Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Jun 9 2011 (IPS) – If there s one thing positive that has come out of the violence in this part of Pakistan, it is that people have developed a culture of donating blood that helps save lives, say doctors in the northeastern city of Peshawar.
More now volunteer to donate blood. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.
Getting blood has become amazingly convenient, when it comes to saving the lives of victims of terrorism, says Dr Muhammad Hanif, a medical officer at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, the capital of Khyb…
Jose Domingo Guariglia interviews MICHAEL RENNER, of Worldwatch Institute
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 26 2011 (IPS) – As the United Nations readies for a major international conference on sustainable development next June in Brazil, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are preparing to play a key role in the run-up to the summit meeting and are preparing a plan of action to be adopted by world leaders.
Michael Renner. Credit: Courtesy of Michael Renner
The Rio+20 conference will take place 20 years after the historic Earth Summit in Brazil in June 1992.
Asked ab…
PESHAWAR, Mar 4 2012 (IPS) – With no money to see a doctor, Gul Lakhta,50, had resigned himself to blindness when a ‘mobile hospital’ drove into his village in the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on Pakistan’s rugged border with Afghanistan.
They operated on me the same day. Now, my eyesight is excellent, says Lakhta, a beneficiary of the Mobile Hospital Programme (MHP) started by the government in 2003 to provide healthcare to people in the war-torn areas of northern Pakistan.
After the United States-led coalition forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001 its leaders fled across the border to the FATA and adjacent areas, bringing with them their fundamentalist ideology and culture of violence.
Before lon…
Nurses taking to the streets demanding fair wages is now a common sight in many Indian cities. Credit: K.S. Harikrishnan/IPS
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India , Jun 28 2012 (IPS) – Nurses in India are up in arms against the deterioration of the nursing profession in the country, including unfair wages and the policies of private hospital managements.
Many exploited female nurses are leaving the country in droves, migrating to countries that offer better employment prospects and working conditions.
Those that remain are taking to the streets, demanding decent pay and the enforcement of labour regulations.
For two years now, thousands of nurses working i…
Eighteen-year-old Maureen Phiri from Malawi knows first-hand about the loneliness of HIV. At age 12, she discovered her HIV status but did not tell her mother. Courtesy: Martina Schwikowski
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 6 2013 (IPS) – Maureen Phiri, 18, has a soft voice and a strong message about HIV and young people in her country. “In Malawi, people are still in denial because of cultural beliefs. Traditional leaders and churches are denying the disease. Let us gather those leaders and hear from young people what is really happening.”
Phiri, an activist who lives with HIV, belongs to the Baylor Teen Club in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital. The club is part of a programme that pr…
This is the first in a three-part series of about women and Option B+ in Africa
With Option B+, pregnant women are started on lifelong antiretroviral therapy regardless of their CD4 count. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS
NAIROBI, May 26 2014 (IPS) – Kenya’s health sector has been facing significant challenges, ranging from a shortage of health care providers to a series of labour strikes. The problems have not only disrupted health services, but have HIV experts divided on whether to roll out Option B+ nationwide or just to pilot it in high volume facilities such as major referral hospitals.
is the latest treatment option recommended by the World He…
Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait
NEW YORK, Dec 23 2020 – As Mohammed, a Palestine refugee with impaired vision who attends a specialized UNRWA programme for children with disabilities, told us during our mission to Lebanon a week ago: “I was worried. I was worried that I could not continue my education because the programme was going to be cut. Now I have hope that I can continue to study and make my dream come true.” As 2020 comes to a close and we reflect on Education Cannot Wait’s mission this past year, two things stand out: hope and action. Amidst multiple crises around the globe, exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic, hope has been the fuel driving us all forward to take action to deliver to those left furthest behind. Indeed, while hope is life-…
There is no health without mental health. Credit: Unsplash /Melanie Wasser.
ABUJA, Jun 2 2021 (IPS) – Recently, Naomi Osaka, the number 2 ranked women’s tennis player in the world, she would not participate in the press conference at the French Open (Rolland-Garros) because she wanted to protect her mental health.
The organizers of the tournament were incensed, imposed a fine on her and to disqualify her. Would the organizers have reacted differently if Naomi Osaka said she could not participate in the tournament’s press briefing because of a physical illness, such as a…
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2022 (IPS) – Whether to have children or not is one of the most life-altering decisions a person can make.
But as UNFPA’s report shows, people around the world – especially women and members of marginalized groups – are frequently denied any choice in the matter, with partners, relatives, health care providers and even governments making or strongly influencing these decisions.
“Men have greater decision-making power [regarding contraception]. Women may have to act secretly/discreetly to get contraception services,” a man in India told report authors.
“Men hold the ultimate decision-making power. It is common prac…