Credit: Oritro Karim
NEW YORK, Jul 12 2024 (IPS) – Contrary to popular belief, artificial intelligence has been a cornerstone of technological progress for much longer than the past few years. Computer scientist Alan Turing brought forth the concept of computers solving complex human problems with his invention of the Turing Machine in 1936. This machine provided solutions to a seemingly infinite number of problems, yet the technological limitations of the early 1900s proved that this number was indeed very finite. Flash forward to the 2020s, artificial intelligence has become a widespread practice, impacting different fields such as music, art, science, fore…
A young girl holds a child as she makes her way to a mobile health clinic after their village was devasted by the floods in Pakistan. Credit: UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 29 2023 (IPS) – There is a significant funding gap for climate adaptation – especially for women. Public financing will not be sufficient to close this gap, but it will be crucial for supporting the most vulnerable and facilitating private sector investments where funding and support is needed most.
play an important role in channeling finance to the most vulnerable, including payment systems and last mile agent networks that enable access to social safety net payments, climate risk…
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…
New cases daily for COVID-19 in world and top countries. Chris55 /wikipedia, CC BY-SA
LONDON, Apr 3 2020 (IPS) – Suppose we wanted to estimate how many car owners there are in the UK and how many of those own a Ford Fiesta, but we only have data on those people who visited Ford car showrooms in the last year. If 10% of the showroom visitors owned a Fiesta, then, because of the bias in the sample, this would certainly overestim…
The usually busy UN Avenue in Nairobi, Kenya where traffic is bumper to bumper on the best of days, is almost empty as people stay at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Credit: UN Kenya/Newton Kanhema
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14 2020 (IPS) – We live in a different world to the one we inhabited six short months ago.
With more than 4 million people infected and over 280,000 dead globally by mid May 2020, Covid-19 has ruthlessly exposed the vulnerability of a globalised world to pandemic disease. People are slowly coming to terms with the frightening and heartbreaking death toll, and we are still not out of the danger.
The Greek philosopher Herophilus said, “W…
Credit: Unsplash / Gabriel Benois
NEW YORK, Jun 4 2020 (IPS) – Maliha Masud (25), was promised an affluent life and opportunities for higher education. A bright student studying Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, she wanted to complete her studies and become someone her parents would be proud of. She was promised an opportunity to get her Master’s degree from a good university in the United States but, two years later, was left battered and wounded at the doorstep of a shelter.
Maliha was 20 years old when she married an immigrant living in the United States, who was completing his Master’s at a renowned university. A marriage arranged by …
The UN will be commemorating World Water Day on Monday March 22.
Credit: UNDP
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 2021 (IPS) – Water is integral to sustainable development, but we are well behind on the goals and targets that we have set ourselves.
By current estimates:
– Some 2.2 billion people – almost a third of the global population – continue to lack access to safely managed drinking water;
– 4.2 billion people – more than half of the planet’s population – live without safely managed sanitation;
– 2 billion people don’t have a decent toilet of their own;
– and 3 billion lack basic handwashing facilities – even in the midst of a…
PENANG and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 2021 (IPS) – To achieve , a country needs a healthcare system that provides equitable access to high quality health care requiring sustainable financing over the long term. Publicly provided healthcare should be on the basis of need, a citizen’s entitlement for all regardless of means.
Mary Suma Cardosa
Health inequalities growing
But recent decades have seen health care trending towards a two-tier system – a perceived higher quality private sector, and lower quality public services. One typical consequence is medical doctors, especially specialists, leaving public service for much more lucrative private practice.
This ‘b…