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By Bernhard Schell
CAIRO, 25 March 2023 (IDN) — The United Nations has warned that eight years of protracted multilateral conflict in Yemen, with the involvement of Saudi Arabia, has produced the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Over two-thirds of Yemen's population—21.6 million people—are in acute need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 20 million people require urgent health assistance.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK, 20 March 2023 (IDN) — An epidemic of kidney disease among children in Africa has been linked to deadly toxins in cough medicine imported from India.
Doctors say they see dozens of children under the age of five with kidney failure—a condition they only saw once or twice a year—while mothers demand justice.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
VIENNA, 17 March 2023 (IDN) — The United Nations is concerned about a dramatic jump in the global production of cocaine over the past two years after an initial slowdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. “The surge in the global cocaine supply should put all of us on high alert,” said Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), reacting to these findings.
By Bernhard Schell
CAIRO | AMMAN, 8 March 2023 (IDN) — The devastating earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on 6 February caused over 4540 deaths and nearly 9000 injuries in northwest Syria.
As the Syria cholera situation report points out, around 90 000 Syrians have been displaced in the northwest and many have found refuge in overcrowded camps and collective reception centres.
By Farai Shawn Matiashe
MUTARE, Zimbabwe, 5 March 2023 (IDN) — Every morning as Mercy Mubatsa fetches water from a tap outside her home in Penhalonga, a mining area 263 kilometres (163 miles) outside the Zimbabwean capital Harare, her anxiety is heightened.
In March last year, mercury and cyanide deposits from artisanal gold mines in Penhalonga were detected in Lake Alexander, about 32 kilometres from the mines, that supply water to her home.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA, 4 March 2023 (IDN) — Multiple crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, growing inequalities, rising debt burdens and economic shocks are strongly affecting world's 46 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
They face the challenge of high debt costs because they do not have sufficient cash to provide essential services. In the last decade, debt service costs in LDCs have increased from around 5% in 2011 to over 20% today.
By Arul Louis
The writer is a New York-based non-resident senior fellow of the Society for Policy Studies, a New Delhi-based think tank. He can be contacted @arulouis.
UNITED NATIONS, 26 Feb 2023 (IDN) — US President Joe Biden has nominated Ajay Banga to head the World Bank with a mandate to promote climate change policies—the latest iteration of its evolving priorities—but he will also be under pressure to deal with the more immediate task of helping deal with the financial crises facing many in the Global South.
By Jan Servaes*
BRUSSELS, 19 Feb 2023 (IDN) — “China has created a miracle in human history, in which a highly populous nation has successfully pulled through a pandemic.”
The above quote can be read in the report published by the state news agency Xinhua of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that met on Thursday, 16 Feb 2023, in the presence of President Xi Jinping: “China has taken an extraordinary journey in its COVID-19 prevention and control work”.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK, 17 Feb 2023 (IDN) — In view of the failure of the global financial system to effectively cushion the impacts of current global crises on the Global South—the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing climate emergency—the UN has called for an increase of about $500 billion each year by world's most developed nations to finance the crucial 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
By Rodrigo Pérez
SANTIAGO, Chile (IDN) — As many as 131.3 million in Latin America and the Caribbean have had to forego nutritious foods in 2020 because of the higher average daily cost of healthy diets in the region compared to those in other areas of the world. According to the new United Nations report Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2022, in 2019, the figure amounted to about 123 million.
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