‘Perfect storm’ created for food collapse, panel hears

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science
A vegetable seller in Hanoi, Vietnam. COVID-19 disruptions have worsened hunger and receded development gains. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 26.11.2021 (SciDev.Net): Hikes in oil prices, conflicts, emerging diseases, poor governance, and disruption in supply chains due to transportation blockages during the pandemic have come together to create a potentially devastating scenario for the global food system, a panel on food security heard.

“These have created a perfect storm for global food collapse”, Fan Shenggen, chair of the academy of global food economics and policy at China Agricultural University, told an online panel hosted by SciDev.Net and its parent organisation CABI on Thursday (25 November).

Globally, food prices are up nearly 33 per cent since the same period last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s monthly food price index released on 2 September.

Continue reading →

Legal Identity for all a must

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 24.11.2021 (SciDev.Net): A strong, universal, responsive civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system is critical for Asia Pacific countries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the most vulnerable have access to healthcare, immunisation and social welfare services.

This was highlighted in the Ministerial Declaration issued at the conclusion in Bangkok of the Second Ministerial Conference on CRVS (16—19 November) in Asia and the Pacific, organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Nearly 40 per cent of global deaths in 2020 were unregistered, according to a WHO report. And preliminary WHO estimates suggest that the total global excess mortality directly or indirectly attributable to COVID-19 amounts to 1.2 million more than the reported deaths in 2020.

Continue reading →

Why did The Productivity Commission recommend the NDIS not cover Aged Care?

0 Comments read Disability, Health & Science, NDIS
John Walsh. Photo supplied by JW

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 11.11.2021 (Hireup): John Walsh, a long time former National Disability Insurance Agency board member and one of the authors of The Productivity Commission (PC) report that recommended the design of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), explains the reasons why the NDIS was geared for a specific disability cohort – and why in his opinion, it shouldn’t cover Aged Care. Walsh has lived with quadriplegia since an accident during a rugby league game in his early twenties.

NB: What was the reasoning behind limiting NDIS to under 65-year-olds?

JW: There were very clear definitional, economic and ideological reasons why the NDIS should focus on younger people with disabilities.

Continue reading →