News headlines in February 2020

NEW DELHI, Feb 28 (IPS) - Paradoxically, when the number of people suffering from undernourishment or hunger has risen in the world, so, too, have those afflicted by overweight and obesity.

Latin America's second largest economy, Mexico, for instance, is currently battling one of the world's largest epidemics of obesity and its success is bound to be emulated by countries of the South.

The numbers involved are staggering. The director-general of the National Institute of Public Health, Dr Juan Rivera told the Financial Times that "seventy five percent of adults and 35 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese… The State has a duty to protect public health."

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28 (IPS) - Just a month since the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus a public health emergencyit is now taking steps to contain misinformation being spread about the disease. Globally, there have been more than 82,000 cases of Coronaviruswhich has claimed 2,800 lives -- the majority being in China, where the disease has been traced to.

SILVER SPRING, Maryland, USA, Feb 28 (IPS) - Souylemane Samb sits under a crowded tent on a hot Senegalese day. He wears a canvas vest with Trees for the Future printed across the back.

CARACAS/BOGOTA/BRUSSELS, Feb 28 (IPS) - Power in Venezuela is slipping away from state institutions and concentrating in the hands of criminals, guerrillas and other non-state actors. Any new negotiations between government and opposition must consider how to defang these armed irregulars, who might otherwise scuttle an eventual settlement.

MILAN, Italy, Feb 27 (IPS) - Hello! Are you Italian?
No, I'm from Nepal.
Ops.

Kaji Bista is the staff manager of the Ev-K2-CNR's innovative Pyramid International Laboratory/Observatory (known as the Italian Pyramid) at 5,050 m a.s.l. located in Lobouche.

NGWEMPISI, Eswatini, Feb 27 (IPS) - In the southern African nation of Eswatini, women, who already have too many household chores, have had to spend many hours for days on end in the fields, tilling and weeding the soil. But thanks to the gradual introduction of Climate-Smart Agriculture, some are beginning to harvest the gains of more time for their families.

LUSAKA, Zambia, Feb 27 (IPS) - The Mutwales farm a small plot of land in the camp, growing primarily cassava and maize for food. They are also one of the 105 refugee farming families participating in an initiative during the 2019/2020 growing season to help them cultivate nutritious, vitamin A-biofortified orange maize, which was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in partnership with HarvestPlus.

NAIROBI, Feb 27 (IPS) - Grief over the loss of a child poses a threat to public health in Sub-Saharan Africa, as nearly two-thirds of mothers in some countries suffer the death of at least one child, a study has found.

PORT OF SPAIN, Feb 26 (IPS) - The Environmental Defence Fund and its partners in conservation are this month celebrating a major milestone in Belize's efforts to safeguard its fisheries.

ABUJA, Feb 25 (IPS) - Recently, Nigerian feminist author Ukamaka Olisakwe spoke about her post-partum depression after giving birth in the city of Aba, southeast Nigeria. This follows her 2019 Longreads essay, in which she narrated painful details of her experience.