ROME, Feb 10 (IPS) - Reducing poverty and inequalities, eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition and achieve food insecurity for all – these are some of the most important objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Still, the rate of poverty and inequalities is increasing and over 820 million people are going hungry. In addition, 2 billion people in the world are food insecure with great risk of malnutrition and poor health.

This alarming situation is further aggravated by current trends such as the rate of population growth, impacts of climate change, loss of biodiversity, soil degradation and many others.

Transition to more sustainable food systems can provide adequate solutions to all these challenges.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb 10 (IPS) - In the wake of the latest coronavirus outbreak, movie buffs are drawing an eerie parallel with the film Contagion, a 2011 thriller based on a lethal airborne virus called Nipah and how the world's medical community battled to find a cure for the pandemic.

STOCKHOLM / ROME, Feb 10 (IPS) - Humans belong to a species that is constantly on the move . Since some Homo Sapiens 125,000 years ago began to move from the African continent, humans can be found all over the world, even in such utterly inhospitable places as the icebound plateaus of Antarctica.

By moving, humans have tried to escape inadequate food-supply or otherwise unacceptable living conditions.

Natural forces have forced them to leave, or even more commonly – violent actions by other humans. With them migrants have brought their means of expression and interaction, some of them expressed through their art.

NEW YORK, Feb 07 (IPS) - I soiled my pants, I could feel the wetness seeping into my waistband, my eyes started to become blurry. Only the sound of the blaring television assured me that I was still alive. I tried to stop thinking and make my mind go completely blank.

Over the years I have adapted and now I can make my mind go numb. But the only nagging question ringing on my mind during the last 45 seconds was: will this stain the carpet? Should I clean myself first or should I clean the carpet first? Which one is safer? Did he notice the stain?

WASHINGTON DC, Feb 07 (IPS) - The Caribbean economies have long recognized the value of working together. Improving regional integration—for instance, through more intraregional trade and policy coordination—can help the region's small-size economies build greater resilience and scale, as well as enhance bargaining power on the global stage.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 07 (IPS) - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is appealing for $683million in their mission to address sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls in conflict areas in the world. 

LONDON, Feb 07 (IPS) - Low- and middle-income countries could see an 80 per cent rise in cancer over the next 20 years if treatment and prevention services are not stepped up, according to the latest World Cancer Report.

ROME, Feb 06 (IPS) - The Education Relief Foundation (ERF), jointly with the Republic of Djibouti, convened the III ForumBIE 2030 on Balanced and Inclusive Education On January 27-29 2020.

This third ForumBIE 2030, with the overall aim to develop strategies for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on inclusive and equitable quality education, concluded with the signing of the Universal Declaration on Balanced and Inclusive Education, which established a new international organization : 'Organization for Educational Cooperation'.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 06 (IPS) - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) poses serious risks to the health and well-being of women and girls, but it also exacts a crippling economic toll, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

BULAWAYO, Feb 06 (IPS) - Nearly half of Zimbabwe's population -- some 8 million people -- face food insecurity. Yet in food and vegetable markets across the country wastage is high as piles of once-nutritious vegetables rot.

Piles and piles of rotting vegetables at food markets situated right in Zimbabwe's central business district would elsewhere be viewed as a sign of plenty.

But the Southern African nation has not been spared the irony of food wastage at a time of food shortages.