Yasmine Sherif is Director, Education Cannot Wait
NEW YORK, Jun 22 2020 (IPS) – To realize the concept of ‘build back better,’ we need a foundation. That foundation is education. This is an incontestable truth.
It has now been three months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The coronavirus has both exposed and exacerbated the global inequities that lay at the core of our frail social fabric as a human family. The World Bank estimates that as a result of COVID-19. The World Food Programme cautions that globally from 135 million to 265 million. UNDP forecasts human development is . Meanwhile, the number of displaced populations has continued to rise to an unprecedented 79.5 million by the end of 2019, according to UNHCR’s annu…
Sophapan Ratanachena-McWhortor is Tobacco Tax Program Manager of SEATCA* & Dr Hana Ross is the Principal Research Officer of Economics of Tobacco Control Project (ETCP) at the University of Cape Town.
Credit: SEATCA
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jul 21 2020 (IPS) – A factoid is unreliable information repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact. One such factoid repeatedly echoed across the globe by the tobacco industry is that tobacco tax increases worsen cigarette smuggling.
For governments facing challenges to curb smuggling, particularly in the global South, this factoid has scared political leaders from effectively using taxes as a public health tool.
…
Credit: William Oeri / NATION MEDIA GROUP
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 26 2020 (IPS) – On 27 August 2020, we mark the tenth anniversary of the New Constitution of Kenya – a landmark social contract inspired by citizens’ desire for a country characterised by participatory governance, inclusive development, human rights and the rule of law.
The Katiba is ground-breaking in many ways. First and foremost, it was borne out of extensive consultation by a wide cross-section of Kenyans who debated intensely and passionately to ensure a real people’s constitution.
As recognised in Article 1, sovereign power is now vested in the people of Kenya. Further, it gi…
PARIS, Oct 20 2020 (IPS) – School reopening doesn’t mean that education is back on course. For a start, schools remain closed in over 50 countries, affecting more than 800 million students. The poorest ones may never make it back to school, driven by poverty into child labour or early marriage. Distance learning has been out of reach for one third of the 1.6 billion students affected worldwide by school closures. They may disengage altogether if school closures continue.
Stefania Giannini
The health crisis is at risk of eroding decades of progress. For the first time since its conception, the Human Development Index is slated to decline, with education accounting…
Dr Asoka Bandarage, a scholar and practitioner, has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke (where she received tenure), Georgetown, American and other universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad. Her research interests include social philosophy and consciousness; environmental sustainability, human well-being and health, global political-economy, ethnicity, gender, population, social movements and South Asia.
A mother and doctor tend to a young girl with COVID-19 at an intensive care ward in the western region of Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Credit: UNICEF/Evgeniy Maloletka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka , Dec 1 2020 (IPS) – According to the at Johns Hopkins University, as of November 2…
Respondents being questioned for the United Nations global conversation on the world they want. Many called for universal healthcare in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Courtesy: United Nations
BONN, Germany, Jan 11 2021 (IPS) – The peoples of the world are unanimous access to basic services such as universal healthcare must become a priority going forward. So too should global solidarity, helping those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing the climate change emergency.
The collective thoughts of the world’s future by some 1.5 million people, including those from various organisations and networks, from all countries across the globe has been highli…
BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 22 2021 (IPS) – The past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have played out unevenly across Asia and the Pacific, the region has been spared many of the worst effects seen in other parts of the world. The pandemic has reminded us that a reliable and uninterrupted energy supply is critical to managing this crisis.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Beyond ensuring that hospitals and healthcare facilities continue to function, energy supports the systems and coping mechanisms we rely on to work remotely, undertake distance learning and communicate essential health information. Importantly, e…
The writer is Chief Executive Officer, Sanitation and Water for All partnership
The UN will be commemorating World Water Day on Monday March 22.
Credit: UN Water
LISBON, Mar 21 2021 (IPS) – This , we celebrate the value of water, which at first might be a given: after all, water is the basis of all life. Without water we have no health, wealth, equality, or education.
But, do governments adequately prioritize and invest in clean water? The answer, in far too many parts of the world, is a resounding no. As an international community, we are too often blind to the huge cost of failing to serve so many people with the most basic but crucial of services.<…
Women informal cross-border traders. Credit: Trevor Davies/IPS
May 6 2021 (IPS) – Recently, both Republics of Benin and Chad held their 2021 national elections. These countries are among on the continent billed to elect new political leaders in 2021 alone. This is a good opportunity to improve conditions on the continent. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified other issues on the continent like youth unemployment that better leadership could help improve.
These are three ways West African leaders can better help their nations at this time of COVID-19 and beyond.
First, the rate of youth unemployment must be effectively tackled.
Y…
Over 600 million people in Africa require treatment for an NTD, making up 35% of the global burden. Credit: Uniting to Combat NTDs
HOVE, United Kingdom, Jun 11 2021 (IPS) – As world leaders come together in the UK for the G7, the global response to COVID-19 and how we can build a better defence system against infection is at the forefront of discu…