UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2015 (IPS) – With the rainy season still far from over, flood-affected communities in the Sagaing Region and other parts of northern and western Myanmar are preparing for more hardships, while the government continues what the United Nations has called an “incredible” relief effort.
In a released on Aug. 12 upon her return from the Kale Township in Sagaing, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar Renata Dessallien referred to the people in this Southeast Asian nation of 53 million as being among “the most generous in the world”, adding she was “humbled by the spontaneous public outpouring of solidarity and assistance to flood-affected communities.”
Everyone from ordinary citizen volunteers and residents to NGO workers and…
Women being examined by female doctors in free medical camp held in North Waziristan, one of the seven districts of FATA. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 26 2015 (IPS) – “My two sons were killed by Taliban militants mercilessly three years ago. My husband died a natural death two year back. Now, I am begging to raise my two grandsons,” Gul Pari, 50, told IPS.
Pari, who is waiting for her turn at a psychiatrist’s clinic in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says she dreamed every night that her sons were alive and would return one day.
“I am waiting for them. They are martyrs and will come and take revenge from their …
Assistant Professor, Department of Regional Water Studies, TERI University
TERI University, New Delhi, India, Apr 20 2016 (IPS) – An Indian Govt. Parliamentary Committee on Estimates on “Occurrence of High Arsenic (As) content in Groundwater” in December, 2014 stated that more than 70 million people in 96 districts in India is under threat due to As occurrence in groundwater.
Chander Kumar Singh
A new finding suggests that it’s not only Indo-Gangetic plain that is under serious threat of As contamination in groundwater in India. An ongoing study funded by PEER Science grant from USAID and National Academy of Sciences, USA in collabora…
Young women in Sub-Saharan Africa are more than twice as likely to become HIV positive as young men. Credit: Nastasya Tay/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 2 2016 (IPS) – When Lebogang Brenda Motsumi was 16 years old she fell pregnant, terrified about what her life would look like, she went to a backdoor clinic for an abortion.
The abortion failed, and she gave birth to a baby who later passed on.
Motsumi knew that she needed to be more careful so she went to a health clinic to get contraception and learn about prevention.
“Instead of supporting me the nurse interrogated me about why I was having sex, this discouraged me from ever goi…
Women wait to immunize their children at the Kisugu Health Centre in Kampala, Uganda, where free vaccinations take place. The nurse in the foreground is Betty Makakeeto. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPS
KAMPALA, Jun 29 2016 (IPS) – Patience*, a Ugandan maid, planned on taking her three-year-old son for polio immunization during the country’s mass campaigns a year ago, until her landlord’s wife told her a shocking myth.
“The medicine they are injecting them with means the boy whe…
Martin Khor is Executive Director of the South Centre, a think tank for developing countries, based in Geneva.
Panoramic view of a neighbourhood in southern Mexico City, with buildings semi-hidden by air pollution. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS
PENANG, Nov 14 2016 (IPS) – As evidence mounts on the threats posed by air pollution to both human health and the environment, action must be urgently taken to address this problem.
At the global level, the Paris Agreement that came into force on 10 November aims to get countries to signifi…
There is still need for better educational opportunities, housing, medical care, and everything that is extended to other citizens in the Caribbean. Credit: Bigstock
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Mar 23 2017 (IPS) – Visually impaired Kerryn Gunness is excited about the possibilities offered by a new free app that would serve as his eyes and enable people like him to enjoy greater independence.
The Personal Universal Communicator (PUC) app is part of a new generation of cheaper assistive technolo…
Dr. Hanif Hassan Al Qassim, is Chairman of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue
GENEVA, Jun 4 2017 (IPS) – On 20 February 1997, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 51/77 to promote the rights of children. This Resolution was considered a milestone in promoting and advancing the right of children in conflict and wars.
Dr. Hanif Hassan Al Qassim
The resolution was also seen as a further acknowledgement of the growing number of States that had signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child that entered into force on 2 September 1990. To this day only one State has …
A view of the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, where nearly 80,000 Syrian refugees are living. Credit: UN Photo/Sahem Rababah
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1 2017 (IPS) – Jordan’s Zaatari camp, which opened in 2012 as a makeshift camp to house Syrian refugees fleeing the war, marked its fifth year on June 28.
The camp was opened by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the United Nations (UN) to cope with the humanitarian crisis in Syria—which has recorded the world’s refugee movement since WWII—with a clear goal to house refugees temporarily.
Between then and today, more than 80,000 Syrian refugees have settled in the camp, making it the world’s largest Syrian refugee…
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 13 2017 (IPS) – A vibrant global campaign to ban the use of mercury in dentistry is shifting direction: moving from Europe to the developing world.
Charlie Brown, Attorney President of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, an organization which is spearheading the campaign, told African and Asian delegates at a meeting in Geneva late September: When you return to your home countries, please do as the European Union has done: phase out amalgam for children now, for one simple reason: The children of your nation are equally important as the children of Europe.
President of World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, Charlie Brown (2nd right), Do…