Q&A: Why are Stillbirths still Societal Taboo?
aaron There are nearly two million stillbirths every year. Credit: UNSPLASH/Claudia WolffUNITED NATIONS, Oct 26 2020 (IPS) - Societal taboo and a lack of understanding about stillbirth can cause the issue…
Health
Lost in Translation? Understanding Relevance of Women, Peace & Security in Arms Control & Disarmament
Renata H. Dalaqua is Programme Lead for Gender & Disarmament at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) At the core of landmark on Women, Peace and Security is…
We Need a Global Coordinated Effort to Secure Equal Access to Safe & Effective Vaccines
Ilze Brands Kehris is Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights heading the UN Human Rights Office in New York Addressing an online event organized by the Danish Institute for Human Rights…
International Women’s Day, 2021To Lead is to Serve — A Pacific Woman’s Perspective
The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day March 8.SUVA, Fiji, Mar 1 2021 (IPS) - An often quoted indigenous reference in the Samoan language…
Centering Equity: A Vision for Global Health in 2021
Act in solidarity. Governments, civil society, and international organisations need to come together to distribute resources . Distributive justice can ensure greater security for all whether that is for health,…
US Support for Vaccine Waiver Welcome, but More Needed
Credit: UNICEF/Nahom Tesfaye KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 11 2021 (IPS) - Thanks to President Biden, the US now supports a suspension of intellectual property (IP) rights to increase vaccine supplies.…
For People with Disabilities, COVID-19 Lays Bare the Weaknesses in Social Safety Nets
The 14th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was held this week, with participants urging policymakers to address the…
Increasing Revenue & Protecting Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that tobacco use claims about eight million lives a year. Credit: WHOCAPETOWN / BANGKOK, Aug 2 2021 (IPS) - The COVID-19 pandemic has taken…
Biden Disappoints, Must Do More, Not Less
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 28 2021 (IPS) - US President Biden’s earlier support for a vaccine patent waiver raised hopes for his summit last week. However, it proved disappointing, not…
Campaigners Petition UN to Investigate Racial and Gender Discriminations in Global COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out
US, UK, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland in violation of international human rights law in “prolonging the pandemic” ahead of vital World Trade Organisation meeting GENEVA, Nov 10 2021 - An…
Getting Beyond Body-Shaming
Online platform Fuzia uses positive reinforcement and creativity to support its community. Credit: Sangeeta CS/FuziaNew York, Dec 21 2021 (IPS) - This is an age where pandemics are raging, millions…
Gender Lens Crucial to Leaving No One Behind (Part 2)
Creative ways are needed to meet the ICDP 25 goals. Here girls and young women are learning to code in North Darfur as a way to increase future job prospects…
UN Aims at People-Centered Governance in a Post-Pandemic World
A rescued boat woman and her two children eat some welcome food at a centre in Kuala Cangkoi, Indonesia. The UN urges 'people-centred' approach to migrants and refugees in Southeast…
Polio Eradication Will Take Funds and Awareness
A polio vaccinator administers the oral polio vaccine to a child in Pakistan. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPSABUJA, Jun 22 2022 (IPS) - For forty days, Kunle Adeyanju – a Nigerian, Rotarian,…
Answering the Challenges Posed by Antimicrobial Resistance
We are failing to take antimicrobial resistance seriously, perhaps because it is not glamorous and relatable. Credit: Bigstock.Sep 21 2022 (IPS) - Staphylococcus aureus is the source of a skin…
The Year of Inflation Exposes Dogma and Class Bias
SYDNEY, Jan 17 2023 (IPS) - Inflation worries topped Ipsos’s in 2022 overtaking COVID concerns. The return of inflation caught major central banks, e.g., the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Bank…
Mercury Project Puts Great UNEP Treaty at Risk
The writer is President, World Alliance for Mercury-Free DentistryThe World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry delegates at Minamata COP-4, on 23 March, 2022, Bali, Indonesia. Credit: Kiara Worth, IISD/ENB (Earth Negotiation…
Deadly Smoke: Feeding Children Kills Cafeteria Staff
Soo Hyoun Lim (right) and friend campaign for safe working environments for cafeteria workers.Seoul, Sep 28 2022 (IPS) - During my summer break this year, I read about five school…
Destruction of Ukraine’s Healthcare Facilities Violates International Humanitarian Law – Report
On March 6, 2022, Izyum Central City Hospital (Kharkiv oblast) was attacked as a part of what appears to have been a large-scale carpet-bombing campaign. Reportedly, the hospital team had…
New Mosquito Species Could Derail Fight Against Malaria
Stagnant water in one of Nairobi’s residential areas. Credit: Wilson Odhiambo/IPSNAIROBI, May 8 2023 (IPS) - ‘Urban’ Kenya has been alerted because new mosquito species, Anopheles stephensi, threatens to derail…
Reimagining Ageing: Older Persons as Agents of Development
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 29 2022 (IPS) - Older persons are highly visible across Asia and the Pacific: they work in agricultural fields producing our food supplies, peddle their wares as…
Women, Girls Equal Partners in HIV Responses, Says Activist
Tendayi Westerhof was one of the first celebrities in Zimbabwe to disclose their HIV-positive status. BRATISLAVA, Feb 14 2024 (IPS) - UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, recently made an impassioned…
World Hepatitis Day: Celebrating Progress and Confronting Persistent Challenges
Hepatitis remains a deadly disease, causing over 800,000 deaths globally each year. Credit: Shutterstock. Jul 25 2024 (IPS) - July 28th is World Hepatitis Day, created to celebrate the life…
Improving Healthcare for All
KUALA LUMPUR and BERN, Jul 19 2023 (IPS) - In 2015, almost all heads of government in the world committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including universal…
High Prevalence of Undetected Hypertension Found in Bangladesh
The salinity of the water in coastal Bangladesh contributes to high blood pressure. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPSDHAKA, Nov 7 2023 (IPS) - Since her childhood, Parveen Begum, 52, has been adding…
Our Message at Davos: Water & Sanitation Are a Critical Line of Defence Against Climate Change
Tim Wainwright is Chief Executive of .Credit: WaterAid/ DRIK/ Habibul HaqueLONDON, Jan 31 2020 (IPS) - There was only one topic on everyone’s lips at Davos this year – c.…
In Light of the Global Pandemic, Focus Attention on the People
International Assembly of the Peoples and Tricontinental: Institute for Social ResearchKazimir Malevich, Children on the Grass, 1908 (Pushkin Museum State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow). Mar 23 2020 - SARS-CoV-2…
Green Counter-Revolution in Africa?
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 7 2020 (IPS) - In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation jointly launched the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa…
Coronavirus Shows the Urgency of Ensuring that Research gets into the Public Domain
Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPSApr 26 2020 (IPS) - Following the outbreak and declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic, there has been a flurry of scientific research and publications to…
Remembering Beethoven – a Genius with a Disability
BONN, Apr 29 2020 (IPS) - Do you recognize this man? You do, of course. It is the silhouette of Beethoven, the famous composer and pianist, well known all over…
Coronavirus Leads to Nosedive in Remittances in Latin America
Remittances now account for an important portion of GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean and support millions of families, so the drop in this source of income is shaking…
COVID 19 – Conspiracy or Apocalypse? – Part II
AMSTERDAM/ROME, Jun 8 2020 (IPS) - As the COVID-19 virus spread rapidly around the globe, so did various theories about what caused the pandemic. According to the standard scientific theory,…
Managing an Epidemic Within a Pandemic
Credit: United NationsJun 29 2020 (IPS) - While COVID-19 has made the headlines every day over the past two months, services for tuberculosis (TB), one of the oldest in the…
Enough Is Not Enough – Call for Urgent Change in Mexican Economic Policy
MEXICO CITY, Aug 14 2020 (IPS) - A group composed by women and men, called Nuevo Curso de Desarrollo (New Course for Development) based at the National University of Mexico…
Will COVID-19 Change the Global Balance of Power?
Wang Yi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, addresses the virtual Security Council summit-level debate on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Global Governance post Covid-19”.…
Food as Prevention – Rising to Nutritional Challenges
Mothers and their children gather at a community nutrition centre in the little village of Rantolava, Madagascar, to learn more about a healthy diet. Credit: Alain Rakotondravony/IPSNAPLES, Italy, Nov 25…
Covid-19 And Migrant Workers: Planning the return and reintegration of forced returnees
Jul 9 2020 - During the pandemic, forced return of migrants has become a major issue of concern for intergovernmental bodies and the global civil society engaged in migration issues.…
How to Reap the Benefits of Food as Medicine
Sorghum is has nutritional and health benefits. Small scale farmer, Catherine Sibanda examines her sorghum crop in field, in Jambezi District, Zimbabwe, March 2015. Credit: Busani Bafana / IPSBULAWAYO, Dec…
Tuberculosis Kills As Many People Each Year As COVID-19. It’s Time We Found a Better Vaccine
A TB patient at the Srinagar-based Chest Diseases Hospital in the Indian state of Kashmir. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPSJan 15 2021 (IPS) - In July 1921, a French infant became the…
End Vaccine Apartheid Before Millions More Die
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 23 2021 (IPS) - have significant access to coronavirus vaccines before 2023. Unfortunately, a year’s delay will cause an estimated 2.5 million avoidable deaths in…
Put People Before Profits for Progress
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 18 2021 (IPS) - Millions of people are expected to die due to delayed and unaffordable access to COVID-19 tests, treatment, personal protective equipment and vaccines.…
Universal Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Are Critical for Truth, Trust and COVID Recovery in Asia and the Pacific
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 28 2021 (IPS) - With health systems at a breaking point, hospitals at capacity and desperate family members searching for oxygen for loved ones, the devastating second…
The CDC Turns Its Back on Migrants and Science
Credit: UNOHCR.PHILADELPHIA, US, Oct 7 2021 (IPS) - Last month, asylum-seeking families at the U.S.-Mexico border appeared to have won a victory, however temporary, in their last-ditch bid for safety…
Prioritising Profits Reversed Health Progress
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 2021 (IPS) - Instead of a health system striving to provide universal healthcare, a fragmented, profit-driven market ‘non-system’ has emerged. The 1980s’ neo-liberal counter-revolution…
Nepal Investing in Health Care but Equality of Access Lags
Medical staff pose in a new maternal care ward at the Melamchi Municipality Hospital, Nepal, in November 2021. Credit: Marty Logan/IPSKATHMANDU, Feb 4 2022 (IPS) - As the omicron wave…
Partnering with Persons with Disabilities Toward an Inclusive, Accessible and Sustainable Post-COVID-19 World
BANGKOK, Thailand, Dec 3 2021 (IPS) - As the world observes the International Day of Persons with Disabilities today, we honour the leadership of persons with disabilities and their tireless…
We Must Carry on Paul Farmer’s Work on Social Determinants of Health
Sub Saharan Africa has a population of 1.14 billion, yet just 24% of the population has access to safe drinking water. Credit: Stella Paul/IPSABUJA, Mar 2 2022 (IPS) - Paul…
Addressing Gender-Related Barriers to COVID-19 Vaccinations to Ensure Vaccinations for All
Credit: United Nations KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Apr 20 2022 (IPS) - As a global pandemic, COVID-19 and its continued impacts are unprecedented. Yet many of the challenges that emerged in…
New Medicines May Help End AIDS– but High Prices & Monopolies Could Keep the Poor Locked Out
The writers are Deputy Executive Directors of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) A man is tested for HIV at a health centre in Odienné, Côte d’Ivoire. Credit:…
News Fatigue, Anti-Vax and Wars
Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known. Michel de MontaigneSTOCKHOLM, Jul 13 2022 (IPS) - During the beginning of the pandemic, people wanted to learn more about…