And How Smart Nutrition Can Help

Stress, sniffles and sudden sick days… ever noticed how you always seem to come down with something right after a big presentation or just as your holiday starts? It’s not your imagination. Stress can temporarily weaken your immune system, leaving you more susceptible to illness. Think of your immune system as your body’s internal security team – always on duty, quietly defending against everyday threats. But like any good team, it needs support to stay strong and effective.

Bianca Jonischkeit, dietitian at FUTURELIFE®, explains that several factors can play a role in weakening your immune system. We are all generally aware that poor sleep and nutrition, as well as prolonged stress, are common culprits. But some other surprising contributors can also affect our immunity.

Did you know that:

1. Ongoing physically strenuous exercise/ activity without adequate recovery can suppress your immune system.

2. Certain medications or health conditions, like diabetes, TB, malaria, cancer and HIV/AIDS, can make it harder for your body to fight off germs and infections.

3. A healthy gut microbiome helps your immune system stay strong and balanced. But if that balance is disrupted, your immune system can become too weak, making you more prone to illness.

4. Age affects immunity, and as you get older, your immune system naturally gets slower and less effective. On the other hand, young children have immature immune systems, and their bodies are still learning how to recognise and respond to germs.

“Immunity isn’t just about avoiding illness; it’s also about building long-term resistance,” says Bianca. “The reality is that your immune system depends on consistent, healthy habits. It’s about everyday choices that aid your body over time, and nutrition can play a significant role in enhancing immune health. While no single food or supplement can prevent illness, certain nutrients may enhance the body’s natural defences.”

Vitamins A, C, D, E and B vitamins, plus minerals such as zinc, iron and selenium, all play important roles in supporting immune function. These can be found in everyday foods such as citrus fruits, spinach, sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, lentils, eggs, and seeds.  For those continually on the go, the trick is choosing convenient, nutrient-dense foods.  For example, after a tough workout or physically strenuous day at work, a well-balanced meal that includes protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats, as well as fruits and vegetables containing antioxidants, can aid your body’s recovery and immune function.

Bianca notes that the road to a healthy immune system isn’t about perfection but about finding healthy options that fit into your lifestyle. For example, starting your day with a wholesome breakfast, snacking on nuts, fruit or yoghurt, and aiming for a colourful plate at dinner can all support immune health in simple, sustainable ways. Including berries and colourful fruits and vegetables – ‘eating the rainbow’- as part of your daily meals also ensures a varied, nutrient-rich diet.

While some factors that can weaken your immune system may come as a surprise, the steps to support it don’t have to be complicated. Small, smart choices – getting adequate high quality sleep, moderate exercise, eating foods that nourish you, and staying hydrated – all add up to a stronger, more resilient you.

“Your immune system is already working incredibly hard behind the scenes. Sometimes it just needs a little extra help to keep doing its job well,” Bianca concludes. “And honestly? It can be as simple as making thoughtful food choices that are realistic, sustainable, and fit your lifestyle while giving your body what it needs to build resilience.”

For more tips and articles on healthy nutrition or to view the full range of FUTURELIFE® products, visit www.futurelife.co.za.

While governments have committed to deliver on Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, inequalities, injustices and deadly divide between the Global North and Global South nations (and within rich and poor nations) has jeopardised progress on SDG goals and targets – including gender equality and right to health – both of which are fundamental human rights.

“If we do a reality check, in the current times, we are in a dysfunctional international financing architecture – with countries in the Global South facing the brunt. We are increasingly facing challenges to mobilise resources for our own development. Because most of the countries in the Global South are in the cycles of perennial debt – which they have to keep servicing to international financial institutions. This results into austerity measures which include countries cutting down on public services, access to health services, education services, social protection services, among others,” said Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, Deputy Executive Director, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW).

“While it impacts the general population, marginalised communities, and poor people, the impact on women and girls in all their diversity across the strata is much higher. Data tells us that developing countries are seeing a record high debt servicing costs in 2023. This is straining low- and middle-income economies. This is compounded by a US$ 4 trillion annual investment gap for SDG achievement in developing countries,” she added.

In 2024, official development assistance from 30 DAC nations (developed nations that provide aid to developing countries) declined by 7.1% in real terms – the first drop in five years – reaching only US$ 212.1 billion (0.33% of combined gross national income). UN target for developed countries is to allocate 0.7% of their gross national income as official development assistance but it dipped to less than half to 0.33%.

Poor investment in social sector fails us in economic sector too

“When there are poor social investments in the social sector then it does not contribute to the economic sector. Domestic resource mobilisation for the public sector for social protection, health, and education is less too. With declining official development assistance and perennial debt cycles, the impact becomes even more severe. This is going to impact gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights at so many different levels,” said Sai of ARROW.

Sai was delivering her keynote address at SHE & Rights (Sexual Health with Equity & Rights) session on the theme: “Did the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development deliver on gender equality & feminist agenda?”, organised around UN inter-governmental High Level Political Forum (HLPF 2025) and 13th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2025). HLPF 2025 will review SDG3 (health and wellbeing), SDG5 (gender equality) among others.

SHE & Rights session was co-hosted by International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2025, Family Planning News Network (FPNN), Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media) and CNS.

Governments did not deliver on feminist agenda but Feminist Forum gives hope

The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) of the United Nations concluded a week ago in Seville, Spain. But FfD4 did not achieve its objective of restructuring the global economy and financial system, to benefit all equitably, including women, girls and all gender diverse peoples. FfD4 failed to guarantee long-term, flexible, inclusive, equitable financing for development. FfD4 looked into women and girls as merely ‘economic potentials’ for ‘economic benefits’ without really addressing the fundamental barriers to gender justice, including labour rights, safeguards for corporate abuses and preventing gender-based violence in the workplace.

“Feminist agenda refers to a gender transformative economic system that is based on rights to justice, care, and equality for everyone urgently. This was central to the Political Declaration of Feminist Forum held before the FfD4 began in Seville, Spain. But FfD4 failed to deliver on gender equality and feminist agenda,” said Sai Jyothirmai Racherla of ARROW.

Feminist Forum’s Political Declaration also called for deescalating wars and ending territorial invasions and genocide – “nothing less from this is acceptable,” rightly stressed Sai.

Sai feels that FfD4 conference outcome document was a mix bag, “as it was a diluted version of the vision and ambition of the Action Agenda adopted at 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2015), and also of Monterrey Consensus adopted at the 1st International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD1) in Monterrey, Mexico (2002), as well as Doha Declaration on financing for development (2008). FfD4 outcome document also compromised the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 1994 and the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action 1995 commitments.”

Empowerment of women and girls, economic value inherent in unpaid care work, and references to eradicating gender-based violence were mentioned in FfD4 outcome document but the broader and deeper aspects of gender equality or sexual and reproductive health and rights were missing in the FfD4 outcome document.

“From the very beginning, the demand to reform international financing architecture was undeniably strong, to realise gender-just economy in which financing for development will result in equitable outcomes for all, in terms of fair distribution of resources within countries – and in between countries. We need to reform international financing architecture to promote social, economic, and environmental justice and strengthen democracy and multilateralism equitably. This was not achieved at FfD4,” said Sai.

Reality check on gender equality and health

“2 pregnant persons die every minute. 700 women die unnecessarily from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every day, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. To reach the global target of less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, nearly 700,000 maternal deaths need to be prevented between 2024 and 2030,” said Sai.

The current international financial architecture is not working and does not guarantee long-term, flexible, inclusive, equitable financing for development. “We need to restructure global economic governance to centre feminist leadership, Global South parity, and the meaningful leadership of civil society and marginalised communities. This includes democratising decision-making across all the international financial institutions and multilateral development banks, including through the urgent reform of the voting systems of the IMF and the World Bank. This is part of Political Declaration of Feminist Forum held before FfD4 too,” she added.

In Asia-Pacific, household health expenditures (SDG indicator 3.8.2) remain high, placing families under financial strain and limiting access to essential services. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the percentage of people in South-East Asia spending more than 10% of their total household income on health has increased, rising from 13.1% in 2010 to 16.1% in 2019.

“Global poverty reduction is virtually at a standstill. Around 9% of people worldwide lived in extreme poverty in 2022. While social protection coverage has reached a milestone of covering half the world’s population, low-income countries have shown almost no improvement since 2015 – with coverage rates of 9.7%, with poorest within these countries left behind,” said Sai of ARROW.

Polycrisis

“Global South is also in an age of poly-crisis. For example, the climate crises are becoming real. Just the Asia-Pacific region in the Global South, accounts for 40% of global natural disaster events. These natural disasters further increase the burden of unpaid domestic work for women who have to invest more hours in securing water, food, and energy for cooking and heating the homes. The closing or underfunding of public services such as health centres, schools, and water provision facilities due to debt crises and increasing debt service payments, is further exacerbated in extreme climate events, and natural disasters. Simply put in the context of disasters, the health services are just not accessible for women and girls,” rightly says Sai.

Hope lies in the people and communities

Even if inter-governmental FfD4 disappointed, hope lies in people and communities. “Moving forward, Feminist Forum’s Political Declaration calls for funding and resourcing genuine multi-stakeholder feminist platforms and partnerships with women’s civil society, especially from the Global South. It is important to ensure civil society leadership and engagement in these processes like FfD4. We are also asking for eliminating all economic policy conditionalities that are attached to aid because these conditionalities promote austerity, privatisation and deregulation. We do not want conditionality when it comes to loans. There should be no loans in the first place (for development assistance), rather these should be grants,” said Sai.

“We must reform financial architecture so that it can guarantee long-term flexible, inclusive, and equitable financing for development. We also need to restructure the global economic governance because currently it is very Global North heavy. We need to have Global South parity. We need to include democratisation of the decision-making processes across the international financial institutions and the multilateral development banks,” she added.

“We are not going to stop until we deliver on gender equality. We will continue to do our work to demand for a right-based, environmentally-just, decolonial, intersectional, sustainable, and person-centred economic model. We need such an economic model in current times where care, reparations, redistribution and accountability remain central,” rightly said Sai Jyothirmai Racherla of ARROW.

Shobha Shukla – CNS (Citizen News Service)

(Shobha Shukla is the award-winning founding Managing Editor and Executive Director of CNS (Citizen News Service) and is a feminist, health and development justice advocate. She is a former senior Physics faculty of prestigious Loreto Convent College and current Coordinator of Asia Pacific Regional Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media) and Chairperson of Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA received AMR One Health Emerging Leaders and Outstanding Talents Award 2024). She also coordinates SHE & Rights initiative (Sexual health with equity & rights). Follow her on Twitter @shobha1shukla or read her writings here www.bit.ly/ShobhaShukla)

–              Shared under Creative Commons (CC)

This July, Ocean Basket is celebrating 30 years of flavour, family, and shared tables. To mark the milestone, the brand launched its Greatest Hits Menu with a limited-time selection of signature dishes from 1 to 31 July, including the Reel Love Platter, Spicy Prawns, and Seafood Burgers.

But the real showstopper drops with 30 For 30 on Ocean Basket’s official birthday on 16 July. For one day only, they’re serving up their famous full portion hake and chips for just R30. It’s the golden classic South Africans know and love, available for sit-down while stocks last.

To kick off the birthday celebrations, Ocean Basket hosted an intimate lunch at Montecasino on 10 July with media, influencers, and friends of the brand to reflect on a journey that started with one tiny seafood restaurant and now reels in over 18 million guests each year across 16 countries.

A Taste of Where It All Began

Founded by brothers Fats and George Lazarides and inspired by their mother, Mama Liza, Ocean Basket was built on a simple idea: quality seafood should be accessible to everyone.

Back in 1995, seafood was seen as a luxury. But in a small restaurant in Pretoria, the Lazarides brothers changed the game. Ocean Basket brought sizzling pans of prawns, golden calamari, and creamy lemon sauce to the people. All served with heaps of hospitality, a little Mediterranean mischief, and zero pretense.

The Montecasino lunch echoed that spirit. It was the kind of meal where platters disappeared quickly, stories flowed easily, and the energy was as generous as the portions. That same magic still fills every Ocean Basket restaurant today, whether you’re in Sandton or Cyprus.

The Montecasino lunch may be over, but the celebration continues. Ocean Basket’s 30th birthday specials are running until the end of July and the standout moment, the 30 For 30, a full portion of hake and chips for just R30, happens only on 16 July. Sit-down only. One day. One legendary deal.

Whether you’re dining in or grabbing a takeaway, there’s still time to raise a fork to three decades of unforgettable flavour.

Follow the flavour and keep the celebration going by joining Ocean Basket on Instagram and Facebook.

Health and gender equality are indivisible and fundamental human rights. “Right to health cannot be dislocated from gender equality and human rights. We have to ensure that gender equality and human right to health are recognised as fundamental human rights in all countries,” said Shobha Shukla, who was the Lead Discussant for SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) at the United Nations intergovernmental High Level Political Forum (HLPF 2025) at UN HQ in New York (14-23 July 2025). She was speaking on behalf of Asia Pacific Regional Civil Society Engagement Mechanism.

The theme of HLPF 2025 is “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs for leaving no one behind”.

The 2025 HLPF with full appreciation for the integrated, indivisible and interlinked nature of the Sustainable Development Goals, is conducting in-depth reviews of: SDG 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages); SDG 5 (achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls); SDG 8 (promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all); SDG 14 (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development); and SDG 17 (strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development).

Progress on SDG-3 is stunted in Asia Pacific

“Progress towards SDG3, continues to be stunted in the Asia Pacific region, such as on universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights; communicable and noncommunicable diseases; universal health coverage; and access for all to safe, effective, quality and affordable disease prevention tools like vaccines, diagnostics and medicines,” said Shobha Shukla, who earlier taught physics at Loreto Convent College and leads CNS as Founder Executive Director.

“Gender disparities significantly impact health outcomes and evidence shows that SDG 3 goals cannot be realised without addressing SDG 5 on gender equality. Rise of anti-rights and anti-gender ideologies, including the regressive Geneva Consensus Declaration, the most recent trend of defunding development assistance for gender equality and health, the impact of austerity measures in debt-ridden countries, deprioritisation of health spending, and poor domestic resource allocation on health, are contributing to reversal in progress towards SDG3,” she added.

Sexual and reproductive health and bodily autonomy are critical to deliver on SDG3 and other SDGs

“Essential health services must include sexual and reproductive health services – including safe abortion and post-abortion care, menstrual health hygiene, and mental health services, with particular attention to women, adolescent girls, persons with disability, indigenous peoples, gender diverse communities, older people, young people, migrant workers, refugees, people living with HIV, sex workers, people who use drugs, among others. They must also include all health and social support services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence,” said Shobha Shukla.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is not about coverage alone it is essentially about care, justice and equity. So, we need to reach the unreached – with standard healthcare services in a right-based, gender transformative and person-centred manner. More importantly, there is no UHC if we do not deliver fully on sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice – including abortion rights. There is no health without rights – without bodily autonomy and without justice.

Save the medicines that protect us

“All countries must stop misuse and overuse of medicines in all sectors and prevent antimicrobial resistance using the One Health approach,” said Shobha Shukla who serves as Chairperson of Global Antimicrobial Resistance Media Alliance (GAMA).

“WHO FCTC Articles 5.3 and 19 empower governments to make tobacco and nicotine industries liable and pay for the harm they are causing to human health and our planet. All forms of corporate capture of public health policy must end and corporations that are causing harm to human health and the environment must be held liable,” she said.

Gender-transformative reforms of global financial architecture is vital

Gender transformative economic system that is based on rights to justice, care, and equality for everyone urgently. Because most of the countries in the Global South are in the cycles of perennial debt – which they have to keep servicing to international financial institutions. This results into austerity measures which include countries cutting down on public services, access to health services, education services, social protection services, among others.

UN Charter along with other legally binding treaties or agreements such as CEDAW, WHO FCTC, ICDP 1994, Beijing Declaration 1995, must primacy over trade deals – we cannot let profit override people’s interests.

We cannot forget that during COVID-19,  Global North heavy multilateralism had failed the Global South. Vaccines were piled up and thrown after expiry by some rich nations when there were Global South nations who had no dose for example. We cannot have Global North heavy multilateralism.

When 183 countries (including the European Union) have policies to stop industry interference in public policy and make Big Tobacco pay as part of their commitment to global tobacco treaty (formally called the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control or WHO FCTC) then why cannot we adopt this as a standard across the UN treaties, policies, agreements, guidelines and processes, as a mandatory binding rule?

Governments must suspend patents and lift trade rules that impede access to medicines and medical technologies, said Shobha Shukla.

“Governments also need to address occupational health and provide meaningful ‘right to know’ to workers, prioritise prevention, and establish exposure limits protective of the most vulnerable populations. All SDG 3 targets must be fully-funded and DAC countries (30 developed nations that give aid to developing nations) should fulfill their commitment to official development assistance (ODA) for gender equality and health. At the same time countries must mobilise domestic resources for health,” she added.

Talk of peace & increasing defence budgets do not go together!

We cannot have double standards. last month NATO countries agreed to raise defence budget by 5% and 4th Financing for Development Conference failed to deliver on feminist agenda – and declining financial aid to finance SDGs continue to be a major impediment. This is compounded by a US$ 4 trillion annual investment gap for SDG achievement in developing countries. Shobha Shukla calls upon governments to fund people’s priorities. Global peace is an essential cog in the wheel for SDGs.

Health responses and all public services must be person-centred, gender transformative and rights-based

“We have to ensure that health responses and all public services are people-centred, gender transformative and rights-based for all, without any condition or exclusion,” said Shobha Shukla, lead discussant for SDG3 at HLPF 2025.

“With less than 5 and a half years left to deliver on SDG3, we appeal to governments to step up their actions on gender equality and right to health – where no one is left behind,” she concluded.

The High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) is the United Nations platform for the follow-up and review of SDGs. The HLPF was established at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012 in its outcome “The Future We Want”.