Tread Softly

11/5/2023: A recent study has found that in the five-year period between 2021 and 2025, the Amazon could lose half the total forest cover it lost in the previous 20 years.  Experts say the Amazon Rainforest is currently experiencing this pessimistic scenario.

Source: Mongabay

7/5/2023: Germany has made democracy and human rights the centerpiece of its foreign policy. However, denouncing nations that don't check the values box, such as China, leads to criticism from domestic business interests.

Source: DW

5/5/2023: Nigeria spends a quarter of its budget on a regressive fuel subsidy. Removing it and distributing the savings can help the poorest. A defining moment for Nigerians could come after the swearing-in of Nigeria’s new president on 29 May.

Source: African Arguments

3/5/2023: The 2023 Global Report on Food Crises finds that 258 million people in 58 countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2022, a jump of about 33% from the previous year.  The world is wildly off track for achieving its goal of zero hunger by the end of this decade.

Source: Devex

24/4/2023: The pandemic saw essential immunization levels decrease in over 100 countries, leading to outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, polio and yellow fever. Global and national health partners have joined forces to boost vaccination among children.

Source: World Health Organization

21/4/2023: The World Health Organization's new mRNA vaccine technology facility in Cape Town plans to offer equitable access to COVID-19, malaria and HIV/AIDs vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted major disparities in access to health care in different parts of the world.

Source: DW

12/4/2023: Arms sales have been booming for years, thanks to the many flashpoints all over the world. But this trend came to a halt in 2022 — albeit only temporarily. This is according to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Source: DW