Jare Ajayi
VANCOUVER, Jun 16 2006 (IPS) – Keeping a promise made at the United Nations six years ago to dramatically improve the lives of at least 100 million poor city dwellers by the year 2020 will be a major focus of the World Urban Forum here from Jun. 19 to 23.
The third gathering of its kind since the forum was launched in 1998 by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, also called U.N.-Habitat, this year s theme is Sustainable Cities: Turning Ideas Into Action . It is expected to draw more than 15,000 participants from non-governmental organisations, academia, and national and local governments.
Given the fact that about half the world s population of 6.5 billion live in towns and cities (a proportion that will hit two-thirds by 2020, according to U.N.-…
Diego Cevallos* – IPS/IFEJ
MEXICO CITY, Apr 24 2007 (IPS) – Amidst a little pushing and shoving, dozens of girls and boys order fried potatoes, soft drinks, hotdogs and candy at the shop in a private school in Mexico. Similar scenes can be found across Latin America, where junk food sales are strong.
Junk food reigns at snack time. Credit: Photo Stock
But gradually, in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Panama and Mexico, legislative bills or initiatives of governments, cities and parents associations are making inroads in making junk food a little hard…
KAMPALA, Feb 22 2010 (IPS) – A severe shortage of highly-trained medical personnel is one of the many challenges to providing health care at a local level across Africa. Task shifting permitting less-specialised people to carry out certain functions is one proposal to over come this, but it is meeting resistance.
Primary health care in Uganda is increasingly entrusted to community-based workers: is the strategy safe?…
Shahndah Rani. Credit: Shahiduzzaman
Banaripara (Barisal), Sep 4 2017 (IPS) – She was born in the early 1950’s to an ultra-poor family in Kundihar, a remote village of Banaripara of Barisal division in Bangladesh. She was a beautiful baby and her father named her ‘Shahndah Rani’ which means ‘Queen of Evenings’. But in reality her life was far from that of a queen.
Born into acute poverty, there were days when she went without any food. Rani s parents could not afford any schooling and gave her away in marriage at age 16 to relieve some of the pressures on them. She was married off to Monoranjan Dhar, who despite being poor himself, cared for Rani.
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A displaced Yemeni woman stands outside a makeshift shelter that she shares with her extended family. Courtesy: IOM/O. Headon
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 3 2020 (IPS) – World leaders gathered on Tuesday to pledge $1.35 billion in aid for Yemen, which currently undergoing what many is the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis”, with Saudi Arabia announcing a contribution of $500 million.
At the ceremony, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer said that reducing aid to Yemen at this time would be “catastrophic.”
Those present at the ceremony repeatedly called for humanitarian access to be made accessible, without…
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 16 2020 (IPS) – The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted most economies in the world. Its full impacts will not be felt, let alone measured, until it runs its course. Many countries are still struggling to contain contagion, while the costs on both lives and livelihoods will undoubtedly have long-term repercussions.
Anis Chowdhury
Back to the future?
The pandemic has exposed economic vulnerabilities building up for decades, especially since the counter-revolution, against Keynesian and development economics in the 1980s, gathered pace with transnational corporation-led privatization, liberalization and globalization.