Health & Well Being

Photo: Prime minister Yoshihide Suga. Source: Asianews.it

Who Wins from The Tokyo Olympics Going Ahead?

Viewpoint by Corey Wallace

The writer is Assistant Professor at Kanagawa University.

YOKOHAMA, Japan (IDN | East Asia Forum) — Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics have cast a shadow over Japan’s COVID-19 response. Critics—including a former Japanese prime minister—questioned whether the government’s lacklustre early response to the outbreak and its ‘risky’ cluster-based strategy were a product of political considerations concerning the Games. A former health minister even asked whether under testing and ageing Japan’s more than 90,000 annual pneumonia deaths conveniently obscured the true impact of COVID-19.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 July 2021

Photo: A young market vendor sells peanuts in Urozgan, a central province of Afghanistan. © UNICEF/Omid Fazel

Afghanistan Faces Funding Shortfall Amid Deepening Humanitarian Crisis

By Radwan Jakeen

NEW YORK (IDN) — Nearly 18 million Afghans or half the population of the South Asian country require assistance. A third of the country is malnourished, while half of all children under five are experiencing acute malnutrition.

In view of this critical situation, Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, has urged donors to step up support for the country.

: Radwan Jakeem; THE WORLD; South Asia; 15 July 2021

More Than 220,000 Germans Leave Catholic Church in 2020

By Catholic News Agency (CNA)*

ROME (IDN) — More than 220,000 people left Catholic Church in Germany in 2020, according to official figures. The statistics issued by the German bishops’ conference on July 14 showed that 221,390 people exited the Catholic Church last year.

The figure was almost 19% lower than that of 2019 when a record 272,771 people departed. But it was higher than the 2018 figure of 216,078, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

: Europe Editor; HUMAN RIGHTS; Religion; 15 July 2021

Photo: Fiji's Health Secretary Dr James Fong. Credit: Fiji govt/Fiji Times/File

15-Year-Old Girl Among Latest Fiji Covid Deaths as Virus Cases Soar Over 11,000

By Josefa Babitu*

SUVA (IDN) — A 15-year-old girl has become Fiji’s youngest death due to the covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, taking the total of deaths due to the virus to 58.

Health Secretary Dr James Fong has confirmed this after an investigation by medical personnel classified the case as another covid-19 death.

The girl from Colo-I-Suva was declared dead on arrival by the attending medical officer at the Raiwaqa Health Centre last week.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 14 July 2021

Photo: "We are learning how to manage our crops better,” say farmers Malvin Ortiz and Felipe Martínez, “and we are teaching our children how to do it, too.” Now, the future is looking more hopeful." Credit: Oxfam International

Latin America's Unique Biodiversity Can Help Boost Post-Covid Recovery

By Fermin Koop*

LONDON (IDN) — Protecting and restoring natural areas in Latin America, home to 50% of the planet’s biodiversity and over a quarter of its forests, could help the region achieve a ‘green’ post-pandemic recovery and meet biodiversity conservation targets, experts say. Doing so could even create thousands of jobs in key economic sectors such as agriculture.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 13 July 2021

Combating COVID-19 and Ensuring No One is Left Behind

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Kanni Wignaraja, and Bambang Susantono

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is the Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Kanni Wignaraja is the Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Bambang Susantono is the Vice-President of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

BANGKOK (IDN) — If the world wants to beat back the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure no one is left behind in the recovery, two issues thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic need attention: digitalization and regional cooperation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 July 2021

Image: People in hazardous materil overallson July 6, outside of a public housing tower in Melbourne. Source: France24 video.

Australia’s Early Success In Controlling Covid Turns Sour

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Along with Singapore and New Zealand, Australia was considered as one of the top three safest countries in the world for having successfully fought the spread of Covid-19 until about two months ago. But, with a two weeks lockdown in Australia’s largest city Sydney extended for another week, this early success has turned sour meanwhile.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 08 July 2021

Photo: PNG national airlines downloading Chinese vaccines. Source: Chinese media company CGTN.

China Accuses Australia of Sabotaging Its Vaccination Program in the South Pacific

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN)—China and Australia have started another battle, this time over the Covid-19 vaccination roll out in the South Pacific. In a lengthy article on July 2, China's 'Global Times' accused Australia of sabotaging China's Covid-19 vaccination assistance scheme in Papua New Guinea (PNG) by planting "consultants" to manipulate local epidemic policies targeting China, blocking the approval of Chinese vaccine's emergency use, and threatening senior government officials who were collaborating with China in the vaccine roll-out program.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 06 July 2021

Photo: Then Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi receiving the first batch of 348,000 doses of Covishield AstraZeneca vaccines from the UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal Sara Beysolow Nyanti in March. The remaining 1.92 million doses promised by COVAX never arrived. Photo: UN

Hope, Hyperbole and Hypocrisy of COVAX

The realpolitik of vaccine nationalism and how it impacts countries like Nepal

Viewpoint by Kul Chandra Gautam*

KATHMANDU (IDN) — As a previously unknown mystery disease caused by the novel coronavirus struck Planet Earth in the winter of 2019-20, public health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended universal mask-wearing, physical distancing, lockdowns and travel restrictions, while awaiting the arrival of preventive vaccines and effective therapies.

On two sides of the Atlantic, two contrasting approaches emerged to tackle what came to be known as the Covid-19 pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 03 July 2021

Photo credit: UNICEF Ethiopia/Tewodros Tadesse

UN Report Considers Next 18 Months Crucial for Achieving Global Goals

By Santa Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) — COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods around the world in 2020, pushing back into poverty an additional 119-124 million people, says a new United Nations report. An equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs was lost, and the number of people suffering from hunger, which was already climbing before the pandemic, may have increased by 83-132 million.