Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Mainstreaming Leprosy-affected People a Big Challenge in Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam When Feroza Begum was first diagnosed with leprosy in 2006, it felt as though she had been struck by a thunderbolt due to the deep-seated prejudice in her society that the disease is a curse from Allah (God). “ I was affected with leprosy disease, nobody accepted me (in the past). They had ... MORE > >

The Ignoble Fall of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner Thalif Deen Appearing before 17 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto civilian leader of Myanmar, became a public apologist for the military government of Myanmar which has long been accused of genocide and forcing over 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee ... MORE > >

Commonwealth: Commit to Limit Global Warming or Face Irreversible Impacts Desmond Brown Commonwealth countries, including those in the Caribbean, continue to push for more ambition, following reports that a few very influential parties have stymied efforts to respond to the climate emergency. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) has expressed concern that if this persists, ... MORE > >

Taking Bangladesh to Zero-Leprosy, One New Case at a Time Stella Paul Sandhya Mandal has never felt so vindicated. For the past four years, the 36-year-old community health worker from Meherpur – a rural district bordering India – has been traveling 50 km every day along dusty roads on an old motorbike, searching for leprosy patients who needed urgent treatment. But ... MORE > >

Climate Financing Being Undermined by Rich Nations, NGOs Charge Thalif Deen The successful battle against climate change – which has triggered a rash of natural disasters, including floods, droughts and rising sea levels— will be predicated largely on the availability of financing. The World Bank last year pledged $200 billion to finance the fight against ... MORE > >

Why Is Growth Slowing in China? Vladimir Popov and Jomo Kwame Sundaram China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 14%. Since then, its growth rate has declined by more than half to 6.6% in 2018. The five-year moving average growth rate is at its lowest since reforms began in 1978, although annual growth briefly fell lower during 1989, the year of the Tian An Men ... MORE > >

The World had an ‘Unprecedented’ Number of People in Humanitarian Need this Year Samira Sadeque The world had an unexpected number of people in crisis this year, which exceeded projected numbers the United Nations had expected, with climate change being one of the key crises that led to “needs to unprecedented levels” according to a new report. The observations were made in Global ... MORE > >

Social Summit Demands Stronger Commitments in Climate Talks Emilio Godoy As the COP25 deliberations enter the decisive final week, representatives of environmental and social organisations gathered in a parallel summit are pressing the governments to adopt stronger commitments in the face of a worsening climate emergency. In the debates in the week-long Social Summit ... MORE > >

Building a Leprosy Free Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam Despite having remarkable success in leprosy control in the last decades, the Bangladesh government is now moving forward with a vision to build a leprosy- free country. “In 2017, the Bangladesh government revised the Bangladesh Leprosy Control Strategy for 2016-2020 – ‘Accelerating towards a ... MORE > >

The Economic & Humanitarian Catastrophe Threatening Pacific Island Communities Thalif Deen When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) last month, he pointed out the dramatic impact of climate change triggering natural disasters around the world--- from glaciers that melt, ice caps that disappear and corals that ... MORE > >

The Changing Distribution of World Population Joseph Chamie In addition to its unprecedented rapid rate of demographic growth during the past 75 years, world population’s distribution across the planet has changed significantly over the past seven decades. The momentous global changes in humanity’s geographic distribution pose serious social, economic, ... MORE > >

African Politicians Asked to Develop Legal Instruments to Fight Climate Change Isaiah Esipisu African legislators have been challenged to come up with legal frameworks for climate change to enable countries avoid catastrophes and reactionary emergencies that eat up their budgets. “African countries are spending up to 3.9 percent of their GDPs on climate emergencies, which in many cases ... MORE > >

India’s Electric Mobility Needs Enabling Infrastructure to Pick up Speed Manipadma Jena Dogged by intractable air pollution debilitating large northern swathes from mainly urban vehicle emissions, India earlier this year announced targets for a 40 percent non-fossil component in its fuel-mix by 2030 as part of its Nationally Determined Commitments (NDC) to the Paris accord on climate ... MORE > >

Sustainable Fisheries are Key in Addressing Food Security -- and Women can Play an Important Role Samira Sadeque Experts gathered in November to discuss the importance of sustainable fisheries and its role in eradicating world hunger at a fisheries symposium in Rome. At the International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), ... MORE > >