Hordes of ordinary Zimbabweans are turning to rabbit farming, which has continued to transform many lives economically. Pictured here are some of Tichaona Muzariri’s rabbits, a villager from Chivhu, 143 kilometers south of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS CHIVHU, Zimbabwe, Feb 2 2016 (IPS) – Tichaona Muzariri, 44, a villager based at Range…

Dhaka maternity hospitals encourage exclusive breastfeeding. Credit: Sujan-map/IPS UNITED NATIONS, May 11 2016 (IPS) – Despite its many lifesaving benefits breastfeeding still struggles to compete with the marketing used by the multi-billion dollar baby formula industry, according to a new report published this week. “Aggressive and inappropriate marketing of breast-milk substitutes, and other food products that compete with…

Assistive products like wheelchairs can help people with disabilities participate more fully. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS. UNITED NATIONS, Jun 15 2016 (IPS) – Wheelchairs, hearing aids, white canes and braille typewriters are just some of the products that help people with disabilities to participate fully in everyday life. Yet for many people with disabilities in developing countries…

Jul 29 2016 – Hunger still stalks many of our countrymen. It is particularly destructive with our children who, because of poverty, do not get enough to eat, become vulnerable to disease and exploitation and end up unhealthy, uneducated and unhappy. Uneducated because the need to eat superimposes itself over everything, so that all their…

Eve Crowley is acting regional representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Latin America and the Caribbean. The change in the eating habits in Latin America and the Caribbean has led to an increase in overweight and obesity in the region. Credit: Eduardo Bermúdez / FAORLC SANTIAGO, Jan 23 2017 (IPS) –…

Water delivery in Yemen. Credit: UN photo UNITED NATIONS, Apr 20 2017 (IPS) – Persistent attacks on health care in Yemen is severely impacting children’s well-being, civil society detailed at the launch of a report. In the , Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, in collaboration with Save the Children, found a series of systematic…

Azza Karam is Senior Advisor, UNFPA and Coordinator, UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Development UNITED NATIONS, Jul 4 2017 (IPS) – A decade ago, it was difficult to get Western policy makers in governments to be interested in the role of religious organizations in human development. The secular mind-set was such that religion…

Artisanal gold mining in Latin America uses mercury, a practice that should be modified in countries that have ratified the international Minamata Convention for the control of this toxic metal. Credit: Thelma Mejía/IPS MEXICO CITY, Sep 26 2017 (IPS) – For environmentalist Patricia Ruiz the only word that comes to mind is “devastating,” when describing…

In this special series of reports, IPS journalists travel to the border region between Bangladesh and Myanmar to speak with Rohingya refugees, humanitarian workers and officials about the still-unfolding human rights and health crises facing this long-marginalized and persecuted community. Newly arrived Rohingya people wait at an army camp in Sabrang in Teknaf on Nov.…

This article is part of a series of stories and op-eds launched by IPS on the occasion of World Water Day on Mar. 22. Whether they like it or not, many Africans faced with the possibility of having to access water through prepaid meters have resorted to unprotected and often unclean sources of water because…