Children need diverse microbiomes in their environment to develop healthy immune systems. Credit: Josh Calabrese on Unsplash.
Aug 5 2020 (IPS) – By 2050, is expected to live in towns and cities. Urban living brings many benefits, but city dwellers worldwide are seeing a in noncommunicable health problems, such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease.
Some scientists now think this is linked to – the ongoing …
Today when children are under serious threat from Covid-19, the 30th anniversary of the Children’s Summit is a highly appropriate time for countries to renew and update the vows they made then. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS
BRIGHTON, United Kingdom, Sep 28 2020 (IPS) – On the eve of the UN s 75th anniversary, Antonio Guterres, the UN’s Secretary-General has declared that the coronavirus pandemic is the world s top security threat. He has called for action for greater international co-operation in controlling outbreaks and developing an affordable vaccine, available to all. Such action is needed and possible -even in the absence of a large gathering of world leaders in Ne…
We never imagined that we would witness food insecurity being an issue in developed countries such as the US. Credit: Stephen Leahy/IPS.
URBANA, Illinois / ABUJA, Dec 17 2020 (IPS) – Food insecurity across the U.S. continues to be on the rise because of the effects of COVID-19. According to Feeding America, .
We both grew up in countries referred to as “developing countries,” Ifeanyi in Nigeria and Esther in Kenya. At the time, we never imagined that we would witness food insecurity being an issue in developed countries such as the U.S. like we are now. As thought leaders in global health and food security, we are compelled to amplify this inequity in the…
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the challenges the leprosy-affected community face: deep and widespread stigma, discrimination, misinformation, unfounded fear, besides living with the disease itself. IPS senior correspondent STELLA PAUL looks at the challenges they face ahead of World Leprosy Day on Jan. 31
The following opinion piece is part of series to mark the upcoming International Women’s Day, March 8.
NEW DELHI, India, Mar 6 2021 (IPS) – Power is an intriguing concept and it means different things to different people. In simple words, power is the ability to influence the behavior of others to get what you want. Power distribution is usually visible in most societies when there is a clear and obvious division between the roles of the men and expectations from women. One can’t talk about power without talking about patriarchy in which men always hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. Women are almost always taught power and ambition are two dirty words, and should not be linked to their personalities.
In 2020, as the world tried to survive the global…
A 14th century painting depicts two leprosy patients denied entrance to town. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
May 31 2021 – The 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) takes place from May 24 to June 1. This year s gathering is likely to be dominated by Covid-19, but here I want to talk about a different disease—leprosy—and a resolution that was adopted at the WHA exactly 30 years ago.
This resolution called for the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem at the global level by the year 2000, with elimination defined as a prevalence rate of less than 1 case per 10,000 population. It was a landmark resolution for the time.
Leprosy, also known as H…
Menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) must be integrated into the response to emergencies. | Picture courtesy: WaterAid India/Altaf Ahmed
Jul 6 2021 (IPS) – Over the last few years, the world has witnessed accelerated action to achieve the (SDGs), especially on gender equality and women’s empowerment. This has also led to significant interest in menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) as a critical factor in girls’ education and women’s participation in many spheres of life.
In India, this has led to the introduction of evidence-…
TORONTO, Canada, Aug 30 2021 (IPS) – Whether desperately trying to get a place on the last evacuation flights out of Kabul or trekking to the borders with neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, tens of thousands of Afghans are fleeing their country once more.
Events are unfolding at speed. The Taliban are establishing a central government in the capital to fill the void of the collapsed western-backed administration, but they do not control all the country as the protracted civil war enters a new stage. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says that in its “” it is preparing for around 500,000 new refugees in the region by the end of this year. As with many past estimates that could prove optimistic.
The UN commemorated World Aids Day on 30 November. Credit: UNAIDS
GENEVA, Dec 1 2021 (IPS) – This week I called out to the world to warn them that inequalities are making us all unsafe. I noted starkly our new analysis that we face millions of additional AIDS deaths – 7.7 million in the next decade alone – as well continued devastation from pandemics, unless leaders address the inequalities which drive them. We have to treat this threat as an emergency, as a red alert.
To end AIDS, we need to act with far more urgency to tackle these inequalities. And it’s not just AIDS. All pandemics take root in, and widen, the fissures of society. The world’s failure to …
WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Yohei Sasakawa, would like to create a society where there is social inclusion. It is this philosophy that motivates his life-long campaign to end discrimination against people affected by leprosy. Credit: Sasakawa Leprosy Initiative
Johannesburg, Jan 30 2022 (IPS) – For the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, Yohei Sasakawa, ensuri…