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…

Credit: iFarmer

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 1 2021 (IPS) – Last year, the Asia-Pacific region recorded its worst economic performance in decades. With the pandemic far from over, the region’s recovery is slow, fragile and highly uneven both across and within countries. As the region struggles to recover, how can countries rebuild their economies and revive their development?

The answer can be found in the flea market of Suva, the Facebook commerce online stores of Bangladesh, and the digital learning centers across Viet Nam. In these and so many other spots across the Asia-Pacific region, it is clear that women entrepreneurs are a driving force of recovery an…

Roda tries to salvage usable items from the debris of her teashop which was destroyed by fighting in Gumuruk last May. Credit: WFP/Marwa Awad

GUMURUK, South Sudan, Jul 13 2021 (IPS) – With her bare hands, Roda clears debris and forages scraps from her wrecked teashop after attackers scorched Gumuruk, a town in the Greater Jonglei region where conflict frequently disrupts daily life and stifles progress.

The 36-year-old mother of six is just one of countless South Sudanese stuck in a tiring cycle of destruction and rebuilding.

Roda’s teashop is — or was — situated in the heart of a local market in Gumuruk. Made of a few simple metal sheets held together…

Malaria still kills 400,000 people every year, most of them African children under five years old. RTS,S is the first malaria vaccine shown to reduce malaria and life-threatening severe malaria in young children. Credit: Mercedes Sayagues/IPS

Sep 1 2021 (IPS) – In the midst of the tragedy and turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s gratifying to…