UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes “our solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all highlights the crucial role of religious leaders in our communities and beyond”. He cited previous public health crises, including HIV/AIDS and Ebola, noting how spiritual leadership had been a positive benefit in terms of community values, attitudes and actions.
Religious leaders. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
NEW YORK, Jul 22 2021 (IPS) – The UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) came to a conclusion on July 15th. Another HLPF, another series of declaration, and commitments and concerns articulated by governments.
All of which are…
A market vendor sells produce at Victoria Market in Port Victoria, Seychelles. Credit: UN Women/Ryan Brown
BRIGHTON, UK, Sep 20 2021 (IPS) – COVID-19 has exposed numerous fractures in global food systems that leave millions at risk of food insecurity. Like the numerous political failures in dealing with COVID, the repercussions of food system failings are experienced by rich and poor countries alike, with the poorest and most marginalised paying the greatest price.
To be clear, while the numbers of those who are undernourished remain shamefully high, this is a food crisis that is not just about hunger or famine. There is also a silent and growing crisis of an estimate…
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 2021 (IPS) – The bogey of inflation has been revived. Dubious pre-pandemic economic progress, fiscal constraints and vaccine apartheid were bad enough. Now, ostensibly anti-inflationary measures also threaten recovery and sustainable development.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised downwards its latest global growth forecast. Its latest (WEO) warns of a “dangerous divergence” between richer and poorer countries. This has been exacerbated by, but has also worsened national fiscal disparities and the ‘great vaccine divide’.
Anis Chowdhury
Inflation bogey revived
Meanwhile, there is growing talk of ‘s…
Credit: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
LONDON, Dec 8 2021 (IPS) – Officially reported deaths from started to rise again in autumn 2021 in a number of economies in the . While in advanced economies in Europe the mortality rate has remained low despite the pick-up in Covid-19 cases, in the EBRD regions the mortality and infection rates continued to move in tandem.
Reflecting this, daily Covid-19 deaths per million population were four times higher in the EBRD regions than in advanced Europe as of November 2021.
…
The African Storybook Project has developed writing and publishing apps that are promoting literacy. Credit: Saide
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 10 2022 (IPS) – Suwaiba Hassan published an engrossing story. She used digital apps that are giving literacy a boost.
The student from Katsina State in Nigeria, Hassan, won a National Reading Competition for a story she created using the African Storybook reader app and the African Storybook maker app. , an education NGO, developed the apps through its African Storybook (ASb) project.
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The app…
Credit: WHO
MADRID, Apr 13 2022 (IPS) – People around the world are unknowingly being exposed to water laced with antibiotics, which could spark the rise of drug-resistant pathogens and potentially fuel another global pandemic, warns a new report.
The , elaborated by the United Nations Environment Programme (), found that, globally, not enough attention is being focused on the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance with most antibiotics being excreted into the environment via toilets or through open defecation.
Already in 2015, 34.8 billion daily doses of antibiotics were consumed, with as active substances. Since then the amount of daily consumed …
ROME, Jun 1 2022 (IPS) – Developing countries – in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America and in the Middle East are facing a combination of crises that are unprecedented in recent times. Over the last three years they have had to face the COVID-19 crisis, the food crisis, the energy crisis, the climate change crisis, the debt crisis and, on top of all this, a global recession. The crises have overlapped, and each has added to the problems created by the previous ones.
Daud Khan
First among the crises relates to food – the most basic of human needs. Even before the events in Ukraine there were shortages and uncertainties. International food prices rose by 40% over their level…
With the rise in COVID-19 cases fueled by new variants, the number of long COVID cases will keep increasing. Credit: Unsplash/Ivan Diaz
ABUJA, Sep 1 2022 (IPS) – More than two-years in, the COVID-19 pandemic rages on with rising cases and deaths every day. A silent and more long-term pandemic occurring simultaneously is long COVID. The impact of long COVID has serious consequences for the future of humanity and should worry us all.
The recent by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control shows that an average of 14% of US adults report long COVID symptoms. This is staggering because 93 million cases have been reported in the U.S. This implies that 13 million peop…
Access to PrEP has been slow and mostly limited to high income countries. Some countries, like Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, and Nigeria, have been more proactive than others, but it is still hard for many to get PrEP. Credit: Shutterstock
Nov 30 2022 (IPS) – While the world has focused on the COVID pandemic for nearly three years, less and less attention is being paid to HIV. However, HIV is still a global problem. In 2021, according to the United Nations, people were living with HIV, over 650,000 died from AIDS-related…
“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…