Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING, May 31 2007 (IPS) – Chinese leaders have promised to make the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing non-smoking ambitious for this country of 360 million smokers. Never have the Games that celebrate physical fitness been held in a country more hooked on tobacco and more afflicted by smoking-related diseases.
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China s smoking population, as in so many other global rankings, is the world s biggest. Nearly 60 percent men in the country smoke and proffering cigarettes is a ritualised form of social courtesy. But the health toll from the smoking addiction is also very high an estimated 1.2 million Chinese die every year …
MIDRAND, South Africa, Nov 13 2009 (IPS) – As the Second Africa Water Week ends, participants have reiterated that lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation has a direct bearing on public health and the economy in Africa.
Podcasting Africa Water Week
Click on the links below to listen to audio reports from the week-long summit on water issues.
The South African minister for water and environmental affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, who takes over as chair of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) for the next two years, observed that cooperation on these matters will serve as a principal building block towards breaking the cycle of poverty in Africa.
She also emphasised the need for enhancing regional capacity to carry forw…