Credit: (Lee Woodgate/Science Source)
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 16 2020 (IPS) – The number of coronavirus cases in Kenya has jumped to three after the government confirmed two more cases. President Uhuru Kenyatta .
Barely three months into the COVID-19 outbreak, stock markets have plummeted, and global supply and production systems have wobbled. Across the world panicked shoppers have cleared shelves of hand sanitizer, soap and tinned food, as if preparing for a siege.
The by UN Secretary-General António Guterres that ‘as we fight the virus, we cannot let fear go viral’ is absolutely pertinent. And the people of Kenya can count on the United Nations Country team a…
DUBAI, Apr 1 2020 – Global crises need global solutions yet some adjustments will have to be made if the world has to adopt a multilateral approach toward tackling the Corona pandemic, a senior academic said on Tuesday, March 31.
Participating in an e-symposium organized by the think-tank, TRENDS Research Advisory, Prof. Yong Wang of the School of International Studies and Director, Center for International Political Economy at Peking University, said the G-20 has already taken an initiative and more such efforts are needed.
“We have our national interests but for facing challenges such as this we should work together,” he said. Prof. Wang was a panelist at the …
May 7 2020 (IPS) – As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened in April, many Americans were shocked by the extent that black Americans were being disproportionately impacted: and .
But many black Americans were not surprised.
This is not new. The same dynamic has been going on at times of crisis for decades and generations.
As and former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor under the Clint…
Protest against anti-abortion law in Opole, Poland. Credit: Iga Lubczańska.
BEIRUT / GENEVA, May 28 2020 (IPS) – Health systems around the world are prioritising health care services and equipment to treat people diagnosed with Covid-19, which means that many procedures deemed to be elective and non-essential are being suspended or simply not provided. Abortion, for instance, has been as a non-essential health service by some States, while others have removed certain restrictions to accessing abortion.
To find out more about the current state of women and girls’ reproductive rights, and how activists are responding, ’s Regional Advisor for the Middle East and Nort…
Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS.
ABUJA, Jul 8 2020 (IPS) – Recently, Barcelona s Liceu opera opened its 2020-2021 season by a full house of plants with classical music. The plants will then be given to over 2,200 health workers who serve at the frontlines to battle the pandemic. The performance was both an appreciation for the workers and it also celebrated the return to normalcy following the devastations caused by COVID-19.
It is…
NEW YORK, Aug 10 2020 (IPS) – Even during the best of times, unfortunately members of the global community who have special needs are marginalized and often treated as social outcasts. The COVID crisis which has been raging for over the better part of the year 2020 has posed additional barriers and challenges for these already disenfranchised individuals.
Padmini Murthy
These people are at a higher risk for contracting COVID -19 with reduced access to health care services, personal protective equipment such as masks, basic hygiene facilities and sanitation .Many of these people with physical and mental disabilities may not be able to wash their hands not only beca…
Globally 75 million children who cannot access education as a result of crises. A dated photo of a Syrian child in a refugee camp in Jordan. Credit: Robert Stefanicki/IPS.
NEW YORK, Oct 5 2020 (IPS) – Teachers are at the heart of children and young peoples’ educational experiences. Teachers play multiple roles in their students’ lives by supporting their learning, providing them with inclusive and safe environments to grow and develop, and helping them become more confident as they make the…
NEW YORK, Dec 22 2020 (IPS) – The year 2020 is ending with the world caught up in an unprecedented human and economic crisis. The pandemic has contaminated 75 million people and killed 1.7 million. With the lockdowns, the global economy has suffered the worst recession in 75 years, causing the loss of income for millions of people. In such a bleak environment, what will the new year bring? Whilst uncertainty is the only certainty, eight points are likely to be key in the year ahead:
Isabel Ortiz
1. A gradual but uneven recovery
With the deployment of vaccines and public support, high-income countries will be on the from the second half of 2021. However, middle incom…
Credit: UNICEF/Nahom Tesfaye
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb 3 2021 (IPS) – Access to COVID-19 vaccines for many developing countries and most of their people will have to wait as the powerful and better off secure earlier access regardless of need or urgency. More profits, by manufacturing scarcity, will surely cause even more loss of both lives and livelihoods.
Good intentions not enough
To induce private efforts to develop and distribute vaccines, the WHO initiated to ensure more equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. However, interest by vaccine companies has been limited, while some governments – especially from better-off upper middle-income countries – p…
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 9 2021 (IPS) – Developing country governments are being wrongly advised to use their modest fiscal resources to pay down accumulated debt instead of strengthening pandemic relief and recovery. Thus, debt phobia risks deepening and extending COVID-19 recessions by prioritising buybacks.
Anis Chowdhury
Pandemic debt mounting
Nearly half (44%) of were already debt-distressed or at high risk even before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. Limited fiscal space has constrained developing countries’ relief and recovery measures, making them far more modest than those of developed countries.
Nevertheless, their gove…