Financial Regulation, Financial Inclusion and Competitiveness in the Banking Sector in SADC and SAARC Countries: The Moderating Role of Financial Stability

Financial inclusion is a widely used measure to improve the living standards of households and foster inclusive economic growth. Thus, financial inclusion is one of the main policy objectives in developing countries. Besides, financial regulation (capital adequacy requirement) is a policy measure used to ensure financial stability. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of financial regulation on competitiveness and financial inclusion in 15 countries in the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) region and 8 countries in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region over the period 2005–2018. The result of Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) estimation suggests that financial regulation reduces competitiveness and hampers financial inclusion in the banking sector in the two regions. Furthermore, we find that financial stability moderates the negative effect of financial regulation on competitiveness and financial inclusion, meaning that financially stable banks remain competitive and normally offer financial products and services even if strong capital adequacy requirements are implemented. Additionally, we find that competitiveness increases financial inclusion in countries in the SADC region. The policy implication of this study focuses on regulatory flexibility to preserve the need for greater financial inclusion in the two regions. As for the practical implication, the study calls for strategic measures to preserve stability such as complementing financial inclusion with financial literacy, fostering corporate governance.

Indicator based assessment of food security in SAARC nations under the influence of climate change scenarios

The availability of food is the basic entity for the survival of human. The resources that make a nation food secured is guided by multiple factors and can be evaluated using a set of indicators. We present an assessment for ranking food security of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations represented by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka using a set of indicators under the prevailing scenarios of climate change. The food security indicators can primarily be grouped into four dimensions represented by the availability of food, access to food, potential utilization and stability of food production. Each of the identified indicators that are independent of each other can be utilised to assign individual values based upon actual statistics and observations available for each country. The projection of these statistical values for evaluating future food security can also be done once the appropriate methodology is available for making projections. We assessed food security under the future scenarios of climate change for the year 2050 by synthesising a food security index using a set of indicators. The climate change scenarios were adopted from the IPCC (2014) assessment represented by RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5. The score of individual indicators were obtained from country specific statistics provided by Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Bank while the values of few indicators such as the projected availability of agriculture and forest land, estimates of future productivity under climate change scenarios and vulnerability of food production were synthesised by the authors for this study. The assessment shows that under all RCPs, Bangladesh is the most food secured nation followed by Sri Lanka. Whereas, Maldives and Afghanistan were found to fall under least food secured SAARC nation under all four scenarios of climate change. While rest of the nations had varying ranks and represented the middle-ranking of food security under all RCPs. India was consistently at the sixth position under all four scenarios of climate change followed by Afghanistan and Maldives in a consistent manner while Afghanistan maintained the rank of seventh and Maldives was found to fall at last position of eighth rank. The framework of assessment demonstrated by us can be used for ranking individual region while it provides an opportunity to the planners for allocating adequate resources and implement other adequate measures in regions that fall short in terms of food security.

Multi-Objective Optimal Power Sharing Model for Futuristic SAARC Super Smart Grids

One-fourth population of the world lives in South Asia. The electricity generation for this population consumes the substantial fossil fuels, resulting in the significant emissions of harmful gases in the global environment. To protect the natural environment, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has planned a super smart grid for the power sharing between South Asian countries through the integration of the renewable energy resources (RERs). However, the capability of these countries to construct such a mega power grid is unclear due to the unavailability of proper strategic analysis, lack of information about RERs potential, and the lack of decision making models. This paper analyzes the existing power grids in SAARC countries, identifies their electricity generation potential, and develops an integer linear programming model based on the power generation cost, CO₂ emissions, and disruption risk. This study solves the proposed model using goal programming methods. The results exhibited that the SAARC countries have the capability to share the sustainable super smart grids through the substantial integration of RERs. For instance, the model solution based on 100% renewable power (i.e. Case 5) exhibited 36% cost savings, 86% CO₂ emission reduction, and 39% risk reduction compared with corresponding non-renewable power based model solution (i.e. Case 1). In addition, this study performs the cost-benefit analysis for the existing and proposed power systems of SAARC countries. The results provide the various insights to policy makers and practitioners for the strategic decision making related to the SAARC super smart grid. In addition, the methodology of this paper can be adopted for other super smart grids around the world.

Belt and Road Initiative’s Regional Impact: Lessons from South Asia

Since its launch in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted frequent commentary and analysis. Much of these discussions have focused on its effectiveness and viability as a large-scale economic as well as geopolitical project. This paper contributes to that discussion by exploring BRI’s impact on regional organizations, specifically in South Asia. Using South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as a case study, I argue that BRI’s impact on regional organization is inadequately understood. BRI is not a competitor to regional organizations, but its presence in a region creates a priority conundrum for member states i.e., members who join effectively must mainline the BRI into their national interests. By offering transactional functionality, BRI offers member states the opportunity to access immediate tangible benefits like foreign investment and infrastructure development. While states continue to be the members of various international and regional organizations, their commitment and policy priorities inevitably end up aligning with BRI if they choose to sign up. With BRI as a part of their national interest, states inadvertently cede policy autonomy, especially on issues of concern for China. This creates a situation that grants China a voice in organizations where it’s not even a member. This impacts the character and culture of regional organizations creating relevancy and effectiveness concerns.

COVID-19 vaccination in South Asia: a call for responsible leadership among SAARC countries

PurposeCoronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has presented an opportunity to set aside traditional regional collaborations and take responsible leadership to overcome difficult times. This paper aims to explore the current COVID-19 vaccination progress and pandemic status for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and suggests responsible leadership to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and to think beyond.Design/methodology/approachThis paper offers a viewpoint of the current COVID-19 vaccination among eight SAARC nations. It scrutinises the recent COVID-19 vaccination statistics for the eight South Asian countries based on Web-based analytics and comparative analysis until 28 August 2021.FindingsThis paper calls for collaborative decisions and responsible actions for policymakers in the SAARC countries to deal with the COVID-19 vaccination crisis. When South Asian countries are fraught with the increasing number of populations with COVID-19 cases, deaths and acute shortage of life-saving vaccines, it is time for their national and SAARC leaders to strengthen regional cooperations and initiate collaborative actions. The paper demonstrates that implementing responsible leadership can result in favourable outcomes for individuals, organisations, regions and the world. Moreover, this paper suggests SAARC, through responsible actions, has the potentiality to overcome the current crisis of COVID-19 vaccination and enhance the regional sustainability of the South Asian nations.Originality/valueThis paper delivers information about the present developing situation of COVID-19 vaccination in SAARC countries, how the governments and regional leadership are handling and future challenges that have been raised and can be overcome effectively. This paper can be helpful for the policymakers and SAARC leaders for effective public health interventions in the region and to develop a recovery roadmap for the sustainable economic zone.

EVALUATING THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL IN POVERTY REDUCTION AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH IN SOUTH ASIA

Economic growth necessitates the development of human capital and education. It plays a critical and necessary role in the formulation of income distribution policies and alleviating poverty. This study investigates the relationship through ordinary least square (OLS), fully-modified OLS and dynamic OLS models using panel data from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries from 1990 to 2018. According to the findings, imbalance plays an important role in influencing poverty and concludes that the government should embrace procedures that help improve pay distribution to reduce poverty at the strategy level. Furthermore, the findings state that a bi-directional Granger causality exists between schooling and poverty. In terms of strategy, SAARC countries should continue to increase the proportion of sustainable energy used for financial development, thereby decreasing the use of fossil energy for environmental improvements. Additionally, this study shows that the association of pay disparity hoses the positive effect of financial development on poverty, and it supports the contention that the degree of imbalance reduces the impact of comprehensiveness. Pay disparity is now a critical determinant of poverty.

Assessing vulnerability of agriculture system to climate change in the SAARC region

Agriculture production is primarily influenced by human-induced management interventions whereas climate plays an important role. Climate change with increasing global carbon dioxide concentration and changes in temperature, precipitation and other climatic parameters play a significant role in influencing agriculture productivity. The assessment of the vulnerability of agriculture production under the influence of climate change can be done using process-based vegetation models. We assessed the vulnerability of agriculture production for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations comprising of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka using the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) model. Net Primary Productivity (NPP) was simulated under the forcing of climatic variables of the climate change scenarios of representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, 4.5 & 8.5) for the year 2050 using JULES. JULES is a process-based model that simulates fluxes of carbon, energy, and momentum between the atmosphere, land surface, and water to estimate the productivity of a system. The sensitivity was calculated as the inter-annual dispersion from the average NPP of assessment period 2016 to 2050, whereas adaptive capacity was calculated as the slope of productivity regressed over the assessment period. The vulnerability was calculated by subtracting the values of adaptability from sensitivity. The JULES simulated NPP was also compared with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS 17A) derived NPP for the period 2000–2014. The simulated NPP had a decreasing trend under projected climate change scenarios of 2050 for all the SAARC nations compared to recent years average of 2000–2014. The analysis reveals that one-third of the SAARC region is highly sensitive under low to moderate emission scenarios, while it was observed that under high emission scenarios the sensitivity would reduce with increased vulnerability. We observed that the vulnerability of the system is not alone influenced by sensitivity and any change in adaptive capacity or resilience would also impact the overall vulnerability of the system.

Socioeconomic Influence on Cardiac Mortality in the South Asian Region: New Perspectives from Grey Modeling and G-TOPSIS.

Background Measuring the potential socioeconomic factors of cardiac mortality is fundamental to identifying treatments, setting priorities, and effectively allocating resources to minimize disease burden. The study sought to present a methodology that explores the connections between urbanization, population growth, human development index (HDI), access to energy, unemployment, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations to mitigate the cardiac disease burden. Methods This investigation uses multiple-criteria decision-making methodologies to analyze data between 2001 and 2017 commencing with a mathematical grey incidence analysis (GIA) methodology to estimate weights and rank nations based on CVD mortality. Then, utilizing the conservative min-max model approach, we sought to determine which country contributes the most to CVD mortality among all South Asian nations. The grey preference by similarity to ideal solution (G-TOPSIS) method is adopted for further optimization by prioritizing the selected factors that have the greatest influence on CVD mortality. Results The estimated statistic highlights that, among SAARC nations, Pakistan has a significant proportion of the disease burden attributable to cardiac events. In addition, HDI showed a significant contribution in the reduction of CVD mortality, whereas unemployment showed a significant contribution in the rise of CVD mortality among all selected variables. Conclusions This investigation may facilitate researchers with a multiple-criteria decision-making roadmap to help them enhance the quality of their studies and their understanding of how to use multiple-criteria decision-making techniques to evaluate and prioritize the influencing factors of disease mortality in healthcare research. Further, the study outcomes provide additional practical knowledge for appropriate policy solutions.

Trade and Child Labour in SAARC Countries

A review of past studies shows that the studies confine their analysis of trade and child labour in the setting of the trading of homogeneous goods. Hence, the presence study aims to assess the relationship of trade and child labour in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries by incorporating the role of selection of variety or product heterogeneity in child labour demand. In the context of trade in homogeneous and heterogeneous goods, the trade-induced effects are the selection, scale, and technique effects. The panel data analysis is employed to investigate the nexus between trade and child labour over the study period of 1999 to 2019. The results imply that the opening of trade alone will not reduce child labour if it is not accompanied by supportive measures, namely the trade-related effect of child labour, the effect of scale and technique. Therefore, this study suggests that trade liberalization through trade-induced effect would hamper the child labour presence in the emerging markets.

Problems and prospects for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

AbstractThe South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established to enlighten self‐interest based on a common desire to supersede conflict with cooperation, to displace mistrust with harmony, and to eradicate poverty with economic integration in this region. Nonetheless, it could not achieve these goals completely due to a lack of cooperation among member states. Specifically, SAARC has been crippled by the shadow of power politics between two nuclear powers: India and Pakistan. Its agendas, policies, and programs have remained unfulfilled as a result. The prospect of the rejuvenation of SAARC is not a Herculean matter. It could be achieved by introducing new ideas and plans; that is, restructuring within it or expanding its membership. In this regard, this article argues that SAARC can be rejuvenated by including China as a full member. China's presence in SAARC would maintain a balance of power in this region, it would also boost the South Asian economy through trade, investment, and infrastructural development.Related ArticlesHuang, Xiaoming. 2007. “Do Asian Values Matter—for an East Asian Community?” Politics & Policy 35(1): 154–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00052.xLevine, Steven. 2007. “Asian Values and the Asia Pacific Community: Shared Interests and Common Concerns.” Politics & Policy 35(1): 102–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00050.xRavi, Chaitanya. 2021. “The 1971 Bangladesh War and Policy Lessons for Climate Refugee Management in South Asia.” Politics & Policy 49(1): 248–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12392

The Future Potential and Prospects of SAARC Regional Grouping: A Study

The renewed and reinvigorated engagement of India with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) over the past few years has been one of the significant factors leading to the gradual and irreversible transition of the regional organisation from a declaratory phase to one of implementation (Bhagwati, 2008). The new growth momentum in the South Asian region and its increasing openness encourages a fresh look at the economic integration of the region. In this context, the study examines the opportunities and commodity potential of trade between India and the SAARC countries by adopting a variety of trade indices of export intensity index and import intensity index along with Gini coefficient. The authors further study the commodity trade potential between India and the SAARC countries by adopting the revealed comparative advantage index and revealed import dependency index. The study concludes an increasing export intensity and import intensity of trade between India and the other SAARC member countries. Finally, the values of Gravity coefficient and commodity analysis find a high trade potential between them and the untapped trade and investment scenario that could be tapped by strengthening the regional block of SAARC.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BRCA1 POLYMORPHISMS AND BREAST CANCER IN SAARC COUNTRIES

BRCA1 gene is highly contributed gene developing the breast cancer especially in female. Breast cancer is most prevalent cancer in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and risk of developing the breast cancer is now increasing rapidly. It was observed that in these countries breast cancer often develops at younger age of 30-45 years. The prevalence and the contribution of BRCA1 variations are totally different among these countries and studies. Due to the difference in genetics and epidemiology, risk factors result from ethnic differences in breast cancer. Variations of BRCA1 gene account for small study samples but the higher contributor variation of BRCA1 gene accounts with strong family history. Three BRCA1 variations (185delAG, 4184del4 and 3889delAG) are well considered in Pakistan and India. The objective of present study was to reveal the contribution of BRCA1 gene among breast cancer patients in SAARC countries. In this review, the data was collected from 8 participating SAARC countries (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan). Totally 25 articles were selected from these countries. Additionally review articles were also studied for better assessment. The study presents the review on different studies of BRCA1 gene association with breast cancer.