Month: October 2024

Mithre J. Sandrasagra

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2007 (IPS) – The world s population continues to age and is on track to surpass nine billion people by 2050, according to the United Nations latest statistical projections released Tuesday.
World Population Prospects: 2006 Revision says that the global population will increase by 2.5 billion over the next 43 years, growing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050.

The bulk of this population increase will be absorbed by the developing countries, said Hania Zlotnik, director of the U.N. Population Division, at the launch of the report.

The developing world s population is expected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050, according to the new estimates.

As a result of declining fer…

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 13 2007 (IPS) – A sharp drop in fertility rates in Japan, South Korea, China and Singapore is threatening a baby bust , leaving most maternity wards in Asia in a state of near-emptiness.
The good news is many Asians are living longer, says the Honolulu-based East-West Centre (EWC), but the bad news is there are fewer new Asians coming onto the scene.

Andrew Mason, senior fellow at the EWC, says Singapore has reached 1.2 births per woman, while South Korea has the world s lowest fertility rate, at slightly less than 1.1 births per woman.

China, which still has a one-child policy, may not be far behind, already boasting an anemic birth rate of 1.6 (1.8 according to Chinese government figures), says Mason, who is also a professor…

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 2007 (IPS) – Lorong Haji Taib is a garbage-filled, rat-infested lane in the heart of the capital famous for its cheap sex, drugs and brawls.
Here vagrants, transvestites, drug pushers, drug addicts, sex workers and a transient population of usually well-heeled customers merge, exchange cash for drugs, get infected and carry the HIV virus into the larger population.

In the back lanes are dozens of drug addicts, many of them HIV positive from sharing infected needles and practicing unprotected sex.

Lorong Haji Taib is a hothouse for HIV infection, the sort of place where free syringes, condoms and methadone substitution therapies have a proven chance to reduce infection rates.

But conservative Muslim clerics are str…

Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY, Jul 25 2007 (IPS) – The 4th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention concluded here Wednesday with a call for antiretroviral drugs developed specifically for HIV-infected children.

A Lesotho woman holds HIV medication for her granddaughter. Credit: Eva-Lotta Jansson/IRIN

We must do more to protect our future, finding better ways to treat the youngest among us and pursuing integrated prevention strategies…

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Aug 22 2007 (IPS) – When Indonesian women and children tuck into cups of Indomie , a popular brand of instant noodles, they are assured a tasty staple healthier than most other brands sold across South-east Asia.
Indomie, say public health experts, is made from flour that is fortified with vitamins and minerals that are essential for a child s growth, both physically and mentally.

This effort is winning praise for Indonesian food processing companies like PT Indofood Sukses Makmur from international bodies such as the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF). Even the Flour Fortification Initiative (FFI), a global network of groups campaigning to strengthen flour with micronutrients, has a good word for the Jakarta-based corporation that s…

Lynette Lee Corporal

SUWON, South Korea, Nov 19 2007 (IPS) – Generally relegated to the far and hidden corners of a house, or even outside in rural areas, toilets have never been given the attention they deserve.
But on a chilly November morning the toilet finally took centre stage in Suwon, about 40 km from Seoul, to the delight and curiosity of an adoring crowd.

Holding onto ceremonial gold ropes, excited guests pulled off the cloth canopy that covered the world s first ever Toilet House at the shout of Haewoojae! from the crowd.

Haewoojae literally means a place where one can solve one s worries and this toilet bowl-shaped house is about to become a symbol for a movement that is aimed at solving one of the world s most pressing problems toilet sanitation.<…

Ignatius Banda

TSHOLOTSHO, Zimbabwe, Jan 31 2008 (IPS) – They left the country in search of jobs to better their lives, but village elders in rural Tsholotsho, say young men who left home to fend for their families are losing their lives at alarming rates to HIV/AIDS related ailments.
Tsholotsho, about 150 kilometres south-east of Bulawayo, is one of many rural outposts in Matebeleland that have seen thousands of young men making the trek to neighbouring South Africa and Botswana in search of jobs.

But this immigration while helping sustain families back home has come at a high price, village elders say.

In Zimbabwe, female life expectancy stands at 34 years, while for males it is 37 years, according to U.N. statistics. Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy …

Interview with Curtis Ellis, documentary filmmaker

SAN DIEGO, California, Apr 9 2008 (IPS) – Browsing through the aisles of the local supermarket, few consumers fully grasp the role corn plays in their daily lives.

Curt Ellis (right) and Ian Cheney taste their harvest in Greene, Iowa. Credit: Sam Cullman

Corn, it turns out, stands at the top of the food pyramid aside from its status as a vegetable. U.S. farmers grow mountains of the high-yield crop as a base ingredient for thousands of…