Asia

Getting governments to cough up for DRR

AQABA, 9 May 2013 (IRIN) - Investing in preparation for potential disasters is a “no brainer”, Elizabeth Longworth, director of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), told a recent disaster risk reduction (DRR) conference in Aqaba, Jordan. full report

Analysis: The plight of LGBTI asylum seekers, refugees

 KATHMANDU, 7 May 2013 (IRIN) - Refugees and asylum seekers face a host of challenges when crossing borders, but the obstacles are particularly pronounced for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTI) persons, say experts. full report

Games, cartoons boost youth disaster preparation

 LONDON, 27 February 2013 (IRIN) - NGOs and UN agencies warn that natural disasters disproportionately affect youths and that more creative use of media is needed to help brace them for natural calamities. full report

Lack of “lube” hurts HIV prevention

 KATHMANDU, 21 February 2013 (IRIN) - Safer-sex messaging on condoms is universal but the generally poor availability of lubricants, and awareness of them, is hindering HIV prevention, health activists warn. full report

Analysis: Concern mounts over infant formula additives*

 NEW YORK, 25 January 2013 (IRIN) - Yi Lee fell for the hype. “After I saw TV ads claiming infant formula with DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] and ARA [arachidonic acid] can help with eye and brain development, I gave my baby formula,” said the 30-year-old mother in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. “Then I learned from books and doctors that breast milk is actually best.” full report

How to: Map sexual networks

 NEW YORK CITY, 30 November 2012 (IRIN) - With whom did you last have sex? When? Where? How? At crowded food stalls and in dimly lit bars, Kelvin Parker carries out what HIV researchers call “sexual networking mapping”. full report

HEALTH: TB response failing children

 JOHANNESBURG, 16 November 2012 (IRIN) - The global fight against tuberculosis (TB) has failed children: most TB programmes under-diagnose, under-treat or completely leave children with TB out, despite the increase in paediatric TB, and rising numbers of children who are infected with drug-resistant forms of TB strains, according to new research. full report

HEALTH: Urban poor missing out on vital nutrients

 NAIROBI, 12 October 2012 (IRIN) - In slums around the world, the sight of food vendors along dusty alleys, serving customers as they wave away flies, is common. Many of these consumers do not consider themselves undernourished, but experts say consuming cheap food, cooked and sold under unhygienic conditions, could be affecting the nutrition and health of many urban poor. full report

Analysis: Do subsidies improve nutrition?

 BANGKOK, 10 October 2012 (IRIN) - When food price subsidies are given to the poor, the assumption is that they improve both access and nutrition, but the impact these subsidies have on the quality of nutrition is hard to gauge, say experts. full report

CLIMATE CHANGE: Tackling the information void

 BANGKOK, 9 October 2012 (IRIN) - Services to inform communities about the climate are available in higher-income countries, but are not reaching the people most in need of them in developing countries due to lack of government investment and a disconnect between experts and communities facing extreme weather. full report