Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Sep 25 2006 (IPS) – An organisation that assists the deafblind has helped make their plight more visible in Venezuela, while knitting a network aimed at improving the quality of life of those who are dual sensory impaired.
Sordociegos (Deafblind) of Venezuela (SOCIEVEN) has worked for 10 years, teaching and improving the quality of life of around 100 deafblind people, and now we are seeking out many more, people we have never met, María Luz Neri, director of the non-governmental organisation, told IPS.
According to her estimates, there could be as many as 4,000 dual sensory impaired people in this South American country of 26.5 million.
Neri said the situation is similar or more accentuated in other countries of Latin America, accor…
Ernest Chiombe
MASERU, Nov 3 2006 (IPS) – Twenty dollars seems a meagre amount, but it has brought an end to backbreaking toil and food insecurity for many of Lesotho s elderly.
Two years ago the government of the small landlocked country started a pension system for citizens over the age of 70. Today, more than 76, 000 people are receiving a monthly pension of approximately 20 dollars.
Whereas such steps in Southern Africa are frequently taken at the behest of donors or the international financial institutions, Lesotho s government introduced the grant in order to address worsening poverty among the elderly.
Lesotho, geographically encircled by South Africa, is home to 1.8 million people of whom 56 percent live on less than two dollars per day. The World Food…
Interview with Dr. Seth Berkley, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
NEW YORK, Nov 27 2007 (IPS) – When one of the world #39s most promising large-scale HIV vaccine trials was shut down in September after it became clear that not only did the drug fail to block the virus, but may have even increased the vulnerability of some test volunteers to contracting HIV, it was a profoundly disappointing moment in the more than 20-year quest for a vaccine.
Dr. Seth Berkley Credit: IAVI
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), headquartered in New York, is an important player in conducting and promoting va…
The wall around the Rigolleau substation graphically reflects the opposition of local residents. Credit: Juan Moseinco/IPS
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 21 2012 (IPS) – Scientific uncertainty about the health impacts of electromagnetic fields is fueling worries among people in the Argentine capital who are demanding that energy power transformers be located far from their neighborhoods.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) does not rule out the possibility that exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields could pose a risk to human health, even possibly being linked to childhood leukemia. But it says there is not enough evidence to warrant strict recommendations.
David Lewis is professor of social policy and development at the London School of Economics & Political Science
LONDON, Apr 22 2020 (IPS) – The implications and consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic are playing out before us. Much of the news coverage of the to date in both the Global North and the Global South has understandably focused on the horrifying impact of the disease on , where it is clearly hitting people, and economies, hardest.
David Lewis
But what are the implications for people in rural areas, where just under a half of the world’s population live, and where the largest concentrations of the poorest and most food insecure people are stil…
Angelina Jolie with Syrian refugees. Credit: UNHCR / Laban Mattei
NEW YORK, Jul 14 2020 – We must not leave young refugees by the wayside, urged UNESCO, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Education Cannot Wait as they urged more support in favour of young refugees’ education during an online debate today, moderated by UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, on how best to provide them with improved learning during and after the pandemic.
“Mobilizing for refugees is extremely urgent at a time when they are particularly vulnerable to the Covid-19 crisis and its aftermath,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, as s…