Poverty & SDGs

Are the SDGs in Reverse Gear?

By Saida Ali
When I was a little girl, my mother told us the story of a woman who escaped from a monster by cooking stones: when the monster fell asleep waiting for his dinner, the woman ran for her life.

COVID-19: Global Supply Chain Resilience Relies on Soap & Water for Workers

By Ruth Romer
As COVID-19 lockdown restrictions across the globe start to be relaxed, the collective conversation has shifted towards plans for a ‘new normal.’

Cyclone Amphan – ‘We Didn’t Expect Devastation of Such a Scale’

By Stella Paul
Amid the social distancing measures posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, coastal communities in Bangladesh and India face a double threat as the record-breaking Cyclone Amphan made landfall yesterday (May 20).

Food Markets in the Caribbean Take Stock of Vulnerability during COVID-19

By Jewel Fraser
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the spectre of food insecurity as countries and citizens fear a return to the conditions that roiled the international food markets during the 2008 economic crisis.

COVID-19 – China Tells World Health Assembly They Did their Best

By Samira Sadeque
This week’s 73rd World Health Assembly had member states adopt a resolution to review the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organisation (WHO) will also undergo  an evaluation for its response to the outbreak.

HIV Services Take a Backseat to COVID-19 in Russia

By Ed Holt
In Russia, which has one of the world’s worst HIV/AIDS epidemics, an already fragile healthcare system is buckling under the pressure of dealing with COVID-19.

Africa Needs a DOVE Fund: Or Should We Starve So We Can Pay our Debts?

By Danny Bradlow
Sub-Saharan Africa has a debt problem. According to the most recent World Bank debt statistics, in 2018 the region had about $493 billion in long term external debt.

Coronavirus Leads to Nosedive in Remittances in Latin America

By Humberto Márquez
Remittances that support millions of households in Latin America and the Caribbean have plunged as family members lose jobs and income in their host countries, with entire families sliding back into poverty, as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis and global economic recession.

Forced Marriage, Organ Trafficking Rife in Asia Pacific – Part 2

By Neena Bhandari
A single mother, Mai (name changed) had the responsibility of providing for her young son and grandparents, who had brought her up in a poor rural province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. While she was looking for employment, somebody approached her on social media with an offer of a high-paying job in China. When she arrived in China, she was sold into a forced marriage.

South Africa Must Respond – & Lead– on COVID-19 & SDGs

By Leila Fourie and Fani Titi
Sitting on the southern tip of Africa during a time of social distancing, while the entire planet fights Covid-19, we cannot help but reflect on how vulnerable our country is to this scourge.

Forgotten Children

By Satyajeet Mazumdar
Children residing in Child Care Institutions (CCIs, commonly known as orphanages) in India have often found themselves to be the forgotten lot, when it comes to support and development initiatives by the government. This has also been the case during the current lockdown.

Modern Slavery in Asia Pacific Fuelled by Widespread Poverty, Migration & Weak Governance – Part 1

By Neena Bhandari
Aged 17, Moe Turaga was saddled with the responsibility of providing for his mother and young siblings when a family member approached him with the promise of a job and education in Australia. Dreaming of a bright future for himself and his family, he seized the opportunity and left the protective confines of his home in Fiji, only to find himself trapped in modern slavery on a remote agriculture farm in the state of Victoria.

Curbing Land Degradation & Protecting the Environment in Mongolia

By Ariunmunkh Munkhjargal, Arushi Sharma, Avimukt Verma, Sarah Whatnall & Undarmaa Ulziibat
Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Yet, more than 70 percent of its surface is affected by land degradation. Mining activities in several parts of the country have been a source of humanitarian and environmental concern. However, different stakeholders are coming together to work towards restoration and rehabilitation.

Stay Home? Wash Hands? But 1.8 Billion Remain Homeless & 3.0 Billion Have No Access to Water

By Thalif Deen
The relentless battle against the devastating coronavirus pandemic has been underlined by several widespread advisories from health experts – STAY HOME. WASH YOUR HANDS. WEAR MASK. KEEP SOCIAL DISTANCE.

Without Universal Health Coverage We Are Sitting Ducks When the next Pandemic Strikes

By Siddharth Chatterjee
We live in a different world to the one we inhabited six short months ago. With more than 4 million people infected and over 280,000 dead globally by mid May 2020, Covid-19 has ruthlessly exposed the vulnerability of a globalised world to pandemic disease. People are slowly coming to terms with the frightening and heartbreaking death toll, and we are still not out of the danger.

We Cannot Let the Education Gap Widen at the Start of the Decade of Action

By Yasmine Sherif
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we estimated that 75 million children and youth - of whom 39 million are girls - were not able to access a quality education in countries impacted by armed conflicts, forced displacement, natural disasters and climate change-induced emergencies. The impact of COVID-19 has both globally and exponentially deepened the already existing critical education crisis.

Malawi’s Vulnerable Shortchanged in Human Trafficking Prevention Efforts

By Charity Chimungu Phiri
Malawi is not doing enough to enforce its laws on human trafficking, resulting in a number of cases against perpetrators being dismissed by the courts, according to a local rights group. But local officials say that this Southern African nation — one of the poorest countries in the world — just doesn’t have the financial resources to do so.

Healthy Oceans: Keeping Asia and the Pacific Afloat

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana
Memories of idyllic beaches and sonorous waves may seem far away while we remain at home. Yet, we need not look far to appreciate the enduring history of the ocean in Asia and the Pacific. For generations, the region has thrived on our seas. Our namesake bears a nod to the Pacific Ocean, a body of water tethered to the well-being of billions in our region. The seas provide food, livelihoods and a sense of identity, especially for coastal communities in the Pacific island States.

Housing is Both a Prevention & Cure for COVID-19

By Maimunah Mohd Sharif and Leilani Farha
Public health officials are calling the “stay home” policy the sacrifice of our generation. To flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections, this call of duty is now emblazoned on t-shirts, in street art and a celebrity hashtag.

COVID-19: Zimbabwe’s Smallholder Farmers Step into the Food Supply Gap

By Ignatius Banda
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe' second city of some 700,000 people, has experienced a shortage of vegetables this year, with major producers citing a range of challenges from poor rains to the inability to access to bank loans to finance their operations. But this shortage has created a market gap that Zimbabwe smallholders — some 1.5 million people according to government figures — have an opportunity to fill. 

Finding Money for Public Health, Green Economic Recovery & SDGs

By John Garrett, Kathryn Tobin and Chilufya Chileshe
The coronavirus pandemic underscores the profound fragility and unsustainability of today’s world. It exposes the chronic underinvestment in human health and well-being and the consequences of a relentless exploitation of biodiversity and the natural environment.
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