Mallika Aryal contributed to this report from Kathmandu, Kanya D’Almeida from Colombo and Ashfaq Yusufzai from Peshawar, Pakistan.
A Pakistani child receives a dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV). According to the WHO, Pakistan is responsible for 80 percent of polio cases worldwide. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS
KATHMANDU/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 24 2014 (IPS) – The goal is an ambitious one – to deliver a polio-free world by 2018. Towards this end, the multi-sector Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is bringing out the big guns, sparing no expense to ensure that “every last child” is immunised against the crippling disease.
Home to 1.8 billion people,…
Soldiers patrol an oil field in Paloug, in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. Credit: Jared Ferrie/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 2014 (IPS) – The sharp decline in world petroleum prices hailed as a bonanza to millions of motorists in the United States is threatening to undermine the fragile economies of several African countries dependent on oil for their sustained growth.
The most vulnerable in the world s poorest continent include Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sudan as well as developing nations such as Algeria, Libya and Egypt in North Africa.”In the long run, governments in these oil-exporting countries should use oil revenues to support productive secto…
Two workers engaged in the removal of asbestos on the roof of a building where a cinema used to operate in the centre of the southern Spanish city of Málaga, in May 2014. Credit: Courtesy Plataforma Málaga Amianto Cero
MÁLAGA, Spain , Feb 17 2015 (IPS) – “I would get asbestos in my mouth, spit it out and carry on working,” said 52-year-old Francisco Padilla. Exposure to this deadly mineral fibre over most of his working life has resulted in cancer and the removal of his left lung, the lung lining and part of his diaphragm.
Sitting on the sofa in his home in the southern Spanish city of Málaga, Padilla told Tierramérica with watering eyes that he has always l…
Jacqui Ashby is a senior gender adviser at CGIAR. Jennifer Twyman is a gender specialist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.
With adequate extension support, women farmers can increase productivity and food security in Africa. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
PARIS, Mar 23 2015 (IPS) – We are lucky to live in a country that has long since abandoned the image of the damsel in distress. Even Disney princesses now save themselves and send unsuitable “saviours” packing. But despite the great strides being made in gender equality, we are st…
A caregiver assists her elderly employer on a residential street in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS
BUENOS AIRES, May 19 2015 (IPS) – As in the rest of the world, the care of children, the elderly and the disabled in Latin America has traditionally fallen to women, who add it to their numerous domestic and workplace tasks. A debate is now emerging in the region on the public policies that governments should adopt to give them a hand, while also helping their countries grow.
The challenges women face are reflected by th…
Solar cells on the wings of the Solar Impulse plane. Credit: Solar Impulse
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 9 2015 (IPS) – A group of international scientists, designated as advisers to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has conveyed a significantly timely message to him: science, technology and innovation (STI) can be the game changer for the U.N.’s future development efforts.
Closing the gap between developed and developing countries depends on first closing investment gaps in international science, technology and innovation, says a report released Thursday.The Board calls for an annual Gl…
IPS Correspondent Stella Paul interviews 2015 Stockholm Water Prize winner Rajendra Singh
The Water Man of India, Rajendra Singh, has spent 35 years reviving water bodies and bringing water to villages across India. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
STOCKHOLM, Sep 4 2015 (IPS) – Globally, more than 748 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. That is more than double the population of the entire United States.
United Nations suggests that 1.8 billion people – that is 500 million more than the population of China – drink water that is faecally contaminated. Every year, over two million people die due to a lack of clean water.
“I am a seed…
Photo: OpenStreetMap and MapQuest
ROME, Jan 8 2016 (IPS) – The Syrian government says it will allow humanitarian aid into the besieged rebel-held town of Madaya, according to the United Nations, following reports and horrific pictures of residents starving to death. Aid is expected to reach the area by Monday, but for some it is too little and too late.
The plight of Madaya’s citizens only came to the world’s attention when residents somehow managed to get video out to Britain’s independent television network, ITV. The images of skeletal children and babies rocked the world’s conscience. The report said many were reduced to eating dirt and grass. Some, it sai…
Dr. Evelyn Nguleka, WFO President, seated with Secretary General Marco Marzano de Marinis. Credit: Friday Phiri/IPS
LIVINGSTONE, Zambia, May 5 2016 (IPS) – With recent data showing that 793 million people still go to bed hungry, ending hunger and poverty in 15 years is the next development challenge that world leaders have set for themselves.
As part of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), these two have been made a special priority because of their impact on the w…
Jun 13 2016 – Women with disabilities face triple discrimination the world over on the basis of disability, gender and poverty. They are the most marginalised of all population groups including men with disabilities. The negative stereotyping of women with disabilities puts them at greater physical risk as they are exposed to neglect, emotional abuse, domestic violence and rape.
The writer is a former federal secretary.
According to the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programmes, 83pc of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, while the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in So…