A hospital in Srinagar, Kashmir. Credit: Umer Asif/IPS
SRINAGAR, India, Dec 18 2015 (IPS) – In an isolated ward of one of Kashmir’s largest government-run hospitals, 54-year-old Ashraf Ali Khan is finding it hard to sleep properly. His 15-year-old son, Asif, is sitting on a bench near the bed staring at his ailing father.
Asif has not been told by his family that his father is suffering from a potentially terminal disease cancer. He knows his father is suffering from a consistent fever which sent him to the hospital, but doesn’t know his father is in the last stage of the crippling disease.
Ashraf Ali, a carpenter, went to the doctor eight months …
Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, is Chairman of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue
GENEVA, Jun 12 2017 (IPS) – Today marks the 2017 World Day against Child Labor to reaffirm the goal to eliminate all forms of child labor. This year’s annual theme highlights a subject that is often neglected, namely the importance of addressing child labor in conflict areas and in disaster settings.
Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim
The United Nations (UN) estimates that approximately 1.5 billion people live in conflict areas around the world. It is likewise projected that around 200 million people are affected…
AMSTERDAM/ROME, Apr 6 2020 (IPS) – What is likely to be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing economies? we looked at possible short term disruptions and discussed actions by the private sector and Governments.
These included mobilizing available public resources to augment what private citizens are doing to help the poor and vulnerable; working on some of the national macro-economic levers to sustain businesses; and discussing with international creditors about cancelling or rescheduling repayments, of some…
”If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? And if not now, when? That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow […] go and learn.”
Hillel the Elder, active during the first century BCE
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Nov 24 2020 (IPS) – On 10 December, representatives for the World Food Programme (WFP) will in Norway receive the Nobel Peace Prize at the Oslo City Hall. This is taking place while the COVID-19 pandemic is causing lock-downs and suffering all over world, limiting agricultural production and disrupting supply chains.
The World Food Programme focuses on hunger and food security. It supp…
Felix Horne is a senior environmental researcher at Human Rights Watch
The World Health Organization calls air pollution the “single biggest environmental threat to human health” and estimates that 99 percent of the world’s population live in locations that are above WHO thresholds designed to protect human health. . Credit: Malav Goswami/IPS
Sep 2 2022 (IPS) – Tarik, age 42, live…
A woman with tuberculosis in Pakistan went undiagnosed for five years because she could not afford the $2 transportation cost from her village to the Civil Hospital in Tharparkar. Credit: OCHA/Zinnia Bukhari
Each year, the UN commemorates World TB Day—March 24– to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
LUSAKA / PUNE, Mar 22 2023 (IPS) – Despite being b…
NOIDA, India, Nov 13 2020 (IPS) – “My daughter is eight years old. In May 2017, I had her ‘Khatna,’ her circumcision, done. I had taken her to a traditional cutter. Once back home I made her sleep on the bed. After some time, around 4:00 p.m. I took her to the bathroom, she was bleeding as if she had started her menses. It seemed like she was urinating blood. By 6:00 p.m. my daughter had been bleeding so heavily, the blood had soaked three bed sheets and I was very worried. And my daughter was quiet and she also kept asking me if she will be fine.” Excerpt from: How I got her from the hands of death: 2018
The child belongs to the Bohra community, where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) persists. A study by my organisation, WeSpeakOut, in 2018 indicates that over 75%…