An Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on the day of a visit from Anthony Banbury, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). Credit: UN Photo/Ari Gaitanis WASHINGTON, Nov 13 2014 (IPS) – The United States proposed Tuesday that the international community write off 100 […]
Category: Wellness
When Ignorance Is Deadly: Pacific Women Dying From Lack of Breast Cancer Awareness
Local women’s NGO, Vois Blong Mere, campaigns for women’s rights in Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS SYDNEY, Jan 28 2015 (IPS) – Women now face a better chance of surviving breast cancer in the Solomon Islands, a developing island state in the southwest Pacific Ocean, following the recent acquisition of the […]
Namibian President Wins $5 Million African Leadership Prize
Outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba was Monday named winner of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, believed to be the most lucrative individual award in the world. The award, with an initial $5 million prize and an annual $200,000 gift for life, “recognises and celebrates African leaders who have developed their countries, lifted […]
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. […]