Posts tagged Covid-19

Child labour rampant in Bangladesh’s leather industry, study

0 Comments read Business and Trade, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 22.07.2021 (SciDev.Net): Children as young as seven years are working with hazardous chemicals, heavy machinery or carrying heavy loads, endangering their health and lives in Bangladesh’s lucrative leather industry, according to a study.

Globally, about 160 million children were subjected to child labour at the beginning of 2020, with nine million additional children at risk due to the impact of COVID-19, according to UNICEF. Almost half of them were in hazardous work that directly imperils their health and moral development, the UN children’s agency said.

The study, published this month and led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), a UK-based international development policy think tank, comes as the world marks 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.

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COVID-19 widens digital divide, but cuts e-waste

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 15.06.2021 (SciDev.Net): Consumption of electronic and electrical equipment at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic fell in low- and middle-income countries by almost a third, according to a UN report, despite a growing need to be connected with the world in lockdown.

While the reduction means that millions of tonnes of potential e-waste has been saved, it also highlights a deepening of the north-south digital divide, said the report, published 9 June by the UN University’s (UNU) Sustainable Cycles Programme (SCYCLE) and UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

The report analysed Electric and Electronic Equipment consumption during the first three quarters of 2020 as compared to the “business as usual” scenario before the pandemic and used it to estimate future e-waste. Consumption of electronic and electrical equipment at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic fell in low- and middle-income countries by almost a third, according to a UN report, despite a growing need to be connected with the world in lockdown.

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.

Air pollution a co-factor in COVID-19 mortality

0 Comments read Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.11.2020 (SciDev.Net): Long-term exposure to air pollution generated by human activity is linked to about 27 per cent of COVID-19 related deaths in East Asia, and 15 per cent mortality in South Asia and worldwide. These deaths could be largely prevented by adopting air quality regulations, says a new study.

Published in Cardiovascular Research on 27 October, the study estimates for each country the proportion of deaths from coronavirus that could be attributed to anthropogenic pollution.

Ninety-one per cent of the world’s population lives in places where air quality exceeds the World Health Organisation guideline limits. Around 2.3 billion people in the Asia Pacific region, which has some of the highest recorded levels of air pollution, are exposed to air pollution levels several times the WHO guideline for safe air.

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© Copyright Neena Bhandari. All rights reserved. Republication, copying or using information from neenabhandari.com content is expressly prohibited without the permission of the writer and the media outlet syndicating or publishing the article.