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India has recorded more than 127,000 fresh cases of leprosy in 2011-12. Junior Health Minister Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the state of Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 24,627 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 17,892 cases and Bihar, with 17,801. According to the Waorld Health Organization (WHO), India accounted for 54% of the total number of leprosy cases detected worldwide in 2010, which came to 228,474.
The Philippine government’s state-run breast milk bank is intensifying collection efforts to boost breastfeeding among the poor and help women return to work immediately after giving birth if they want to do so. Hundreds of women come to deliver their babies at the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, the busiest maternity institution in Manila, the capital, where more than 12 million people live. Many women are barely able to afford even the minimal payment and, to help cover their costs, some of them donate breast milk to the hospital’s milk bank, which is used to feed babies whose mothers have lactation problems.
The international media jumped at the lower output forecasts for US maize and soybeans and wheat from Russia in 2012/13 as evidence that a food crisis is almost certainly on the way. But a range of economists and food experts also warne against overreaction that could create panic, causing governments to apply export controls that would restrict supplies of grains. This would affect markets and push prices still higher, they say.
The international media jumped at the lower output forecasts for US maize and soybeans and wheat from Russia in 2012/13 as evidence that a food crisis is almost certainly on the way. But a range of economists and food experts also warne against overreaction that could create panic, causing governments to apply export controls that would restrict supplies of grains. This would affect markets and push prices still higher, they say.
Fewer Filipinos have been tying the knot in the past decade as marriage has taken a low priority for courting couples because of rising poverty. The recent National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Report on the declining number of marriages from 2001 to 2010, particularly church weddings, was “only a manifestation of the poverty and helplessness of the majority in our country today,” said Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco.
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd has launched an initiative to support women and children experiencing domestic abuse. The numbers are shocking. In Taiwan, in 2008 alone, there were 75,438 cases known to the government. In 2009, the number rose to 83,728; in 2010, to 98,720. Approaching women and their children who are victims of domestic violence, giving them the courage to denounce their men and also assisting in psychological terms to help them create a new and safer life are among their tasks. This is the support service recently started by the Sisters, which has now become a documentary, to raise public awareness of family violence and encourage the public to be aware of their right to a safe and secure existence.
Twenty years ago, a 12-year-old girl stood before government officials from most of the world’s countries and pleaded for her future. Worried about pollution and overuse of natural resources on her finite planet, she begged: “If you don’t know how to fix it, please don’t break it!” The occasion was the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which ended with the world’s countries committing – at least on paper – to make environmental concerns a priority and eliminate unsustainable forms of production and consumption. Above all, delegates agreed that development must not jeopardize the welfare of future generations. Another go at sustainability: Canadian Severn Cullis-Suzuki, who pleaded on behalf of her generation in 1992, returned to Rio in late June for the Rio+20 Summit.
Recently, UNICEF released its latest annual report, titled “The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World,” which examines the plight of children and young people living in urban environments. A rather cold, aseptic foreword, considers the scandalous reality that emerges from the report. Reading through it, we perceive, beyond the numbers, the suffering of millions of children, their tears, and their cries for help. This data should upset us and commit us to the pursuit of radical change.
The murder of infants, particularly girls, by poverty-stricken parents in Pakistan appears to be on the rise. Late at night some months ago in a village in Pakistan’s Punjab Province, the parents of a two-day-old infant girl smothered the child, and then buried her tiny body in a distant field, carefully patting down the soil to hide any signs of digging. The mother cries often and says she still has nightmares about the event. Suriya Bibi, a ‘dai’ or traditional midwife from the village, says: “I myself cried. I had delivered the baby and she was perfectly healthy. But her parents had two daughters already, and felt they couldn’t afford another. The father, a laborer, earned only 4,000 rupees (US$46.50) a month, and I know those people ate just once a day.”
Natural disasters in Asia in 2011 could be the costliest ever, experts say. “Never before has this world suffered so much economic loss due to natural disasters, most of which have been in Asia and the Pacific,” said Sanjay Srivastava, UN regional adviser for disaster risk reduction. Of the global US$270 billion of economic losses to natural disasters in 2011, 90% were in Asia.
