Erika Guevara Rosas is Americas Director at Amnesty International.
International organisations receiving US funding for health will no longer be able to provide any abortion services or counselling – even with non-US funding – Credit: Patricia Cocq/IPS.
MEXICO CITY, Jan 25 2017 (IPS) – The image of a group of men in suits making decisions about the rights of women is becoming an emblematic sign of the backlash against our human rights, particularly those related to women´s bodily integrity and reproductive and sexual freedoms.
Just two days after the massive demonstrations for equality and against discrimination that took place in cities …
Credit: FAO
ROME, Apr 25 2017 (IPS) – It all happened on the very same day—4 April. That day, indigenous peoples were simultaneously characterised as fundamental allies in the world’s war on hunger and poverty, while being declared as collective victims of a “tsunami” of imprisonments in Australia. See what happened.
Australia must reduce the “astounding” rates of imprisonment for indigenous peoples and step up the fight against racism, on 4 April warned Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations .“Traditional indigenous knowledge and the diversity of their food systems can provide solutions for healthy diets, and many areas such as nutrition, c…
Dr Felicity Daly is the Global Research Coordinator for OutRight Action International
Participants at a gay pride celebration in Uganda. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPS
NEW YORK, Jul 10 2017 (IPS) – While there has been progress in researching the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people and responding to certain emerging health threats in high-income countries elsewhere in the world such research is inadequate and incomplete.
A new report published by , the highlights that wherever research has been conducted, LGBTI people’s health is s…
Tristate Heart and Vascular Centre in Nigeria. Credit: Tristate Heart and Vascular Centre
NEW YORK, Sep 28 2017 (IPS) – In the 2017 World Happiness Report by Gallup, African countries score poorly. Of the 150 countries on the list, the Central African Republic, Tanzania and Burundi rank as the unhappiest countries in the world.
Some of the factors driving unhappiness are the poor state of the continent’s health care systems, the persistence of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and the growth of lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.
Few African countries make significant investments in the health sector—the median cost of health car…
& of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), housed at the World Bank, is a global partnership of more than 30 leading organizations.
Credit: Water.org
WASHINTON DC, Dec 18 2017 (IPS) – Without reliable access to water, human beings cannot survive. Yet 3 out of 10 people do not have a safely managed water supply, and 6 out of 10 lack safely managed sanitation. Over 2 billion people drank water that was fecally contaminated in 2015, and the that the annual cost of poor sanitation is in excess of $260 billion annually.
The technologies that can address these shortages are not complicated, but their upfront cost remains unaffordable to many low-income familie…
PARIS, Mar 22 2018 (IPS) – The 2018 Paris Book Fair (Livre Paris) took place against the backdrop of demonstrations in Mayotte that echoed similar protests a year ago in French Guiana, putting the topics of literary activism and popular disaffection high on the agenda at the March 16-19 event.
Writers from France’s overseas regions and departments, which include Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, spoke out about their role and contribution to French literature, highlighting the social and economic conditions in their territories.
Launching an anthology of short stories titled Guyane: Nou gon ké sa (We re fed up), Guyanese authors said they felt compelled to address on-going struggles.
“Governments and NGOs from 21 nations, plus dentists, manufacturers, and UN Environment, gather in Bangkok”. Credit: Environment & Social Development Organization, Dhaka
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 25 2018 (IPS) – A global campaign to end a longstanding health and environmental hazard the use of mercury in dentistry—is steadily moving to a successful conclusion.
Providing an update, Charlie Brown, head of the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, one of the key campaigners, told IPS that “nation by nation, the world is on the threshold of ending amalgam for children in 2018.”
“Europe takes that exciting step…
Image courtesy of the World Federation for Mental Health. Source: Twitter @WMHDay
GENEVA, Oct 9 2018 – Today, on World Mental Health Day, IOM would like to honour all the migrants who stand strong in the face of adversity and uphold human rights and values. Migration should be a positive experience, but often isn’t. As people move in search of opportunity, or in pursuit of new adventures, too often their journeys are characterized by insecurity and sometimes physical danger, especially for those who are pushed to leave their countries of origin due to abuse or human rights violations that harm their mental health.
Studies show there is persistently high mental health vu…
The Philippines has the highest incidence of leprosy of any country in the region – about 1,700 new cases have been identified in each of the last three years. Credit: moyerphotos/CC by 2.0
MANILA, Mar 2 2019 (IPS) – The stubborn challenge of diagnosis and treatment of leprosy among difficult to reach populations in the Philippines should soon become easier with the rollout of a mobile app connecting field health workers with physicians and clinics.
Officially launched at the end of January after years of testing, the app was created by Philippine developer MetaHelix in cooperation with the Department of Health (DOH) and pharmaceutical company Novartis…
Teenagers hanging out in Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan the lack of sexuality education has led to 91 percent of young people aged between 15 and 19 not having accurate and full knowledge on HIV and AIDS. Courtesy: Gulbakyt Dyussenova/ World Bank
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 25 2019 (IPS) – Young people around the world are facing increasingly insurmountable, persistent barriers as they try to achieve their full potential and secure a prosperous future. However, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific have already begun working to ensure that no one is left behind.
In collaboration with the and the , parliamentarians across Asia gathered to address and act on the pressin…