The Fight for the Right to Abortion Spreads in Latin America Despite Politicians

A demonstrator in Buenos Aires wears a T-shirt with the slogan my body, my rights, one of the slogans of the so-called green tide - the colour adopted by the movement for the legalisation of abortion, which is beginning to spread to other Latin American countries. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

A demonstrator in Buenos Aires wears a T-shirt with the slogan “my body, my rights,” one of the slogans of the so-called green tide – the colour adopted by the movement for the legalisation of abortion, which is beginning to spread to other Latin American countries. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 23 2018 (IPS) – The Argentine Senate s rejection of a bill to legalise abortion…

Hospital PPPs Undermine Healthcare

SYDNEY & KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 2019 (IPS) – Despite all the , and substantial opposition from community groups, public-private partnerships (PPPs) are still being promoted to deliver sustainable development.

Public-private hospital partnerships are supposed to ensure that the private sector will offer much needed efficiency in healthcare provision.

Anis Chowdhury

However, any government considering healthcare PPPs should be aware of the Australian experience, especially after what has happened with the Northern Beaches Hospital, a PPP between the New South Wales government and Healthscope.

The A$600m facility was officially opened with much fanfa…

Terror and Religion

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Apr 29 2019 (IPS) – Just before nine o´clock in the morning of April 21st, Christians in Sri Lanka were in their churches peacefully celebrating Easter Sunday, while tourists were waking up in their hotel rooms. Suddenly explosions blasted three churches and three hotels. Among the ruins lay hundreds of wounded people, as well as 253 corpses of men, women and children. They had been killed and maimed because some fellow human beings believed they acted in God´s name and out of promises of an unproven, heavenly bliss if they killed themselves after obliterating people they did not know; sowing death, lifelong suffering and sorrow.

How can anyone be capa…

Calls for Reform, Research and Reorganisation in Leprosy Healthcare

Rachna Kumari of Munger in Eastern India’s Bihar state is not yet 30. But she s already been married at 18, abandoned by her husband after she was diagnosed with leprosy and become an award-winning advocate of the disease. She has traversed a long road. And this week she undertook another step in her journey to fly to Manila, Philippines, as a delegate at the 20th International Leprosy Congress (ILC).

The 20th International Leprosy Congress (ILC) is being held Sept. 10 to 13 in Manila, Philippines. The conference is hosted every three years and was last held in China in 2016. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

MANILA, Sep 12 2019 (IPS) – Rachna Kumari of Munger in Eastern India’s Bi…

Young People at ICPD25: ‘ We Have the Right to Sexual and Reproductive Rights’

ICPD25 Youth delegates: Michele Simon (left) and Botho Mahlunge. Credit: Joyce Chimbi / IPS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 14 2019 (IPS) – Every day in developing countries it is estimated that 20,000 girls under the age of 18 give birth. This amounts to 7.3 million births a year.

Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are still the leading cause of death among adolescent girls, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) statistics.

Let us be heard

Born long after the Cairo Promise, the 18-year-old Michelle Simon and the 19-year-old Botho Mahlunge both youth repr…

Why the Coronavirus Should Worry Us All

Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor is a medical doctor, the CEO of EpiAFRIC, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Nigeria Health Watch

The coronavirus outbreak -- which began in Wuhan, China, and causes a pneumonia-like illness -- is raging across Asia, infecting close to 300 people and killing four. It was initially known to be transmitted from animals to human, and was just confirmed to be transmitted from human to human

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of MERS virus particles (yellow) both budding and attached to the surface of infected VERO E6 cells (blue). Credit: NIAID

ABUJA, Jan 21 2020 (IPS) – The   which began in Wuhan, China, and causes a pneumonia-like illness is rag…

State Intervention Necessary to Overcome Covid-19 Threats

BERLIN and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 19 2020 (IPS) – It is now clear that most East Asian government responses to novel coronavirus or Covid-19 outbreaks have been effective. In Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, the number infected have remained relatively low despite their proximity and vulnerability, while containment in China and South Korea has been impressive.

Vladimir Popov

Some other countries hit by the Covid-19 pandemic are trying to replicate East Asian policy responses, not only in public health, but also in handling economic contraction. More than two decades after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crises, some media are praising East Asia again.

Struc…

The Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Developing Countries – Part 2

What is likely to be the economic impact of COVID-19 on developing economies? This second part will look at possible medium to longer term developments. 

AMSTERDAM/ROME, Apr 6 2020 (IPS) – What is likely to be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing economies?  we looked at possible short term disruptions and discussed actions by the private sector and Governments.

These included mobilizing available public resources to augment what private citizens are doing to help the poor and vulnerable; working on some of the national macro-economic levers to sustain businesses; and discussing with international creditors about cancelling or rescheduling repayments, of some…

Citizen Action is Central to the Global Response to COVID-19

A favela in Brazil, where the health system is not ready for coronavirus and social distancing difficult.

NEW YORK and MANILA, Apr 22 2020 (IPS) – The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created an unprecedented human and economic crisis. Governments are taking strong actions, enforcing quarantines to reduce contagion, testing populations, building emergency intensive care units. Governments have also launched large fiscal stimulus plans to protect jobs and the economy, as well as temporary social protection programs such as income/food support, subsidies to utilities and care services.

But in many countries, even stronger actions are needed if we …

Finding Money for Public Health, Green Economic Recovery & SDGs

John Garrett, Kathryn Tobin and Chilufya Chileshe are members of WaterAid’s policy team from UK, US and Southern Africa offices.

A health worker in Kasubi Food Market, measuring the temperature of people accessing the market. After washing their hands with water and soap, everyone is screened to check the temperature, and an isolation tent is set aside to manage suspected coronavirus cases, Kasubi Food Market, Kampala City, Uganda. Covid-19 response. April 2020. Credit: WaterAid / James Kiyimba

LONDON, May 12 2020 (IPS) – The coronavirus pandemic underscores the profound fragility and unsustainability of today’s world. It exposes the chronic underinvestme…