Tarjei Kidd Olsen

OSLO, Jun 3 2008 (IPS) – Millions of people are threatened by poor, unreliable, or non-existent water resources, and climate change could make things worse. IPS looked at some of the issues before participants at a World Bank conference on water and sanitation issues held in Oslo last week.
In 2008, the United Nations (U.N.) International Year of Sanitation, it is estimated that 2.16 billion people in developing countries lack that most basic of amenities a proper toilet. They do not have water conveniently pumped in and out of their homes for use in flush toilets. Many have no choice but to relieve themselves in ditches, behind the house, down the road, or at any other convenient location.

The result: widespread damage to human health and child survival prospects; social misery especially for women, the elderly and infirm; depressed economic productivity and human development; pollution to the living environment and water resources, according to…

Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Nov 12 2008 (IPS) – As the first batches of Haj pilgrims from Pakistan arrived at Saudi Arabia s Jeddah airport for the current pilgrimage season they were, regardless of age, administered oral polio vaccine (OPV).

Finger markings prove that this child has received oral polio vaccine. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Saudi Arabia, a polio-free country, is taking every precaution to prevent transmission of the crippling, paediatric disease from visitors belonging to four countries Pakistan, Nigeria, India and Afghanistan where the wild polio virus is still circulating.

Pakistanis will be administered OPV, regardless of age and vaccination status, on thei…

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 8 2010 (IPS) – As the international community readies to commemorate World Population Day Sunday, the United Nations is reviewing the state of the world s women and how they stack up against the risks of maternal mortality and the lack of universal access to reproductive health.

A pregnant woman in Timor-Leste s national hospital, where UNFPA recently supplied child delivery equipment to reduce maternal mortality. Credit: UN Photo/Martine Perret

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants 2010 to be a …

The Umgeni River system supplies drinking water to about five million people in the city of Durban, South Africa. But demand for water has outstripped supply for the past seven years. Pictured here is Howick Falls, which lies on the Umgeni River. Credit: Brendon Bosworth/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Jun 3 2014 (IPS) – South Africa’s eThekwini municipality may have come under fire from residents from proposing to purify wastewater so it can be used for drinking, but this municipality’s pragmatic approach to water management has made it one of the most progressive in Africa. 

Neil Macleod, head of water and sanitation at eThekwini municipality, which encompasses the port city of Durban, has reason to be proud of his colleagues.

The eThekwini municipality, which was created through joining smaller municipalities within Durban, the prov…