IPS Correspondent Stella Paul interviews MARCUS SAMO Assistant Secretary in Micronesia’s Department of Health Services
Marcus Samo, Assistant Secretary in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Department of Health Services, is concerned that the country has been unable to reduce the prevalence of Hansen’s disease. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS
POHNPEI , Apr 8 2019 (IPS) – During his 22-year career in the health sector, Marcus Samo has seen the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) suffer from an increased burden of disease while at the same time the resources to address them have either remained the same or decreased.
Samo is the Assistant Secretary in the country’…
Her experience and the chance “to help strengthen Colombia, the world, and my family” through participating in the Global Forum of People’s Organisations on Hansen’s Disease, sponsored by the Nippon Foundation and the Sasakawa Health Foundation, was like “rising from the ashes” for Lucrecia Vazques from Felehansen Colombia. Vazques’ family was hit hard by leprosy, with not only herself, but her son and one-month-old granddaughter being afflicted. Credit: Ben Kritz/IPS
MANILA, Sep 10 2019 (IPS) – The Global Forum of People’s Organisations on Hansen’s Disease, which was attended by members of people’s organisations from 23 different countries, wrapped up in Manila, Ph…
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 12 2019 (IPS) – For each of the 830 women dying each day from pregnancy complications and childbirth, an estimated 20 others suffer serious injuries, infections or disabilities.
This is the reality that millions of women face, and informs the Nairobi Summit’s three critical commitments which are to bring preventable maternal deaths, gender-based violence and harmful practices, as well as unmet need for family planning, to zero. To achieve this objective money is needed.
Joyce Chimbi
Finding the money for commitments
Private sector organisations including the Ford Foundation, Johnson Johnson, Philips and World Vision, announced that…
Credit: UN Women
NEW YORK, Jan 14 2020 (IPS) – To live in a home with family, to have a safe environment, food and basic human necessities, are some of the essentials that most people expect to have without giving it all much thought. When a child is born, parents or caregivers are likely to provide these things. These expectations get renewed whenever someone gets married and moves to a new home, a different neighborhood, or a city. We can hardly find someone who will say that they were not expecting happiness and safety when stepping into a new relationship, or starting a new chapter of life. But these expectations of a better life turn disastrous for millions of people …
Crystal Simeoni is currently the Economic Justice lead at FEMNET – one of Africa’s largest women’s rights networks where she leads a body of work that intersects pan-African feminist narratives into macroeconomic policy processes and spaces at different levels. She is an at the London School of Economics.
Ebola Outbreak in Nigeria 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 18 2020 (IPS) – The coronavirus disease, otherwise known as COVID-19, was first in Wuhan, China on the last day of December 2019. When it began to spread rapidly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020.
As such, the coronavirus…
Dr Mah Hui Lim has been a university professor and banker, in the private sector and with the Asian Development Bank.
Dr. Michael Heng, Former professor in Management Science.
PENANG and SINGAPORE, Apr 6 2020 (IPS) – The Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters “weiji”. Wei means danger and ji means opportunity. Every crisis is pregnant with danger and risks but also with opportunities – for some to make money, for others to learn valuable lessons, and for society to reorient or restructure its priorities, institutions and even the system.
Mah Hui Lim
Major crises are moments when classes in society contest for power to restructure the…
Inge Kaul is Senior Fellow, Hertie School, Berlin and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Center for Global Governance, Washington DC. She can be contacted at .
BERLIN, Germany, Apr 3 2020 (IPS) – My recent study on “The G20@10: Time to shift gears” 1 shows that, during the past decade, the main joint, collective action of the G20 has been to issue communiqués and other types of statements.
As a group, G20 Leaders have expressed concern about all kinds of challenges, recommitted themselves to goals already agreed in other multilateral meetings or –even repeatedly – stated in earlier G20 communiqués.
They have also lauded other entities for actions they have taken or aske…
Credit: Samuel Otieno/UNHCR
IBADAN, NIGERIA, Apr 21 2020 (IPS) – Since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic late last year in Wuhan, China, the global community has witnessed unprecedented to curtail, contain and control the disease. Many have proven to be . But others required critical context consideration.
For instance, the risks threatening the livelihoods of millions of people who are dependent on the informal market for their survival. Another example is the fact that the security measures being imposed are extracting a from ordinary citizens.
The situation is a learning curve for all countries.
The at national level have inc…
Abby Maxman is President & CEO of Oxfam America
Credit: Oxfam America
BOSTON, USA, May 11 2020 (IPS) – NGOs, at the international, national and most of all local level are on the frontlines every day.
I just heard from Oxfam staff in Bangladesh, that when asked whether they were scared to continue our response with the Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar, they replied: “They are now my relatives. I care about them — and this is the time they need us most.’”
These people – and those that they and others are supporting around the globe – are at the heart of this crisis and response.
As we talk about global figures and st…
Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity to build a better world
Kristalina Georgieva is managing director of the IMF
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 2 2020 (IPS) – Looking back to the start of 2020, the world has changed almost beyond recognition. To protect public health, the global economy was put into stasis. Shops closed, factories were mothballed, and people’s freedom of movement was severely curtailed.
No country has escaped the health, economic, and social impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Tragically, more than 260,000 people have died and millions have been infected. The IMF is projecting global economic activity to decline on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. It is truly a crisis like no other.