News headlines in March 2019, page 5

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Mar 20 (IPS) - Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Nakuru County, situated in a remote, semi-arid part of Kenya's Rift Valley, could pass for an ordinary secondary school in any part of Africa. But ordinary it is not.

GABORONE, Botswana, Mar 20 (IPS) - Lorato Palesa Modongo* is co-founder of Teen Lead Botswana, which offers training and workshops to high school students on gender-based violence, consent, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), and leadership development.

This week, I joined thousands of activists, campaigners, thought-leaders, and change-makers in New York to advocate for women's rights and promote gender equality during the 63rd session of the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Canberra, Philadelphia and Manchester, Mar 20 (IPS) - Manoj K. Pandey is Lecturer in Economics, Australian National University; Vani S. Kulkarni is Lecturer in Sociology, University of Pennsylvania; and Raghav Gaiha is (Hon. ) Professorial Research Fellow, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.

Depression is often distinguished from other non-communicable diseases or NCDs (e.g., cancer, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, hypertension) because of the stigma attached to it. Among other consequences, those suffering from depression are often denied access to medical care. Indeed, the latter is an outcome of interaction between supply of and demand for medical care. On the provider side, stigmatizing attitudes by service providers are identified as a barrier to access. On the demand side, stigma and low mental health literacy by community members are just as emphatically reported as barriers to accessing care.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 (IPS) - Ian Richards is President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations, and an economist at UNCTAD.

A $64 million plan to move 750 back office jobs from the UN's main duty stations to four new centralized service centres in Budapest, Montreal, Nairobi and Shenzhen, could end up being a waste of money.

ROME, Mar 20 (IPS) - Awareness of Austism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has continued to grow worldwide, in recent years. But the number of diagnoses have continued to increase unabated.

ROME, Mar 19 (IPS) - Water is a precondition for human existence, and for the sustainability of our planet. It is entwined with almost everything human, from climate change and global economy to gender issues and human rights.

MEXICO CITY, Mar 19 (IPS) - Minerva Montes lost her home on Holbox Island in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Rebuilding her home was quicker and easier than overcoming the psychological aftermath of the catastrophe.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Mar 19 (IPS) - With the Washington Consensus from the 1980s being challenged, President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and China pursuing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), most notably with its own initiatives such as the multilateral Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the political and economic landscape in East Asia continues to evolve. Jomo Kwame Sundaram was interviewed about likely implications for developing countries in the region and beyond.

CONAKRY, Mar 19 (IPS) - Elhadj Mohamed Diallo was a prisoner in Libya between October and November 2017, but he was not helpless. Far from his home in Guinea he understood the power of an organised union.

WASHINGTON DC, Mar 19 (IPS) - Era Dabla-Norris is a division chief in the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, and Kalpana Kochhar is director of the IMF's Human Resources Department.

As girls, we were raised with the belief that we could accomplish anything, and that no barrier was insurmountable. Yet, for so many women, the reality doesn't quite meet their aspirations. Things weren't exactly equal in the relatively conservative middle-class society in India where we both grew up.