A water kiosk in Blantyre, Malawi. Activists argue that water and sanitation must be a stand-alone goal in the post-2015 framework. Credit: Charles Mpaka/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 15 2014 (IPS) – The United Nations is on the verge of releasing a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) perhaps 17 or more to replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which will run out by the end of 2015.
The proposed new SDGs, which will make amends for the shortcomings of the MDGs, will be an integral part of the U.N. s post-2015 development agenda which, among other things, seeks to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger from the face of the earth by 2030.”Why not have a t…
Relief workers and aid agencies are worried about the security, protection and psychological health of women and children in post-disaster settings. Credit: Naresh Newar/IPS
DABI, Nepal, Aug 27 2014 (IPS) – Living in a makeshift tarpaulin shelter, which barely protects her family from the torrential rainfall or scorching heat of this remote village in southern Nepal, 36-year-old Kamala Pari is under immense stress, worrying about her financial security and children’s safety.
The family’s only house and tiny plot of farmland were completely destroyed by the massive landslide on Jul. 2 that struck the village of Dabi, part of the Dhusun Village Develop…
Displaced Palestinians gather at a United Nations school in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 26, 2014. Families found refuge after fleeing their homes in an area under heavy aerial bombardment in the besieged Palestinian territory. Credit: UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13 2014 (IPS) – When the international pledging conference to rebuild a devastated Gaza ended in Cairo over the weekend the third such conference in less than six years the lingering question among donors was: is this the last of it or are there more assaults to come?
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implicitly warned of the futility of the continuing exercise when he said: We c…
Survivors at a workshop in Pader, northern Uganda. Thousands of women were raped during Uganda’s civil war but there have been few government efforts to assist them. Credit: Rosebell Kagumire/IPS
WASHINGTON, Dec 10 2014 (IPS) – Nearly two dozen health, advocacy and faith groups are calling on President Barack Obama to take executive action clarifying that U.S. assistance can be used to fund abortion services for women and girls raped in the context of war and conflict.
The groups gathered Tuesday outside of the White House to draw attention to what they say is an ongoing misreading by politicians as well as humanitarian groups of four-decade-old legislation. That la…
This is the second of a two-part article analysing India’s plans to double coal production by the end of this decade. The article, by Chaitanya Kumar, South Asia Team Leader of 350.org, which is building a global climate movement through online campaigns, grassroots organising and mass public actions, offers four reasons why investors and the Indian government should be really wary of investing in coal for the long run. The first part, which was run on Mar. 18, dealt with the first two reasons; this second part looks at the final two.
Coal mining in India. Coal-fired plants contribute 60 percent of India’s energy capacity and are a large source of the air pollution t…
Whether they like it or not, many Africans faced with the possibility of having to access water through prepaid meters have resorted to unprotected and often unclean sources of water because they cannot afford to pay. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS
HARARE, May 8 2015 (IPS) – While many countries appear to have met the U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water, rights activists say that African countries which have taken to installing prepaid water meters have rendered a blow to many poor people, making it hard for them to access water.
“The goal to ensure that everyone has acces…
Providing pregnant mothers with antiretroviral medicines can reduce the risk of HIV transmission from 45 percent to just one percent, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 30 2015 (IPS) – In 2013, an estimated 240,000 children were born with HIV. This was an improvement from 2009, when 400,000 babies tested positive for the infection, but still a far cry from the global target of reducing total child infections to 40,000 by 2015.
Bucking the global trend, one small island nation has made gigantic strides towards the 2015 goal. That country is Cuba, and in 2013 it recorded just two babies born with…
Nora Happel interviews H.E. Alexandru Cujba, Secretary-General of the South-South Steering Committee for Sustainable Development (SS-SCSD) and Director-General of the International Organization for South-South Cooperation (IOSSC).
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 2015 (IPS) – Next month, the South-South Awards will be taking place for the fifth time, honouring the achievements and contributions of heads of state and government, as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society in promoting sustainable development in the Global South.
Alexandru Cujba. Credit: South-South…
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 …
The Agency Headquarters Hospital (AHH) in Bajaur Agency, shortly after a Taliban suicide bomb attack in 2013. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 2016 (IPS) – Hospitals, health care workers and patients in war zones are supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law yet recent attacks from Syria to Afghanistan suggest that they have become targets.
The seeming lack of respect for the sanctity of health care in war zones has prompted UN Security Council members in New York to consider a new resolution designed to find new ways to halt these attacks.
The Security Council is expected to vote on the resolution o…