Alexandra Stahl
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 2 2007 (IPS) – A global coalition of governments and organisations has launched a new campaign to drastically improve pre- and post-natal healthcare in places like India, which alone accounts for a staggering 25 percent of the world #39s child deaths and 20 percent of maternal deaths.
Called Deliver Now a reference to the pledge made by 189 world leaders meeting at the United Nations seven years ago to reduce child deaths by two-thirds and maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015, among other goals it brings together local government agencies, civil society, media and others to allocate existing health resources more effectively.
Halfway toward the deadline to achieve the so-called Millennium Development Goals, more than 10 million…
Nitin Jugran
TONK, Rajasthan, Jun 3 2008 (IPS) – Children should be seen, not heard an adage that remains in practice in most parts of rural India even today where the orthodox patriarchal traditions continue to hold sway in tightly-knit local communities.
Child reporter Suman (extreme right) discussing development issues with villagers. Credit: Nitin Jugran/IPS
It is nothing short of revolutionary then that children in some villages of Rajasthan, the largest s…
Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Apr 28 2010 (IPS) – Uganda s trade minister is in agreement that his government s controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill should not restrict the manufacture or import of life-saving generic medicines.
The bill, drafted with funding from the European Union, suggests criminal penalties for counterfeiting.
Counterfeiting is defined expansively as the manufacturing, producing, packaging, re-packaging, labelling or making of any goods which are imitated so as to be substantially similar to the protected goods without the authority of the intellectual property (IP) right owner subsisting in the country or elsewhere.
With reference to the World Trade Organisation s 2001 Doha Declaration, Gagawala Wambuzi, Uganda s minister for trade who is spearh…
Two Mexican teenage girls at their school. Investing in education for teenage girls in Latin America is regarded as the way forward for them to become future drivers of sustainable develpment in their societies. Credit: UNFPA LAC
CARACAS, Jul 11 2016 (IPS) – Latin America’s teenage girls are a crucial force for change and for promoting sustainable development, if the region invests in their rights and the correction of unequal opportunities, acc…
Credit: United Nations
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov 20 2020 (IPS) – Japan should step up and play a role as a global facilitator for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, Dr Daisaku Higashi said at a recent Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP) study meeting.
The country should use the credibility developed in the post-Second World War era as a country with expertise in peacebuilding to ensure that developing countries are included in the vaccines’ rollout.
Higashi, a renowned commentator from Sophia University, warned that only an international effort could solve the pro…
“Drop by drop, this precious lifeblood is being poisoned by pollution and drained by vampiric overuse, with water demand expected to exceed supply by 40% by decade’s end” Credit: Bigstock.
MADRID, Mar 21 2023 (IPS) – Shockingly, the human suicidal war on Nature not only continues unabated but is also set to become even more virulent. Just to start with, please be reminded that groundwater accounts for 99% of all liquid freshwater on Earth, according to the 2022.
And that groundwa…