rights

Abortion access under threat in Milei's Argentina

BY SONIA AVALOS

  • REDAAS, a network of health professionals and rights experts that monitors access to abortion, warned of growing disinformation and stigmatization of women who seek terminations, as well as the health professionals who perform them.
  • Four years after Argentina became the first big Latin American country to legalize abortion, women are finding it hard to access terminations due to President Javier Milei's "chainsaw" economics and anti-feminist diatribes, critics say.
  • REDAAS, a network of health professionals and rights experts that monitors access to abortion, warned of growing disinformation and stigmatization of women who seek terminations, as well as the health professionals who perform them.
Four years after Argentina became the first big Latin American country to legalize abortion, women are finding it hard to access terminations due to President Javier Milei's "chainsaw" economics and anti-feminist diatribes, critics say.
At a women's sexual health NGO in the town of Chivilcoy, 160 kilometers (about 100 miles) west of Buenos Aires, abortion pills are handed out sparingly because of reduced state-sponsored supplies.
Each week, about 15 women in Chivilcoy request misoprostol and mifepristone -- two medications used to end pregnancy -- but some now leave empty-handed, Cecilia Robledo, a local councilor who runs the organization, told AFP by telephone. 
Health centers and family planning clinics in several provinces have reported shortages of abortion pills and condoms following drastic cuts to the national sexual health program.
Supplies fell nearly 65 percent in the 12 months to September 2024, official statistics show.
In the 11 years that she has been advising women about unplanned pregnancies, Robledo said she has had to navigate "a lot of obstacles, but never such brutal cuts."
Milei, a fervent admirer of US counterpart Donald Trump, has also cut funding for a program credited with halving the number of teen pregnancies between 2017 and 2023, especially in the poorer provinces of Argentina's northwest.
Provincial governments were left to pick up the tab for the program, despite their own funding from the central government being reduced.
The result, according to Robledo, has been an increase in the number of women requesting repeat abortions.

'No hay plata'

Milei, who campaigned for the presidency with a chainsaw in hand to show his determination to slash public spending, has a stock response to complaints about budget cuts.
"No hay plata (there's no money)," says the maverick economist, who prides himself on taming inflation and turning Argentina's first budget surplus in more than a decade last year.
But he has also been vocal in his opposition to abortions.
At the World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos in January, he lashed out at "radical feminism" and "wokeism," accusing "these groups" of being "promoters of the bloody, murderous abortion agenda."
His government insists it has no plans to repeal the 2021 abortion law, and a bill proposed by a member of Milei's party last year received no backing.
But as Lala Pasquinelli, a lawyer and feminist activist, pointed out, even if the law remains on the statute books, Argentines could lose the right to end a pregnancy "in practice" because of a lack of funding.
REDAAS, a network of health professionals and rights experts that monitors access to abortion, warned of growing disinformation and stigmatization of women who seek terminations, as well as the health professionals who perform them.
Robledo said the stigma was evident in the reasons women cite for requesting abortions. 
Until 2023, most cited life choices, but now put forward economic reasons, she said.
Doctors in several cities already refuse to perform abortions on conscience grounds, as allowed by law. 

Ideological battle

Activists say the scrapping of price controls on medicine is further squeezing women who increasingly have to pay out of pocket for abortion pills.
"This government's policies are hitting women the hardest," said Patricia Luppi, one of hundreds of feminists who attended a meeting this week to plan an International Women's Day march in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Beyond reduced abortion access, feminists also reject government cuts to programs to protect victims of gender violence, and plans to scrap stiffer jail terms for murders qualified as femicides.
"This is not an economic issue, it's an ideological issue," activist Marta Alanis said.
"They are against all the strides made by feminists."
sa-pblc/cb/mlr/des

LGBTQ

California's Democratic governor says trans women in sports 'unfair'

  • He has also moved to ban transgender service members from the military and block transgender athletes from competing in women's school and university sports.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed opposition Wednesday to transgender women competing in women's sports, becoming the highest profile Democrat to break from the party's stance on trans rights.
  • He has also moved to ban transgender service members from the military and block transgender athletes from competing in women's school and university sports.
California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed opposition Wednesday to transgender women competing in women's sports, becoming the highest profile Democrat to break from the party's stance on trans rights.
The governor discussed the matter, a key Republican talking point, in the first episode of his new podcast featuring popular conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
"It is an issue of fairness, it's deeply unfair," said Newsom, who is widely believed to be considering a run for president in 2028.
Noting he was a father of two daughters and a former college baseball player himself, Newsom said: "I revere sports, and so the issue of fairness is completely legit."
"But I saw you guys were able to weaponize that issue," Newsom told Kirk, who took offense to the phrasing, prompting the governor to say "highlight" the issue instead.
He said that a California law permitting people to compete in sports of their preferred gender had been passed in 2014, before his term, but did not call for it to be repealed.
Transgender issues were a frequent attack line by Trump in his successful campaign against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, with one of his most frequent television ads centered on the topic.
In his first days as president, Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting transgender rights, such as by mandating government recognition of only two sexes, male and female.
He has also moved to ban transgender service members from the military and block transgender athletes from competing in women's school and university sports.
Newsom, while affirming the question of fairness, also urged in his podcast for the issue to be discussed with "humility and grace."
"You know that these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with as well."
A study by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, estimates that there are 1.6 million people over the age of 13 who identify as transgender in the United States.
bur-rle/des/md

animal

Chunky canines: Study reveals dog obesity gene shared by humans

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • Second, the study allowed researchers to quantify genetic risk for obesity in individual dogs -- and the level of effort required to keep them at a healthy weight.
  • Obesity is on the rise not just in humans but in dogs, whose history of selective breeding makes them an ideal species for studying the balance between genetics, diet, and lifestyle in weight gain.
  • Second, the study allowed researchers to quantify genetic risk for obesity in individual dogs -- and the level of effort required to keep them at a healthy weight.
Obesity is on the rise not just in humans but in dogs, whose history of selective breeding makes them an ideal species for studying the balance between genetics, diet, and lifestyle in weight gain.
In a new paper published Thursday in Science, researchers identified a gene strongly linked to obesity in pet pooches -- and found it is also associated with weight gain in humans.
"The prevailing attitude towards obesity is that people are just a bit rubbish about controlling what they eat, whereas actually, our data shows that if you're a high-risk individual, it takes more effort to keep you slim," lead author Eleanor Raffan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge's Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience, told AFP.
A veterinarian as well as a scientist, Raffan has long sought to study animal genetics to uncover broader biological insights that apply across species, including our own.
For this study, she and her colleagues focused on British Labrador Retrievers.
"Anyone who knows dogs will understand that starting with Labradors is a good idea because they're very prone to getting obese," she said. "They've got this reputation for being really foodie dogs, really obsessed by food."
The team collected slobber samples from 241 dogs and conducted a genome-wide association study, which examines an organism's entire set of genes to identify areas linked to a specific trait.
The top five genes were also present in humans, with the one exerting the strongest influence called DENND1B.
They also assessed how much the dogs pestered their owners for food and whether they were fussy eaters.
"Low-risk dogs tended to remain a healthy weight, irrespective of how their owners managed their food and exercise," said Raffan. "But if you were a high-genetic-risk dog, then if your owners were complacent about diet and exercise, you were likely to get really, really overweight."
For Raffan, the study has two major takeaways.
First, it sheds new light on how DENND1B affects a brain pathway responsible for regulating energy balance and appetite. Known as the leptin-melanocortin pathway, this system is a key target for some anti-obesity drugs.
"Only by understanding biology and the nuances of it can we possibly improve our treatment and management of obesity," she said.
Second, the study allowed researchers to quantify genetic risk for obesity in individual dogs -- and the level of effort required to keep them at a healthy weight. This is easier to measure in dogs than in humans, since their diet and exercise are entirely controlled by their owners.
"We shouldn't be rude to owners of overweight dogs," Raffan emphasized.
"It's not that they're hopeless individuals who don't care about their pets. It's just that they've got animals who persistently seek out opportunities to eat, and just a little bit extra every day is enough to cause weight gain over time."
ia/des

violence

Racked by violence, Haiti faces 'humanitarian catastrophe': MSF

  • Armed groups now control 85 percent of the capital, according to UNICEF. With an estimated one million people forced from their homes by violence, there are fears of disease outbreaks in makeshift camps for the displaced.
  • Haiti is facing a "humanitarian catastrophe" as it reels from a surge in violence that is forcing people from their homes and pushing overstretched health facilities to the brink, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday.
  • Armed groups now control 85 percent of the capital, according to UNICEF. With an estimated one million people forced from their homes by violence, there are fears of disease outbreaks in makeshift camps for the displaced.
Haiti is facing a "humanitarian catastrophe" as it reels from a surge in violence that is forcing people from their homes and pushing overstretched health facilities to the brink, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Thursday.
The crisis-torn Caribbean nation has seen new unrest in recent weeks as gangs battle police for territory, leading United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups to warn last month of a "wave of extreme brutality" sweeping the country.
The fighting has left civilians trapped in the crossfire, overwhelmed hospitals and raised fears of a new cholera epidemic in a nation devastated by the disease in the 2010s, MSF said.
Last week, the medical aid group's teams treated 90 victims of violence -- double the usual number -- at its emergency center in the Turgeau neighborhood of capital Port-au-Prince, it said.
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, was plunged into fresh unrest last year when gangs launched coordinated attacks in Port-au-Prince, to force then-prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.
The interim government and a Kenya-led UN force have struggled to restore order. Armed groups now control 85 percent of the capital, according to UNICEF.
With an estimated one million people forced from their homes by violence, there are fears of disease outbreaks in makeshift camps for the displaced.
"The scale of this crisis far exceeds what MSF can respond to alone," the group's mission chief in Haiti, Christophe Garnier, said in a statement.
With the rainy season approaching, sanitation conditions are only worsening, MSF said.
"Without urgent action, the situation will turn into a humanitarian catastrophe," said Garnier.
sdu-jhb/mlm

court

Acquittal of Fukushima operator ex-bosses finalised

  • In March 2011, a massive tsunami swamped the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Japan's northeastern coast after an undersea 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the country's strongest in recorded history.
  • Japan's top court said Thursday it had finalised the acquittal of two former executives from the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant charged with professional negligence over the 2011 meltdown.
  • In March 2011, a massive tsunami swamped the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Japan's northeastern coast after an undersea 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the country's strongest in recorded history.
Japan's top court said Thursday it had finalised the acquittal of two former executives from the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant charged with professional negligence over the 2011 meltdown.
The decision concludes the only criminal trial to arise from the plant's 2011 tsunami-triggered accident, the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
Ichiro Takekuro and Sakae Muto, formerly vice presidents of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), had been accused of liability for the deaths of more than 40 hospitalised patients, who had to be evacuated following the nuclear disaster.
Former chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, who died last year, had also faced the same charges.
The men had faced up to five years in prison if convicted.
But the Tokyo District Court ruled in 2019 that the men could not have predicted the scale of the tsunami that hit the plant.
That verdict was upheld by the Tokyo High Court in 2023, but an appeal was then filed.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday "dismissed the prosecutors' appeals regarding Takekuro and Muto", a top court spokesman told AFP.
"Katsumata's public prosecution was dismissed in November" after his death, he added.
In March 2011, a massive tsunami swamped the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Japan's northeastern coast after an undersea 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the country's strongest in recorded history.
The tsunami left 18,500 people dead or missing.
But no one was recorded as having been directly killed by the nuclear accident, which forced evacuations and left parts of the surrounding area uninhabitable.
Despite the non-guilty criminal court verdict, in a July 2022 verdict in a separate civil case, the same three men and another were ordered to pay a whopping 13.3 trillion yen ($90 billion) for failing to prevent the disaster.
Lawyers have said the enormous compensation sum was believed to be the largest amount ever awarded in a civil lawsuit in Japan -- although they admit that is symbolic, as it is well beyond the defendants' capacity to pay.
kh/kaf/stu/pjm

aid

Rohingya refugee food aid to be halved from next month: UN

  • But WFP's Kun Li said that the United States remained a donor for Rohingya aid and the ration cuts reflected a "funding gap across multiple sources".
  • Rations will be halved for around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds, the United Nations food agency has said.
  • But WFP's Kun Li said that the United States remained a donor for Rohingya aid and the ration cuts reflected a "funding gap across multiple sources".
Rations will be halved for around one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from next month due to a lack of funds, the United Nations food agency has said.
Huge numbers of the persecuted and stateless Rohingya community live in squalid relief camps in Bangladesh, most arriving after having fled from a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.
Successive aid cuts have already caused severe hardship among Rohingya in the overcrowded settlements, who are reliant on aid and suffer from rampant malnutrition.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a letter on Wednesday that "severe funding shortfalls" had forced a cut in monthly food vouchers from $12.50 to $6.00 per person.
"Unfortunately, we have still not received sufficient funding, and cost-saving measures alone are not enough," the letter said.
Md. Shamsud Douza of Bangladesh's refugee agency told AFP that his office would meet community leaders next week to discuss the cuts.
A decision by US President Donald Trump's administration to make drastic cuts to foreign aid has sent shockwaves through humanitarian initiatives worldwide.
But WFP's Kun Li said that the United States remained a donor for Rohingya aid and the ration cuts reflected a "funding gap across multiple sources".
Funds raised were only half the $852 million sought by foreign aid agencies, she told AFP.
Wednesday's letter comes days before a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is slated to meet Rohingya refugees to mark the annual Muslim Ramadan fast. 
The 2017 crackdown in Myanmar -- now the subject of a UN genocide investigation -- sent around 750,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.
Bangladesh has struggled to support its refugee population. The prospects of a wholesale return to Myanmar or resettlement elsewhere are remote.
Rohingya living in the camps around Cox's Bazar are not allowed to seek employment and are almost entirely dependent on limited humanitarian aid to survive.
Large numbers of refugees have attempted hazardous sea crossings in an effort to find a better life away from the camps, including more than 250 Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia in January.
sa/gle/pjm

supplement

France warns against weight loss supplements using Garcinia plant

BY RéBECCA FRASQUET

  • After investigating the death of a person who took a Garcinia-based supplement -- and looking at other side effects reported in the United States and elsewhere -- French food safety agency ANSES said it "strongly advises" people against consuming the plant.
  • France warned Wednesday against dietary supplements promising weight loss that use the tropical plant Garcinia cambogia after a range of rare but serious side effects including one death were reported.
  • After investigating the death of a person who took a Garcinia-based supplement -- and looking at other side effects reported in the United States and elsewhere -- French food safety agency ANSES said it "strongly advises" people against consuming the plant.
France warned Wednesday against dietary supplements promising weight loss that use the tropical plant Garcinia cambogia after a range of rare but serious side effects including one death were reported.
Garcinia cambogia -- which is also called Garcinia gummi-gutta or Malabar tamarind -- grows in India and Southeast Asia and has a fruit that looks like a pumpkin.
A range of supplements are sold around the world using extracts from the plant advertising its ability to suppress appetite and drive weight loss -- claims not backed by comprehensive scientific evidence.
After investigating the death of a person who took a Garcinia-based supplement -- and looking at other side effects reported in the United States and elsewhere -- French food safety agency ANSES said it "strongly advises" people against consuming the plant.
The plant has been banned from being used medicine since 2012 in France, but continues to be advertised in more 340 dietary supplements, which are mostly available online, the agency said in a statement.
There were 38 cases of serious side effects affecting the liver, pancreas, heart, muscles and mental health reported in France between 2009 and March last year, ANSES said.
These side effects can affect people with a history of psychiatric disorders, pancreatitis or hepatitis -- or who suffer from diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure, the agency added. 
People taking antidepressants, antiretrovirals or drugs that affect the liver can also experience side effects.
A 71-year-old woman in France taking blood pressure drugs died of acute hepatitis in 2019 after taking Garcinia-based supplement Slim Metabol. ANSES says her death was "very likely" linked to the supplement, which remains on sale.
However people without a history of health problems can also be affected. 
"A 32-year-old woman with no medical history developed myocarditis that led to her requiring a heart transplant," Aymeric Dopter, head of the ANSES nutrition risk assessment unit, told AFP. 
"Some people will tell you: 'I took it and I am fine'," Dopter said.
"But we can see from these few cases that people who were simply trying to lose weight ended up with seriously impaired health -- or even died," he said.
"It is not the worth the risk."
The safety of products using Garcinia cambogia is currently being assessed by the European Food Safety Agency.
The watchdog is also investigating the risk of hydroxycitric acid, an ingredient extracted from the Garcinia plant's fruit, which is also used in supplements promoting weight loss.
France's ANSES called for the list of plants authorised for use in food supplements to be "harmonised" across the European Union.
ref-mdz-dl/giv

toilet

Singapore splashes millions to flush out dirty toilets

  • The environment ministry said legislation and law enforcement were critical to set standards for public toilet cleanliness.
  • Already renowned for its cleanliness, Singapore will spend $7.5 million to upgrade and deep clean public toilets at coffee shops, the environment ministry has said.
  • The environment ministry said legislation and law enforcement were critical to set standards for public toilet cleanliness.
Already renowned for its cleanliness, Singapore will spend $7.5 million to upgrade and deep clean public toilets at coffee shops, the environment ministry has said.
A "Public Toilets Taskforce" was formed by the ministry last year to identify lavatories that consistently fared poorly in cleanliness surveys.
However, "toilets that demonstrate excellence in design and cleanliness will be able to apply for HTP (Happy Toilet Programme) certification", said the ministry in a statement Tuesday.
The Happy Toilet Programme, run by Singapore's Restroom Association, was launched in 2003, primarily to grade public toilets from a single star to a maximum six-star rating.
"In total, we spend almost three years of our lives in the toilet; it's natural and it's normal, so let's learn to say, 'Wow! That's a great toilet!' and tell our friends about it," the Restroom Association's website says.
Under the new scheme, coffee shop operators can apply for government funding for up to 95 percent of toilet renovation costs, capped at $50,000.
There are grants for deep cleaning as well.
Singapore has a global reputation for its cleanliness and it is often hard to find litter in public spaces. 
After independence in 1965, Singapore authorities poured capital and resources into changing local mindsets on littering as well as forging a clean and green city.
Besides boosting tourism, the pristine image of the city-state and praise from foreign visitors became an important source of pride for citizens during the initial nation-building decades.
The government has run countless anti-littering campaigns and there are heavy fines for littering -- and not flushing public toilets after use.
Failing to flush carries a maximum fine of Sg$150 ($110), with second-time offenders facing a Sg$500 fine.
The environment ministry said legislation and law enforcement were critical to set standards for public toilet cleanliness.
More than 1,000 "enforcement actions", including fines and warnings, were taken last year against premises owners and managers for not having clean toilets, the ministry said.
skc/mba/sco

conflict

Malaria deaths soar in shadow of Ethiopia conflict

BY TOLERA FIKRU GEMTA

  • Experts say the situation is worsening in Ethiopia's most populous region, Oromia, where a conflict has been raging between the government and a rebel group -- the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) -- since 2018, severely disrupting health services.
  • Lema Tefera's voice broke as he described losing four children to malaria in just one month -- deaths that could likely have been prevented if not for the conflict in Ethiopia's Oromia region.
  • Experts say the situation is worsening in Ethiopia's most populous region, Oromia, where a conflict has been raging between the government and a rebel group -- the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) -- since 2018, severely disrupting health services.
Lema Tefera's voice broke as he described losing four children to malaria in just one month -- deaths that could likely have been prevented if not for the conflict in Ethiopia's Oromia region.
"There was no malaria medication and treatment in our village due to the fighting," the farmer told AFP by phone.
Africa accounts for about 95 percent of the 250 million malaria cases and more than 600,000 deaths across the globe each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Experts say the situation is worsening in Ethiopia's most populous region, Oromia, where a conflict has been raging between the government and a rebel group -- the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) -- since 2018, severely disrupting health services.
Doctors, experts, and aid workers told AFP fatal cases were surging thanks to the "perfect storm" of climate change and violence.
Subsistence farmers like Lema, a father of seven before the disease took his children, are particularly vulnerable.
"It was the worst situation I have ever experienced," said Lema, who lives in the small western village of Lalistu Lophi.

'Supplies disrupted'

Lema's family make up just four of the roughly 7.3 million malaria cases and 1,157 deaths recorded by the WHO in Ethiopia between January and October last year.
The figures have doubled since 2023, and Oromia accounts for almost half the cases and deaths.
The sprawling region, which covers more than a third of Ethiopia, has witnessed a collapse of health facilities, said Gemechu Biftu, executive director of the Oromia Physicians Association.
"Programmed supplies of anti-malarial drugs have been disrupted due to the armed conflict," he said.
There is no end to the fighting in sight: the government classifies the OLA a terrorist organisation, and peace talks in Tanzania in 2023 failed.
Legesse Bulcha, the director of the Nejo General Hospital in West Wollega, one of the worst-hit areas, said malaria cases had surged in the past three years.
He said malaria accounted for 70 percent of the 26,000 patients his small hospital treated in 2023-2024, up from no more than 20 percent before that.
While conflict had disrupted access to medicine, he said a changing climate was also playing a part. 
Experts warn warming temperatures will create more of the warmer, wetter conditions in which malaria-spreading mosquitos thrive.
"Unlike before, there are still significant numbers of cases during the dry season," said Legesse.
Gemechu agreed, noting tests had shown not only rising mortality rates but that malaria was "expanding to new areas".

'Perfect storm'

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) medical co-ordinator Rachelle Seguin said 2024 saw the country's "highest numbers of malaria cases seen, probably ever".
"I think it's a little bit the perfect storm: you have increasing temperatures, you've had conflict in the country for years," she said.
As the next rainy season approaches in June-September, Seguin said she fears the coming year "could be even worse".
The problem will not be helped by the sudden US aid funding freeze ordered by President Donald Trump.
"The recent USAID funding cut would significantly increase morbidity and mortality not only from malaria but also from other communicable illnesses for which the agency has been providing significant funding," Nuredin Luke, an Oromia-based doctor, told AFP.
The US government had previously provided some 40 percent of the annual funding globally for control and research into malaria. It is unclear if this will resume. 
In his isolated village, thousands of miles from Washington, Lema remains struck down with sorrow.
Unable to farm, he has had to rely on relatives to survive.
"I have been completely depressed," he said. "I have not been able to recover from the grief." 
str-dgy/rbu/er/sbk

research

60% of adults will be overweight or obese by 2050: study

  • Without a serious change, the researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years -- -- or around 60 percent of the global adult population in 2050.
  • Nearly 60 percent of all adults and a third of all children in the world will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless governments take action, a large new study said Tuesday.
  • Without a serious change, the researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years -- -- or around 60 percent of the global adult population in 2050.
Nearly 60 percent of all adults and a third of all children in the world will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless governments take action, a large new study said Tuesday.
The research published in the Lancet medical journal used data from 204 countries to paint a grim picture of what it described as one of the great health challenges of the century.
"The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure," lead author Emmanuela Gakidou, from the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said in a statement.
The number of overweight or obese people worldwide rose from 929 million in 1990 to 2.6 billion in 2021, the study found.
Without a serious change, the researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years -- -- or around 60 percent of the global adult population in 2050.
The world's health systems will come under crippling pressure, the researchers warned, with around a quarter of the world's obese expected to be aged over 65 by that time.
They also predicted a 121-percent increase in obesity among children and adolescents around the world.
A third of all obese young people will be living in two regions -- North Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean -- by 2050, the researchers warned.
But it is not too late to act, said study co-author Jessica Kerr from Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia.
"Much stronger political commitment is needed to transform diets within sustainable global food systems," she said.
That commitment was also needed for strategies "that improve people's nutrition, physical activity and living environments, whether it's too much processed food or not enough parks," Kerr said.
More than half the world's overweight or obese adults already live in just eight countries -- China, India, the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt, the study said.
While poor diet and sedentary lifestyles are clearly drivers of the obesity epidemic, "there remains doubt" about the underlying causes for this, said Thorkild Sorensen, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen not involved in the study.
For example, socially deprived groups have a "consistent and unexplained tendency" towards obesity, he said in a linked comment in The Lancet.
The research is based on figures from the Global Burden of Disease study from the IHME, which brings together thousands of researchers across the world and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
ref-dl/tw/rmb

heatwave

Heat wave shuts down schools in nearly half Philippine capital

  • While temperatures were only expected to hit 33C on Monday, local governments in Manila and six other districts ordered classrooms closed as a precaution.
  • Soaring temperatures shut down schools in nearly half the Philippine capital on Monday, local officials said, as the torrid dry season started in the tropical Southeast Asian country.
  • While temperatures were only expected to hit 33C on Monday, local governments in Manila and six other districts ordered classrooms closed as a precaution.
Soaring temperatures shut down schools in nearly half the Philippine capital on Monday, local officials said, as the torrid dry season started in the tropical Southeast Asian country.
A national weather service advisory warned the heat index, a measure of air temperature and relative humidity, was set to reach "danger" levels in Manila and two other areas of the country.
"Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are likely" at that level, the advisory said, warning residents in affected areas to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun.
A heat wave struck large areas of the Philippines in April and May last year, leading to almost daily suspensions of in-person classes, affecting millions of students.
Manila's temperature hit a record 38.8 Celsius (101.8F) on April 27 last year.
While temperatures were only expected to hit 33C on Monday, local governments in Manila and six other districts ordered classrooms closed as a precaution.
The capital region has a student population of more than 2.8 million according to education department data. 
In Manila's Malabon district, education department official Edgar Bonifacio said the suspensions affected more than 68,000 students across 42 schools.
"We were surprised by the heat index advisory," Bonifacio told AFP, adding: "We cannot feel the heat yet outside."
However, due to protocols adopted during last year's heat wave, the district's school superintendent recommended suspending in-person classes.
"Our main concern is we're near the end of the school year (in mid-April)," Bonifacio said. "This would mean a reduction of the number of school days available."
In Valenzuela district, school official Annie Bernardo told AFP its 69 schools had been instructed to shift to "alternative" learning models, including online classes.
Global average temperatures hit record highs in 2024 and even briefly surpassed the critical 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold. 
In January, UN children's agency UNICEF said extreme weather disrupted the schooling of about 242 million children in 85 countries last year, including the Philippines, with heat waves having the biggest impact.
Human activity, including the unrestricted burning of fossil fuels over decades, has warmed the planet and changed weather patterns.
That has meant wetter wet periods and dryer dry periods, intensifying heat and storms and making populations more vulnerable to disasters.
cgm/cwl/fox

rights

Vietnam drags feet over 'urgent' pollution problem

  • The stench of smoke and burning plastic is a constant feature of life in many Hanoi districts.
  • Toxic smoke billows from a burning mound of plastic bags and leaves on Le Thi Huyen's farm in Hanoi, a city battling an alarming air pollution surge that the communist government appears in no hurry to fix.
  • The stench of smoke and burning plastic is a constant feature of life in many Hanoi districts.
Toxic smoke billows from a burning mound of plastic bags and leaves on Le Thi Huyen's farm in Hanoi, a city battling an alarming air pollution surge that the communist government appears in no hurry to fix.
In the last three months the Vietnamese capital has regularly topped a list of the world's most polluted major cities, leaving its nine million residents struggling to breathe and even to see through a thick blanket of smog.
Despite a string of ambitious plans to address the crisis, few measures have been enforced and there is little monitoring of whether targets are actually achieved, analysts say.
Officially, the burning of rice straw and waste was banned in 2022 across the country -- but that is news to Huyen.
"I've never heard of the ban," Huyen told AFP. "If we don't burn, what should we do with it?" she said, glancing at her smouldering heap of waste.
The stench of smoke and burning plastic is a constant feature of life in many Hanoi districts.
The country's poor air quality -- which kills at least 70,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)-- is also linked to its coal power plants, the rising number of factories, high usage of petrol motorbikes and constant construction.
Vietnam is a manufacturing powerhouse with a soaring economy and energy needs to match, but its growth has come at a cost, particularly in its buzzing capital whose geography compounds its air quality woes.
However, unlike in other prominent Asian cities battling pollution, such as Delhi or Bangkok, life in Hanoi goes on as normal no matter how bad the air. 
Authorities do not close schools. There is no work-from-home scheme.
The government -- which has close links to powerful economic interests, analysts say -- has also imprisoned independent journalists and environmentalists who have pushed for faster solutions.

Call for action

Hanoi has frequently sat at the top of IQAir's ranking of the world's most polluted major cities and was rated among the top 10 polluted capitals by the Swiss monitoring company in 2023.
Breathing the toxic air has catastrophic health consequences, with the WHO warning strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases can be triggered by prolonged exposure.
The World Bank estimates that air pollution -- which returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 -- costs Vietnam more than $13 billion every year, equivalent to almost three percent of the country's GDP last year.
"The situation is urgent," said Muthukumara Mani, World Bank lead environmental economist, based in Hanoi.
Even state media, after years of near silence on air quality, has become noticeably vocal in Vietnam, a one-party state.
VietnamNet, the official news site of the ministry of information and communications, published a rare call for action in January, warning air pollution was "a crisis demanding immediate attention".
Authorities declined to talk to AFP but Mani said there was recognition of the problem "at the highest level in the country", citing a trip to China made by senior Hanoi officials to learn how Beijing fixed its once-awful air.
While Hanoi has floated the idea of low-emission zones and devised an action plan that aims for "moderate" or better air quality on 75 percent of days annually, it is not clear whether either will be enforced.
"The issue sometimes with Vietnam is that people pay much more attention to targets than what's actually being delivered," said Bob Baulch, professor of economics at RMIT University Vietnam.

Repression

Tran Thi Chi had years of breathing difficulties before she made the difficult decision to uproot from the city centre house where she lived for more than a decade.
"The air in Hanoi had become so thick that I felt like I didn't have oxygen to breathe," said the 54-year-old, one of the first of her friends to buy an air purifier.
But millions of others have no choice but to live with the noxious air, prompting environmental activists to push for faster change -- until authorities launched a crackdown.
Nguy Thi Khanh, founder of GreenID, one of Vietnam's most prominent environmental organisations, was a rare voice challenging Hanoi's plans to increase coal power to fuel economic development, before she was jailed in 2022.
Four other environmentalists were also imprisoned between 2022 and 2023. 
"This repression has had a chilling effect that has made it virtually impossible for people to advocate for the government to address the problem of air pollution," said Ben Swanton of The 88 Project, which advocates for freedom of expression in Vietnam.
Vietnam has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, which should help improve air quality, but government statistics show coal imports were up 25 percent last year compared to 2023.
Chi is fearful for the city she has always loved.
"We need urgent, realistic measures from authorities," she said. 
"We have no time to wait around."
bur-aph/pdw/cms/pst

AIDS

Groups say millions already hit as US guts aid

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • With the world's richest person, Elon Musk, leading Trump's drive to slash spending to make way for tax cuts, the State Department announced Wednesday it had identified 92 percent of projects for elimination.
  • Donald Trump's aid freeze was announced as a review that would last 90 days.
  • With the world's richest person, Elon Musk, leading Trump's drive to slash spending to make way for tax cuts, the State Department announced Wednesday it had identified 92 percent of projects for elimination.
Donald Trump's aid freeze was announced as a review that would last 90 days. Instead, the US president has unleashed sweeping cuts that relief groups say have already hurt millions around the world. 
With the world's richest person, Elon Musk, leading Trump's drive to slash spending to make way for tax cuts, the State Department announced Wednesday it had identified 92 percent of projects for elimination.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio axed 5,800 awards with $54 billion in value, the State Department said, after the Trump administration ignored a court order to unfreeze aid, which is appropriated by Congress.
The UN children's agency UNICEF said that "millions of children" had already felt the initial effects of the suspension and then termination of grants from the United States.
"Without urgent action, without funding, more children are going to suffer malnutrition. Fewer will have access to education, and preventable illnesses will claim more lives," the agency's spokesman James Elder told a news conference in Geneva.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters the world body was alarmed by the "severe cuts" by the United States -- until now the world's largest donor in dollar terms.
"The reduction of America's humanitarian role and influence will run counter to American interests globally. I can only hope that these decisions can be reversed based on more careful reviews," Guterres told reporters.

'Innocent civilians'

The International Rescue Committee said at least two million people the non-governmental group assists will be affected by the cancellation of 46 US grants.
"The countries affected by these cuts -- including Sudan, Yemen, Syria -- are home to millions of innocent civilians who are victims of war and disaster," said the group's president David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary.
In South Africa, where around 13 percent of the population is HIV positive, a halt in US funding to the country's HIV/AIDS program is forecast to contribute to more than 500,000 deaths over 10 years, the head of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation said.
PEPFAR, the anti-HIV/AIDS initiative launched under former US president George W. Bush, is credited with saving some 26 million lives over the past two decades, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.
The program until recently enjoyed wide bipartisan support, including from Rubio, a former senator. 
But some aid workers say PEPFAR will be gutted without funding for related work, and notices seen by AFP showed that the United States was ending assistance to South African anti-AIDS organizations.
Trump's Democratic opponents say the cuts only benefit adversary China, which seeks to show the United States is unreliable.

Better off 'in fireplace'?

Trump and his allies have argued that foreign assistance is wasteful and does not serve US interests. 
Representative Brian Mast, the outspoken chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at a recent hearing cited initiatives related to LGBTQ issues and tourism promotion funded by the now-eliminated US Agency for International Development (USAID).
"I think the fact is clear that America would have been better off if your money had been simply thrown into a fireplace," Mast said.
Aid groups say much of the assistance supports US interests by promoting stability and health overseas.
By spending one dollar overseas in disease prevention, "we don't have to spend $10, $20, $100 here to combat diseases," said Tessie San Martin, CEO of the group FHI 360.
She said 90 percent of the group's work has been terminated, including HIV medication delivery, infectious disease treatment and malnutrition reduction.
"This has consequences that are not easily reversible," she said.
Mark Feinberg, president and CEO of vaccine developer IAVI said there has been "really tremendous progress" in recent years toward producing a vaccine against HIV and that, had funding not stopped, it was possible to begin to "think about how we can bring the AIDS pandemic to an end."
"This is setting us back decades," he said.
"Without question, we're going to see increased numbers of infections, we're going to see increased resistance and we're going to see really going back to where things were decades ago, which is really sad."
Another aid group leader, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, said: "We all knew that there was going to be a change with the administration.
"But I don't think anyone anticipated actions that were so malicious, incompetent and ignorant."
sct/sw

virus

Parents rush to vaccinate children after measles outbreak hits Texas

BY MOISéS ÁVILA

  • Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
  • Five-year-old Shado is one of dozens of children being rushed to a health center in the US state of Texas to get the measles vaccine, after the recent death in the area of a child who was not immunized against the highly contagious virus.
  • Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
Five-year-old Shado is one of dozens of children being rushed to a health center in the US state of Texas to get the measles vaccine, after the recent death in the area of a child who was not immunized against the highly contagious virus.
"Look at you, you're so brave," the nurse administering the shot tells the young girl, who is sitting on her father's lap. 
The death came as immunization rates have declined nationwide, with the latest cases in the west Texas town of Lubbock concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.
Mark Medina brought his children, Shado and her brother Azazel, after they heard about that death.
"It kind of sparked fear and we're like, 'Alright, it's time to go get vaccinated. Let's go,'" the 31-year-old father told AFP. 
Rachel Dolan, a Lubbock health official, said the initial outbreak spread rapidly through the community south of the town, potentially fueled by a lack of vaccination.
"It's the most contagious virus that we know of, and so just that one little spark, you know, really caused a lot of cases and rapid spread among that population," she said.
This year more than 130 measles cases already have been reported in west Texas and neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority in unvaccinated children.
Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.
The disease's spread comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long spread falsehoods about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, begins his tenure as President Donald Trump's health secretary.
Kennedy has downplayed the outbreak, saying: "It's not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year."

'The safe side'

Nationwide immunization rates have been dropping in the United States, fuelled by misinformation about vaccines. 
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate in order to maintain herd immunity.
However, measles vaccine coverage among kindergartners has dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019–2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023–2024, leaving around 280,000 children vulnerable.
News of the death in Lubbock, however, has spurred some into action.
"Well, I heard about this little kid... That's one of the reasons, just to be on the safe side," said Jose Luis Aguilar, a 57-year-old driver who was encouraged by his boss to get vaccinated.
Dolan, the health official, said there was an increase in people seeking the vaccine since the death.
"There are pockets of our population that are hesitant toward vaccination," she said.
"We have seen some of those people realize that this threat is more imminent and have made that decision to vaccinate."
The CDC says the MMR vaccine is "very effective" at protecting people against those illnesses.
Two doses of the vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing measles, the agency says.
The last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died from pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive medication. 
Before that, the previous recorded measles death was in 2003.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.
Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who are not ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.
While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.
mav/aha/st/tc