Health & Well Being

Photo: Tea plantation in Sri Lanka. Credit: Sri Lanka government

Tea the Invigorating and Sustaining Wine of Life

Dr. K. Mulaffer

Chairman, Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (1990-1992); Chairman, Building Materials Manufacturing Corporation (1992-1994) & Project Director & Coordinator, National Equipment & Machinery Organization (1994-1995)

COLOMBO (IDN) – My American friends must understand that choosing tea is like choosing wine. And here is why? The natural flavors of teas are quintessentially different from country to country, from which height, district, season and year, it’s grown. It is the same as with Wines.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 28 July 2019

Public Good Hijacked by Tobacco Corporation for Profit

Viewpoint by Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo

The writer is Executive Director of Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Many corporations make money at the expense of the public interest, but the world’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI) has raised the bar again.

In 2017 PMI pledged US$80 million annually for 12 years toward the establishment of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW) as part of its “smoke-free future”, and claims it wants people to stop smoking.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 25 July 2019

Unexpected Struggles in The Fight Against Ebola

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The battle to knock out the Ebola virus should have its eyes on the goal. Instead, politics and a divisive struggle between two drug makers has interfered. A key health minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resigned in protest.

In his resignation letter, Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga condemned President Felix Tshisekedi‘s takeover of the country’s Ebola response, removing him as head of the Ebola response team.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 July 2019

Photo: Women at the main fruit, flower and vegetable market in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Villa. ©FAO/Zarfia Amoa

Intensified Efforts to Ensure Food Security and Nutrition in Small Island Developing States

79-Nation ACP and UN's Food and Agriculture Organization Collaborate

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Wrapping up the ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on July 19, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Inga Rhonda King said the session had contributed significantly to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. But she urged governments to "reinvent themselves” and be more agile in finding "ways to engage the poorest and most vulnerable in the decisions that impact on their lives”.

: Jaya Ramachandran; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 19 July 2019

Photo: Portrait of Pardhi tribal community members, Maharashtra, India (7 June 2019). Credit: UNICEF | Sri Kolari

World Population Expected to Reach Nearly 10 Billion by 2050

Yet Another Challenge to Global Goals

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – Compared to 7.7 billion today, around 8.5 billion people are expected to inhabit the planet Earth within little more than a decade, and almost 10 billion by 2050, with only a few countries accounting for most of the increase, says to new United Nations report.

The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights, published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), provides a comprehensive overview of global demographic patterns and prospects. The study concludes that the world’s population could reach its peak around the end of the current century, at a level of nearly 11 billion.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 17 June 2019

Photo: Parents visiting her 15-year-old daughter, who is suspected of being infected by Ebola, at the Ebola Treatment Center in Beni, DRC (January 2019). Credit: World Bank /Vincent Tremeau.

UN Appoints ‘Ebola Chief’ As the Menace of Deadly Virus Grows

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – “We have no time to lose.” That’s the new mantra at the United Nations as the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo now appears almost unstoppable.

In a move to bolster efforts to contain the growing outbreak that has killed more than 1,200 people in 10 months, the United Nations on May 23 named David Gressly as the Emergency Ebola Response Coordinator (EERC).

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 May 2019

Child Hunger Threatens Africa’s Social and Economic Future

By Ronald Joshua

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Africa’s future economic and social progress is under threat from alarmingly high levels of child hunger, and the severity and scale of the problem is such that it requires nothing short of a radical and transformative political and economic agenda, according to a new study released at the Eighth International Policy Conference on the African Child.

The report pleads among others for: (i) political commitment at the highest political level; (ii) a constitutional or legal commitment to ensure that no child goes hungry and to make it obligatory for governments to provide universal access to a minimum acceptable amount of food for all children; and (iii) provision of targeted social safety nets and school-feeding programmes across regions and communities.

: Ronald Joshua; THE WORLD; Africa; 23 May 2019

The Controversy about Massive Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The risk of Ebola spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains “very high”, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on May 20. This warning follows a recent spike in the number of infections due to the virus in the unstable north-east of the country.

Since January, there have been dozens of attacks on health facilities in North Kivu, and on April 19, 42-year-old Dr. Richard Valery from Cameroon was killed in Butembo.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 May 2019

Photo: An ad of a skin whitening cosmetic product in Kumasi, Ghana. Source: Africa Renewal.

Huge Risks Accompany the Desire for Fair Skin in Africa

By Pavithra Rao*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – "I’ve been dark skinned for many years and I wanted to experience the other side. I wanted to see what it would be like to be white and I’m happy," says South African singer Mshoza, whose real name is Nomasonto Mnisi.

Mshoza is famous for her music – and now for her bleached skin. She initially sought to bleach her hyperpigmentation (dark patches on the skin) but then decided to maintain a light complexion overall.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 April 2019

WHO Forum on Medicines Calls for Fair Prices

By Ronald Joshua

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development, according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) scheduled to be realized by 2030. Goal 3 cannot however be achieved as long as people have to pay for medicines out-of-pocket and fall into poverty. This happens to 100 million each year.

With this in view, Dr Mariângela Simão, Assistant Director General for Medicines and Health Products at the World Health Organization (WHO) says: “Medical innovation has little social value if most people cannot access its benefits,” adding: “This is a global human rights issue – everyone has a right to access quality healthcare.”