White Supremacists, Yellow Peril & “Chinese Virus” Add to a Volatile Political Mix

Credit: United Nations

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 2020 (IPS) – When US President Donald Trump repeatedly characterized the fast-spreading COVID-19 as a “Chinese virus” last week, it prompted some white supremacists to resurrect an age old ethnic slur against Chinese and East Asians: the “Yellow Peril” which, in a bygone era, was touted as a xenophobic threat to the Western world.

But Tendayi Achiume, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia, is highly critical of the racist interpretation to a disease which has claimed over 16,500 deaths worldwide and accounted for more than 378,000 infections, with the epice…

Why Some National Health Care Systems Do Better than Others

BERLIN, May 13 2020 (IPS) – In public health discussions, it is generally recognized that the social returns to health care investments are greater than the private returns, and much of such investments should be financed by the state.

Also, global benefits from national health care spending are greater than just the national benefits, while the costs of underinvestment in national health care are borne not only by the country in question, but also by the rest of the world.

Vladimir Popov

Extending life expectancy
First, governments have a responsibility to increase the life expectancy of their citizens, at least commensurate with their level of econo…

Asia-Pacific Response to COVID-19 and Climate Emergency Must Build a Resilient and Sustainable Future

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP

BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 8 2020 (IPS) – The unprecedented public health emergency triggered by the COVID -19 pandemic and its multi-faceted impact on people’s lives around the world is taking a heavy toll on Asia and the Pacific.

Countries in our region are striving to mitigate the massive socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, which is also expected to affect the region’s economic health. In its annual Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2020 launched today, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)expectsgrowth in Asia-Pacific developing economies to slow down significantly this year.

All-of-Government, Whole-of-Society Involvement Needed to Fight Virus

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 28 2020 (IPS) – The Covid-19 pandemic is now widely considered more threatening than any other recent viral epidemic. Most believe that many more have been infected or even died than officially confirmed.

Despite available information, some national leaders believed that the epidemic would not affect them. Others believed that promoting ‘’ would protect populations by exposing them to the virus, triggering human immune systems to produce antibodies.

Flattening the curve?
The principal strategy adopted by most governments is to ‘flatten the curve’, so that countries’ health systems can cope with new infections by tracing, t…

The Government of Kenya and UN commit to expanding education, training and employment opportunities for young people, on an unprecedented scale

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 15 2020 – Hon. Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary for ICT, Innovation and Youth, (CS) and Kenya’s representative in the Generation Unlimited (GenU) Global Board convened today the UN Kenya Country team to identify opportunities on how to swiftly expand education, training and employment opportunities for young people, on an unprecedented scale.

Credit: UNDP Kenya

The meeting was graced by Ms. Ruth Kagia, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Executive Office of the President, and Co-Chair of the National Generation Unlimited Steering Committee. Others in attendance at this meeting included the CAS Nadia Ahmed Abdalla and PS for Youth Affairs, Julius Korir and H…

The Bible, Donald Trump and Plastic

“I love L.A. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful.
Everybody’s plastic – but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.”
 &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Andy Warhol
 

Credit: u/USMCinUSA

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jun 5 2020 (IPS) – Another episode of the spectacular show that could be called The Greatest Story Ever Told: The Saga of the Trump Presidency, scripted and acted by Trump himself, took place on 1st of June.

As U.S. cities were scenes of demonstrations and looting, President Trump declared himself to be ”the president of law and order” and said he was going to dispatch ”thousands and thousands” of law enforcement pe…

Children in Out-of-Home Care: Lessons from the Pandemic

The vast majority of children living in orphanages worldwide are not orphans - over 80 percent have a living parent. Evidence from different regions shows that many of the children will have been sent to institutions for child protection reasons; though not because of violence or neglect in the home, but because of socio-economic conditions in the family, such as low household income or substandard housing conditions - a result of families not receiving enough support to take care of their children

. Credit: Hope And Homes for Children.

LONDON, Jun 22 2020 (IPS) – As the world continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation in institutions like priso…

As COVID-19 Cases Rise, African Countries Grapple with Safely Easing Lockdowns

Franck Kuwonu, Africa Renewal*

People living in Lagos State in Nigeria, simulate sneezing into their elbows during a coronavirus prevention campaign. Credit: Africa Renewal

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 23 2020 (IPS) – Re-opening economies is a tough balancing act between keeping people safe from the virus while ensuring they can still make a living.

Some four months after the first COVID-19 case in Africa was reported in Egypt, countries on the continent are beginning to ease public health and social measures, such as lockdowns and curfews, imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic.

In Côte d’Ivoire, commercial activities have resumed, and students are…

Trump Undermines WHO, UN System

KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Sep 1 2020 (IPS) – After accusing the World Health Organization (WHO) of pro-China bias, President Donald Trump from the UN agency. Although the US created the UN system for the post-Second World War new international order, Washington has often had to struggle in recent decades to ensure that it continues to serve changing US interests.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Invisible virus trumps POTUS
In early July, Washington gave the officially advising the UN of its intention to withdraw from the WHO, created by the US as the global counterpart to the now century-old Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

However, the White House decision as it …

COMMENTARY: The Sinatra Doctrine Confronts a Global Consensus

The next U.S. administration could restore faith in its ability to learn from its mistakes if, in cooperation with the global community, it can create robust new systems of public health protection and economic regeneration inclusive of all its communities and all nations

A photo-collage. Credit: Peter Costantini.

SEATTLE, Oct 23 2020 (IPS) – By late September, the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States had claimed . That’s equivalent to a slightly higher toll than the 418,500 United States deaths in World War II, adjusted for relative population and duration. [See note below.]

With four percent of the world’s population, the U.S. has suffered 20 percent of global COVID-…