Beatrice Paez
NEW YORK, Jun 12 2010 (IPS) – The U.S. currently lags behind several Western European countries in closing a legislative loophole banning the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) beyond its borders to protect U.S. citizens and residents. But this may soon change.
Congressman Joseph Crowley and Fanta, who escaped FGM with the support of her parents Credit: Beatrice Paez/IPS
Some 6,000 girls endure FGM every day, totaling about 1…
Beatrice Paez
NEW YORK, Jul 12 2010 (IPS) – A group of 80 students, broken into smaller groups with their notebooks in tow, troop through the boroughs of New York City to survey the produce that populates farmers markets and grocery stores in their neighbourhoods. Across the world, a similar image emerges in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where female students are learning to grow edible mushrooms in their villages.
Students like Vivienne Cain who participate in the Harlem Children Society s Nutrition and Healthy Living project have been looking at the cost, appearance and size of the fruits and vegetables, as well as their availability. The goal was to correlate these differences with the neighbourhood s demographics and socioeconomic status and rates of nutrition-related disease.…
Kara Santos
A headshot to focus on AIDS awareness. Credit: Niccolo Cosme/Project Headshot.
MANILA, Dec 2 2011 (IPS) – A unique campaign in the Philippines is using stylised online photos to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS. Fashion and conceptual photographer Niccolo Cosme first initiated Project Headshot Clinic in 2007 as a way of merging profile photos online and advertising.
TOKYO, May 23 2012 (IPS) – To meet the demands of a rapidly ageing population, Japan has loosened its notoriously strict immigration and nursing regulations to accept foreign caregivers. But new evidence indicates deep cracks in those piecemeal gestures.
This month, in a surprise move, two qualified Indonesian care workers who had arrived in 2008 to obtain Japan’s difficult caregiving licence, left the country. They were among 35 Indonesians who had passed the exam and found employment here.
In an interview with Japanese television, one of the workers, Peramono, cited family concerns before he left Japan. My wife is asking me to return to the family, he explained simply.
The Indonesian caregiver had entered Japan under a bilateral economic partnership agreement…
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 10 2012 (IPS) – Knowledge-sharing has become a cornerstone of successful cooperation among developing countries, in areas ranging from agriculture to health and renewable energies.
Helen Clark and John Ashe are joined by representatives from Japan, South Africa, India, Brazil and South Korea at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the South-South Cooperation exhibition. Credit: Shari Nijman/IPS
There is a feeling that there are some solut…
BUENOS AIRES, May 12 2013 (IPS) – Argentina is one of the countries in Latin America with the highest levels of vaccination coverage. But experts are concerned about the growing campaign by vaccine critics against immunisation.
Vaccines have saved as many lives as clean water. Risking not giving shots is like playing Russian roulette, Dr. Carlota Russ, secretary of the Argentine Paediatric Society’s Committee on Infectious Diseases, told IPS.
Russ said that in industrialised countries, immunisation coverage is in decline as the culture of vaccination weakens, creating a risk of re-emergence of diseases that have already been controlled, like measles.
Fortunately, in Argentina, the anti-vaccine movement is not strong, she said.
In Iran, which has seen some of the highest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the world, a number of reporters are now facing jail after being detained earlier this month for challenging official statistics about the outbreak of the disease in the country. People in Rasht, Gilan Province, Iran, taking precautions to prevent infection by wearing masks in public.
BRATISLAVA, Mar 20 2020 (IPS) – Growing intimidation and repression of journalists reporting on the coronavirus is threatening public health in some countries, press freedom monitors have warned.
Repressive regimes desperate to control the narrative around the disease’s spread ha…
Women in Nigeria collect food vouchers as part of a programme to support families struggling under the COVID-19 lockdown. Credit: WFP/Damilola Onafuwa
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 27 2020 (IPS) – As COVID-19 swept across the globe, one thing became clear: a well-functioning, well-resourced, agile and resilient health system can mean the difference between life and death.
For Africa, the economic costs of the health pandemic were high. The prescription was often worse than the illness as Africa’s poor found themselves without work, food and even access to health care as economies were locked down across the continent in a bid to contain the virus.
The World Bank that a…