BULAWAYO, July 15 (IPS) - Every day, Yondela Kolweni has to hold down her son, who screams and fights when it is time for his daily life-saving TB tablets—a painful reminder of her battle with the world’s top infectious killer disease. “It is a fight I win feeling awful about what I have to do,” says Kolweni (30), a Cape Town resident and a TB survivor. “The tablets are bitter, and he spits them out most of the time, and that reminds me of the time I had to take the same pills.”

UNITED NATIONS, July 15 (IPS) - The latest data highlights that the world is off track to meet the targets set by the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) to achieve 90 percent global immunization coverage for essential childhood vaccines and halve the number of unvaccinated children by 2030.

The ongoing 21-month-long war in Gaza has seen more than 58,000 killed and 100,000 wounded as Israeli attacks continue amid rising numbers of child deaths from malnutrition. In recent weeks, UN agencies have recorded nearly 900 deaths of desperate and hungry Gazans as they try to collect food – with most linked to private aid hubs run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Intensifying clashes in Sudan’s Kordofan region between rival militaries have killed hundreds and wounded many more in recent days, warned the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) on Tuesday.

Global demand for meat, dairy and fish is projected to climb steadily over the next decade, driven by rising incomes and urbanisation in middle-income countries.

Inter-ethnic violence in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida has been met with government intervention, Israeli airstrikes – and on Tuesday, a reported ceasefire announcement by Syria’s defence minister.

First, it was floods that inundated fields and washed away crops. Then, it was drought which led the levels of lakes to plummet and the crops to shrivel.

Relentless missile and drone strikes by Russian forces have killed and injured hundreds of civilians in Ukraine this month, continuing a devastating pattern of attacks far from the frontlines.

Nearly 900 desperate and hungry Gazans have been killed in recent weeks trying to fetch food, with most deaths linked to private aid hubs run by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 15 (IPS) - Trump’s billionaire cronies want more monopoly profits, not competition. With more policies crafted for them, wealth concentration is set to become greater than ever.