Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake is a Social and Medical Anthropologist, at the International Center for Ethnic Studies, based in Colombo. Sri Lanka.

A lockdown closer home. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres walking the empty corridors of the UN Secretariat building in New York in 2020. Credit: United Nations

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan 7 2021 (IPS) – The currently available Covid-19 vaccines have been authorized for ‘emergency use ‘in Europe and North America. This is due to an apparent spike in Covid-19 flu cases in the northern hemisphere as winter advances. Highly advertised vaccines are being produced and rolled out at ‘warped speed’ by powerful pharmaceutical…

Remote teaching in Bangladesh. Credit: BRAC

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Feb 19 2021 (IPS) – School closings and the varied impacts of remote learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic are a global challenge. Educators worldwide have been struggling to meet contemporary educational standards in this environment. But this challenge is followed by yet another: how to assess the readiness of students to resume in-school education when schools open. At BRAC, the international nongovernmental organization that operates 25,000 schools in Bangladesh, serving 750,000 students, we have developed an approach that could be helpful.

Schools in Bangladesh have been closed since March 2020, …

Photo by on

EKITI, Nigeria, Mar 19 2021 (IPS) – The mouth is a barometer of social inequities it reflects the injustices in our society. As , an 18th century naturalist said: Show me your teeth, and I will tell you who you are . To me, as a dentist, the mouth is like a microscope that reveals more than just tooth decay. It exposes us to a world where people lack access to water, health, quality education and live…

Credit: UN Women/Olivia Owen

BANGKOK, Thailand, May 3 2021 (IPS) – The lockdowns and illnesses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically increased the need to care for children, the elderly and the sick. And in societies where gender inequality and biased norms persist, most of this burden has fallen on women, many of whom have had to leave their regular jobs with no idea of when they can return.

Actually, the pandemic has merely exacerbated the existing stereotypes about the role of women, who are reflexively expected to take care of their family members, house chores, and myriad other daily domestic tasks that are unpaid but vital to households, communit…

Credit: Bibbi Abruzzini

PARIS, Jun 10 2021 (IPS) – In the last 20 years, . At global level we witness on average one sweeping disaster a day, the majority of which are floods and storms. From the Covid-19 pandemic to climate change, calamities are taking new shapes and sizes, infiltrating every dimension of society. From the emotional to the political, how do we deal with disasters? How can we create a whole-of-society approach to disaster risk reduction?

Right through this vortex of intersecting crises, by , the (GNDR), and , with the support of , looks at how civil society organisations coordinate disaster risk reduction and post-emergency interventions. Meant for civ…

The writer is CEO of Sanitation and Water for All

A young girl collects water from a tanker truck in an IDP camp in northwest Syria.
Meanwhile, the UN commemorates the anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration to Water & Sanitation on July 28th. Credit: UNICEF/Khaled Akacha

LISBON, Portugal, Jul 28 2021 (IPS) – The water we drink and the air we breathe are the basis of life. With universal access to clean water and sanitation, we will be healthier, our economies will be stronger, gender equality will be more achievable, and more children will stay in school.

However, the many benefits of universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene are unde…

The World Food Programme distributing food in El Salvador. The second of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals is to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Credit: WFP/David Fernandez

MELBOURNE, Sep 21 2021 (IPS) – COVID-19 has exposed serious vulnerabilities in how people around the world access and consume food.

One of the more alarming trends is the significant increase in the consumption of foods that may be tasty and convenient, but harm our heath. These ultra-processed products include sugary drinks, snack foods, frozen meals, packaged breads and frozen desserts.

In the half centu…

Egyptian women protesters behind bars. Credit: VOA News

CAIRO, Egypt, Oct 27 2021 (IPS) – The fate of Egyptian women and girls delicately hangs in the balance as the country continues to have one of the worst records in the world for gender equality. With oppression often state-sanctioned, Egyptian women face a daily struggle against sexual harassment and other violations of their basic human rights, including .

Today, and , have come together with , and several prominent voices from the region and beyond, to demand that the Egyptian government takes immediate steps to fix this situation.

It needs to take clear action to enhance the rights of wome…

Visitors at booth for Beyond Expo. Credit: TechNode

BEIJING, Dec 14 2021 (IPS) –  

A landscape of shared global challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has moved us farther away from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Data shows that the pandemic has pushed a further 124 million people into extreme poverty. Global poverty is now expected to be at 7% by 2030 – only marginally below the level in 2015. And with the global temperature increase already at 1.2 degrees, we are on the verge of the abyss. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is deeply concerned about the impact of the pandemic on the SDGs. But there is hope. .

The SDGs can only be ach…

A deeper dive into the life of ECW Director Yasmine Sherif, the UN’s billion-dollar woman.

NEW YORK, Feb 14 2022 – Conflict, forced displacement, climate change and COVID-19 are disrupting the education of millions of crisis-affected children and adolescents around the world.

Yasmine Sherif is the Director of (ECW), the ’s global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. When she and ECW partners from around the world operationalized the Fund in 2017, an estimated 75 million conflict-affected children were out of school. Today, that number has risen to 128 million more than the total population of Japan.

Just a few short years later, under …