DHAKA, Bangladesh, Feb 14 (IPS) - With consistent, robust economic growth, countries across Asia have made monumental strides in eradicating extreme poverty over the past 30 years. In Bangladesh, for example, the population living in extreme poverty dropped from 43% in 1991 to 10.5% in 2019. Similarly in Cambodia, poverty incidence fell from 53% in 2004 to below 10% by 2016.

The impacts of climate change are already “very visible” and “happening worldwide”, the head of the UN weather agency told the start of the 55th Session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which convened on Monday.

The UN Joint SDG Fund announced on Monday an additional $54.5 million in investments for projects across five countries, to try and get the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track. 

Feb 14 (IPS) - Inequality is deadly… It contributes to the deaths of at least 21,300 people each day—or one person every four seconds. This is a “highly conservative estimate” for deaths resulting from hunger, lack of access to healthcare and climate breakdown in poor countries…

LONDON, Feb 14 (IPS) - I am not sure the world will ever forgive us for worsening vaccine inequality and treatment of Africa as bad as under colonial rule.

People have become complacent about COVID-19. Our global (health) funds are fast running out of money. Vaccine inequity is getting worse.

In the age of new communication technologies and social media, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recently announced the designation of new FM frequencies to expand radio's reach in Africa. 

As Timor-Leste prepares to choose a new president in March, Roy Trivedy, the senior UN official in the country, explains the Organization’s role in securing the vote for all citizens across the small island nation, which gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, and expresses his hopes for safe, inclusive, and transparent elections.

More than 600 family members of ISIL fighters have been repatriated from Syria to Kazakhstan over the last three years, as part of an initiative to rehabilitate women and children from the country. One formerly radicalized wife who married a member of the terrorist group, has been speaking to UN News about her regrets, and her hopes for a better future.

This year’s World Radio Day marked on Sunday, focuses on the pertinent theme of “Radio and Trust”, at a time when misinformation and disinformation are spreading, and distorting the flow of life-saving facts in relation to public health, as well as fanning hate speech. 

In Ukraine, home to heavy industry and one of the largest coal mining operations in the world, passionate women entrepreneurs are adopting new approaches to business, putting environment and people first.