Women carry belongings salvaged from their flooded home after monsoon rains, in the Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh Province, of Pakistan, 6 September 2022. The war in Ukraine, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and climate change are putting intense pressure on the world's poorest, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned. Photo: Fareed Khan / AP Photo

OECD: Russia war, COVID virus, and climate hurting world’s poorest – “We are in an era defined by multiple crises, shocks, and uncertainty″

By Paul Wiseman 19 September 2022 WASHINGTON (AP) – Russia’s war against Ukraine, the lingering coronavirus pandemic and the damage of climate change are putting intense pressure on the world’s poorest, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Monday. [States of Fragility 2022 –Des] The Paris-based OECD reported that 60 states, territories and locations […]

Sadness, Stress, and Worry scores for Afghanistan, 2008-2021. In 2021, Sadness, Stress and Worry hit record-high Levels in Afghanistan. Graphic: Gallup

Who are the unhappiest people in the world? In Afghanistan and Lebanon, more people live in misery than anywhere else on the planet

By Julie Ray 8 September 2022 (Gallup) – Unhappiness continued to rise worldwide in 2021, as the world overall became a sadder, more worried and more stressed-out place. But in two countries — Afghanistan and Lebanon — more people were living in misery than anywhere else on the planet. Last year, Afghanistan and Lebanon posted […]

Boat operators, who have come from miles around to work as ferrymen in submerged areas, use power lines as navigation landmarks in Dadu, Pakistan, on Tuesday, 13 September 2022. They have become a lifeline for residents who are trying to save the livestock and belongings that were not washed away by floodwaters. Photo: Kiana Hayeri / The New York Times

In Pakistan’s record floods, villages are now desperate islands – WHO warns of soaring water-borne diseases – “Even the goats are sick”

ISLAMABAD, 18 September 2022 (Press Trust of India) – The World Health Organisation has expressed fears about an impending second disaster of water-borne diseases in Pakistan in the wake of devastating floods that has wreaked havoc in several parts of the country. In a statement issued by the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the global health watchdog said that water supply […]

Global Human Development Index, 1990-2021. In 2021, the global Human Development Index value had declined two years in a row, erasing the gains of the preceding five years. The periods of the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are indicated. Graphic: UNDP

Human Development Report 2022: For the first time, the Global Human Development Index declined for two years in a row, erasing the gains of the preceding five years – “The world is scrambling to respond to back-to-back crises”

NEW YORK, 8 September 2022 (UNDP) – The world is lurching from crisis to crisis, trapped in a cycle of firefighting and unable to tackle the roots of the troubles that confront us. Without a sharp change of course, we may be heading towards even more deprivations and injustices, warns the United Nations Development Programme […]

The grave marker of Matthew and Catherine King, who died in 1932 and 1947 respectively, catches broken light on Wednesday, 27 October 2021, against turning leaves at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, signaling the Autumn season. Photo: Christian Gooden / St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Missouri life expectancy fell to a 40-year low in 2021 – “Record opioid overdose deaths and sharp increases in COVID-19 deaths among persons under age 65 contributed to the decrease in life expectancy”

By Jack Suntrup 13 September 2022 JEFFERSON CITY (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) – Missouri’s life expectancy fell again last year as the state recorded an increase in COVID-19 deaths among younger patients and record opioid overdose deaths. Overall, life expectancy dropped to 74.6 years last year, down from 75 years the year before, according to a […]

The carcasses of goats lie in the sand on the outskirts of Dollow, Somalia, after four failed rainy seasons have driven millions of people to the brink of famine. Photo: Hayden / ZUMA Wire / IMAGO

“Pending nightmare” in Somalia with millions at risk of starvation – “Tens of thousands of people will already have died by the time we declare a famine”

By Sertan Sanderson 14 September 2022 (DW) – A humanitarian catastrophe is imminent in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. That’s the joint assessment of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), following months of food security assessments. The number of people in dire […]

Local residents cross a portion of road destroyed by floodwaters in Kalam Valley in northern Pakistan, Sunday, 4 September 2022. More than 1,300 people have died and millions have lost their homes in flooding caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan this year that many experts have blamed on climate change. Photo: Sherin Zada / AP Photo

Pakistan floods villages to save a city – Damage estimated at $10 billion – “The scale of devastation is massive and requires an immense humanitarian response for 33 million people”

By Zarar Khan 4 September 2022 ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistani engineers cut into an embankment for one of the country’s largest lakes on Sunday to release rising waters in the hopes of saving a nearby city and town from flooding as officials predicted more monsoon rain was on the way for the country’s already devastated […]

Men haul loads through floodwaters in a flooded village in Matiari, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Photo: Asad Zaidi / UNICEF

More than 6.4 million in dire need after unprecedented floods in Pakistan – 1.1 million houses washed away – “18,000 schools have been destroyed and thousands of schools are now fully shuttered”

2 September 2022 (UN) – The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is unprecedented, with a third of the country under water, UN humanitarians warned on Friday. With more than 33 million people impacted, that represents 15 per cent of the total Pakistani population, said Dr. Palitha Mahipala, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in […]

U.S. life expectancy at birth, 1900-2021. Data: CDC. Graphic: Datawrapper

U.S. life expectancy plunged again in 2021, down nearly a year – Last comparable decrease was during height of World War II – “It’s a dismal situation. It was bad before and it’s gotten worse.”

By Mike Stobbe 30 August 2022 NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday [Provisional Life Expectancy Estimates for 2021 –Des]. In the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the estimated American […]

Three-wheelers queue to buy petrol due to fuel shortage, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 5 July 2022. Dinuka Liyanawatte / REUTERS

World Bank calls for sovereign debt changes ahead of looming crises – “There are more Sri Lankas on the way”

By Marc Jones 28 June 2022 LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) – A senior official at the World Bank has ramped up its calls for changes in sovereign debt laws so governments have more control when crises strike and they have to restructure their debt. World Bank economists estimate that low- and middle-income economies owe a […]

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