Category Archives: Global development

How Myanmar became an example to the world in the battle against malaria

Posted on by

Once a malaria blackspot, Myanmar has used aid money to tackle the disease locally – an approach, say experts, from which other countries can learn

With a plastic case full of cheap medical supplies and only a few days’ training, Say Mu Phaw is on the verge of eliminating malaria from her village in south-eastern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region.

Back in 2015, her first full year as a village health worker, 16 people came down with the disease in Mi Kyaung Hlaung, where roughly 600 residents live surrounded by mosquito-ridden tropical forests.

Continue reading...

Indonesian women suffering ‘epidemic’ of domestic violence, activists warn

Posted on by

Marital rape not being prosecuted enough, campaigners say, in a country where women face growing harassment

Activists have warned of an “epidemic” of sexual harassment and violence against women in Indonesia, in the wake of two recent cases of horrific domestic abuse.

In one incident, a man in Jakarta reportedly slashed his wife’s throat with a machete after she refused to have sex with him, an act witnessed by their two children, aged seven and 14.

Continue reading...

MPs say ’embarrassing and insulting’ UK visa system damages Africa relations

Posted on by

Cross-party inquiry finds people from African countries often perceive reasons given for failed applications as biased or discriminatory

British MPs have warned that the UK visitor visa system is “broken” and doing “severe damage” to UK-Africa relations.

The problems faced by experts trying to visit the UK are so widespread that many Africans believe the Home Office to be prejudiced against them and deliberately trying to reduce visitor numbers.

Continue reading...

Jewish and Arab students learn to cross divides at Jerusalem school

Posted on by

Pupils believe their bilingual school is proof that peace is possible between Palestinians and Israelis

It’s mid-morning in grade one and children are sitting in small groups, peering over colourful maths books. When it reaches 9.45am, a song plays for morning break and excited chattering breaks out.

It sounds like a typical classroom scene, but their school, say students, is unlike any other. The children are growing up in Jerusalem, a city at the heart of the Israel and Palestine conflict, where communities are deeply divided. Max Rayne Hand in Hand school is the only place in Jerusalem where students from Jewish and Arab backgrounds learn together, studying a bilingual and multicultural curriculum.

Continue reading...

UN Aids target to end epidemic by 2030 at risk as funding falls for first time

Posted on by

Report finds significant financial boost needed to meet targets to eradicate disease

The pace of reducing new HIV infections is slowing and progress in accessing treatment is decreasing, putting UN targets to end the Aids epidemic by 2030 in doubt.

The UNAids report, published on Tuesday, showed mixed progress, with certain countries making solid gains but others experiencing rises in both new infections and Aids-related deaths.

Continue reading...

El Salvador: woman whose baby died in toilet birth back in court

Posted on by

Evelyn Beatriz Hernández was jailed for murder after she was ruled to have induced abortion

A 21-year-old woman who gave birth to a baby in a toilet in El Salvador has returned to court for a second trial for murder in a case that has drawn international attention because of the country’s highly restrictive abortion laws.

Evelyn Beatriz Hernández, who says she was raped and had no idea she was pregnant, had already served 33 months of her 30-year sentence when the supreme court overturned the ruling against her in February and ordered a fresh trial with a new judge.

Continue reading...

‘Alarming’ shortfall in foreign aid for world’s biggest crises

Posted on by

Chief of leading aid agency warns that halfway through current funding year, less than a third of required money has been donated

The head of one of the world’s leading aid agencies has issued a stark warning over the “alarming lack of funding” for global humanitarian crises.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, noted that halfway through the current funding year, humanitarian organisations had received less than a third of money – 27% – needed to provide relief to people affected by crises worldwide.

Continue reading...

Stall in vaccination rates putting children at risk, says Unicef

Posted on by

Agency blames war, inequality and complacency for 20 million children missing immunisation

A dangerous stagnation in vaccination rates is putting children at risk of preventable diseases around the world, the UN children’s agency has warned, blaming conflict, inequality and complacency.

One in 10 children, totalling 20 million globally, missed out on basic immunisation against the life-threatening infections of measles, diphtheria and tetanus last year, says Unicef.

Continue reading...

Wiping out hunger in Africa could cost just $5bn. What are we waiting for? | Feike Sijbesma

Posted on by

Ripping off the bandage of food aid and investing in self-sufficiency is the only way to fight malnutrition

Billions are spent on humanitarian aid, yet nearly 60 million children across Africa go to bed hungry.

Efforts to alleviate the constant cycle of droughts, poverty and war have caused new problems. The biggest of these is a crippling dependency on food aid that is undermining much of the continent’s efforts to feed itself.

Continue reading...

Rose seeds from Syria: the refugee family cultivating a new life | Jenny Gustafsson

Posted on by

Sweet-smelling success for Syrians who have settled in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley is dampened by growing anti-Syrian sentiment

When the plastic bucket is filled with roses, Nahla al-Zarda takes it into the kitchen, where she separates the petals from the buds. She soaks them in boiling water, which blushes pink.

“I love this colour. It will be even stronger when the drink is ready,” she says.

Continue reading...

Life is getting better for world’s poorest – but children bear greatest burden

Posted on by

India and Bangladesh drive progress but UN study identifies vast inequalities between countries and among poor

The UN’s key global poverty index has identified that conditions for the world’s poorest 40% are improving more quickly than for those just above them.

The positive trend has been identified in the latest assessment of world poverty collected by the UN Development Programme, which quantifies relative impoverishment across the globe by multiple factors.

Continue reading...

Measles vaccination begins in Ebola-hit Congo amid fears of ‘massive loss of life’

Posted on by

Deadly measles outbreak claims almost 2,000 lives, compounding strain on health system already reeling from Ebola

Health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have launched an urgent measles vaccination campaign in Ebola-hit regions, after almost 2,000 deaths from the preventable disease, two-thirds of them among children under five.

At least 1,981 people died from measles in DRC this year, surpassing the 1,641 deaths from Ebola, according to the UN children’s agency, Unicef. The “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis is putting the health system under strain, UN staff said.

Continue reading...

Syrian teenager left suffering in Athens by UK Home Office ‘failure’

Posted on by

Unaccompanied Syrian fell into despair after waiting more than six months for response to application

A Syrian teenager left suicidal after the Home Office failed to respond to his application to join his family in Britain is finally set to be reunited with his loved ones.

On Thursday, after the Guardian contacted the Home Office, Moustafa’s lawyers were told that his case had been approved and he would be brought to the UK from Athens, where he has been living for a year, as soon as possible.

Continue reading...

Seafarers trapped on ship for 33 months say jail threats forced them to reboard

Posted on by

Men stranded off UAE for almost three years claim they were told they could face two-year sentence for leaving vessel unmanned

Seafarers who abandoned their ship after being stranded at sea for almost three years say they were forced back to their boat after they were warned they faced jail.

The four men, stranded 25 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, said they were told by coastguards that they faced two years in prison for leaving the vessel, the MV Tamim Aldar, and were advised to return. For abandoned seafarers, leaving a ship is alast resort, as the vessel represents their bargaining power for unpaid wages.

Continue reading...

Syrians are watching crops burn. These starvation crimes must end | Mohammad Kanfash and Ali al-Jasem

Posted on by

Amid a war that may have cost 500,000 lives, we must hold the Syrian government and others to account for the use of hunger as a weapon

In 2017, we started an agricultural project to help hundreds of families survive the blockade by the Assad government, as part of the Damaan Humanitarian Organization’s programme to support civilians in besieged eastern ghouta in Syria.

The project not only provided sustenance to the besieged population, it offered employment opportunities for many people.

Continue reading...

Kenya’s first coal plant construction paused in climate victory

Posted on by

Owners failed to assess environmental and community concerns, court rules, while US ambassador wades into debate in support of coal power

Kenya has been urged to halt construction of the country’s first ever coal-powered plant near the coastal town of Lamu, until an assessment is made of its environmental and cultural impact, in the latest setback to the $2bn project (£1.6bn).

Plans for the 981MW station, backed by a Chinese-led consortium, are in limbo after Kenyan judges revoked the environmental licence at the end of June. They ruled the authorities had failed to carry out a rigorous environmental assessment and to inform local people of potential impacts.

Continue reading...

‘I saw hell’: under fire inside Libya’s refugee detention centres | Sally Hayden

Posted on by

As deadly airstrikes prompt plans to release detainees, fears rise for those trapped in the country amid claims of serious abuses

Kosofo was hiding in the bathroom when a deadly airstrike ripped through the ceiling of the hall he was locked inside, in Tripoli’s Tajoura migrant detention centre last week.

“I saw the hell with my eyes. I saw things that I had seen during the Darfur war,” says the Sudanese man in his 20s, who has asked to go by a nickname for his own safety.

Continue reading...

World leaders have ‘a lot to answer for’ over damning figures on education

Posted on by

Former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark condemns complacency as Unesco data shows one in six children won’t be in school by 2030

World leaders have “a lot to answer for” as new figures reveal that governments are failing to give all children an education, and that by 2030 one in six children won’t be in school.

The former prime minister of New Zealand and advocate for education Helen Clark said the figures showed “worrisome complacency on the part of countries which, just a few years ago, were so keen to hammer out an ambitious global agenda and make it a success”.

Continue reading...

‘War on drugs’ makes Philippines fourth most dangerous country – report

Posted on by

Duterte’s violent anti-drugs operations are responsible for 75% of civilian deaths this year

President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a “war on drugs” has made the Philippines the fourth most dangerous place in the world for civilian-targeted violence, according to a report that places the country behind conflict-ridden Yemen.

The report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) identifies India as the most dangerous country, with 1,385 violent events that targeted civilians. Second place is Syria with 1,160, followed by Yemen with 500, and the Philippines with 345. It supports comments made recently by Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, who voiced concerns over ongoing human rights abuses in the Philippines and the “extraordinarily high number of deaths – and persistent reports of extrajudicial killings – in the context of campaigns against drug use”.

Continue reading...

Conflict and insecurity driving spread of diseases like Ebola, WHO chief warns

Posted on by

Deadly outbreak is ‘global wake-up call’, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells Guardian

The head of the World Health Organization has called the world’s second worst Ebola outbreak a “global wake-up call” to the escalating risk of disease outbreaks spreading from conflict areas neglected by the international community.

Only when there was “fear and panic” in the headlines did the international community put money into responding, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The real issue was a lack of day-to-day funding for preparedness to combat serious epidemics before they become regional or international threats, he said.

Continue reading...