José Graziano da Silva is Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
ROME, May 5 2016 (IPS) – After its remarkable success in reducing hunger, Europe must now rise to the challenge of making sure food assures more than survival and furnishes healthy lives. As head of a global hunger-fighting organization, nothing gives me more satisfaction than to see a vast region of the world achieving food security for its people.
José Graziano da Silva. Credit: FAO
With 53 member countries and one member organization, Europe and Central Asia is FAO’s largest region, stretching across 13 tim…
Loyce Maturu, a Zimbabwean living with AIDS since the age of 12 and an advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS, addresses the General Assembly High-level Meeting on HIV/AIDS.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 10 2016 (IPS) – Young people are disproportionately affected by HIV, yet their concerns about sexual education, and discrimination of key populations were ignored at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on ending AIDS.
Although the overall number of AIDS-related deaths is down 35 percent since 2005, estimates suggest that AIDS-related deaths among adolescents are .
In fact, AIDS is a leading cause of deaths among adolescents in Afri…
Albert Kanga’s plantain farm on the outskirts of Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Credit: Friday Phiri/IPS
ABIDJAN, Cote d’Ivoire, Jul 18 2016 (IPS) – Albert Kanga Azaguie no longer considers himself a smallholder farmer. By learning and monitoring the supply and demand value chains of one of the country’s staple crops, plantain (similar to bananas), Kanga ventured into off-season production to sell his produce at relatively higher prices.
“I am now a big farmer. The logic is simple: I deal in off-season plantain. When there is almost nothing on the market, mine is ready and …
On 6 May 2016 in Yemen, a baby is screened for malnutrition at the UNICEF- supported Al-Jomhouri Hospital in Sa’ada. Credit: UNICEF/UN026928/Al-Zekri
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 2017 (IPS) – Millions of Yemenis could soon face widespread famine if no action is taken to improve food access through humanitarian or trade means, an early warning system has said.
Up to eight million Yemenis are severely food insecure while another 2 million are facing food insecurity at emergency levels, just one phase below famine, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) has . The World Food Programme (WFP) that the food-insecure population in the Middle Eastern nation co…
Professor Robyn Norton, co-founder and Principal Director of the George Institute for Global Health. Credit: George Institute/IPS
SYDNEY, Apr 11 2017 (IPS) – Science and medicine were not subjects of dinnertime conversations in the Norton household in Christchurch, New Zealand, but Professor Robyn Norton grew up observing her parents’ commitment to equity and social justice in improving people’s lives. It left an indelible impression on her young mind.
Her high school years coincided with the women’s movement reaching its peak. She got dr…
Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, is Chairman of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue
GENEVA, Jun 20 2017 (IPS) – The world is heading into troubled waters as we are witnessing an unprecedented movement of people – refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons (IDPs) alike – fleeing from misery, poverty and conflicts. The refugee crisis that has swept across Europe and the Middle East is becoming the 21st century’s most protracted crisis with no immediate solution in sight. The world has not witnessed a more complex movement of people since th…
A group of women in Mogadishu, Somalia, after leaving Toro-Toro, 100 kilometres away, because of a lack of water and food. Credit: OCHA
ROME, Sep 11 2017 (IPS) – When officials and experts from all over the world started the first-ever environmental summit hosted by China, they were already aware that climate and weather-related disasters were already seriously beginning to set the international agenda – unprecedented floods in South Asia, strongest ever hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and catastrophic droughts striking the Horn of Africa, among the most impacting recent events.
In fact, Ordos, China has been the venue of the 13th summit of the (), whi…
Martin Khor is Executive Director of the South Centre, a think tank for developing countries, based in Geneva.
Unregulated sales of antibiotics are contributing to growing resistance. Credit: Adil Siddiqi/IPS
PENANG, Malaysia, Dec 5 2017 (IPS) – The next time you have a bad cold and reach for the antibiotics left over from your last visit to the doctor, think again.
Firstly, the antibiotics won’t work as they only act against bacteria while the cold is caused by a virus.
Secondly, you will be con…
A Rohingya refugee woman carries relief supplies to her makeshift shelter. Credit: Umer Aiman Khan/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 14 2018 (IPS) – In the wake of persistent violence against the Rohingya community, UN officials have expressed growing fears that genocide is being incited and committed in Myanmar.
Since violence renewed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017, almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
Often arriving to limited food and shelter, refugees have brought with them stories of serious human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and the deliberate burning of entire villages. <…
Jacqueline Mogeni is the CEO at Kenya’s Council of Governors and Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya.
Although child abuse and exploitation is prohibited by the Kenyan constitution, some children are still engaged in manual labour. XINHUA PHOTO: SAM NDIRANGU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 12 2018 (IPS) – On 12 June every year is the . In the world s poorest countries, around one in four children are engaged in work that is potentially harmful to their health.
Su…