A child is vaccinated against the poliovirus. Malawi detected a single case and embarked on a mass vaccination programme against the disease which causes paralysis. Credit: Charles Mpaka/IPS
Blantyre, Malawi, Apr 18 2022 (IPS) – One polio case is one too many, global health experts say.
And when Malawi announced in February this year that it had detected a polio case in the country’s capital Lilongwe, the alarm was significant, and the response from both the government and global health partners was swift, if not frantic.
Detected on a 3-year-old child, the poliovirus is described by experts as a significant public health concern for several reasons.
Acc…
Juana Martínez takes part in an October 2021 protest in Lima organized by the platform of people affected by heavy metals in front of Congress, holding a sign that reads: “Cajamarca. Mercury Never Again”. She was 29 years ol…
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…
Testing new approaches for preventing gender-based violence to galvanize more and new partners and resources. Credit: UN Women
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 30 2022 (IPS) – How are the multiple shocks and crises the world is facing changing how we respond to gender-based violence? Almost three years after the COVID-19 pandemic triggered high levels of violence against women and girls, the recent (SVRI) shed some light on the best ways forward.
Bringing together over 1,000 researchers, practitioners, policymakers and activists in Cancún, Mexico, the forum highlighted new research on what works to stop and address one of the most widespread violations of human rights.
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…
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss chairs the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting from her office at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in London. Credit: Simon Dawson /
BRIGHTON, UK, Sep 6 2022 (IPS) – The UK’s new Prime Minister (and former Foreign Secretary), Liz Truss, enters Downing Street with a full and urgent in-tray, dominated by the highest inflation rate for 40 years and concerns across the country about the cost-of-living crisis.
Whilst urgent domestic policy is required, these national issues are symptomatic of a broader set of global crises, including the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
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Credit: UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
The fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-5) will take place from Monday, 30 October to Friday, 3 November 2023 at the International Conference Centre (CICG) in Geneva, Switzerland. More than eight hundred participants – including Parties’ representatives, non-parties governments, intergovernmental organizations, UN bodies and NGOs – are already confirmed to attend the meeting., according to UNEP.
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 13 2023 (IPS) – As the Minamata Convention on Mercury’s fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) approaches, momentum builds to adopt the Africa Reg…
A Palestinian family on the street in Beit Lahia in north Gaza. Credit: Mohammed Omer/IPS.
GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS, Apr 2 2020 (IPS) – The coronavirus is now present in Gaza, the populous Palestinian enclave blockaded by air, land and sea since 2007. An epidemic would be calamitous. Hamas should tighten public health measures; Israel should loosen restrictions so…
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 21 2020 (IPS) – Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro appointed medical entrepreneur Nelson Teich his new health minister on 17 April. The businessman quickly his boss’ desire to resume business as usual regardless of its potentially lethal consequences.
Bolsonaro had his previous health minister, displeased by Luiz Henrique Mandetta’s public remarks on the need for lockdowns and physical distancing. Mandetta’s firing was met with outrage across Brazil. Locked-down citizens “Bolsonaro Murder”.
Anis Chowdhury
In his final briefing as minister, Mandetta staff to challenge “denialism” and mount an “unyielding defen…
(@sidchat1) is the UN Resident Coordinator to Kenya. (@walidbadawi) is the UNDP Resident Representative to Kenya.
A landmark handshake-former Prime Minister Raila Odinga & President Uhuru Kenyatta bridge their differences and sign a declaration of peace between the two political leaders. March 9, 2018. Credit: State House
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 21 2020 (IPS) – Amid various global conflicts in the 1980s and 1990s, the International Day of Peace (IDOP) was established to commemorate the strengthening of the ideals of peace globally. Today, peace is not just the absence of conflict, but a key prerequisite for development. It is in recognition of the crucial linkages bet…