On a visit to Indonesia’s Papua Province, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination Yohei Sasakawa had dinner with a man forced from his village and living alone because he was affected by leprosy. Over the years, Sasakawa saw many other desperate and desolate people infected and affected by leprosy. Marginalized, shunned, stigmatized, feared, and relegated […] |
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When North and South Yemen merged into a single country ushering in the Republic of Yemen back in May 1990, a British newspaper remarked with a tinge of sarcasm: “Two poor countries have now become one poor country.” Described as the poorest in an oil-blessed Middle East, Yemen continues to be categorized by the United […] |
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The Pacific Ocean could quench the thirst caused by 10 years of drought in Chile, but the operation of desalination plants of various sizes has a long way to go to become sustainable and to serve society as a whole rather than just corporations. Some twenty of these plants are already in operation providing desalinated […] |
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Following 20 long years (2011-2021) of brutal war on Afghanistan by the US-led military coalition, which ended up in delivering the country to the Taliban in August 2021, 23 million Afghans now face severe and acute hunger, economic bankruptcy, healthcare system collapse, unbearable family indebtedness, and devastating humanitarian crisis. People in Afghanistan are today facing […] |
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When Suhier Abed’s husband broke both legs after falling two floors while working in construction, the 32-year-old mother of five needed to support her family. She joined the Bab Amal Graduation program hoping that she would replace the $100 her husband earned a month. “I started my project with two sheep in the hopes of […] |
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At the World Water Forum this week (March 21-26), the international community will raise awareness of the 2 billion people worldwide who lack access to clean water and sanitation. Among them are millions of women and girls, who walk hundreds of miles each year to find water for their families and are blocked from education […] |
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Joan Waweru was among villagers on their regular trek to the river to fetch water when they discovered a neighbour’s dead body, believed to have committed suicide by drowning in river Kamiti. She was thirteen years old and recalls how even after the traumatizing incident, the village, and many others along river Kamiti, which runs […] |
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This week, exactly 20 years ago, world leaders adopted the United Nation’s Monterrey Consensus. They committed to “Confronting the challenges of financing for development” with a global response and to creating a fully inclusive and equitable global economic system. The Consensus included the critical recognition that in a globalizing interdependent world economy “National development efforts […] |
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“Hundreds of thousands have been killed, more than half of the pre-war population – somewhere in the order of 22 million – have been displaced. More than 100,000 are missing or forcibly disappeared…. “Syria’s cities and infrastructure have been destroyed. Today the poverty rate in Syria is an unprecedented 90 percent; 14.6 million people in […] |
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Zimbabwe is pressing ahead with a controversial bill that critics say seeks to criminalise the operations of nongovernmental organisations working in the country. According to senior government officials, amendments to the Private Voluntary Organisations Act is designed to stem illegal money coming into the country under the guise of NGO funding but is allegedly used […] |
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In an opinion piece published in PassBlue on 15 March 2022, historian Stephen Schlesinger asked, “Where is the UN’s Guterres?” as Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine has been dominating the world’s headline news. Schlesinger is a good friend and close observer of the UN, and author of the award-winning book: “Act of Creation: The […] |
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“If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”. Still haunted by the clever preaching of monetarist guru Milton Friedman’s ghost, all too many monetary authorities address every inflationary threat or sign they see by raising interest rates. Friedman’s dictum that “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” still defines […] |
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Planet Earth is increasingly being transformed into planet Plastics. Approximately 400,000,000 metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide annually. Those plastics amount to about 50 kilograms, or 110 pounds, every year for each of the 8 billion human inhabitants living on the unfolding planet Plastics. The Garden of Eden with all its wonderful flora and […] |
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In an exclusive interview with IPS, Ambassador Cindy Hensley McCain, Permanent Representative of the US Mission to the food and agriculture organizations of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, shares her thoughts on food security, sustainable food systems, the impact of climate change on food production, conflicts and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, and her […] |
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Doris Martínez was a cook in a Venezuelan restaurant that closed its doors; she emigrated to Colombia, got sick from working long hours standing in front of a stove, and returned to her country where, together with her husband and children, she runs a busy fast food kiosk on a road in Valles del Tuy, […] |
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