Women making branded clothes fail to make ends meet

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Foreign investments in Myanmar's garment industry have increased six-fold from K2.2 billion (S$ 2.3 million) in 2007 to K12 billion in 2012. The increasing amount of investments by foreign companies, including famous garment brands are believed to be driven by low labour cost, a vast workforce and low production costs in the country. According to a report from the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, the total investment in Myanmar was valued at US $1.7 billion in 2015, representing an annual increase of 8.7%, which reached $2.2 billion in 2016.

[Podcast] Why are feminist forums vital for accelerating progress towards development justice?


[Focus] Why are feminist forums important for gender justice?


[Podcast] Exploring the links: Women's rights in relation to right to land, housing and natural resources


[Focus] Right to land, housing and natural resources is integral to gender justice


[SDM Health Justice Lecture Series] No #endAIDS without #endTB!

[Watch recording] [Listen/ download podcast]
Dr Haileyesus Getahun, Coordinator of TB/HIV and community engagement at the WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme, has kindly consented to deliver the October 2017 e-talk/ online lecture as part of the Shanti Devi Memorial Health Justice Lecture Series. He will speak on "No #endAIDS without #endTB".

[Podcast] Scientific highlights of 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health


[Webinar] Scientific highlights of 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health


[Podcast] Women garment workers: key to economy and exports but struggle for their own needs and rights?


Despite boosting exports and economy, women garment workers struggle for their own rights


[Podcast] World Lung Day: Lung health is vital for sustainable development



[Webinar] First-ever World Lung Day on 25 September 2017


Breaking point became a turning point for this domestic violence survivor

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
The whereabouts of Sheela’s husband are not known since the last 10 years. When he left home in 2007, Sheela was three months pregnant with her fifth child. The last she heard from him was one month after the birth of this child - a daughter. When he heard the news, he sent her INR 1000 through his brother, but did not come home to see her. Since then, there has been complete silence on his part.

[Call to register] World Lung Day Webinar: DYK why lung health is vital for sustainable development?

Work towards the Delhi call for action to end TB

Aarti Dhar, CNS Correspondent, India
[First publishrd in the India Saga]
‘Bending the curve’ and ending TB was a key agenda item at the 70th session of the Regional Committee which concluded in Maldives. The Regional Committee is the highest decision-making body for public health in the South-East Asia Region, and includes health ministers and senior health ministry officials of the Region’s 11 Member countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

Using ICT to end TB

Francis Okoye, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria
Photo credit: Ashok Ramsarup
As the world advances, new idea and technologies are taking root in all fields, especially in the medical field. This brings us to the idea of using information and communication technologies to help control TB. The new technology being applied is called mobile health or mHealth, and in a webinar titled ‘Can mHealth help accelerate progress towards ending TB?’ hosted by CNS, experts explained how the new technology is being applied in India in the rural as well as urban areas. Mobile health technology is being used in different ways by TB programs in some high burden countries.

[Podcast] Avert delays in translating scientific gains into public health outcomes


[SDM Health Justice Lecture] Transforming scientific research outcomes into public health gains


26/9 Webinar: Scientific highlights of the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health

Leveraging mHealth for tackling TB in India

Urvashi Prasad, CNS Correspondent, India
India accounts for a large part of the world’s TB burden. As highlighted by Dr Suneetha Narreddy, Infectious Diseases Expert, Apollo Hospitals,  Hyderabad, during a webinar organised by CNS, there are approximately 2.6 million cases of TB annually in India. Unfortunately, nearly 1 million cases are missed every year on account of poor notification, especially from the private sector where 50% of patients are treated, as well as the absence of standardised diagnostic and treatment practices.

Dr Paula I Fujiwara, Scientific Director, The Union on World Lung Day 2017

Presentation of Dr Paula I Fujiwara of The Union in 2017 World Lung Day Webinar by bobbyramakant on Scribd


Technology can help improve TB management: Experts

Aarti Dhar, CNS Correspondent, India
[First published in the India Saga] 
Simple technology, such as basic mobile phones, can help in improving TB management, experts suggest. At least two pilots, conducted in India, have shown increased adherence to treatment regimen and improved the notification of the disease, particularly in the private sector.

[Podcast] Voice from the Pacific: Gender justice is central to development


Dr Dean E Schraufnagel, Director, FIRS on 2017 World Lung Day

Presentation of Dr Dean E Schraufnagel, Director, FIRS in 2017 World Lung Day Webinar by bobbyramakant on Scribd


[Focus] Gender justice is integral to development in the Pacific


Women united will never be defeated…

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
That was the reverberating chant that greeted the dawn of the third and final day on 'Action' theme at the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), which was organized by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

[Podcast] Can music/ rap help power social movements? Listen to rapper Sofia Ashraf in conversation with CNS' Shobha Shukla


[Focus] Powering people's movements through music and rap: Sofia Ashraf in conversation with CNS Editor Shobha Shukla


[Podcast] People's movements give hope for development justice to be a reality!


[Focus] Power of people's movements gives hope for a better and a just tomorrow!


Anger gives way to hope, for "if winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Anger of day one gave birth to HOPE on the second day of the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), which is being organised in the 'Land of a Thousand Smiles' - Thailand - under the aegis of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). Feminists from the Asia Pacific region, kindled a new optimism to collectively strike at the rise of authoritarian, patriarchal, late capitalism, by organising movements, for a more equitable and just world, through hope and love.

[Podcast] No excuse for inaction: Growing call to deliver on promise of gender justice



[Focus] Patriarchy abhors accountability: High time to walk the talk on gender justice!


[Podcast] Lesbians, transgenders, indigenous ethnic minorities need special focus for sustainable development of all


[Focus] Stateless, indigenous, ethnic minorities: Are they on the development blindspot?



Anger begets hope and drives constructive action for a better tomorrow

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
More than 300 feminist activists, women human rights defenders and global allies are gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand under the banner of '(re)Sisters, (per)Sisters and Sisters', for the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017). This 3 days Forum (7-9 September 2017) has been organised around the framework of 'Anger, Hope and Action'.

Collective action and structural changes are vital for gender justice

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Judy Taguiwalo, politician and women's rights leader
[Watch video, listen podcast] Judy Taguiwalo is a politician as well as a women's rights activist of Philippines. She is the former Minister of Department of Social Welfare and Development of Philippines. Since her student days she has been in the forefront of advancing women’s rights, in relation to societal changes, and has been a member of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) since 1987.

[Spotlight] Feminism is about solidarity, not about matriarchy

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Globally, and in the Asia Pacific region, an authoritarian patriarchal rule is ascendant and feminist space is under increased attack. In order to exist, we sisters (or rather like minded feminists, who do not necessarily have to be females) will have to resist and persist. Resist this patriarchal ascendency and the consequent threats to civil society. And persist to challenge the exploitations and inequalities that are driving us towards unsustainable development.

[Podcast] Judy Taguiwalo, former Social Welfare Minister of Philippines, calls for development justice


[Focus] Building people's movements and solidarity with other sectors are key to women's rights



Patriarchy abets the malaise of bride kidnapping

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Aizhamal Bakashova, SHAZET, Kyrgyzstan
(CNS image archives, 2015)
Bride kidnapping (marriage by abduction or capture) is still rampant in many Caucasian countries, including Kyrgyzstan. In fact, the 2015 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) committee report expressed its alarm at the high prevalence of marriages in Kyrgyzstan that result from bride kidnapping, which appears to be socially legitimized!

Women human rights defenders spearheading struggle for a better tomorrow

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Photo courtesy: Bee Pranom Somwong,
Protection International
The talk about 'sustainable development' and 'no one left behind' looks difficult to believe when people's lives, livelihoods, human rights and dignity are violated in pursuit of the so-called development . Bee Pranom Somwong, who works with Protection International, and is also among the key participants at the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), which opens later this week in Chiang Mai, Thailand (7-9 September 2017), was recently in conversation with CNS (Citizen News Service) on the current development model.

Is global development agenda rooted in local realities?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Photo courtesy: Reasey Seng, Cambodia
Global processes for development should be rooted in and informed by the grassroots movements. But is there a gap or disconnection? Can we do better to ensure that development discourses at all levels are plugged in affected communities on the frontlines?