News headlines in 2022, page 275

For the last three years, a retired cook in northern Burkina Faso has been providing shelter for people displaced by armed attacks in the country, where the security situation continues to deteriorate.

MADRID, Feb 04 (IPS) - Now it comes to teleworking, the double-edged, relatively recent phenomenon imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns. On the one hand, it improves work-life balance, opportunities for flexible working hours and physical activity, reduced traffic and commuting time, and a decrease in air pollution. So far so good, but…

KATHMANDU, Feb 04 (IPS) - As the omicron wave of Covid-19 rose ominously in Nepal recently, to entice more people to get tested the government reduced the cost of PCR tests from 1,000 rupees ($8.37) to 800 rupees ($6.70) in government facilities and about double that in private ones.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 04 (IPS) - A rash of military coups in Africa has resurrected a long dormant question: should leaders who take power through armed insurrections be barred from addressing the United Nations—an institution which swears by, and promotes, multi-party democracy?

To combat malnutrition and iron deficiency in Gaza and the West Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday, launched a campaign to provide support to hundreds of pregnant and nursing women.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and partners are rushing life-saving aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region, bordering Sudan and South Sudan.  

Insecurity in Burkina Faso, particularly in the region bordering Côte d’Ivoire, is pushing more people to seek safety both within and outside the country, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Friday. 

In Somalia, over 90 per cent or more of girls and women, have been subjected to female genital mutilation, or FGM. Despite the practice having devastating health ramifications for women and girls - including pain, bleeding, permanent disability and even death - discussion over how to end the harmful tradition, remains taboo.

With one in five people worldwide developing cancer during their lifetimes, prevention of the disease has become one of the most significant public health challenges of the 21st century.

NEW YORK, Feb 04 (IPS) - “Multiple overlapping crises are putting millions of girls at increased risk of female genital mutilation. “Countries already grappling with rising poverty, inequality and conflict are seeing the COVID-19 pandemic further threaten years of progress to end the practice, creating a crisis within a crisis for the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized girls.