Category: Wellness

Child Labour on U.S. Tobacco Farms: A Stubborn Problem in a Billion-Dollar Industry

Children who work on tobacco farms in the U.S. are vulnerable to nicotine poisoning, especially when handling wet tobacco leaves. Credit: MgAdDept/CC-BY-SA UNITED NATIONS, Apr 6 2015 (IPS) – For many young people, the summer is synonymous with free time, relaxation, or family vacations. For less fortunate kids the summer means labour, with scores of […]

Campaign for Affordable Medicine Gains Ground in South Africa

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 […]

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 […]