Golden Rice: Triumph for Science

SINGAPORE, Jul 28 2021 (IPS) – After almost two decades, Golden Rice was approved last week by the Philippines authorities for use as food. This together with the approval of the bioengineered Bt eggplant represents a landmark victory of science over misinformation; it will provide consumers with improved nutrition (Golden Rice) and safer food (Bt eggplant).

Paul Teng

BIOTECHNOLOGY CROPS have been controversial in spite of overwhelming support for their safety by the scientific community. This is specially so for the class of biotechnology crops commonly called ‘GMO’ or genetically modified organism. The controversy has led to public concerns about their food safety, in …

Nurturing a New Generation of Food Leaders

An European Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (EIIS) programme focusses on production, distribution, and consumption issues of food systems. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

NAIROBI, KENYA, Sep 22 2021 (IPS) – Food security experts have raised an alarm that with as many as 811 million people the world over or 10 percent of the global population going hungry, the world is off-track to ending hunger and malnutrition.

More so, after a decade of steadily declining, the number of malnourished people grew by 161 million from 2019 t…

Mental Health Achievements in Bangladesh

[First of a two-part article]

Meeting of the Working Group on the National Mental Health Strategic Plan, April 2019

DHAKA, Oct 27 2021 (IPS) – Mental health is a state of well-being when both your body and your mind are in balance, and you are able to deal with the difficulties and challenges that come your way and easily find joy, peace, and happiness once the challenge is overcome. For many people though, the challenges often remain for too long the pain of losing someone you dearly loved, being diagnosed with a chronic disease like cancer or a heart condition, losing your family/home/job or feeling like you failed to meet expectations. All those things …

The Future of an Entire Generation Hangs in the Balance

Dec 17 2021 – COVID-19 has upended our world, threatening our health, destroying economies and livelihoods, and deepening poverty and inequalities. It also created the single largest disruption to education systems that the world has ever seen.

Schools also play a critical role in ensuring the delivery of essential health services and nutritious meals, protection, and psycho-social support, which means that their closure has imperiled children’s overall wellbeing and development, not just their learning. At the same time, conflicts continue to rage and the disastrous effects of a changing climate threaten our very existence and are driving record levels of displac…

WASH Interventions Key to Reaching Africa’s Child Health Milestones

Experts say proper hygiene, especially during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is critical. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Nairobi, Kenya, Feb 15 2022 (IPS) – For two days in a row back in 2018, four-year-old Calvin Otieno suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting, and his mother responded by giving him a salt solution.

Pearl Otieno tells IPS that diarrhoea among children in Kibera, the largest urban informal settlement, is commonplace. A mixture of salt and warm water is often the go-to remedy.
Related IPS Articles

“He did not seem to get worse, but h…

From Rags to Riches: Power and progress in Abu Dhabi

The Ethiad Towers

STOCKHOLM, Apr 20 2022 (IPS) – I recently visited Abu Dhabi and my impressions became intermingled with worries about the war in Ukraine. I also happened to read Livy’s The Early History of Rome, written around the beginning of CE, coming across these lines:
The study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid.

This statement and the fact that Livy highlighted d…

African Solutions to African Problems: Reframing Science Innovation

Through collaboration we can build on the foundations of our knowledge to bring forward innovative ways to address health challenges that benefit all of humanity. Credit: WHO

Through collaboration we can build on the foundations of our knowledge to bring forward innovative ways to address health challenges that benefit all of humanity. Credit: WHO

DURBAN, South Africa, Jun 8 2022 (IPS) – Africa is plagued by many epidemics — from tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS to malaria and wild polio — but the continent has also worked for decades to fight these threats. The key to beating these deadly diseases is turning inward to existing expertise and finding locally dr…

Eight International Development Priorities for the new UK Prime Minister

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss chairs the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting from her office at the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in London. Credit: Simon Dawson /

BRIGHTON, UK, Sep 6 2022 (IPS) – The UK’s new Prime Minister (and former Foreign Secretary), Liz Truss, enters Downing Street with a full and urgent in-tray, dominated by the highest inflation rate for 40 years and concerns across the country about the cost-of-living crisis.

Whilst urgent domestic policy is required, these national issues are symptomatic of a broader set of global crises, including the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Thoughts for 2023: Promoting Innovation & New Technologies

Patients seeking treatment at the Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. Credit: World Bank/Dominic Chavez

 
The UN agency devoted to ending AIDS as a public health threat has called on top politicians and governments across the world to ensure the right to quality healthcare is upheld, and not just a privilege to be enjoyed by the wealthy.

NEW YORK, Dec 20 2022 (IPS) – Promoting innovation and technology to promote inclusive development means using new technologies to enhance equal access to services, eliminate discrimination, increase transparency, and create a stable and just future for all – especially the most vulnerable and marginalized.

The LGBTIQ+ Community Still Oppressed in Venezuela

LGBTIQ+ activists in Caracas protest outside the National Electoral Council, in charge of the civil registry, demanding enforcement of the legal statute that authorizes a change of name for trans, intersex or non-binary people. The agency has delayed compliance with the law for years. CREDIT: Observatory of Violence - The vulnerability and struggles of the LGBTIQ+ community in Venezuela were once again highlighted when the Supreme Court finally annulled the military code statute that punished, with one to three years in prison, members of the military who committed acts against nature.”

LGBTIQ+ activists in Caracas protest outside the National Electoral Council, in charge of the civil…