By Zipporah Musau

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – In the fight for gender equality, women around the world have advanced in small and large ways. Yet for women in Africa, progress is measured in micro steps, and the struggle has a long way to go. 

The good news is that women’s representation in political decision making has been on the rise globally. The not-so-good news is that the increase has been stubbornly slow, barely 1% in 2018 compared with the previous year. In 2018 the number of women ministers worldwide reached an all-time high at 20.7% (812 out of 3922).…

By Baboki Kayawe*

GABORONE (IDN-INPS) – Bogolo Kenewendo describes herself as having been “an ordinary Botswana child with an ordinary upbringing”. Kenewendo, poised and focused beyond her years, is being modest. At 32, she is Botswana’s youngest minister, in charge of investment, trade and industry.

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, specializing in macroeconomic policy, public debt management, export development and other trade-related fields.…

By Ronald Joshua

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development, according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) scheduled to be realized by 2030. Goal 3 cannot however be achieved as long as people have to pay for medicines out-of-pocket and fall into poverty. This happens to 100 million each year.

With this in view, Dr Mariângela Simão, Assistant Director General for Medicines and Health Products at the World Health Organization (WHO) says: “Medical innovation has little social value if most people cannot access its benefits,” adding: “This is a global human rights issue – everyone has a right to access quality healthcare.”…

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | ROME (IDN) – While clock is ticking to reboot agriculture as secondary growing season is .already underway, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has started distribution of much-needed seeds and tools in cyclone-ravaged Mozambique.

Nearly three weeks after the Tropical Cyclone Idai, which was one of the worst long-lived storms on record, that caused catastrophic damage in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, farmers in Mozambique have started to receive much-needed agricultural inputs.…