developing countries

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Why Everyone Should Get Random Flu Shots

May hit disease at weak point, increase chance of random extinction event

(Newser) - If you missed getting your flu shot, it's not the end of the world. In fact, random treatment times may actually help manage a disease outbreak in the long run. New research suggests that when treatments are given twice a year, six months apart, a disease has time to...

China Sinking Big Bucks Into African News

Critics say propaganda, but Chinese call it good PR

(Newser) - China has long been investing big money into Africa, in construction, natural resources, housing, and other projects. Increasingly, though, China is also pouring money into news and media on the continent, bringing two Chinese television news channels, radio, and written articles by Xinhua, China's state-sponsored news service, to places...

Poorer Nations Seeing a Rise in Drug Use

Globalization erases a historic trend: UN report

(Newser) - It used to be that poor nations in South America and elsewhere shipped drugs to richer nations while their own residents largely avoided using them. That has changed in the last decade as the economies of developing nations have improved, according to a new UN report. Now these rising nations...

Global Happiness Tops Pre-Recession Levels
 Global Happiness Tops 
 Pre-Recession Levels 
Ipsos Poll

Global Happiness Tops Pre-Recession Levels

Happiness up most in developing world; rich Europe gloomier

(Newser) - People are happier today than they were before the worldwide recession hit, according to an Ipsos survey of 19,000 adults in 24 countries, reports the Economist . Those calling themselves "happy" numbered 77% in the poll, up from 74% in 2007, and those who labeled themselves "very happy"...

To Help Third World, Send Cash, Not Stuff

Developing world doesn't need our cast-offs: Charles Kenny

(Newser) - The common practice of sending hand-me-downs or excess merchandise to developing countries seems like a good idea—after all, if the NFL can’t sell all those “Pittsburgh Steelers: Super Bowl XLV Champions” shirts, what’s wrong with sending them to Zambia? The problem is, Zambians don’t need...

To Help World's Poor, Hand Them Cash

Government 'cash-transfer' programs prove successful

(Newser) - It might seem counter-intuitive, but in some 45 countries across the globe, it’s working: Governments are handing cash to the poor to use at their own discretion, writes Christopher Werth in Newsweek . Some 110 million families are getting aid, and the World Bank has spent $5.5 billion on...

Cell Phones Can Be Saviors for World's Poor: UN

Report shows gadgets can lead to better livelihoods

(Newser) - For the financially comfortable, cell phones may make life a little easier—but for those in less-developed countries, the gadgets can be the difference between a life of poverty one of relative comfort, a UN report finds. “Mobiles have spawned a wealth of micro-enterprises, offering work to people with...

Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy
Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy

Safest Place to Give Birth? Italy

Afghanistan is worst, but deaths during childbirth plummet 40% globally

(Newser) - The number of women who die while giving birth has plummeted over the last 30 years, thanks mostly to dramatic improvements in populous rising nations like India, China, Brazil, and Egypt, according to a new study. Globally, 251 mothers died for every 100,000 babies born in 2008, a 40%...

Phone Dead? Just Add Water
 Phone Dead? Just Add Water 
CHARGER HARNESSES HYDROGEN

Phone Dead? Just Add Water

Pocket-sized charger could be boon in developing world

(Newser) - A Swedish company has produced a pocket-sized hydrogen fuel cell, which will allow users to charge cell phones and other devices using just water and a little hydrogen fuel. The H3 charger will be released by myFC in Scandinavia in December, globally in 2011, and will cost about $45. The...

Clinton: US Will Contribute to $100B Climate Fund

Offer intended to give deadlocked Copenhagen talks a boost

(Newser) - The US is ready to pay its share of a $100 billion-a-year fund to help poor countries deal with the effects of climate change, Hillary Clinton told the Copenhagen conference today. Clinton—making an 11th-hour offer in hopes of moving the deadlocked talks forward—stressed that the offer depends on...

Developing Countries Boycott Climate Talks
 Developing Countries 
 Boycott Climate Talks 

COPENHAGEN SUMMIT

Developing Countries Boycott Climate Talks

Refuse to participate unless rich countries cut more

(Newser) - A group of 125 developing countries, including China and India, boycotted the climate change talks in Copenhagen today, accusing developed countries of trying to ditch the Kyoto protocol, and the penalties it imposes on them if they don't meet emissions limits. The Africa-led move created chaos at the talks, which...

Developing Nations Were In on 'Danish Text'
 Developing Nations 
 Were In on 'Danish Text' 
CLIMATE summit

Developing Nations Were In on 'Danish Text'

China, India helped draft leaked agreement they railed against

(Newser) - The “Danish text”—the leaked climate change agreement that infuriated developing nations in Copenhagen and sparked accusations of bullying by rich countries—was actually drafted by a group that included China, India, and Brazil, among other countries. They had “input into the process and product” of the...

Leaked Text Causes Chaos in Copenhagen
Leaked Text Causes Chaos
in Copenhagen
climate talks

Leaked Text Causes Chaos in Copenhagen

Developing nations say they're getting an unfair deal

(Newser) - Leaders of developing countries angrily accused rich nations of cutting them out of the negotiations at the Copenhagen climate summit after the leak of a secret draft agreement. The Guardian got hold of the draft, known as the "Danish text," and says it would allow rich nations to...

Poor Nations Stiffed on Climate Pledges

Billions in promised cash unaccounted for

(Newser) - Huge sums of money promised by EU countries to help poor nations cope with climate change have melted away faster than Arctic ice. The EU and five other industrialized nations promised developing countries $410 million a year in the 2001 Bonn declaration, but the UN funds set up to deal...

Now Driving Innovation in India: the Poor

As developed economies slump, it markets directly to the lower class

(Newser) - Indian engineers once did little but cater to Western companies, while consumers at home made do with hand-me-down products from the developed world. That is changing in a big way as foreign economies crater and the 1.1 billion consumers of the subcontinent reveal a taste for, well, consuming. And...

West Eases Off Carbon Demands for China, India

Copenhagen deal closer, but 2050 goal less likely

(Newser) - Industrialized nations backed away from long-term carbon cut demands on developing nations yesterday, in the hopes of reaching a deal at December's Copenhagen summit. The US and EU have pushed for a 50% reduction in global carbon emissions by 2050, but China and India refused to sign up, wary of...

Global Rates of Alzheimer's Disease Soar

Aging populations drive increase; developing world will be hit hard

(Newser) - Rising life expectancy in the developing world will lead to a dramatic increase in the number of people stricken by Alzheimer’s disease, HealthDay News reports. The number of dementia cases worldwide will reach 35.6 million in 2010, a 10% increase over the total in 2005. That number is...

Turlington Models a More Charitable Path

At 40, she's earning a master's and educating the world on maternity risks

(Newser) - Christy Turlington still considers modeling her work—“It’s the only thing that pays me; everything else is school or volunteerism,” the Columbia masters candidate, often described as one of the world’s most beautiful people, tells Vogue. “My face is a dime a dozen in many...

Economic 'Mismatches' Mean Food Crisis Is Here to Stay

(Newser) - The various sectors of the global economy have become so entwined with food production that prices are acting in a very “puzzling” manner, the Economist reports. Last year, the market responded rationally to the global food crisis of 2007-08, increasing production and thus lowering prices. But with another bumper...

US Doctors Look to Africa for Lower-Cost Treatments

Developing nations offer cheap, effective solutions for health care

(Newser) - When an AIDS clinic at the University of Alabama wanted to boost the number of patients who returned for treatment, they didn't look to programs in the rich West for ideas. They went to Zambia, where strategies for treating patients with HIV have succeeded despite widespread poverty. With US health...

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