News headlines in March 2023, page 7

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Mar 23 (IPS) - Over a million children in Burkina Faso are currently affected by school closures with 6,134 academic institutions shut as of February 2023, an increase of over 40 per cent since the end of the last school year.

SYDNEY, Mar 23 (IPS) - Elaine Pearson is Asia director at Human Rights Watch“The physical torture was merciless,” said one man, “so we had no option but to present ourselves to the court based on demands and their statements.”

ACRA, Mar 23 (IPS) - Poverty alleviation policies, especially cash transfers, will not only improve the poor condition of the beneficiaries but can also play a role in strengthening the psychological health of people as well as improve the mental health of those living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICS), including Africa, a new study has said.

On the penultimate day of the United Nations Water Conference, two UN agencies announced several potentially game-changing commitments that could enable countries to quickly gather data on the state of their water resources, and boost efficiency of water use for more sustainable agriculture practices. 

For the first time in more than a decade, the number of people dying from tuberculosis (TB) rose last year due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts and other crises, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

A growing crisis is pushing a higher number of people into hunger in Haiti, the UN food agency warned on Thursday.

The head of the UN World Health Organization on Thursday spoke out forcefully against “misinformation on social media and in the mainstream media” which has falsely alleged that a new global pandemic accord being negotiated, would allow the WHO to override national sovereignty relating to a future outbreak.

Southern African countries hit hard by tropical Cyclone Freddy are reeling from disease outbreaks, with health services stretched to the limit, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Renewed diplomatic attention on Syria, and the suffering of its people following the recent deadly earthquake, create new obligations and opportunities to forge lasting peace, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Thursday. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, seeking support for action on climate change, sustainable development and addressing the ongoing challenges linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.