JOHANNESBURG, Jun 3 2015 (IPS) – Patient and leading health organisations in South Africa have now joined a campaign launched in 2011 by Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to push for reform of the country’s current patent laws. The campaign’s promoters say that these laws severely restrict access to affordable medicines for all […]
Category: Wellness
U.N. Targets Trillions of Dollars to Implement Sustainable Development Agenda
Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the U.N., addresses a press conference on the agreement achieved on 2 August by Member States on the outcome document of the United Nations Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten UNITED NATIONS, Aug 3 2015 (IPS) – After more than […]
In Hawaii, Concern Rises about Use of Farm Pesticides
Tammy Brehio of Kihei, Hawaii, pointing from her back balcony to a Monsanto cornfield a few hundred yards from her house. The inset photo, taken by Tammy, shows a Monsanto tractor spraying pesticides. Credit: Photo by Christopher Pala. Inset photo by Tammy Brehio. KIHEI, Hawaii, Oct 16 2015 (IPS) – Tammy Brehio stood on the […]
Tackle ‘Hidden Hunger’ by Improving Food Systems
Jomo Kwame Sundaram was the Coordinator for Economic and Social Development at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and received the 2007 Wassily Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. KUALA LUMPUR , Feb 29 2016 (IPS) – Nutrition is complex and multi-dimensional. Micronutrient deficiencies or ‘hidden hunger’ are […]
Bangladesh’s Urban Slums Swell with Climate Migrants
This article forms part of an IPS series on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Summit, taking place May 23-24 in Istanbul. Abdul Aziz stands with one of his children in Dhaka’s Malibagh slum. He came here a decade ago after losing everything to river erosion, hoping to rebuild his life, but has found only […]
Women’s Cooperatives Ease Burden of HIV in Kenya
Dorcus Auma weaving sisal fronds into a basket. Her Kenyan women’s group has helped provide income to care for her grandchildren, orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Credit: Charles Karis/IPS NAIROBI, Jun 27 2016 (IPS) – Seventy-three-year-old Dorcus Auma effortlessly weaves sisal fronds into a beautiful basket as she walks the tiny path that snakes up a hill. […]
False Promises: Avoid ‘Miracle’ Rice and Just Eat a Carrot
Prof. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecofeminist, philosopher, activist, and author of more than 20 books and 500 papers. She is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and has campaigned for biodiversity, conservation and farmers’ rights, winning the Right Livelihood Award [Alternative Nobel Prize] in 1993. She is executive director […]
Indigenous Peoples Lands Guard 80 Per Cent of World’s Biodiversity
In much of the Andes, soil erosion is thought to be one of the most limiting factors in crop production. Soil is vulnerable to erosion where it is exposed to moving water or wind and where conditions of topography or human use decrease the cohesion of the soil. ©IFAD/ Juan I. Cortés ROME, Feb 9 […]
World Lags on Clean Energy Goals
At the current pace in 2030 there will still be one person in ten without electricity. Credit: Bigstock VIENNA, May 14 2017 (IPS) – It may be the 21st century but more than three billion people still use fire for cooking and heating. Of those, one billion people have no access to electricity despite a […]
Educating Children One Radio Wave at a Time
‘Kidnappy’ is one of the fears that Nigerian children shared as part of UNICEF’s Education in Emergencies exercise. Thousands of young girls have been kidnapped and held for year by Boko Haram since the start of the insurgency in 2009. Credit: UNICEF UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2017 (IPS) – Nigeria’s conflict has displaced more than […]