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Thursday, December 7, 2023
News and Views from the Global South
Population
“No” to Sex Education Fuels Early Pregnancies in Central America
Pregnancies among girls and adolescents continue unabated in Central America, where legislation to prevent them, when it exists, is a dead letter, and governments are influenced by conservative sectors opposed to sex education in schools.
India’s Rising Population & its March Towards World’s Second Largest Economy
This year, India surpassed China as the world’s most populous nation. China is expected to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy by 2035, but its population will likely continue to decline, while India’s will continue to grow.
Lawmakers’ Vital Roles in Ensuring Dignity for Aging Populations
Countries with falling population growth face twin dilemmas: Ensuring their aging population live healthy and fulfilling lives and removing barriers to parenthood. This was the focus of a recent workshop in Thailand reviewing the ICPD30 process and preparation for the Summit for the Future slated for next year (2024).
The Race Question in America’s Population Census
With preparations for America’s 2030 population census underway and the Census Bureau encouraging additional public input, it’s time to seriously evaluate the continued inclusion of the race question in the U.S. population census.
Wood Smoke Continues to Make Women Sick in El Salvador
Using a few dry sticks as fuel, Margarita Ramos of El Salvador lit the fire in her wood stove and set about frying two fish, occasionally fanning the flame, aware that the smoke she inhaled could affect her health.
Women in Peru’s Poor Urban Areas Combat the Crisis at the Cost of Their Wellbeing
At five in the morning, when fog covers the streets and the cold pinches hard, Mercedes Marcahuachi is already on her feet ready to go to work in Pachacútec, the most populated area of the municipality of Ventanilla, in the province of Callao, known for being home to Peru's largest seaport.
Medical Abortion Expands Women’s Rights in Argentina
Viviana Mazur is a doctor at the Santojanni Hospital in Mataderos, a working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires. She has witnessed the advances in women's rights in Argentina, where until 2020 abortion was only allowed on two grounds, while it is now available on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Addressing the Scandal of Invisibility in Asia & the Pacific
Each year, the births of 64 million children under the age of five and deaths of 8.4 million people are invisible to governments in Asia and the Pacific. Most countries in the region are yet to achieve universal civil registration, leaving many people without a legal identity and, as a result, invisible to the State.
Healthy Homes – A Right of Rural Families in Peru
Adopting a “healthy housing” approach is improving the living conditions of rural Peruvian women like Martina Santa Cruz, a 34-year-old farmer who lives with her husband and two children in the village of Sacllo, 2,959 meters above sea level in the Andes highlands municipality of Calca.
Menstrual Health and Hygiene Is Unaffordable for Poor Girls and Women in Latin America
Menstrual hygiene management is elusive for millions of poor women and girls in Latin America, who suffer because their living conditions make it difficult or impossible for them to access resources and services that could make menstruation a simple normal part of life.
Population Denialism is Reminiscent of Climate Denialism
A new study estimates that global heating will push billions of people outside the comfortable range of temperature and weather in which we have evolved.
Population Growth is Not Good for People or the Planet
India’s population has just reached 1.4 billion people, surpassing China as the world’s most populous nation four years earlier than projected. Spurring this growth is a traditional patriarchal culture in which women’s identity is constrained by the social expectation they bear children.
Parliamentarians Ask G7 Hiroshima Summit to Support Human Security and Vulnerable Communities
Parliamentarians from more than 30 countries agreed to send a strong message to the G7 Hiroshima Summit in Japan later this year, focusing on human security and support of vulnerable communities, including women, girls, youth, aging people, migrants, and indigenous people, among others.
Mercury Project Puts Great UNEP Treaty at Risk
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, a stellar success story to date, has been favorably compared to the prototype success story for a treaty on toxins: the Montreal Protocol. Both had a single focused mission; both gained universal support across the globe; both matched technological innovation with environmental science to discard old polluting methods.
During Ramadan Let’s Focus on Solidarity with Future Generations
As Ramadan continues through next week, the world’s 2 billion Muslims will focus on the core values of the holy month: helping the poor and committing oneself to the service of others.
At the Mercy of the Algorithm
Excessive reliance on algorithmic management has raised concerns regarding its opaque decision-making mechanisms and implication for workers.
Platitudes not Enough: Urgent Investment Needed in Health Workforce
As World Health Worker Week draws to a close on April 7, health organizations from around the world have been celebrating women’s vital role in the health workforce and sharing stories about the enormous value they bring to all areas of health and care.
US Lagging Behind on Funding International Family Planning & Reproductive Health
International family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) are critical to achieving gender equity, but U.S. investment in them is not nearly sufficient to meet the moment.
Yes, Lower The Retirement Ages!
Yes, lower the retirement ages! That is the key message that workers worldwide are conveying to their governments.
Africa’s Dark Road to Democracy
The dark road to democracy began with the manner in which the Kenyan Presidential election of August 2022 was handled. Today, the Church in Kenya is calling for dialogue between the ruling regime and the opposition. The issue here is not about dialogue, but the legitimacy of the President William Ruto. The situation in Kenya reminds me of a similar situation in Rwanda in early 90s.
Venezuela Makes Timid Headway in Solar Energy
The installation of solar panels in a remote village in the Andes highlands in late February marked a second incursion by the Venezuelan government into the field of solar energy, previously uncharted territory in this country that for a century was a leading global oil producer.« 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.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
