KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 17 2022 (IPS) – Global Public Investment. A short and simple phrase. But one that means so much.

At its most basic, GPI means public money being used to invest in goods and services that are of global benefit. There is no shortage of goods and services that need GPI, whether they be used to prevent or respond to environmental catastrophe, international war and conflict, or the next pandemic.

We live on a single, small and fragile planet and greater levels of GPI are needed to help us look after our planet; and invest in the global institutions and services needed to provide security and health for all.

This is why over th…

Security Council members vote to adopt a resolution endorsing special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 21 2022 (IPS) – The United States, which recently laid down a set of guidelines to monitor sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by US citizens in international organizations, including the United Nations and its agencies worldwide, has implicitly accused the UN of faltering on a high-profile case last month.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced Karim Elkorany, an American citizen and a former UN employee, to 15 years i…

The WHO working group met to consider 307 amendments proposed by governments to update current regulations. February 2023. Credit: World Health Organization (WHO)

GENEVA, Mar 13 2023 (IPS) – As countries recently gathered in Geneva for the on the WHO proposed pandemic treaty or accord, close examination of by civil society experts has revealed significant gaps.

Critical concerns about the underlying vision of the draft text have been highlighted in a led and endorsed by civil society organizations globally. The statement has been shared with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB4) that is mandated with the pandemic treaty negotiation.

These concerns st…

The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons

Since the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan in 2021, numerous women grapple with profound mental health challenges, often in silence, fearing repercussions for speaking out. Credit: Learning Together

May 16 2024 (IPS) – Afghanistan is grappling with a growing crisis of mental illness, particularly among its women, a…

WHO Goodwill Ambassador Sasakawa with some of the representatives from persons affected by leprosy organizations that participated in the Bergen International Conference on Hansen’s Disease (June 21–22, 2023).

TOKYO, Japan, Aug 28 2023 – This year marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the leprosy bacillus by Dr. Gerhard Armauer Hansen in Bergen, Norway. To prompt reflection on the past and build momentum for a zero leprosy future, the Sasakawa Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) Initiative and the University of Bergen co-hosted an international conference on June 21–22. The conference was attended by 200 people from 27 countries and opened with video m…

Credit: UNICEF / Oleg-Popov

NEW YORK, Dec 12 2023 (IPS) – Child poverty persists even in some of the world’s richest countries, new findings from a UNICEF report reveal.

UNICEF’s Office of Global Insight and Policy’s details the prevalence of child poverty in 39 EU and OECD countries. It reveals the extent of child poverty in these countries and how these cases vary from middle-to-high-income countries. Titled Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth, this report is the latest in the Innocenti Report Card series, which observes children’s well-being in high-income countries. Within these countries, over 69 million children were living in households ear…

Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor is a medical doctor, the CEO of EpiAFRIC, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Nigeria Health Watch

Credit: UN News/Li Zhang

ABUJA, Mar 9 2020 (IPS) – Recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo , “We have an epidemic caused by Coronavirus, but we have a pandemic caused by fear “.

This fear is worsened by how news agencies report the outbreak. These are some examples.

“Bodies pile up in morgue as Iran feels strain of coronavirus”  

“First UK death from coronavirus confirmed as cases surge to 115”  

“Coronavirus: Global death toll exceeds 3,000” – 

“Death toll from coronavirus in Italy rises…

ROME, Apr 15 2020 – For millions of children around the world, the COVID-19 outbreak means not getting the most important, if not the only, meal of the day.

‘We estimated that around [out of 380 million] do not have access to those meals … Of those children, about half of them are in low and lower-middle-income countries’, Carmen Burbano, director of the ’s School Feeding division, told Degrees of Latitude.

The most affected are the poorest, those kids already struggling because of war, , and poverty, being refugees or internally displaced. Of great concern, there are countries, especially in the Horn of Africa, that have been impacted already…

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 31 2020 (IPS) – As the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic shifts from China to the developed West, all too many rich countries are acting selfishly, invoking the ‘national interest’, by banning exports of vital medical supplies.

US President Donald Trump has reportedly gone further by seeking to a future coronavirus vaccine, although the report has been denied by a German drug company and some investors believed to be involved.

Europe first
Following now also want to ban the export of certain types of protective equipment and gear, prompting Stella Kyriakides, the EU Health Commissioner, to contradict them, insisting instead that “Solidarity is key”.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jun 18 2020 (IPS) – How often have you heard someone lamenting or even condemning inequality in society, concluding with an appeal to meritocracy? We like to think that if only the deserving, the smart ones, those we deem competent or capable, often meaning the ones who are more like us, were in charge, things would be better, or just fine.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Meritocracy’s appeal
Since the 1960s, many institutions, the world over, have embraced the notion of meritocracy. With post-Cold War neoliberal ideologies enabling growing wealth concentration, the rich, the privileged and their apologists invoke variants of ‘meritocracy’ to legitimize …