Category Health & Science

Empowering communities to become groundwater-wise

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Gender, Health & Science
From Left: Mamta, Varda Devi, Tulsi Devi Bhatt, Rukmini Devi, Hira Bai, Chanda Choubisa in Hinta Village in Udaipur District of Rajasthan (India). Photo Credit: ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Hinta and Dharta Villages (Rajasthan), 24.10.2024 (Loss and Damage Research Observatory): Tulsi Devi Bhatt, draped in an embellished purple sari and a full sleeve red kurti (top), navigates her way through the wheat fields in Hinta village in the western Indian state of Rajasthan’s Udaipur district. She is on her weekly mission to measure water level in the dug wells – the quantity of water is critical for the food security and livelihood of her community.

Hinta is part of the two multi-village, hard rock aquifer watersheds – the 6400-hectare Dharta watershed in Rajasthan and 5000-hectare Meghraj watershed in Gujarat, where MARVI – Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention – project has been instrumental in enhancing groundwater recharge and availability.

Spearheaded by the Western Sydney University in Australia, working in collaboration with seven other partners in India and elsewhere, the MARVI project is aimed at empowering farmers like Tulsi with the knowledge and tools necessary for sustainable and equitable groundwater management in their villages.

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Polio survivors face biggest fight of their lives

0 Comments read Health & Science, Poliomyelitis

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.10.2024 (SciDev.Net): Every year, 24 October is observed as World Polio Day, while the whole month is designated to raising awareness of the disease. Polio or poliomyelitis is a highly infectious, crippling and sometimes even fatal disease, which mainly affects children under five, and can be prevented with a vaccine. In 1988, the World Health Assembly, WHO’s decision-making body, committed to eradicating polio and this is close to being achieved.

The awareness day and month emphasise the importance of maintaining high immunisation coverage to protect every child from this disease and prevent it from returning. But it is also an opportunity to highlight the lifelong consequences faced by those who survived the disease and the urgent, less understood and often neglected need to invest in their medical care and rehabilitation.

Many polio survivors, including those with non-paralytic polio or undiagnosed polio, face the threat of debilitating late effects of the disease several decades after their initial illness. They are at risk of experiencing the Late Effects of Polio (LEoP) and/or its subset Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS), which can lead to decreased mobility and muscle function.

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Blue economy must benefit fishing communities in Global South: WorldFish Chief

0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science
Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed, Director-General of WorldFish and CGIAR's Senior Director of Aquatic Foods. Photo Credit: ©WorldFish

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 07.06.2024 (IPS): The Global South is crucial for ensuring aquatic food security to feed the growing world population. It is imperative that blue economy initiatives benefit fishing communities in developing and small island nations, which are facing disproportionate impacts of climate change, says Dr Essam Yassin Mohammed, Director General of WorldFish, an international non-profit research organization based in Penang, Malaysia.

“More than three billion people depend on aquatic foods as their main source of protein and micronutrients, and nearly 800 million people rely on fishing for their livelihood. The Global South produces a significant portion of the world’s aquatic food and 95 percent of the fishing workforce comes from these regions,” notes Mohammed, who is also CGIAR’s Senior Director of Aquatic Food Systems.

Growing up in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, situated on a highland plateau 2325 meters above sea level, Mohammed learned the value of food early in life. The country had recently gained independence from Ethiopia in 1991, and young children like him were motivated to contribute to the nation’s food security.

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