Five countries in southern Africa have joined forces to launch a research centre that will work on combating climate change in the region. South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia signed a declaration on Wednesday to base the initiative in the Namibian capital Windhoek.

The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal) is intended to support cross-border research and land management.

Ahead of the World Bank's Spring Meetings here this week, government ministers from almost 40 developing countries are meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, UK International Development Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell, Chair of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation HRH the Prince of Orange, and major donors and water and sanitation sector organizations, to discuss speeding up global access to water and sanitation.

The level of hunger worldwide has dropped in recent years but 26 countries still face extremely dangerous food shortages and are threatened by rising prices, a major report said Tuesday.

The Global Hunger Index, released by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), measures food insecurity. Its level has dropped by 26 percent since 1990, the institute said.

Report reveals the need to reach target levels of coverage for life-saving interventions
India has the highest number of pneumonia-related deaths in the world
Only three countries reported coverage above the target level of 90 per cent for any vaccine

NEW DELHI: Pneumonia, which is the world's leading infectious killer among children, claims the lives of nearly 1.6 million children under five

Angola could become India

Most of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are facing extreme or high risk of food shortages, according to a Food Security Risk Index ranking of 148 nations.

Pakistan, ranked 11th on the index, is at

While world environmental risk analysts have expressed fears over extreme climate changes in South Asian nations including Sri Lanka, U.N. climate panel chairman said the world could still cap global warming at far lower levels than widely expected if nations

Congo must improve governance in its energy sector to attract investment and exploit its full potential, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Monday.

Growing use of chemicals in poor countries as they develop their economies is putting increasing strain on their healthcare systems and medical workers, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.