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Saturday, April 20, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Population
Venezuela Drafts Legal Stranglehold on NGOs
The Venezuelan parliament, in the hands of the ruling party, is moving towards passing a law to control non-governmental organizations (NGOs) so that, in practice, they could not exist independently.
BRAC ‘Resets’ Program Aimed at Empowering Adolescent Girls in Africa
BRAC’s Empowerment and Livelihood Program (ELA) has benefitted tens of thousands of girls, and its recently released report shows an organization willing to adapt to the circumstances to continue to ensure adolescent girls and young women receive meaningful sexual and reproductive health rights support.
Pakistan’s Free Healthcare Insurance Benefits Women, Poor
A free health insurance initiative started in Pakistan has benefited poor patients, especially women who have outnumbered men in using the cashless health services under the Sehat Card Plus programme. "The initiative is in line with the ICPD25 Programme of Action, under which 4.5 million people have received free services, with 62 percent of them women. In the last three years, we have been able to cut down maternal mortality rate from 186 deaths per 100,000 live births to 172," Dr Muhammad Riaz Tanoli, CEO of the Sehat Card Plus (SCP), told IPS.
A Vital Partnership for the 2030 Agenda
Flexible and predictable funding allows UN agencies to respond promptly and with agility in times of crisis. In countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, and Ukraine, UNDP implements projects and programmes that help protect livelihoods and enhance the resilience of vulnerable communities.
Fear of Population Ageing
Fear of population ageing is all over the news media and in government offices of country capitals worldwide. Planet Earth is becoming “planet ageing”.
Privilege and Centralism in Lima Goad Protesters in Peru
The current political and social upheaval in Peru is not a temporary problem, but has to do with deeply-rooted inequality and social hierarchies, according to historian José Carlos Agüero.
Bhutan’s Civil Servants are Building a Digital Government System — Here’s How
New UNCTAD software does to digital government what IKEA did to furniture, allowing Bhutan’s government employees to create their own user-friendly services for citizens online.
In Latin America’s Aging Population, 17 Percent Will Be Over 65 by 2050
Latin America and the Caribbean is no longer a young region and it will be one of the regions with the largest aging populations by 2050, which poses great challenges due to the social inequalities the countries face, but also opportunities to overcome them.
Population Decline Hysteria & More Ponzi Demography
China’s announcement on 17 January 2023 that its population had declined for the first time in 60 years has fostered population decline hysteria and promoted more Ponzi demography in many parts of the world.
Demography Doesn’t Care
Demography doesn’t care about such things as national strikes over pension retirement ages, public protests about contraception and abortion rights, sexual orientation, habits and preferences, political ideology and party affiliation, dress codes and head coverings, and religious identity, beliefs and practices.
Africa’s Maternal Deaths Need Urgent Action to Meet SDG Goals
As the effects of COVID-19 on Africa’s health sector become clearer, it looks the continent will need to take urgent steps to overcome the disruptions suffered in the breakdown in antenatal and postnatal care for women and newborns and neonatal intensive care units. The pandemic brought some setbacks to the gains achieved in maternal mortality over the past decade.
Digitizing Africa: Key to Stronger Institutions
I recently overheard a conversation among three young people at a café in an African city. It was a passionate discussion on the management of funds allocated to the COVID-19 response and the effectiveness of the mechanisms in place to manage the money to achieve the intended purposes.
Raising Retirement Age Coming Soon
Despite the objections, resistance and protests taking place in many countries around the world, raising the official retirement age to receive government provided pension benefits is coming soon.
The Digital Divide: Africa the Least Connected with 60 percent of the Population Offline
The digital divide – between the world’s rich and poor nations —remains staggeringly wide. For over 2.7 billion people, many of them living in developing and least developed countries (LDCs), meaningful connectivity remains elusive, according to a UN report released during the 17th Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa, last month.
A Little Land Helps Indigenous Venezuelans Integrate in Brazil
A group of Warao families are, through their own efforts, paving the way for the integration of indigenous Venezuelans in Brazil, five years after the start of the wave of their migration to the border state of Roraima.
Illegal Immigration: A Mounting Global Crisis
Illegal immigration has evolved into a mounting crisis for a growing number of countries worldwide and governments appear to be at a loss on how to deal with the crisis.
Digital Human Rights Need to be Enshrined in Law
The upcoming consultation on the Global Digital Compact presents a unique opportunity to ensure that human rights in the digital world are protected in international common standards.
The World Cup of Opportunity
The sun is shining, and the temperature sits at an idyllic 28 degrees Celsius. The Uber driver taking me to work is from Pakistan and devastated about the recent loss to England in the T20 Cricket World Cup final in Australia.
Balancing Diversity and Meritocracy
Countries worldwide, and as different as India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Ireland, Israel and Italy, are struggling with the issue of how best to balance diversity and meritocracy across disparate ethnic, racial, caste, linguistic and religious subgroups in their populations.
As the World’s Population Hits 8 Billion People, UN Calls for Solidarity in Advancing Sustainable Development for All
The global population is projected to reach 8 billion on 15 November 2022, signalling major improvements in public health that have lowered the risk of dying and increased life expectancy. But the moment is also a clarion call for humanity to look beyond the numbers and meet its shared responsibility to protect people and the planet, starting with the most vulnerable.
A World of 8 Billion: Population Growth Will Continue But it’s Slowing Down
Global population is about to reach 8 billion, a mere 11 years after it reached 7 billion. The official Day of 8 Billion is observed by the UN November 15, though it's hard to pinpoint exactly when we pass the actual milestone.« Previous Page — Next Page »
As the world population is expected to cross 9 billion before 2050, it is essential to keep track of population growth and distribution trends. We see how societies respond to population trends across certain regions, such as urbanization and internal and international migration.
As life expectancy improves, allowing people to live longer, some countries deal with the challenges of having an ageing population. Other countries have booming young populations. Some women have tenuous access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), early and child marriage in some areas is common.
Internal and international migration is on the rise, and the migrant communities that form will represent other trends in a country’s understanding of their population and their ability to address the needs of the unique demographics.
Countries must have access to data on their population trends, for which they receive support from the UN Population Division. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) serves and advocates the humanitarian needs of migrant communities.
IPS, through its reportage, combines the human story with robust analysis to enable an international audience to make sense of the myriad of population issues.
The Week with IPS
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
