Agriculture & Nutrition
With Ebola crippling the health system, Liberians die of routine medical problems
MONROVIA, Liberia — While the terrifying spread of Ebola has captured the world’s attention, it also has produced a lesser-known crisis: the near-collapse of the already fragile health-care system here, a development that may be as dangerous — for now — as the virus for the average Liberian....
The “unfinished business” of lowering child mortality
In 1990, an estimated 12 million children around the world died under age five; by 2011, that figure had dropped to 6.9 million. The message, from a new report by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), is that with greater commitment to child survival from governments and their partners, these figures can...
Ebola is taking a second toll, on economies
DAKAR, Senegal — Airlines have canceled their flights to the countries most affected. Prices of staple goods are going up, and food supplies are dwindling. Border posts are being closed, foreign workers are going home and national growth rates are projected to plummet....
CIA: No more vaccination campaigns in spy operations
Three years after the CIA used an immunization survey as a cover in its hunt for Osama bin Laden, the White House has promised that the agency will never again use a vaccination campaign in its operations, an official said Monday....
Disease of Pakistan’s poor now worries the affluent
KARACHI, Pakistan — Until recently, polio was considered a poor man’s problem in Pakistan — a crippling virus that festered in the mountainous tribal belt, traversed the country on interprovincial buses, and spread via infected children who played in the open sewers of sprawling slums....
Polio’s return after near eradication prompts global health warning
Alarmed by the spread of polio to several fragile countries, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Monday for only the second time since regulations permitting it to do so were adopted in 2007....
When not to go to school
KOLKATA, Apr 19 2014 (IPS) - In large parts of rural India, the absence of separate toilets for growing girls is taking a toll on their education. Many are unable to attend school during their menstrual cycle. According to the country’s Annual Status of Education Report in 2011, lack of access to ...
Poor sanitation in India may affect well-fed children with malnutrition
SHEOHAR DISTRICT, India — He wore thick black eyeliner to ward off the evil eye, but Vivek, a tiny 1-year-old living in a village of mud huts and diminutive people, had nonetheless fallen victim to India’s great scourge of malnutrition....
USAID, partners target preventable deaths. New efforts unveiled to save millions of women, children
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is realigning $2.9 billion of its resources to save up to half a million children from preventable deaths by the end of 2015. USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said it is refocusing resources on high-impact programs with proven ...
Fortified food—persuading the private sector to do good
With a certain amount of fanfare, Nigeria has just officially become a middle income country. It is not the sort of country associated with widespread hunger, or a country where people normally get, or expect to get, food aid. And yet around a quarter of small children in Nigeria are underweight, an...
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