Africa’s crises are both honing and stalling the formation of the African Standby Force (ASF) of the African Union (AU) – a quick reaction force that could eventually number about 30,000 troops to be deployed in a range of scenarios, from peacekeeping to direct military intervention.
Six months after an uprising brought down Muammar Gaddafi’s government, thousands of displaced Libyans are still living in abandoned construction sites, empty student dormitories or with host families, too afraid to return to their homes.
Vaccines against measles have been around for decades and are highly effective, yet the campaign against the disease in recent years has had a bumpy ride. The first target of the 21st century – to halve the number of deaths from measles between 1999 and 2005 – was successfully met.
The UN has presented a multi-million dollar plan to respond to humanitarian needs in Syria, but still lacks government approval to implement it.
Grantees of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria who allegedly committed fraud or misused funds unwittingly did a lot of damage to the Fund – and, many say, global health – as donors withdrew and the beleaguered organization faced a “crisis of confidence” in recent years.
A Nobel laureate, a Swedish environmentalist’s idea, the “doughnut” concept, Scandinavia’s sense of social capital, measuring the quality of life, and valuing the oceans are just some of the things trending in the run-up to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development due to be held on 20-22 June 2012.
At the edge of this busy border town, a set of old, overcrowded buildings has become a transit house for Syrians fleeing to Jordan illegally.
A government-led assessment of Syrian areas affected by unrest began yesterday with a visit to the restive city of Homs, heavily devastated by nearly a month of shelling.
One year after a popular uprising toppled its former dictator, Libya’s new transitional government has failed to provide coherent state leadership and control, analysts say.
Baswra squats on a dirty street corner in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, watching fellow Afghans walk by with packages of assistance from aid agencies. When the door to the distribution site opens, she throws herself at it, waving documents in the face of anyone who will hear her story.