News - Simon Townsley

simontownsley

I’ve just returned from Madagascar, where the c

I’ve just returned from Madagascar, where the cost of water has recently risen 300%, and locals are surviving on cactus plants – is this the future of climate change famine? According to the UN the situation sits on the precipice of the “first climate-change famine on earth”. Already approximately 1.3 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity, including half a million children. The drought has already decimated the harvests people here rely on for both food and income.

In this photograph, Horariby, with her four malnourished children, at their home in Marofoty village, Atsimo-Andrefana Region, Southwest Madagascar.

For more on this, see the article published today by Sarah Newey for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/climate-change-famine-in-madagascar (or tinyurl.com/2n59cb5t ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Africa #2021 #SarahNewey @sneweyy @telegraph #worldfoodprogramme #drought #ClimateChange #Madagascar #foodAid #humanitarianAid #famine #climatechangefamine #povetryalleviation #poverty #foodinsecurity @savethechildren #medair @medairint #medairinternational

Thousands of Indian women are sacrificing their re

Thousands of Indian women are sacrificing their reproductive systems to keep working, echoing the country’s dark history of population control ...
In Maharashtra, thousands of young women, sugarcane cutters, have been encouraged to undergo hysterectomies so they will no longer menstruate, allowing them to work every day of the month during the harvest. A survey undertaken in 2018 revealed that over one third of women in Beed have undergone the procedure. Doctors, husbands and employers are complicit in encouraging the practice which leads to early onset menopause and related health complications.

Here photographed, Sunita, 40, recovering from a hysterectomy, Beed Civil Hospital, Maharashtra, India.

For more on this, see this article in the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/sterilisation-in-india (or tinyurl.com/2p2uh2bu ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #internationalterrorism #forcedhysterectomy #India #photoreportage #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #exploitation

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed #onassignment for the @telegraph

Terrorism, hunger and failing governments already

Terrorism, hunger and failing governments already plague the Sahel region and time is running out to stop further worsening of the situation. Researchers at the Atlantic Council, a think tank based in Washington DC, have made grim predictions for the vast region south of the Sahara, which is already home to deadly jihadist insurgencies and is widely seen as “ground zero” for climate change.
For more on this, see the @telegraph article by Will Brown : tinyurl.com/4nua8hns  (to access either link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically.)⁣
Here photographed, a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. These people  have been forced to leave their homes, but remain within the borders of their own country.  Africa and the Middle East have an estimated 25 million internally displaced people.
Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley  #Africa #Sahel #GlobalHealthSecurity #migration#Terrorism #insurgency #climatechange #photojournalism #populationgrowth #conflict #unsustainable #photodocumentary #pressphotographer #pressphotography #newsreporting #currentaffairs #globalaffairs #onassignment #IDP #IDPs #InternallyDisplacedPeople #refugees #poverty #documentaryphotography #2021

Photograph by Simon Townsley.

I’m currently on assignment for the @telegraph i

I’m currently on assignment for the @telegraph in Madagascar and look forward to sharing images and news of this remarkable, yet troubled country soon…

Still fresh in my mind is the deteriorating situation in the Lebanon, where its capital, Beirut, is still reeling in aftermath of the catastrophic explosion of August last year when 2750 tonnes of stored ammonium nitrate detonated in a terrifying instant. The blast killed at least 218 people and is believed to be one of the most powerful artificial non-nuclear explosions in history. The port area is still littered with the twisted carnage of that horrifying moment.

For more on this, see the article by Campbell MacDiarmid, Middle East Correspondent for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/lebanon-on-life-support/ (or tinyurl.com/4m5efypa ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Lebanon #NorthAfrica #meltdown #2020 #2021 #MiddleEast @telegraph #explosion #CampbellMacDiarmid #Beirut #BeirutBlast

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

In Maharashtra, India, thousands of young women ar

In Maharashtra, India, thousands of young women are having their wombs removed. They are sugarcane cutters who are encouraged to undergo hysterectomies so they will no longer menstruate, allowing them to work every day of the month during the harvest. A survey undertaken in 2018 revealed that 36% of women in Beed have undergone the procedure. Doctors, husbands and employers are complicit in encouraging them to do so, a practice which leads to early onset menopause and related health complications.

Here photographed, Sugarcane cutter Sita Panwar, 30, with her children Ravi (2), Renka (4) and Mangu (9). Beed.,Maharashtra, India

For more on this, see this article in the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/sterilisation-in-india (or tinyurl.com/2p2uh2bu ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #internationalterrorism #forcedhysterectomy #India #photoreportage #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #exploitation

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed #onassignment for the @telegraph

Worrying predictions for the future of the Sahel,

Worrying predictions for the future of the Sahel, with a warning that urgent steps must be taken to reduce the birth rate in the region and increase women's prospects and reproductive rights. The report’s worst case scenario makes grim reading: if the birth rate goes unchecked, Senegal is seen as the only country in the Sahel that will not become engulfed in turmoil. The rest of the region will, by 2043, have “sunken into a war of all against all.”

For more on this, see the @telegraph article by Will Brown : tinyurl.com/4nua8hns (to access either link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically.)⁣
Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #Africa #Sahel #GlobalHealthSecurity #migration#Terrorism #insurgency #climatechange #photojournalism #populationgrowth #conflict #unsustainable #photodocumentary #pressphotographer #pressphotography #newsreporting #currentaffairs #globalaffairs #onassignment #BurkinaFaso #documentaryphotography #2021

Photograph by Simon Townsley. Prisoners of the self defence force the Koglweogo in the village of Poessin near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A major new report has warned that Europe is at ri

A major new report has warned that Europe is at risk of being hit by a tide of migration from the Sahel region of Africa, as a population boom hits a part of the continent already plagued by insurgency, hunger and failing governments. Researchers at the Atlantic Council, a think-tank based in Washington DC, have made grim predictions for the vast region south of the Sahara, which is already home to deadly jihadist insurgencies and is widely seen as “ground zero” for climate change

For more on this, see the just published @telegraph article by Will Brown : tinyurl.com/4nua8hns (to access either link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically.)⁣
Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #Africa #Sahel #GlobalHealthSecurity #migration#Terrorism #insurgency #climatechange #photojournalism #populationgrowth #conflict #unsustainable #photodocumentary #pressphotographer #pressphotography #newsreporting #currentaffairs #globalaffairs #onassignment #documentaryphotography #2021

Photograph by Simon Townsley. Internally displaced people, Burkina Faso.

Following political collapse and the pandemic, the

Following political collapse and the pandemic, the Lebanese economy plunged, wiping out 90% of people's savings and resulting in massive inflation. Endless fuel queues, runaway inflation, supply chain chaos and a shortage of skilled labour have crippled the economy and the The Beirut Port blast of last August (2020) only accelerated this collapse.

Beirut’s fashionable, and now unlit, Corniche, which has become the only place many can afford for recreation in the city.

For more on this, see the article by Campbell MacDiarmid, Middle East Correspondent for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/lebanon-on-life-support/ (or tinyurl.com/4m5efypa ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Lebanon #NorthAfrica #meltdown #2020 #2021 #MiddleEast @telegraph #explosion #CampbellMacDiarmid #Beirut #BeirutBlast

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

Your job or your womb? Mass sterilisation in India

Your job or your womb? Mass sterilisation in India. Thousands of women are sacrificing their reproductive systems to keep working, echoing the country’s dark history of population control ...
In Maharashtra, thousands of young women are having their wombs removed. They are encouraged to undergo hysterectomies so they will no longer menstruate, allowing them to work every day of the month during the harvest. Doctors are paid cash incentives to carry out the operations, and this causes some professionals to bypass safety regulations and rush surgeries to earn more money, risking women's health.

In this photograph: Women who have all had hysterectomies, Ghodka Rajuri village, Maharashtra

For more on this, see this article in the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/sterilisation-in-india (or tinyurl.com/2p2uh2bu ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #internationalterrorism #forcedhysterectomy #India #photoreportage #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #exploitation

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

On 4 August 2020 Lebanon’s capital was decimated

On 4 August 2020 Lebanon’s capital was decimated by a catastrophic explosion centered on the Port of Beirut. 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonated in a terrifying instant. The blast is now considered one of the most powerful artificial non-nuclear explosions in history and killed at least 218 people. A little over a year on from the blast, the office of the Lebanese Electricity Department, here photographed, remains a shattered ruin.

Following political collapse and the pandemic, the Lebanese economy plunged, wiping out 90% of peoples savings and resulting in massive inflation. The Beirut blast of last summer only accelerated this collapse.

For more on this, see the article by Campbell MacDiarmid, Middle East Correspondent for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/lebanon-on-life-support/ (or tinyurl.com/4m5efypa ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Lebanon #NorthAfrica #meltdown #2020 #2021 #MiddleEast @telegraph #explosion #CampbellMacDiarmid #Beirut #BeirutBlast

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

Thousands of women in India are sacrificing their

Thousands of women in India are sacrificing their reproductive systems to keep working, echoing the country’s dark history of population control ...
In Maharashtra, thousands of young women are having their wombs removed. They are sugarcane cutters who are encouraged to undergo hysterectomies so they will no longer menstruate, allowing them to work every day of the month during the harvest. A 2018 survey revealed that 36% of women in Beed have undergone the procedure. Doctors, husbands and employers are complicit in encouraging the practice which leads to early onset menopause and related health complications.

In this photograph: Saira Shekh, who had a hysterectomy at the age of 25, is one of many women underwent the procedure prematurely, Ghodka Rajuri village, Maharashtra, India.

For more on this, see this article in the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/sterilisation-in-india (or tinyurl.com/2p2uh2bu ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #internationalterrorism #forcedhysterectomy #India #photoreportage #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #exploitation

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

Lebanon’s collapsing healthcare system was once

Lebanon’s collapsing healthcare system was once the envy of the Middle East – now, it is a microcosm of a country in free fall. Across the country, poverty rates have risen from an estimated 50% at the start of the year to encompass nearly three quarters of the population.
Here photographed: Children at the Dar Al Aytam Al Islamiya orphanage in Beirut. As the economic crisis worsens the orphanage is suffering from sharply increasing costs.
For more on this, see the article by Campbell MacDiarmid, Middle East Correspondent for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/lebanon-on-life-support/ (or tinyurl.com/4m5efypa ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Lebanon #NorthAfrica #meltdown #2021 #MiddleEast @telegraph #vaccines #CampbellMacDiarmid #Beirut #healthcare

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

Following political collapse and the pandemic, the

Following political collapse and the pandemic, the Lebanese economy has been in freefall. The catastrophic Beirut blast of summer 2020, which killed over 210 people, accelerated the collapse. The impact on the struggling healthcare system has also been disastrous.
Across the country, poverty rates have risen from an estimated 50% at the start of the year to encompass nearly three quarters of the population. An estimated 82% of people in Lebanon are now unable to afford at least one essential service like healthcare or public utilities, a rate that has doubled since 2019. The UN calls this multidimensional poverty. Even families that were once comfortably middle class now struggle to make ends meet.
Here photographed: A woman sells balloons on Beirut’s corniche. The national grid is now providing only one or two hours of electricity per day

For more on this, see the article by Campbell MacDiarmid, Middle East Correspondent for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/lebanon-on-life-support/ (or tinyurl.com/4m5efypa ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Lebanon #NorthAfrica #meltdown #2021 #MiddleEast @telegraph #vaccines #CampbellMacDiarmid #Beirut #healthcare

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

Your job or your womb? Mass sterilisation in India

Your job or your womb? Mass sterilisation in India. Thousands of women are sacrificing their reproductive systems to keep working, echoing the country’s dark history of population control ...
In Maharashtra, thousands of young women are having their wombs removed. They are sugarcane cutters who are encouraged to undergo hysterectomies so they will no longer menstruate, allowing them to work every day of the month during the harvest. A 2018 survey revealed that 36% of women in Beed have undergone the procedure. Doctors, husbands and employers are complicit in encouraging the practice which leads to early onset menopause and related health complications.

Here photographed, women in Dokowadai village, Maharashtra, reveal the scars of their hysterectomies.

For more on this, see the just published article in the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/sterilisation-in-india (or tinyurl.com/2p2uh2bu ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #internationalterrorism #forcedhysterectomy #India #photoreportage #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #exploitation

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

‘If we stop the generators, our babies die’: L

‘If we stop the generators, our babies die’: Lebanon on life support. Its collapsing healthcare system was once the envy of the Middle East – now, it is a microcosm of a country in free fall.
Following political collapse and the pandemic, the Lebanese economy plunged. The devastating Beirut blast in summer last year, killing over 210 people, accelerated the collapse. The impact on the struggling healthcare system has been disastrous.

Dr Robert Sacy, Head of Paediatric Intensive Care is photographed here with a baby in an incubator in the neo-natal intensive care unit at Karantina Public Hospital in Beirut. The hospital has only a few days of diesel in reserve. “If the generators stop, these babies die.”

For more on this, see the just published article by Campbell MacDiarmid, Middle East Correspondent for the @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/lebanon-on-life-support/ (or tinyurl.com/4m5efypa ) To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #documentaryphotography #documentary #lensculture #socialdocumentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Lebanon #NorthAfrica #meltdown #2021 #MiddleEast @telegraph #vaccines #CampbellMacDiarmid #Beirut #healthcare

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are often refe

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee as they are displaced within the boundaries of their own country. Frenzied armed gangs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have forced the population of an area the size of Ireland to flee in a humanitarian crisis the world has forgotten. As a consequence of the conflict, there are around 5.2 million internally displaced people (IDP’s) in the country. Over half are children.

Here photographed: 20,000 displaced people live in Drodro, Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds sleep in a disused church. They receive practically no aid.

For more on this, see the article by Will Brown at the @Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/congos-hidden-war/ (to access this link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically)⁣

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley @telegraph #simontownsley #photojournalism #FujiFilm #documentaryphotography #documentary #c#assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Africa #Congo #2021 #WillBrown #ethnicviolence #IDP #internallydisplacedperson

An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone wh

An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. Frenzied armed gangs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have forced the population of an area the size of Ireland to flee in a humanitarian crisis the world has forgotten. As a consequence of the conflict, there are around 5.2 million internally displaced people (IDP’s) in the country. Over half are children.

Here photographed: Grace Imani sleeps in a disused church along with several hundred other IDP’s. In Ituri province alone 1.7 million people are IDP’s, over a quarter of the population.

For more on this, see the article by Will Brown @telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/congos-hidden-war/ (to access this link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically)⁣

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley @telegraph #simontownsley #photojournalism #FujiFilm #documentaryphotography #documentary #c#assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Africa #Congo #2021 #WillBrown #ethnicviolence #IDP #internallydisplacedperson

Frenzied armed gangs in the Democratic Republic of

Frenzied armed gangs in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have forced the population of an area the size of Ireland to flee in a  humanitarian crisis the world has forgotten. As a consequence of the conflict, there are  around 5.2 million displaced people (IDP’s) in the DRC, mostly in the eastern provinces. Over half are children. 100 armed groups operate in the east and the result of this mostly ethnic violence is the largest unreported conflict in the world.

Here photographed: 5 year old Rachel Ngabusi who was attacked with a machete aged two, Kigonze Camp near Bunia. Photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

For more on this, see  article by Will Brown at the Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/congos-hidden-war/ (to access this link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically)⁣

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.
@simontownsley @telegraph #simontownsley #photojournalism #FujiFilm #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Africa #Congo #2021  #WillBrown

Children have endured difficult times since COVID-

Children have endured difficult times since COVID-19 arrived in Kenya. Last year schools closed their doors completely, interrupting the learning for over 17 million children and increaing their risk of violence, child labour and child marriage. Mental well-being suffered. After these challenges, it was very encouraging to see the safe return of children to schools in Kenya this year.
For more on this story, see the original article by Will Brown at the Telegraph: tinyurl.com/y4vp3gts (to access this link, manually copy it into a web browser - Instagram doesn’t link automatically)⁣

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley #simontownsley #photojournalism #Nikon #internationalterrorism #covid19 #photoreportage #Kenya #coronavirus #documentaryphotography #documentary #assignment #globalhealthsecurity #Africa #2020 #WillBrown @telegraph #pandemic #schoolclosures #education

Image by Simon Townsley, photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

In June I was at the Seven Star Hospital in Nagpur

In June I was at the Seven Star Hospital in Nagpur, India, documenting the overspilling wards. Patients who had recovered from Covid-19 yet, despite being previously healthy, were hit by surging blood glucose levels and mucormycosis symptoms. Mucormycosis, also referred to as ‘Black Fungus’ is a disease spreading amongst recovered COVID-19 patients across India, attacking those with the Delta variant who had been on steroids for extended periods. Predominantly found in the sinuses and mouth, without treatment, it can become fatal.

Here photographed: A patient recovering from  surgery to remove Mucormycosis at the Seven Star hospital in Nagpur, India

For more on this, see the  article in the Telegraph by Joe Wallen: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/indias-black-fungus-wards (or tinyurl.com/rxn7me44 ). To access these links, manually copy into a web browser - Instagram won’t do it automatically).⁣

Follow me @simontownsley for updates, outtakes, unpublished and archive material on this and future projects.

@simontownsley @telegraph  #simontownsley  #science  #Mumbai #JJHospital #globalhealthsecurity #India #Nagpur #Maharashtra #Mucormycosis #BlackFungus  #2021 #coronavirus #COVID-19 #COVID19 #epidemic  #assignment #pandemic
#documentaryphotography #photojournalism #documentary

IMAGE CREDIT: Simon Townsley photographed on assignment for the @telegraph

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