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Thursday, May 2, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Changing Lives: Making Research Real
PAKISTAN: Water Trickles Back into Village, Thanks to Solar Desalination
Ismail Achar never thought a day would come when his island village would be reduced to a barren tract of land with hardly a drop of water to drink.
KENYA: Rural Parents Prevent HIV Transmission to their Children
When Samuel Mwangi’s one-year-old HIV-positive son died five years ago, he thought the death of his child also meant the death of his family’s legacy. "I wept. And to the bottom of my heart, I knew that that was the end of my generation," said HIV-positive Mwangi.SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Leper Colonies on the Road to Extinction
The Culion island, in the western Philippines, is increasingly becoming a magnet for tourists drawn to its corals in the shallow waters close to its shore, its deep green hills and its ancient Spanish fort.
AFRICA: Less Funds Will Cause Unnecessary AIDS Deaths
Backtracking by international donors in funding the fight against HIV/AIDS risks widening the treatment gap in Africa, undermining years of positive achievements in the field, warns a new Medecins Sans Frontières report. And many more unnecessary HIV-related deaths will be caused by these shifts in international donor funding
EAST AFRICA: New Arsenal Against Armyworms
Farmers across Eastern and Southern Africa will soon have a new organic insecticide effective enough to kill one of their most deadly foes – the armyworm.INDONESIA: Natural Fertiliser from Microbes Boosts Crop Yields
Ten years after an Indonesian agriculturist discovered microbes capable of producing natural fertilisers, farmers attest that they have boosted agricultural production.
AFRICA: Small Scale Farmers Vulnerable to New Wheat Fungus
Smallholder wheat farmers are at risk as new mutations of a wheat-killing fungus have recently been discovered.
SOUTH AFRICA: Lack of Quality Health Care Causes Rise in Orphans
Two small boys play quietly on a jungle gym, some distance away from other children. The six-year-old twins, who live at the Masigcine children's centre in Mfuleni township, 35 kilometres out of Cape Town, are severely traumatised from being orphaned at the age of one and have difficulty relating to their peers.
Agrobiodiversity Key to Adaptation
Mechanisation, increased use of fertilisers, and the planting of hybrid seeds have underpinned huge increases in the world's agricultural output over the past 40 years.AFRICA: Better Data Key to Supporting Women Farmers
An accomplished farmer who won the coveted Woman Farmer of the Year Award in 2008, Thabile Dlamini-Gooday wants to uplift the standard of other women in agriculture. She believes that if women farmers were to work together they could fight hunger and significantly reduce poverty among themselves.
Q&A: National Study on Child Grant to Start
The department of social development hopes government will increase the child support grant based on the outcome of a rigorous nationwide study on the positive effects the grant has on South African society.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Cash Transfers Transforming Lives of the Poor
When Letesia Mbewe was nominated as a beneficiary in a cash transfer pilot project in Zambia’s Chipata district, she had no idea the project would change her life and that of her three children.
SOUTH AFRICA: Teenagers’ Health at Tremendous Risk
"I sometimes drink alcohol because it makes things funny," 15-year-old Senelo* giggles shyly. "I go to unlicensed taverns. They sell alcohol without asking questions."
KENYA: Successful Weather Prediction Uses Old and New
In the wake of ever-changing climatic conditions, a study in western Kenya has discovered that combining traditional methods of weather prediction with meteorological forecasting is the best way of obtaining more accurate forecast data.
Q&A: The State of HIV Prevention Vaccines
An HIV vaccine is possible if the world works together as a global community with the objective of finding one, but it will take some years to develop.
AGRICULTURE: Affordable Solution to Costly Pests
The International Centre for Plant Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), based at Mbita, on the Kenyan shores of the world’s second-largest freshwater body, is advocating "push-pull cultivation" as the answer to feeding future generations in Africa.
UGANDA: Information Technology Helps Farmers
Mayuge district has 31,000 farming families served by just nine agricultural extension workers. In Wainha village, an internet centre run by the Busoga Rural Open Source and Development Initiative is more than filling the gap in assisting farmers.
AGRICULTURE-NAMIBIA: Turning to Wild Bean for Protein
Obed Kamburona has tried to grow many different crops on his large farm, but the dry sandy soil in Otjovanatje has thwarted him every time.
AGRICULTURE-NIGERIA: Bagging Beans Against Beetles
Cowpeas are of vital importance to the diets and livelihood of millions of people in West and Central Africa. But the crop is notoriously difficult to store - beetles and other pests can destroy an entire granary full of cowpeas within 12 months.
Q&A: Harmonise the Efforts of African Scientists
As many as 100 million people in Africa suffer from schistosomiasis, a chronic illness caused by a parasite associated with freshwater snails. The schistosoma flatworm causes a debilitating illness that can damage internal organs, and stunt growth and cognitive development of children.
WATER-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Research Not Trickling Down To Farmers
Farmers could be losing tonnes of crops every harvest just because no one has bothered to tell them that scientists have found more effective methods of using water to farm.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Research findings may be widely published in scientific journals, peer-reviewed and academically admired -- but are they filtering through to the public, and bringing about tangible improvements to everyday life? In partnership with www.research4development.info, IPS is seeking to answer these questions, enliven the debate about research, and help to ensure that it does indeed change lives.
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