The 2024 Flood Outlook report offers a comprehensive assessment of flood risk across the country, highlighting critical areas of concern and strategic recommendations for mitigation and preparedness. Through an analysis of historical data, climate forecasts, hydrological modeling and the report identifying varying degrees of flood risk across different regions and …
New research suggests that extreme weather events will keep people poor in many parts of the world. The authors argue that where disasters like drought are prevalent, they can be the most important cause of poverty. They say that up to 325 million people will be living in countries highly …
Over the last two years, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a private-public partnership that has reduced polio worldwide by 99% since its launch in 1988, has greatly expanded the coverage of polio vaccination in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria—the three countries where polio is still endemic and the success of …
With an eye on polio free status from the World Health Organisation next January, the Health Ministry wants travellers from seven countries — three where polio is endemic and four which have seen recent outbreaks because of virus importation — to undergo polio vaccination before entering India, much like some …
Deputy secretary general uses World Water Week address to push social and economic case for renewed efforts on sanitation The UN has called on countries to give greater urgency to sanitation, particularly efforts to end open defecation. "We must break taboos. As was the case for the word 'toilets' a …
Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4) calls for reducing the under-five mortality rate by twothirds between 1990 and 2015. The world has made substantial progress, reducing the under-five mortality rate 47 percent, from 90 (89, 92) deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 48 (46, 51) in 2012. However, …
The world's highest deforestation rate, the execution of eight environmental activists including a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and ongoing turmoil surrounding oil operations in the Niger River Delta has created a notoriously disreputable environmental record for the West African country. Now, a new threat is rising in the already-compromised forests …
India’s population will touch 1.4 billion in 2025 India will become the most populous country in the world by 2028, surpassing China, while Nigeria will have more people than the United States by 2050, a latest report has said. The World Population Prospects — The 2012 Revision, released by the …
UNFPA-IPPF initiative to fill gap in health care infrastructure. A new initiative to boost family planning services in 13 countries including India, focussing on vulnerable groups, particularly in areas affected by natural disasters and conflict, was launched on the concluding day on Thursday of the Women Deliver conference. The initiative …
Health groups said on Thursday they could rid the world of polio by 2018 with a $5.5 billion (3.5 billion pounds) vaccination and monitoring plan to stop the disease taking hold once more now there are only a handful of cases worldwide. Experts say the plan offers the best chance …
A 25-year, US$10-billion global effort has taken the number of polio cases from hundreds of thousands per year to just hundreds, but it is now struggling to stamp the virus out of its final strongholds in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, where transmission has never been interrupted. Of these, Nigeria was …
A new global plan aims to end most cases of polio by late next year, and essentially eradicate the paralyzing disease by 2018 if authorities can raise the $5.5 billion needed to do the work, health officials said. Part of the challenge will be increasing security for vaccine workers who …
Nearly 2,000 children around the globe, under the age of five, die every day from diarrhoeal diseases linked to unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene, with 24 per cent of the deaths occurring in India alone, a UN report has warned. Globally, an estimated 2,000 children under the age of …
Environmental factors contribute to 30% of Africa's disease burden and hinder the continent's development In 2006, a ship chartered by Dutch-based commodities trader Trafigura illegally unloaded 500 tonnes of toxic waste in the ports of Abidjan, the largest city in Ivory Coast. Local contractors then dumped the contents in town. …
In 2010 Médecins Sans Frontières discovered a lead poisoning outbreak linked to artisanal gold processing in northwestern Nigeria. The outbreak has killed ~400 young children and affected thousands more. The objective of the study was to undertake an interdisciplinary geological and healthscience assessment to clarify lead sources and exposure pathways, …
Rapid cropland expansion is the main cause of biodiversity loss in tropical countries, a study by UNEP's (the UN Environment Programme) World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative has found. The study, published in PLOS ONE last month (9 January), highlights maize and soybean as the most expansive …
The world’s climate is changing and will continue to change in the coming century at rates projected to be unprecedented in recent human history. The risks associated with these changes are real but highly uncertain. Societal vulnerability to the risks associated with climate change may exacerbate ongoing social and economic …
A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that Royal Dutch Shell can be held partially responsible for pollution in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, saying the company should have prevented sabotage at one of its facilities. The district court in The Hague ordered Shell to pay unspecified damages to one …
Nigeria will release funds this week to tackle the world's worst lead poisoning outbreak which has killed at least 400 children, a senator said on Monday, ending months of official inaction in which 1,500 more children were put at risk. In May last year the government pledged 850 million naira …
Growing mounds of electronic scrap can mean profits or scandals. Poor countries have long been a popular destination for the rich world’s toxic trash. In 1987 an Italian importer sparked international outrage by dumping 8,000 leaky barrels in the Nigerian village of Koko. On January 9th Nigeria fined importers $1m …
Nigeria and Ghana have recently introduced a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the aim of moving towards universal health care using more equitable financing mechanisms. This study compares health and economic indicators, describes the structure of each country’s NHIS within the wider healthcare system, and analyses impacts on equity …
