Destruction of Ukraine ’ s Healthcare Facilities Violates International Humanitarian Law – Report
On March 6, 2022, Izyum Central City Hospital (Kharkiv oblast) was attacked as a part of what appears to have been a large-scale carpet-bombing campaign. Reportedly, the hospital team had also marked the hospital with a big red cross that could be seen from the air. Credit: UHCBy Ed HoltBRATISLAVA, Jan 27 2023 (IPS) While recent reports highlight the growing list of human rights abuses and war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine, new research has laid bare the massive scale of arguably Russia’s most systematic and deadly campaign of rights violations in the country – the targeting and almost complete destruct...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 27, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Ed Holt Tags: Armed Conflicts Editors' Choice Europe Featured Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Ukraine Source Type: news
The Year of Debt Distress and Damaging Development Trade-Off
By Anis ChowdhurySYDNEY, Jan 27 2023 (IPS) As the year 2022 drew to an end, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned, “Developing countries face ‘impossible trade-off’ on debt”, that spiralling debt in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) has compromised their chances of sustainable development.
Anis ChowdhuryIn early December, an opinion piece in The New York Times headlined, “Defaults Loom as Poor Countries Face an Economic Storm”. And the World Bank’s International Debt Report highlighted rising debt-related risks for all developing economies—low- as well as middle-incom...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 27, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Anis Chowdhury Tags: COVID-19 Development & Aid Economy & Trade Financial Crisis Global Headlines Sustainability Sustainable Development Goals TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
New Business Technology Transfer Provides Benefits for African Pharmaceutical Industry
The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation will be hosted by Rwanda. It is part of the African Development Bank’s commitment to spend at least USD 3 billion over the next ten years to support Africa's pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing sector. Medical and pharmaceutical experts pose for a group photo with their colleagues during the forum to introduce the newly launched African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation last month in Kigali. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPSBy Aimable TwahirwaKIGALI, Jan 25 2023 (IPS) A few months after German biotechnology company BioNTech announced the establishment of the first-ever ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 25, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Aimable Twahirwa Tags: Africa COVID-19 Development & Aid Featured Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Rwanda Source Type: news
Digital Politics: “Disconnected Citizens Are Kept Away from Opportunities”
An activist during COP27 in Egypt. Credit: Oliver Kornblihtt / Mídia NINJABy Bibbi AbruzziniBRUSSELS, Jan 25 2023 (IPS) In 2022, Saudi Arabia “quietly” sentenced Salma al-Shehab to 34 years in prison over her Twitter activity, marking the longest Saudi sentence ever for a peaceful activist. Fast forward and award-winning Ugandan author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was charged with two counts of “offensive communication” after making unflattering remarks about the president and his son on Twitter. The message is clear: your well-crafted 280 characters can land you in jail.
But what if, not only your online expr...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 25, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Bibbi Abruzzini Tags: Africa Civil Society Crime & Justice Economy & Trade Education Global Headlines Health Human Rights TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
Pope, Sasakawa in Global Appeal for a Leprosy Free World
Pope Francis and Yohei Sasakawa, Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination led a global appeal to end leprosy and the stigmatization of those impacted. The pope’s statement was read to the second international symposium on Hansen’s Disease in Rome hosted by the Holy See, Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative, the French Raoul Follereau Fondation and the Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPSBy Joyce ChimbiNAIROBI, Jan 24 2023 (IPS) In the four years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, the spread of leprosy or Hansen’s disease, seemed to be losing steam. Between 2016 and early...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 24, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Joyce Chimbi Tags: Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Global Headlines Health Human Rights TerraViva United Nations #Sasakawa IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Source Type: news
The Climate Conversations
By Mohammad Rakibul Hasan (and AI Artificial Intelligence)DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jan 18 2023 (IPS) Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. However, negotiating a solution has been challenging due to several factors. One of the main reasons that recent COP Climate summits and other international climate talks have not been able to resolve climate change is that there is a lack of consensus among countries on how to address the issue. Developed countries, which have historically been the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, are often unwilling to take on significant emissions reductions or to provide...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 18, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Mohammad Rakibul Hasan - and AI Artificial Intelligence Tags: Aid Asia-Pacific Climate Action Climate Change Development & Aid Economy & Trade Energy Environment Food and Agriculture Global Green Economy Headlines Health Migration & Refugees Multimedia Slideshow TerraViva United Natio Source Type: news
The Year of Inflation Exposes Dogma and Class Bias
By Anis ChowdhurySYDNEY, Jan 17 2023 (IPS) Inflation worries topped Ipsos’s What Worries the World survey in 2022 overtaking COVID concerns. The return of inflation caught major central banks, e.g., the US Federal Reserve (Fed), Bank of England, European Central Bank “off guard”. The persistence of inflation also surprised the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The return of inflation and its persistence exposed the poverty of the economics profession, unable to agree on its causes and required policy responses. It also exposed the profession’s anti-working class biases.
Anis ChowdhuryInflation goof
Almost all ma...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 17, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Anis Chowdhury Tags: Armed Conflicts COVID-19 Economy & Trade Financial Crisis Global Headlines Labour TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
More Austerity in 2023 Will Fuel Protests
Anti-Austerity protests in 2006-2020. Credit: World Protests PlatformBy Isabel Ortiz and Sara BurkeNEW YORK, Jan 13 2023 (IPS) This week world leaders meet in Davos to discuss cooperation to address multiple crises, from COVID-19 and escalating inflation to slowing economic growth, debt distress and climate shocks.
Only three months earlier, finance ministers had gathered in Washington DC for the same reason. The mood was grim. The need for ambitious actions could not be greater; however, there were no agreements, evidencing the fragility of multilateralism and international cooperation.
Isabel OrtizWorse, policy makers ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 13, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Isabel Ortiz and Sara Burke Tags: Aid Climate Change COVID-19 Economy & Trade Global Headlines Health Labour TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
Malawi Suffers Worst Cholera Outbreak in Decades
Cholera ward in a health centre in Blantyre. Malawi has experienced a massive rise in cholera in the past year. Credit: Charles Mpaka/IPSBy Charles MpakaBLANTYRE, Jan 9 2023 (IPS) On March 3, 2022, Malawi declared a cholera outbreak after a district hospital in the southern region reported a case. This was the first case in the 2021 to 2022 cholera season.
That single case was a warning for what would become Malawi’s worst cholera outbreak in decades.
For nearly a year now, cholera has gripped the country, with cases reported in all 29 districts and rising.
In an unprecedented occurrence, the cases rose sharply even thr...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 9, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Charles Mpaka Tags: Africa Editors' Choice Featured Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Water & Sanitation cholera IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Malawi Source Type: news
China: From Zero-Covid to Zero-Control
Medical equipment supplied by the World Food Programme (WFP) arrives in Beijing.
Meanwhile, as COVID-19 infections surged in China, coronavirus experts gathered at the UN health agency in Geneva on January 3, to discuss next steps. Photo courtesy of Yingshi ZhangBy Jan ServaesBRUSSELS, Jan 4 2023 (IPS) Three years after the coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the Chinese government began in December to abruptly scrap its harsh containment policy known as “zero-Covid.”
This zero-Covid policy relied on strict lockdowns, use of a Covid tracking app, domestic travel restrictions, and quarantin...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 4, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Jan Servaes Tags: Asia-Pacific COVID-19 Development & Aid Featured Headlines Health Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
Africa ’s Maternal Deaths Need Urgent Action to Meet SDG Goals
Africa needs to urgently invest in health programmes to reduce maternal deaths, which is more than five times above the 2030 SDG target of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births. Measures include ensuring women access to skilled birth attendants. Credit: Ernest Ankomah/IPSBy Francis KokutseACCRA, Jan 3 2023 (IPS) As the effects of COVID-19 on Africa’s health sector become clearer, it looks the continent will need to take urgent steps to overcome the disruptions suffered in the breakdown in antenatal and postnatal care for women and newborns and neonatal intensive care units. The pandemic brought some setba...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 3, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Francis Kokutse Tags: Africa COVID-19 Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Gender Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Population Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Ghana IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Re Source Type: news
Living Another Year Dangerously
By Anis ChowdhurySYDNEY, Jan 2 2023 (IPS) 2022 has been a year of great uncertainty when it seemed the world perilously reached the brink of self-destruction – be it human-induced climate change or military conflict. Welcoming 2022, we had enough reasons to be optimistic; but it was another ‘year of living dangerously’ – Tahun vivere pericoloso in the words of Soekarno, or an annus horribilis in the words of the late Queen Elizabeth.
Anis ChowdhuryNo end to Covid-19
The joy of the COVID vaccine discovery quickly vanished as the ‘vaccine apartheid‘ blatantly prioritised lives in rich nations, especially...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - January 2, 2023 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Anis Chowdhury Tags: Armed Conflicts Climate Change COVID-19 Economy & Trade Environment Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
War, Famine, Disease, Disasters – 2022 – a Year Staring at Apocalypse
By Farhana Haque RahmanTORONTO, Canada, Dec 23 2022 (IPS) A year that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is ending with famine in Africa, while still spreading death and misery through an enduring pandemic and a deteriorating climate crisis — 2022 has been an apocalyptic warning of the frailty of our planet and the woeful shortcomings of humankind.
Farhana Haque RahmanBeyond the stark statistics of millions of people displaced by war and natural disasters, it has been a 12 months that tragically highlighted our global interconnections and how a confluence of events and trends can bring another year of r...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - December 23, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Farhana Haque Rahman Tags: Armed Conflicts Biodiversity Climate Action Climate Change Combating Desertification and Drought COVID-19 Development & Aid Economy & Trade Education Energy Environment Featured Food and Agriculture Food Security and Nutrition Source Type: news
Thoughts for 2023: Promoting Innovation & New Technologies
Patients seeking treatment at the Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. Credit: World Bank/Dominic Chavez
The UN agency devoted to ending AIDS as a public health threat has called on top politicians and governments across the world to ensure the right to quality healthcare is upheld, and not just a privilege to be enjoyed by the wealthy.By A.H. Monjurul KabirNEW YORK, Dec 20 2022 (IPS) Promoting innovation and technology to promote inclusive development means using new technologies to enhance equal access to services, eliminate discrimination, increase transparency, and create a stable and just future for all ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - December 20, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: A.H. Monjurul Kabir Tags: Civil Society COVID-19 Development & Aid Featured Global Global Governance Headlines Human Rights TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
Universal Health Coverage: Think of Health Workers, not just Health Services
A laboratory technician works at a health and science centre in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a WHO Collaborating Centre for research and training on viral zoonoses. Credit: WHO/P. Phutpheng
Universal Health Coverage Day on 12 December is the annual rallying point for the growing movement for health for all. It marks the anniversary of the United Nations’ historic and unanimous endorsement of universal health coverage in 2012. By Roopa Dhatt, David Bryden and Gill AdynskiWASHINGTON DC/ CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA/ GENEVA, Dec 19 2022 (IPS) Health services don’t deliver themselves. It is the nurse who triages in the e...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - December 19, 2022 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Roopa Dhatt - David Bryden - Gill Adynski Tags: Editors' Choice Featured Global Global Governance Headlines Health Human Rights TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau Source Type: news
