PESHAWAR, Feb 13 2012 (IPS) – The world’s two worst polio-affected countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, have exhausted themselves in failed attempts to wipe out the crippling ailment.
A new immunisation campaign against polio has been launched jointly by Pakistan and Afghanistan. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.
Of the eight new polio cases record in 2012, seven are from Pakistan and one from Afghanistan.
In the…
Latin American demographers and government delegates analyse the region’s population and development challenges in Rio de Janeiro. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 17 2013 (IPS) – Nearly 20 years after the landmark U.N. conference on population and development, the countries of Latin America have an opportunity to make headway with a new agenda on these issues, thanks to the favourable economic context that has made it possible to reduce social inequalities.
The situation in the region was debated at the preparatory meeting in Rio de Janeiro for the first session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the C…
A MDR-TB patient at a Médecins Sans Frontières clinic in Manipur in north-eastern India. Credit: Bijoyeta Das/IPS.
NEW DELHI, Mar 5 2014 (IPS) – For years Joba Hemron, 50, prayed that her cough would go away. She was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) in 2011. She was put on a Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS), provided free at a public health clinic in Bongaigaon district in Assam.
But soon she began missing too many doses. “My sons work in the fields, I was too weak to go on my own to get the pills,” she says. She went to a private clinic, hoping to collect all the medicines at once. That was expensive, which meant she could again not complete the…
ILLINOIS, United States, Apr 6 2020 (IPS) – During a crisis, such as the novel , whose impact changes with every passing minute, the urge to listen to and watch the news, and get firsthand insights and real time updates can be constant. Indeed, millions of Americans are frequently checking the news. I know I am. What I’ve noticed on three of the major TV stations I’ve watched across the day is the absence of diversity in the experts commenting on the pandemic. This is inexcusable.
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At a critical juncture on the road to the UN Food Systems Summit, three UN rights experts warn that it will fail to be a ‘people’s summit’ unless it is urgently rethought.
NEW YORK, Mar 22 2021 (IPS) – Global food systems have been failing most people for a long time, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made a critical situation even worse. 265 million people are threatened by famine, up 50% on last year; 700 million suffer from chronic hunger; and 2 billion more from malnutrition, with obesity and associated diet-related diseases increasing in all world regions.
Michael Fakhri
Everyone agrees that we need urgent solutions and action. The convening of this year’s UN F…