2003

HEALTH-BRAZIL: Children Look to Future Despite HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - December 18, 2003; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 18 (IPS) - My mother cried a lot and I didn t know why. I was sad, but not upset. I got the news and I took at as something bad, but something normal. I didn t really understand what it meant. This is how Ana (not her real name) remembers her reaction to being told at age 13 that she had AIDS. Late
/INT'L MIGRANTS DAY/BANGLADESH: Women Learn Tough Lessons from Work in Malaysia: Inter Press Service - December 18, 2003; Qurratul Ain Tahmina; SIRAJGANJ, Bangladesh , Dec 18 (IPS) - With calm confidence and quiet reassurance, Mosammat Bedana Khatun encourages the women to open up. Outside it is raining heavily, the downpour splashing on the corrugated iron roof in a steady drone. The women, including Bedana, have one common context: their husbands have gone
INTL MIGRANTS DAY/SOCIETY-BANGLADESH: Wives at Home Worry about Husbands' Fidelity: Inter Press Service - December 18, 2003; Qurratul Ain Tahmina; SIRAJGANJ, Bangladesh , Dec 18 (IPS) - Hamida Begum (not her real name) of this district in northern Bangladesh has a startled look about her. She barely raises the veil from her face. The timid eyes look too prominent on her thin and sharp face. The women gathered at the office of a non-government organisation here a
CHILE: Stations Opposed to AIDS Campaign Accused of Double Standards: Inter Press Service - December 17, 2003; Gustavo Gonz lez; SANTIAGO, Dec 17 (IPS) - Scantily-clad models and actors telling off-colour jokes are stars on the same TV channels in Chile that have refused to run government ads that encourage the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Unified Movement of Sexual Minorities (MUMS) has taken legal action against three
EDUCATION-KENYA: Too Much, Too Soon?: Inter Press Service - December 17, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Dec 17 (IPS) - As Kenya enters 2004, it appears likely that the country s education system will come under increased scrutiny. Many teachers want the current syllabus to be overhauled, saying it places undue pressure on staff and children alike. At present, students undergo eight years of primary education, f
POPULATION: West's Policies Sow Seeds of Internal Conflict - Study: Inter Press Service - December 17, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (IPS) - A major new study is suggesting that U.S. policies on family planning and agricultural trade might contribute to setting the stage for conflict in developing countries. Released Wednesday by Population Action International (PAI), the report calls on foreign policy and national-security offic
RIGHTS: Child-Headed Households Growing in Swaziland: Inter Press Service - December 17, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Dec 17 (IPS) - How does it feel to be an orphan in a country where by tradition there are no orphans? I am lonely, but I have my sister. If not for my sister, I would be all alone, said nine- year-old Themba, who with his 13-year-old Sister Monica lives in a child-headed household in rural Luve, 40 km north of
/ARTS WEEKLY/AFRICA: Kora Awards Attract Leading Musicians: Inter Press Service - December 13, 2003; Ish Mafundikwa; JOHANNESBURG, Dec 13 (IPS) - From its humble beginnings when it attracted a mere 135 entries, this year 308 artists entered the 8th Annual Kora All-Africa Music Awards. The event, held in the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Dec. 6, has over the years grown into the most important platform for African artis
Every Day Must Be World AIDS Day: Inter Press Service - December 13, 2003; Katherine Stapp; NEW YORK, Dec 13 (IPS) - A wrenching new documentary about HIV/AIDS seeks to firmly connect the numbing statistics with the faces and names of people suffering from the disease, and the men and women fighting to get them treatment with few or no resources. This is a story about the way the world is, the narration says.
SOUTH AFRICA: Education a Beacon of Hope for the Girl Child: Inter Press Service - December 12, 2003; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12 (IPS) - South Africa has become a beacon of hope for the girl child in Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty and outdated traditions have prevented girls from attending schools. School enrolment of girls and their progress through the education system in South Africa is relatively better than in other
Thailand Has Good Marks, But Needs Improvement: Inter Press Service - December 12, 2003; Roxanne Toh; BANGKOK, Dec 12 (IPS) - Thailand remains a model for Asian developing countries for its economic development that has brought impressive gains in education, but it has some catching up to do in the fewer number of girls in primary schools. A total of 86.7 percent of primary school-age boys are enrolled in Thailand, but
Vietnam Adjusts Approach to Fighting HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - December 11, 2003; Tran Dinh Thanh Lam; HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam , Dec 11 (IPS) - Returning here after three years of absence, Nguyen Viet Quang, a U.S. citizen of Vietnamese origin, remarked that he no longer saw posters with skulls and bones or bloody syringes warning of the danger of HIV/AIDS displayed in large cities. The change is welcome, Quang sa
HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Maternal Services Make All the Difference: Inter Press Service - December 11, 2003; Zofeen Ebrahim; KARACHI, Pakistan , Dec 11 (IPS) - Standing at the far corner of the outpatient section of the gynecology and obstetrics ward of the Qatar General Hospital in the southern port city of Pakistan, one can see a million expressions on the numerous faces of the women here. If there is pain on one, there is excitement o
HEALTH-US: AIDS Activists Slam New Medicare Bill: Inter Press Service - December 9, 2003; Emily Hager; NEW YORK, Dec 9 (IPS) - Sweeping changes to the nation s Medicare programme, signed into law Monday by President George W. Bush, are facing a new round of criticism from AIDS activists who say that the new legislation is going to put tens of thousands of U.S. citizens living with AIDS in harm s way. Our government is f
BANGLADESH: Dreams - and Hunger - Drive Trafficking into India: Inter Press Service - December 9, 2003; Anindita Dasgupta; DHAKA, Dec 9 (IPS) - Thirty-year-old Safia Begum, a domestic worker at a high-rise apartment in the upwardly mobile Gulshan enclave of the Bangladeshi capital, has a little secret. Till last year, she had been a prostitute in a small border town of India for as little as five rupees, or 16 U.S.
TRADE: U.S.-Central America Deal Could Block Cheap AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - December 8, 2003; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (IPS) - Volunteer social worker Alain Rias, who helps treat people living with HIV/AIDS in Honduras , says his work has helped patients recover, go back to work and support their families. But the French activist, who works with Medicins sans Frontiers (MSF), known in English as Doctors Without Borde
HEALTH: Jamaica Reaches Out to AIDS Orphans: Inter Press Service - December 3, 2003; Zadie Neufville; KINGSTON, Dec 3 (IPS) - At a time when most six-year-olds were enjoying a carefree life, Gary was the sole care-giver for a mother stricken by AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). The young boy (whose last name was withheld on request) had been looking after his mother for almost a year when three weeks ago his
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Loving Life After World AIDS Day: Inter Press Service - December 2, 2003; Ferial Haffajee; JOHANNESBURG, Dec 2 (IPS) - In South Africa s KwaZulu-Natal province, a train winds its way through the undulating hills. On board, six young people with HIV/AIDS, along with celebrities from local soap operas, television and radio are doing their bit to raise AIDS awareness. In Johannesburg, a set of new and colourful
HEALTH-THAILAND: Students Want Universities to be Condom-Free Zones: Inter Press Service - December 2, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Dec 2 (IPS) - Just as Thailand was basking in another round of praise for combating HIV/AIDS through an effective condom campaign, it has been reminded by its future leaders -- university students - that its triumph is not worthy of repetition. Particularly objectionable to the students is what health officia
CARIBBEAN: Risky Behaviour Must be Tackled, Says AIDS Researcher: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; Peter Richards; PORT OF SPAIN, DEC 1 (IPS) - The main causes for the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are not being addressed in the Caribbean, says a leading researcher. No amount of quilts, condoms and commemorative stamps on World AIDS Day are going to stamp out this pandemic unless we address the root causes, said Courtn
HEALTH: Access to Anti-AIDS Drugs Varies Widely in Latin America: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; Diana Cariboni*; MONTEVIDEO, Dec 1 (IPS) - A year ago, 52 Bolivians living with HIV/AIDS complained to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that their government refused to provide anti-AIDS drugs free of charge, in violation of the country s international commitments. Only 33 of them are alive today. David was the last to die
HEALTH-AFRICA: A New ARV Initiative Targets Three Million People: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Dec 1 (IPS) - The World Health Organisation and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS launched a new initiative, Monday, to provide antiretrovirals to three million people by the end of 2005. The 3 by 5 campaign kicked off in Nairobi, Kenya , on the occasion of World AIDS Day (Dec. 1). It will focus o
HEALTH-ETHIOPIA: Fighting the HIV/AIDS Stigma Remains an Uphill Battle: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; Sonny Inbaraj; ADDIS ABABA, Dec 1 (IPS) - Aster tested positive for HIV/AIDS eight years ago, but she has yet to summon the courage to tell her family, for fear of being rejected by them. Her predicament is typical of HIV-positive Ethiopians. Health workers say the biggest obstacle to these people leading normal lives is the stigma a
POLITICS-U.S.: Presidential Hopefuls Vow to Double AIDS Spending: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (IPS) - All nine Democratic candidates for president have pledged to more than double spending to fight global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over that planned by the Bush administration until 2008. Marking World AIDS day Monday, the contenders also vowed to deepen debt relief to the world s poor
HEALTH-SWAZILAND: AIDS a Greater Threat Than Ever Before: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Dec 1 (IPS) - Swaziland is a small country geographically, and its population numbers less than a million. But, it has an oversized AIDS problem. We have a disproportionate AIDS dilemma. It comes from a failure in the past to own up to an emerging crisis, an official with the Ministry of Health told IPS. A
RIGHTS-INDIA: Needs of Children Affected by HIV/AIDS Neglected: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2003; Lalitha Sridhar; CHENNAI, India , Dec 1 (IPS) - My name is Dinakar. I study is Class VII. My parents are both having AIDS. My father is a rickshaw puller and my mother works in other people s houses when she can. She is mostly at home with high fever. My father does not go to work three to four days in a week and when he does, he says
COLOMBIA: Love Thyself, Use Condoms to Prevent HIV/AIDS - Campaign: Inter Press Service - November 28, 2003; Mar¡a Isabel Garc¡a; BOGOTA, Nov 28 (IPS) - Because self-love is the most important, I m the one who carries the condom, actress Diana Angel, a favourite among young Colombian television viewers, says confidently and directly into the camera. Angel plays Gabriela, a high school student in a low-income Bogot neighbourhood, in Francisco el
EDUCATION-MALAWI: Making Universal Primary Schooling a Reality: Inter Press Service - November 27, 2003; Frank Phiri; BLANTYRE, Nov 27 (IPS) - When the Commonwealth heads of government gather in Nigeria next month for their bi-annual meeting, the agenda will probably be dominated by politics. But, if activist Julita Msanjama had her way, the leaders would spend most of their time discussing education. Msanjama is
POLITICS-U.S.: Congress to Hike AIDS Funds in Foreign Aid Spending: Inter Press Service - November 26, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Nov 26 (IPS) - After extensive deal making, Congress is set to provide 2.4 billion dollars for global anti-AIDS initiatives in 2004, 400 million dollars more than was requested by President George W. Bush. The money, part of a 17.1-billion-dollar foreign aid package that is being folded into a nearly 400-bi
HEALTH-AFRICA: AIDS Orphans - The Worst is Yet to Come: Inter Press Service - November 25, 2003; Jacklynne Hobbs; JOHANNESBURG, Nov 25 (IPS) - We are here to sound a new and more urgent alarm over what is arguably the most neglected crisis that has been spawned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children s Fund, said in Johannesburg, Wednesday. That is the plight of millions of profou
DEVELOPMENT: World Hunger Diminishes, Rises Again: Inter Press Service - November 25, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Nov 25 (IPS) - After falling during the first half of the 1990s, the number of hungry people in the world, particularly in developing countries, is once again on the rise, say latest estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Nearly 800 million people are now thought to go to b
HEALTH: HIV/AIDS - The World on a Quest for a Vaccine: Inter Press Service - November 25, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Nov 25 (IPS) - Two centuries ago, the Spanish monarchy sent a group of orphans on a ship to its colonies in the Americas. The children served as living vessels for the vaccine against smallpox, the equivalent at the time of today s HIV, or AIDS virus. Two children were vaccinated shortly before departure, and
ECONOMY-SOUTHERN AFRICA: A Challenging Road Ahead for Truckers: Inter Press Service - November 24, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Nov 24 (IPS) - The road transportation business in Southern Africa is fraught with obstacles, in the shape of AIDS and crime. However, industry players say it is also providing opportunities for promoting black empowerment. This term, predominantly used in South Africa , refers to efforts at increasing the
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Warm Welcome for Plan to Provide AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - November 22, 2003; Ferial Haffajee; JOHANNESBURG, Nov 22 (IPS) - After years of delays, the South African government gave its stamp of approval this week to a plan for providing free anti-AIDS drugs. Over the next five years, the state hopes to extend the programme to over a million people living with AIDS. The price of a year s supply of the life-prolon
TRADE-AMERICAS: Civil Society Leery of FTAA's New Path: Inter Press Service - November 21, 2003; Rogelio Santo Domingo; MIAMI, Nov 21 (IPS) - Ministers from 34 countries of the Americas have stated their support for a hemisphere-wide free trade agreement that allows each nation to make commitments a la carte , an approach that civil society groups say veils the deep differences that remain and sidesteps the urgency of fighting poverty i
TRADE-AMERICAS: Free Market Talks Harmful to Health - Activists: Inter Press Service - November 19, 2003; Gustavo Gonz lez; SANTIAGO, Nov 19(IPS) - What is at stake is a matter of life and death, says Silvia Moriana, representative of Doctors Without Borders in Bolivia , in reference to the provisions on intellectual property rights and drugs patents in the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Doctors Without Borders (MS
POLITICS: Media, Not Need, Determine Crisis Funding - U.N.. Chief: Inter Press Service - November 18, 2003; Peter Deselaers*; UNITED NATIONS, Nov 18 (IPS) - Political and media attention, not the needs of the hungry and needy, determine funding to resolve global humanitarian crises, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday. As we have seen time and again, people respond generously when they see on their television screens a hungry child
HEALTH-KENYA: AIDS Drugs Create A Few "Have's", Many "Have Not's": Inter Press Service - November 18, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Nov 18 (IPS) - The sight of the tiny, mud-walled shelter located in a slum just outside of Nairobi was heart-breaking. Heaps of clothes, shoes, papers -- and a sack of potatoes -- were stashed in different corners of the one-roomed dwelling. The picture became still more disturbing when IPS spotted a figure at
HEALTH: HIV/AIDS Threatens U.N. Peacekeeping: Inter Press Service - November 17, 2003; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Nov 17 (IPS) - The spread of the deadly disease AIDS is threatening the security and stability of several U.N. peacekeeping missions overseas, said an agency official Monday. HIV/AIDS represents a challenge to every one of the 42,000 soldiers and police officers currently under U.N. command, Under-Secre
HEALTH-VENEZUELA: Children with HIV/AIDS Receive Free Medication: Inter Press Service - November 14, 2003; Yensi Rivero; CARACAS, Nov 14 (IPS) - Carla is a 10-year-old Venezuelan who earns good grades and wants to be a doctor when she grows up. After school, where she is in the fourth grade, she takes hair-cutting classes. But she has a carefully guarded secret: she is living with HIV, the AIDS virus. One of the main concerns of Carla s
HEALTH-ZAMBIA: People Living With HIV/AIDS Find Drugs Elusive: Inter Press Service - November 13, 2003; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Nov 13 (IPS) - The demand for anti-AIDS drugs far outstrips supply in many African countries. But, Zambia appears to be an exception to this rule - at first glance. The Director of Technical Services at the country s Central Board of Health, Victor Mukonka, said recently that people were not coming to clinics
HEALTH-CHINA: SARS Episode Jolts Gov't into Action on HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - November 12, 2003; Antoaneta Bezlova; BEIJING, Nov 12 (IPS)- A series of anti-AIDS measures announced by the Chinese government indicate that health crisis caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome earlier this year has served as a wake-up call for Beijing to take in earnest health threats it had previously preferred to ignore. A common worry though,
HEALTH-MALAWI:Traditional Practices Transformed By AIDS: Inter Press Service - November 8, 2003; Brian Ligomeka; BLANTYRE, Nov 8 (IPS) - The small Southern African country of Malawi , with a population of just 11 million, has found itself at the heart of the AIDS pandemic. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that up to 15 percent of Malawians have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tha
HEALTH: Vaccines Spark Controversy In Nigeria: Inter Press Service - November 6, 2003; Toye Olori; LAGOS, Nov 6 (IPS) - The government of Nigeria has rushed health workers to Daramba, a village on the border with Niger, following an outbreak of whooping cough - one of the six main killer diseases for children. Health officials blame the outbreak on the attitude of villagers who have shunned routine immunisation. Th
LABOUR-SWAZILAND: Illegal Immigrants Replace Workforce Decimated by AIDS: Inter Press Service - November 6, 2003; James Hall; MANZINI, Swaziland , Nov 6 (IPS) - Samito is a short, good-natured 15 year-old who seeks to support his girlfriend and their eight month-old baby by holding down two jobs. He is a garden boy, and he sells sweets at the busy central bus rank where thousands of people converge, giving Manzini, Swaziland s most populous
CANADA: Cheap HIV Drugs for Africa Threatened by Domestic Politics: Inter Press Service - November 4, 2003; Mark Bourrie; OTTAWA, Nov 4 (IPS) - Canada s plan to be the first G8 country to relax its patent rules to allow generic copies of anti-HIV drugs to be manufactured and shipped to pandemic regions in Africa and other southern nations might be snagged in a web of domestic political changes. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Prime
ARTS WEEKLY/ THEATRE-CHILE: Transvestites Trade Streets for Footlights: Inter Press Service - November 1, 2003; Gustavo Gonz lez; SANTIAGO, Nov 1 (IPS) - The First Transgender Theatre Company in Chile has become a reality, providing an opportunity for its members to make a living in the arts of the stage instead of the sex industry, often the only means of subsistence in a society that discriminates against sexual minorities. Cecilia, Anais
DEVELOPMENT: U.S. Urged to Reduce Foreign Aid Focus on Security: Inter Press Service - October 31, 2003; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (IPS) - Dozens of humanitarian and advocacy groups called Friday for a drastic overhaul of U.S. foreign aid policy and warned that Washington increasingly views foreign assistance as a tool for national security, which is creating an expanded role for the military in delivering aid overseas. In the
POLITICS-U.S.: Activists Cheer Senate Boost to Global AIDS Funding: Inter Press Service - October 31, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (IPS) - AIDS activists proclaimed a major victory in their fight to push the U.S. administration to spend more in the global battle against HIV/AIDS after the Senate voted Thursday to increase the U.S. contribution by nearly 300 million dollars in 2004. Rejecting calls by President George W. Bush, se
HEALTH: Finally, Those Living with AIDS in Laos Get Drugs: Inter Press Service - October 31, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Oct 31 (IPS) - Laos has taken a small, yet symbolic step to join the ranks of its South-east Asian neighbours, Thailand and Cambodia , in providing hope to its citizens living with HIV/AIDS. This week marked the first time that a Laotian with HIV/AIDS
POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: Mbeki's Popularity Improves Among Urban Voters: Inter Press Service - October 28, 2003; Noreen Ahmed; JOHANNESBURG, Oct 28 (IPS) - A liar and inhuman was how popular South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys described President Thabo Mbeki. But, according to surveys, the popularity of the president has increased ahead of elections next year. Uys was criticising Mbeki for recent controversial remarks reported in a U.S. new
HEALTH-KENYA: Price Reductions for AIDS Drugs A First Step, Say Activists: Inter Press Service - October 28, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Oct 28 (IPS) - The prospect of receiving anti-retroviral therapy was brought a little closer to millions of HIV-positive Kenyans recently, with the announcement of a price reduction for some of the drugs that are used to treat AIDS. British-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said last week t
RIGHTS-UGANDA: 20 Years On, People With AIDS Still Suffer Discrimination: Inter Press Service - October 27, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Oct 27 (IPS) - Ugandan Magdalena Achero (not her real name) is a bitter woman. As a school teacher, in a country which has been hailed as a beacon of hope for people living with HIV/AIDS, she has experienced discrimination firsthand. Last month she received a discouraging message from the local education offic
HEALTH-INDIA: New HIV/AIDS Funds Won't Go to Free Anti-Retrovirals: Inter Press Service - October 24, 2003; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (IPS) - India has just been pledged 200 million U.S. dollars to fight HIV/AIDS by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but none of this money will go toward anti-retrovirals, which activists say could help alleviate the suffering of some 4 million people living with the virus. The Indian govern
RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Women Candidates Vow to Promote Social Agenda If Elected: Inter Press Service - October 24, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Oct 24 (IPS) - In this week s parliamentary elections, the number of women legislators increased by 150 percent in a country where women candidates had complained that it is difficult for them to be taken seriously as representatives or as authority figures because of their gender. This is a remarkable increas
RIGHTS-UGANDA: Women Demand Law to Weed Out Domestic Violence: Inter Press Service - October 23, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Oct 23 (IPS) - Rights campaigners in Uganda are demanding a law to protect women from domestic violence, which has been blamed for the high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among them. The campaigners, mostly women s groups, have argued that lack of such legislation would water down efforts to fight the pandemic.
DEFENCE-AMERICAS: Coup de Grace for Outdated Conception of Security: Inter Press Service - October 22, 2003; Diego Cevallos; MEXICO CITY, Oct 22 (IPS) - Representatives of the governments of the Americas will meet next week in Mexico to write the obituary for the system of hemispheric security that emerged in the Cold War era. The governments will assume new commitments and conceptions of security, although analysts warn that they could be s
RIGHTS-THAILAND: Limited AIDS Drugs Force Doctors to Play God: Inter Press Service - October 14, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Oct 14 (IPS) - Annop Lekhakul s early steps into the world of medicine have led him to a role that comes close to playing God. After all, he holds the power over longer life or quick death for the patients with HIV at the government hospital he serves here in Thailand . Tuesdays leave the young doctor drai
RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Activists Challenge Discrimination in the Army: Inter Press Service - October 14, 2003; Ferial Haffajee; JOHANNESBURG, Oct 14 (IPS) - While government pins responsibility for its decision to ban soldiers who are HIV-positive from active duty on United Nations regulations, activists plan to fight the state in court. We abide by international law to the extent it is in keeping with the constitution but it is our view that U
RIGHTS-ZAMBIA: Land Rights for Women Still Far From Becoming a Reality: Inter Press Service - October 13, 2003; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Oct 13 (IPS) W hen Lands Minister Judith Kapijimpanga announced recently that government had, with immediate effect, directed local authorities to intensify land allocation to women to empower them through ownership, there was a huge round of applause. When she urged the usually truculent traditional rulers to
UNITED NATIONS/DEVELOPMENT: A Step Towards Millennium Goals, Says U.N. Official: Inter Press Service - October 11, 2003; Jacklynne Hobbs; PERUGIA, Italy , Oct 11(IPS) - Another conference, another talkshop? Not according to Eveline Herfkens, executive coordinator of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Campaign, and delegate to the 5th U.N. Peoples Assembly in Perugia. She believes that the meeting could play a part in building support for ch
RIGHTS-AFRICA: Women Activists Win Continent's "Nobel Prize": Inter Press Service - October 11, 2003; Miriam Kagan; WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (IPS) - Two tireless women s rights champions, Maeza Ashenafi from Ethiopia and Sara Longwe from Zambia , were awarded the 15th annual Africa Prize for Leadership, often referred to as the Nobel Prize for Africa , in a ceremony Saturday in New York. The Hunger Project, a global strategic organisa
HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Waiting For Death: Inter Press Service - October 10, 2003; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Oct 10 (IPS) - It s been months since Noma, a cancer patient at Mpilo, the largest government hospital here, has gone for radiotherapy. The process is meant to stop the cancer in her leg from spreading. But five months ago the only machine used by patients in three provinces - Matabeleland, Masvingo and Midl
POPULATION-ASIA: Universal Status for Reproductive Rights Pushed: Inter Press Service - October 9, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Oct 9 (IPS) - If populations across Asia are to enjoy the full scope of reproductive and sexual health rights, they must be given new life as one of the many human rights recognised universally, rather than be reduced in significance and treated as specific and different principles. That was a key message that
HEALTH: Quest for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Gains Momentum: Inter Press Service - October 8, 2003; Miriam Kagan; WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (IPS) - Developing a vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS infection and establishing manufacturing and distribution networks are crucial to the long-term global fight against HIV/AIDS, said a panel of scientists Wednesday. During a discussion sponsored by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), leadi
POPULATION: World Neglects 1.2 Billion Youth, Warns UNFPA: Inter Press Service - October 8, 2003; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Oct 8 (IPS) - The international community is being blamed for neglecting the social and economic needs of the largest generation of adolescents in history -- about 1.2 billion out of a world population of 6.0 billion -- who will soon enter adulthood. Investing in young people will yield generous returns
RIGHTS-ASIA: HIV-Positive Women Pay High Price to be Mothers: Inter Press Service - October 8, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Oct 8 (IPS) - Marisa Netgaiboon is ready for the price she will have to pay when motherhood comes -- a life of humiliation and harsh taunts from her community and even from people who are expected to be caring, like doctors and nurses. That is because the 35-year-old from southern Thailand s Ranong province ha
RIGHTS-RWANDA: Marriage by Abduction Worries Women's Groups: Inter Press Service - October 7, 2003; Jean Ruremesha; NYAGATARE, Rwanda , Oct 7 (IPS) - Judith Kanzayire, a 29-year-old mother of three children from northern Rwanda, admits that she was the victim of marriage by abduction . What can you do? It s the tradition here. We have no choice but to accept it, she says. When asked if she is happy with her life and if she has lear
POPULATION-ASIA: U.S. Bullying Tactics Come under Fire at Meet: Inter Press Service - October 6, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Oct 6 (IPS) - A conference on reproductive health began here Monday with U.S. President George W Bush being cast as a villain for his attempt to bully health clinics in the developing world to follow his conservative political agenda. While some speakers did not specifically name the Bush White House as they w
RIGHTS-AFRICA: Religious Groups Lead the Way in Caring for AIDS Orphans: Inter Press Service - October 6, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Oct 6 (IPS) - The role that religious organisations can play in helping communities to care for children affected by AIDS has been receiving greater attention since the 13th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa. The meeting, which was held in Nairobi from Sep. 21 to Se
VIETNAM: On Matters of Sex, Youth Ask Doctors, not Teachers: Inter Press Service - October 6, 2003; Tran Dinh Thanh Lam; HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam , Oct 6 (IPS) - Teachers and parents are just about the last people many young Vietnamese turn to when it comes to understanding sex-related issues, saying they find sex education in school too dry and their parents unwilling to say much about it. Thus, they are turning elsewhere for informati
HEALTH: Male Circumcision, HIV's Missing Link?: Inter Press Service - October 3, 2003; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe , Oct 3 (IPS) - The perceived correlation between low HIV infection and male circumcision is one area that AIDS researchers are yet to be convinced about. At the centre of the hypothesis that male circumcision does provide a measure of protection against HIV-AIDS are puzzling discrepancies in HIV pr
HEALTH: India Exports HIV Drugs, But Does Little for Own Patients: Inter Press Service - September 29, 2003; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Sep 29 (IPS) - India may be emerging as a major exporter of cheap anti-retroviral drugs, but it ironically does little to provide affordable treatment for tens of thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS in this country. The drugs are out there and can even be bought across the counter at most drug stores,
CULTURE-AFRICA: Cultural Stereotypes Remain Major Hurdles in AIDS Battle: Inter Press Service - September 29, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Sep 29 (IPS) - In a remote village in South Nyanza District, western Kenya , Lawrence Orawa is known as jater , (loosely translated as widow cleanser). His work is to perform a sexual act with women whose husbands have passed away, a ritual meant to cleanse the home and chase away evil spirits . One of h
HEALTH-AFRICA: Demands for Anti-AIDS Drugs Grow Lauder: Inter Press Service - September 26, 2003; Ferial Haffajee; NAIROBI, Sep 26 (IPS) - From the UN headquarters in New York to Nairobi, the conference venue for the 13th International Conference on AIDS in Africa, the focus this week fell sharply on extending access to treatment with anti-retroviral drugs. Anti-retroviral drugs can downgrade the disease from life-threatening to a
CULTURE-UGANDA: Using Talent to Fight Early Marriages: Inter Press Service - September 25, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; LIRA, Sept 25 (IPS) - Dorcus Apecu is a primary seven schoolgirl who keeps her fingers crossed. She is praying that her mother does not take her out of school and get her married due to lack of school fees. At sixteen, Dorcus is already over age in a society where girls are married off early in order to get bride price
HUMAN RIGHTS: A New Wall of Stigma Proving to Be a Setback in the Fight Against AIDS: Inter Press Service - September 24, 2003; Joyce Mulama; I lost my job after my employer came to know my HIV status. My children were chased from school and my relatives stopped visiting me, says Evelyne Apondi, whose husband succumbed to the disease two years ago. NAIROBI (IPS) - As if that was not enough, I was deregistered from my church, thanks to the stigma associated
POPULATION: Bush 'Gag Order' Chokes Global Family Planning - NGOs: Inter Press Service - September 24, 2003; Miriam Kagan; WASHINGTON, Sep 24 (IPS) - President George W. Bush s cuts to funding for global reproductive health programmes have not only failed to reduce abortions, but have devastated family planning and reproductive services in some of the world s poorest countries, says a report released Tuesday. Access Denied: U.S. Restrictio
HEALTH-AFRICA: AIDS Activists Push For More Access to Drugs to Reduce Deaths: Inter Press Service - September 24, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Sep 24 (IPS) - We want drugs! You talk as we die, were some of the angry voices by AIDS activists who protested Wednesday against failure by their governments to give them anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Some rolled on the ground as others shouted and marched through the 13th International Conference on AIDS in
HEALTH: Botswana's Women-Led AIDS Success Story: Inter Press Service - September 24, 2003; Ferial Haffajee; NAIROBI 24 (IPS) - Wearing a beauty queen s sash, Kgalalelo Ntsepe, had her audience at the International Conference on AIDS in Africa in stitches and in an almost non-stop round of clapping when she spoke this week. With a dry sense of humour and an ability to poke fun at herself, she came over almost as a charming st
HEALTH-THAILAND: Motherhood a Risk for Burmese Migrants: Inter Press Service - September 23, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; MAE SOT, Thailand , Sep 23 (IPS) - When she heads to the only health clinic in this border town where Burmese migrant workers feel welcome, Khin SoeYee runs the risk of being arrested. She had a close call one recent Saturday, when the Thai police stopped her and her husband on their way to the Mae Tao clinic. What sa
HEALTH-AFRICA: Initiative to Fight AIDS From All Fronts: Inter Press Service - September 23, 2003; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI (IPS) - The silence in the room is chilling as everybody pays attention to an AIDS verse by children from a Nairobi-based institution caring for AIDS orphans. Through the tear-jerking and thought-provoking poem, the children, from Nyumbani Children s Home, ask for a friend to lend a helping hand in the fight ag
HEALTH-AFRICA: A New AIDS Wave Washing Over Africa, Devastating Families: Inter Press Service - September 23, 2003; Ferial Haffajee; NAIROBI (IPS) - They are like babies now, says Prudence Mabele about the people living with AIDS she cares for as a volunteer in South Africa . Some wear nappies; I need to wash and feed them. Caring for someone means taking him or her to the hospital and sometimes spending the whole day with them. Then there s caring
POLITICS: AIDS Fight Needs More Funds: Inter Press Service - September 22, 2003; Ushani Agalawatta; UNITED NATIONS, Sep 22(IPS) - A series of speeches, panel discussions and press conferences all pointed to one conclusion Monday -- the fight against HIV/AIDS is starving for money. That means member states will not meet basic HIV/AIDS prevention and care goals adopted in the 2001 U.N. Declaration of Commitments on HIV
RIGHTS-MALAWI: Media Workers Shun Government Call for HIV/AIDS Testing: Inter Press Service - September 22, 2003; Brian Ligomeka; BLANTYRE, Sept 22 (IPS) - Media workers in Malawi have responded negatively to a call by the government for them to act as community role models and go for HIV/AIDS voluntary counselling and testing. The media workers, who include media managers, editors, broadcasters and reporters in Malawi s commercial city of Blant
DEVELOPMENT: On the Wrong Path to the Millennium Goals: Inter Press Service - September 21, 2003; Julio Godoy; PARIS, Sep 21 (IPS) - The world will not meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 without a dramatic improvement to services, a senior World Bank official says. The world as a unit will probably halve the proportion of people living on less than one dollar per day due to the remarkable economic growth of
HEALTH-BRAZIL: On the Offensive for Cheap Medicines: Inter Press Service - September 19, 2003; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 19 (IPS) - Damaris Lucena, 78, is undergoing chemotherapy for stomach cancer. She receives a widow s pension of 80 dollars a month and needs medications that cost 23.5 to 40 dollars a month. The synthetic drug that would be appropriate in her case costs around 270 dollars, but her daughter, a nurse,
TECHNOLOGY-AFRICA: Women Find Reason for Optimism in Internet Usage: Inter Press Service - September 18, 2003; James Hall; GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa , Sep 18 (IPS) - Slowly, but effectively, the Internet is empowering women in Africa to follow events as they have never witnessed before. The latest case in point is the women in Somalia who have been following their country s peace talks in neighbouring Kenya
RIGHTS: UN Fetes Thai AIDS Fight But Group Protests Latest Policy: Inter Press Service - September 17, 2003; Ushani Agalawatta; UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (IPS) - Thailand is being recognised for its fight against HIV/AIDS as world leaders gather to discuss progress against the scourge at a U.N. General Assembly session next week. Acknowledged among a small group of success stories , including Uganda ,
POLITICS-U.S.: War Spending Threatens to Squeeze Foreign Aid: Inter Press Service - September 16, 2003; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Sep 16 (IPS) - With the Bush administration s most recent request to Congress to fund operations in Iraq and pressure from tax cuts, economic recession and previous spending on the war on terror , economists are starting to doubt if the government can fulfil its commitments to foreign aid and overseas deve
HEALTH: World Bank Rings Alarm Over HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe: Inter Press Service - September 16, 2003; Miriam Kagan; WASHINGTON, Sep 16 (IPS) - As Eastern Europe and Central Asia teeter on the brink of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, concerted action to keep the virus from spreading to the general population could prevent huge socio-economic costs later, says a World Bank report released Tuesday. Averting AIDS Crises in Eastern Europe and Cent
HEALTH-ETHIOPIA: AIDS Fight Hindered by Stigma, Discrimination, Say NGOs: Inter Press Service - September 16, 2003; Sonny Inbaraj; ADDIS ABABA, Sep 16 (IPS) - Miss Ethiopia has joined hands with non-governmental organisations (NGOS), which are based in the capital Addis Ababa, in the fight against HIV/AIDS. She will play a role in a documentary film addressing the issues of stigma and discrimination, which NGOS say are the greatest hindrances in
RELIGION-TOGO: Charismatic Churches Prey on Vulnerable Women: Inter Press Service - September 13, 2003; Noel Kokou Tadegnon; LOME, Sep 13 (IPS) - Ayele Ajavon is a happy woman, so she believes. After she was divorced by her husband, she sought solace in the church. I turned to the church and found a job and a new partner, says Ajavon, now a secretary in the capital Lome. But Ajavon cannot take any step or decision without consulting her pas
RIGHTS-INDIA: Govt Stand on Homosexuality Causes New Furore: Inter Press Service - September 12, 2003; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Sep 12 (IPS) - The government s stand that same-sex relationships are criminal and unlikely to be accepted in Indian society has left homosexuals and HIV/AIDS workers a disappointed lot. Aman Lekhi, counsel for the government, told the Delhi High Court on Monday that homosexuality cannot be legalised in Ind
WTO-CANCUN: Cambodia's Entry Could be Panacea -- or Bitter Pill: Inter Press Service - September 12, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Sep 12 (IPS) - Cambodia s entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) this week is triggering a debate over whether this will be a panacea or a bitter pill for the country s 170,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. On Thursday, ministers attending the 146-nation WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico , a
WTO-CANCUN: Cheap Medicine Agreement Under Fire from NGOs: Inter Press Service - September 11, 2003; Diego Cevallos; CANCUN, Mexico , Sep 11 (IPS) - Some WTO members may be patting themselves on the back for the agreement on low-cost medicines for poor countries, citing it as proof that they can indeed work together, but NGOs in Cancun for the Fifth World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference say there is little reason to celebr
POLITICS-U.S.: Senate Rejects AIDS Funding, Bush Promises in Doubt: Inter Press Service - September 11, 2003; Miriam Kagan; WASHINGTON, Sep 11 (IPS) - AIDS activists say the Bush government has reneged on its promise to finance the battle against HIV/AIDS, after two Senate votes this week failed to obtain funding for various initiatives. The level of hypocrisy among many in the Senate seems to know no limit when it comes to the global AIDS
POLITICS: Make Room for the South on U.N. Security Council - NGOs: Inter Press Service - September 11, 2003; Haider Rizvi; UNITED NATIONS, Sep 11 (IPS) - Eminent intellectuals and leading civil society advocates who closely work with the United Nations are demanding that any move to reform the Security Council must include the emerging powers from the global South. And that long-discussed change must not be thwarted by arguments that south
RIGHTS-GHANA: Protecting the Identity of People Living with AIDS: Inter Press Service - September 9, 2003; Isabella Gyau Orhin; ACCRA, Sept 9 (IPS) - Joana (not her real name) hurriedly jumped out of a tro-tro (minibus) at Circle heading straight towards Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. She was about 15 minutes late for her fortnightly meeting with an association of people living with HIV/AIDS in Accra. It was a special day as they were going to mee
RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Women Battle With Culture in order to fight AIDS: Inter Press Service - September 9, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Sept 9 (IPS) - Swazi women are engaged in a quiet cultural revolution with self-empowerment as their goal, but in the face of traditional laws that have long denied them equal rights. The battle directly affects women s ability to cope in the current AIDS crisis. We have worked long and hard for equality, and
HEALTH-CAMEROON: Malnutrition, Disease Stunt Children's Growth: Inter Press Service - September 8, 2003; Sylvestre Tetchiada; YAOUNDE, Sep 8 (IPS) - Cameroon is not known for the famine and drought that devastate much of Africa each year. Blessed with abundant rainfall, it is part of the equatorial forest where surplus food is always produced. The problem, as Jacques Boyer, coordinator of the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) in Cameroon, recently
RIGHTS-GHANA: The Deafening Silence Around Being Tested Positive: Inter Press Service - September 5, 2003; Isabella Gyau Orhin; ACCRA, Sep 5 (IPS) - Diagnosed with HIV three years ago, Kabuki is determined not to let her sexual partner know. He has lived with me for many years but has not bothered to perform the marriage rites. He thinks he is taking me for a ride. Why should I tell him? she asks. Thirty-five-year-old Kabuki, who hails from one
POPULATION-BRAZIL: Four Out of 10 Women Sterilised: Inter Press Service - September 4, 2003; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 4 (IPS) - As many as four out of 10 Brazilian women of child-bearing age have had their tubes tied, according to estimates that are widely accepted by experts. That unusually high rate of sterilisation is due to a culture of tubal ligation, which has become the preferred method of birth control, eve
ASIA-PACIFIC: Neglect of HIV/AIDS Problem Will Undercut Economy: Inter Press Service - September 4, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Sep 4 (IPS) - Countries across Asia and the Pacific may soon be staring at a drastic cut in their labour force - and see their economies undermined -- if their leaders fail to take action to stall the deadly march of HIV/AIDS, a senior U.N. official here. This dire prediction by Kim Hak-Su, executive secretary
RIGHTS-UGANDA: Domestic Violence linked to HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - September 2, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Sept 2 (IPS) - In a society where women are still valued as property, and do not have equal decision-making powers and status within the family, the existence of rape and brutal attacks on them by their spouses has become a stimulant for HIV/AIDS infections. And in a country where a specific domestic violence
HEALTH-SENEGAL: Women's Groups Seek Mandatory Premarital HIV Testing: Inter Press Service - September 2, 2003; Abdou Faye; DAKAR, Sep 2 (IPS) - Women s groups are urging health officials to make premarital HIV testing mandatory so that young women are protected against AIDS . The CAR-Femmes coalition, which is spearheading the campaign, is being supported by the Association of Women and Youth for Africa s Development. Safietou Ba Diop, the
ECONOMY-SWAZILAND: Women Own Majority of Small Businesses: Inter Press Service - September 1, 2003; Thomas Shongwe; MBABANE, Sep 1 (IPS) - Since the publication last week of a government report that showed a majority of small businesses are owned by Swazi women, women s empowerment groups are trying to reconcile this surprising news with the reality that Swazi women are legally minors with limited rights in this small country.
CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Mswati Takes Eleventh Bride, Criticised for Breaking Rules: Inter Press Service - August 29, 2003; Thomas Shongwe; MBABANE, Aug 29 (IPS) - When the revered leader of a country crippled by an AIDS crisis breaks his own rules intended to curb the HIV infection rate, the policy is doomed to failure, critics of King Mswati s decision to take an eleventh bride said this week. Two years ago, the king stunned everyone by imposing a five-
HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Risk of HIV/AIDS Follows Some Migrants Home: Inter Press Service - August 29, 2003; Zofeen Ebrahim; KARACHI, Pakistan , Aug 29 (IPS) - I call him my failure, Dr Ashraf Memon said of Mohammad Wali, because even after seven years we have not been able to persuade him to bring his family for testing. Wali (not his real name) is 32 and has AIDS, for which he has been consulting Dr Memon, of Karachi s Sindh AIDS Control
WTO-CANCUN: Corporate Giants Hold Gov't Strings: Inter Press Service - August 28, 2003; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Aug 28 (IPS) - A new report reveals the kind of moves multinational giants have been making to control decisions at the World Trade Organisation ministerial summit in Cancun next month. The report by Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) details several instances where giant corporations have moved to cont
CHINA: Silence on Award for AIDS Activist Belies Changed Attitude: Inter Press Service - August 28, 2003; Antoaneta Bezlova; BEIJING, Aug 28 (IPS) - Chinese health officials proclaim a new era of openness in tackling the long-denied epidemic of HIV/AIDS, but this attitude was nowhere in sight when one of China s most renowned AIDS campaigners was awarded a Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia s version of the Nobel Prize, for her work last month.
WTO-CANCUN: Thorny Trade Issues Put Off Until Ministerial Meet: Inter Press Service - August 27, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Aug 27(IPS) - Preparations for the WTO ministerial conference next month in Mexico concluded Wednesday in a climate of dissent, marked by the developing countries dissatisfaction with the draft declaration to be presented to the world s trade ministers. One of the few exceptions amidst these tensions at the Wor
WTO-CANCUN: Route to Accord Laid Out, Construction Another Matter: Inter Press Service - August 26, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Aug 26 (IPS) - The general lines are drawn for the negotiations to take place among the WTO s 146 member states next month in Cancun, Mexico . But pending is the difficult task to unite the behind putting together an agreement, say sources close to the trade talks. An agreement would be finalised with the resol
HEALTH-NIGERIA: Children Excluded from Life-Prolonging AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - August 26, 2003; Toye Olori; LAGOS, Aug 26 (IPS) - Adults living with HIV/AIDS are receiving subsidised anti-retroviral drugs, while children in similar situation are not benefiting from the medicine which the government launched last year, rights activists complain. Infected children have a right to life just as their adult counterparts who are c
CULTURE-TANZANIA: African Women Called on to Stop Embracing Poverty: Inter Press Service - August 22, 2003; Ananilea Nkya; DAR ES SALAAM, Aug 22 (IPS) - Women in Africa have to rise up to the challenge of developing positive attitudes as a key factor to advancing themselves, as well as attaining sustainable socio and economic development of the continent. This was the message from the Tanzania Minister for Community Development Gender and
RIGHTS-CUBA: Homosexuality Takes a Step Out of the Closet: Inter Press Service - August 21, 2003; Dalia Acosta; HAVANA, Aug 21 (IPS) - As other countries legalise same-sex civil unions and adoptions by homosexuals, the question of homosexuality has only just become a subject of public debate in Cuba . The daily Juventud Rebelde -- the second highest circulation newspaper in this Caribbean island nation of 11.2 million -- surpris
HEALTH-BRAZIL: Gov't Distributes Condoms in Schools: Inter Press Service - August 20, 2003; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 20 (IPS) - Brazil s ministries of health and education have begun to distribute condoms in schools as part of a stepped-up campaign to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV/AIDS among teenagers. A new Health and Prevention Programme plans to hand out free condoms to some 30,000 students
SOUTH ASIA: A Lot of Talk, Not Enough Action on Trafficking: Inter Press Service - August 19, 2003; Damakant Jayshi; DHAKA, Aug 19 (IPS) - Dibya Thapa (not her real name), 20, was instrumental in rescuing about 300 unsuspecting girls in 1997 and 2000 from the Kakarbhitta checkpoint on the Nepal- India border in the eastern part of the Himalayan kingdom. Dibya is HIV-positive, having got the virus sometime between and 1994 and 1996 i
HEALTH-MEXICO: Street Children at High Risk of AIDS: Inter Press Service - August 18, 2003; Diego Cevallos; MEXICO CITY, Aug 18 (IPS) - When you re on drugs, you re just out of it, and nothing matters. That s how I got sick, says Raul, a young HIV-carrier who spent four years living on the streets of Mexico City. I had sex with another young guy to get drugs from him, he confides to IPS. The estimated 20,000 children and ado
CULTURE-ZIMBABWE: Communities Make Funerals their Core Business: Inter Press Service - August 18, 2003; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Aug 18 (IPS) - It s the first Sunday of the month. On the streets in Mpopoma - a working class area - many adults, both men and women but especially men, are distinguishable by their smart ties and dark blazers. Some of the men are on bicycles. Most are walking briskly and very few are in their own vehicles.
CULTURE-SWAZILAND: Women in the Forefront of the Battle Against AIDS: Inter Press Service - August 18, 2003; James Hall; SWAZILAND, Aug 18 (IPS) - Gogo ( Granny ) Mkhatjwa, 62, has had enough of watching her grandchildren die of the disease that cuts you down completely, as AIDS is colloquially known in the SiSwati language. I have learned about this disease. The health motivators taught us. I am insisting that my daughters take proper
RIGHTS: Child Slave Rings Rife in Southern Africa: Inter Press Service - August 15, 2003; James Hall; MAPUTO, Aug 15 (IPS) - Trade in children, literally slave trading in infants to teenagers, has been a problem that African law enforcement officials thought was mostly confined to the western part of the continent. But a new study by the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) has exposed the vulnerability of impoverished
HEALTH-AFRICA: AIDS Drugs Slowly Reaching the Needy: Inter Press Service - August 14, 2003; Nawaal Deane; JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14 (IPS) - It may seem an impossible task to eradicate AIDS amongst children globally but the staff from the U.S.-based Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation appears to be committed to this vision. On a visit to South Africa this week staff members, together with officials from the U.S. Senate,
DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Gov't, Critics Use Summit to Highlight Their Case: Inter Press Service - August 13, 2003; James Hall; MBABABNE, Aug 13 (IPS) - A growing reform movement, abetted by radical labour unions, is being heard louder than ever this week at the commencement of a British Commonwealth summit being held in Swaziland from Aug. 12 to Aug. 16. The meeting, known as the SMART Partnership Dialogue Summit, is intended to open channels
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Activists Wary of Broken Promises: Inter Press Service - August 12, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; JOHANNESBURG, Aug 12 (IPS) - Wary of broken promises, anti-HIV and AIDS activists are keeping a guarded eye on the South African government, despite its most concrete commitment to develop a comprehensive treatment plan for people living with the disease by the end of September. The department of health says its offici
TRADE: A Month from Cancun, WTO and Critics Rev Their Engines: Inter Press Service - August 11, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Aug 11 (IPS) - International trade negotiations this week enter the final stretch before the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico , with the first signs of progress in the otherwise troubled agricultural talks and announcements of new mobilisations by groups opposed to the multilateral trade syst
HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Sex Workers Join Efforts to Contain Spread of AIDS: Inter Press Service - August 7, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Aug 7 (IPS) - Commercial sex workers are not responsible for the rise in AIDS cases regionally, but their activities do contribute, and efforts to contain the spread of HIV now include members of the world s oldest profession. The activities of commercial sex workers tell researchers much about societies in a
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Group Forms Company to Provide Cheap Drugs: Inter Press Service - August 6, 2003; Nawaal Deane; DURBAN, Aug 6 (IPS) - AIDS activists have launched a new company to sell cheap anti-retroviral drugs to people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa . The company, known as the Generic Anti-retroviral Procurement Project (GARPP), was launched this week after activists accused the government of a lack of political will
HEALTH-US: HIV/AIDS Messages Losing Punch, Experts Warn: Inter Press Service - July 31, 2003; Katherine Stapp; NEW YORK, Jul 31 (IPS) - After years of modest but encouraging victories against AIDS, the disease is again rising in the U.S. population and experts say there are no easy answers to the problem. The number of people in the United States diagnosed with full-blown AIDS spiked 2.2 percent in 2002, the first increase in
RIGHTS-INDIA: Self-healing Brings Ex-Sex Workers Back to Society: Inter Press Service - July 30, 2003; Nitin Jugran Bahuguna; KOLKATA, India , Jul 30 (IPS) - Shanti, 19, had never stepped outside her village of Thakarnagar in India s West Bengal state. So when her best friend invited her to board a bus to a neighbouring village to meet some relatives , she readily agreed. Instead, the friend took her to the railway station, where they bo
HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Providing a Ray of Hope: Inter Press Service - July 30, 2003; Wilson Johwa; HARARE, Jul 30 (IPS) - When we started in 2001, we used to move from door-to-door looking for AIDS patients, explains the matronly MaSibanda. But now, because the stigma is slowly dying many are seeking our help, she adds. As a volunteer in Rival of Hope, one of many community groups that give home-care to the scores o
ARTS WEEKLY-MUSIC/UGANDA: Message of Abstinence Getting Through: Inter Press Service - July 29, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Jul 29 (IPS) - Whenever I appear on the stage and confess that I have never had sex in my life, my goodness, people laugh and fall on their knees. Even someone, who initially appeared composed, just bursts out laughing, says 26-year-old Ugandan musician, Richard Kaweesa, who is urging youth to abstain from sex
HEALTH-ZAMBIA: Campaigners Call for Heavy Sentence for Rapists: Inter Press Service - July 28, 2003; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Jul 28 (IPS) - Enraged by the rising cases of child abuse, a member of parliament has called for mandatory castration in all defilement and rape cases in Zambia . The legislator, Inonge Wina, has been supported by fellow activists like Jurita Mutale from the Young Women s Christian Association. The buck h
CULTURE-TANZANIA: Breaking the Culture of Silence: Inter Press Service - July 25, 2003; Ananilea Nkya; DAR ES SALAAM, Jul 25 (IPS) - Antonia Kilegu, 30, looks like a healthy young woman. But when she told a press conference in the Tanzanian commercial city of Dar Es Salaam that she was living positively with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS many people, including her own relatives, were horrified. S
RIGHTS-BANGLADESH: Returning Women Migrants Get No Warm Welcome: Inter Press Service - July 25, 2003; Anindita Dasgupta; DHAKA, Jul 25 (IPS) - Ask a male Bangladeshi villager how AIDS has been spreading in his country and nine out of 10 will reply, Bangladeshi nongra (dirty) women bring it from outside . Female Bangladeshi migrants who return home are often seen by their male contemporaries as loose or bad charactered women. Whether they
HEALTH-MALAWI: Quest for Cheap AIDS Treatment Fuels Fake Drugs Boom: Inter Press Service - July 23, 2003; Brian Ligomeka; BLANTYRE, Jul 23 (IPS) - Many Malawians living with HIV/AIDS are forced to rely on illegal drugs in a bid to treat opportunistic illnesses, ease suffering and prolong their lives. Some of the fake drugs have flooded the country s parallel market with a potentially disastrous health impact. A lack of recognised cheap dr
ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-AFRICA: Camera, a Powerful Tool in the Fight against AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 22, 2003; Lansana Fofana; DAKAR, Jul 22 (IPS) - I am determined to push through my message, that we must tackle urgently the danger that faces us all, and that is the HIV/AIDS epidemic, says Adams Sie, a 24-year-old Sierra Leonean filmmaker, who lives in the Senegalese capital of Dakar. I want to send this message through my films, and I hope
TECHNOLOGY: Big Pharma Cracks Down on Cheap Internet Drugs: Inter Press Service - July 18, 2003; Mark Bourrie; OTTAWA, Jul 18 (IPS) - The huge U.S. pharmaceutical industry is trying to crush Canadian-based Internet companies that sell drugs at relatively low prices to U.S. customers, Canadian pharmacists say. The Canadian-based pharmacies have won the support of the powerful senior citizens lobby in the U.S., known as AARP, fo
HEALTH: Quest For AIDS Vaccine Gets Short Shrift, Experts Say: Inter Press Service - July 18, 2003; Katherine Stapp; NEW YORK, Jul 18 (IPS) - While most scientists are convinced that a vaccine is the best hope to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS, such research is proceeding at a leisurely pace because it gets only a fraction of the already inadequate funding doled out for prevention and treatment, experts say. Giant drug companies -- most n
HEALTH: U.S. Anti-AIDS Funding Dwindles; Bush Blamed: Inter Press Service - July 17, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jul 17 (IPS) - Two efforts by Democratic lawmakers to boost next year s U.S. contribution to the global fight against AIDS were narrowly defeated in a key Congressional committee Wednesday, spurring charges that Pres. George W. Bush, who just returned from a five-day trip to Africa last weekend, had betraye
DEVELOPMENT: 'Humanitarian Ethic' Lacking in Disaster Aid: Inter Press Service - July 17, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Jul 17 (IPS) - Politics and the media spotlight have contributed toward shifting humanitarian aid to high profile disaster areas at the expense of more invisible suffering, charges the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in its annual World Disasters Report, released here Thursday.
HEALTH: AIDS Fund Falls Short of Expectations: Inter Press Service - July 17, 2003; Julio Godoy; PARIS, Jul 17 (IPS) - The European donors conference to fight AIDS, tuberculosis , and malaria produced less than half the expected aid package at its meeting in Paris Wednesday. This conference has closed with disappointing financial commitments from Europe, Helene Rossert, director-general of AIDES, a French associa
CULTURE-TANZANIA: Activists Challenge Gender Inequality As Women Marry Women: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2003; Ananilea Nkya; DAR ES SALAAM, Jul 15 (IPS) - - Tanzania still has a long way to go in achieving gender equality and cultures in some communities continue to force women to marry another woman in order to bear a son for inheritance purposes. This culture exists among the Kurya tribe in the country s North Western region of Mara borde
MALAYSIA: 'Noon Bride' Phenomenon Calls for Action, Activists Say: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2003; Baradan Kuppusamy; KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 15 (IPS) - They are confined in luxury condominiums to satisfy a select club of the rich and old in Malaysia , who visit them regularly in late afternoons. These noon brides are visited by patrons who wine, dine and have sex with them, before going home to their families. But many of the women are
POLITICS: Bush's Africa Trip Long on Rhetoric, Short on Specifics: Inter Press Service - July 14, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jul 14 (IPS) - On his first week back from a whirlwind trip across Africa, U.S. President George W. Bush will have a lot of explaining to do -- and not just why a controversial allegation about Iraq s efforts to obtain uranium yellowcake from Niger made it into his State of the Union address, either. V
AFRICA: What Next Ask Analysts As Bush Packs His Bags: Inter Press Service - July 13, 2003; Badia Jacobs; JOHANNESBURG, Jul 13 (IPS) - As United States President George W Bush leaves Africa this weekend, analysts, citizens, even Hungarian tourists to Johannesburg, are asking the question: so, what next? Optimists, including the South African, Nigerian, Botswana , Senegalese and Ugandan governments, are convinced th
HEALTH: Bush Winds Up Trip, Pledges Support for War on HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 12, 2003; Toye Olori; ABUJA, Jul 12 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush ended his five-nation tour of Africa Saturday, with a pledge to support Africa s fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty. Over the next five years, the United States will spend 15 billion U.S. dollars to fight AIDS around the world, with special focus on Africa, Bush said
POLITICS: African Union Silent on Zimbabwe: Inter Press Service - July 12, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; MAPUTO, Jul 12 (IPS) - While the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe is one of the conflicts that captured the attention of United States (US) President George Bush during his trip to Africa, the African Union (AU) is officially silent on that country. But while President Robert Mugabe s presence in Maputo ha
TRADE: Health Problems Afflict WTO on Way to Cancun: Inter Press Service - July 11, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Jul 11 (IPS) - Poor countries access to low-cost medicines has become, alongside farm trade, a make-or-break issue in what has been dubbed the Doha Round of negotiations, under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Carlos Perez del Castillo, chairman of the WTO General Council, says the lack of an
HEALTH: Annan Urges African Gov'ts to Double their Budgets to Fight AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 11, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; MAPUTO, Jul 11 (IPS) - Almost as common as national flags at the African Union summit in Maputo, Mozambique , is the red ribbon symbol of the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign. Messages warning about the threat HIV/AIDS poses to the future development of the continent are all over convention centre where 53 African heads of stat
POLITICS-NIGERIA: Bush's Safari to Benefit U.S. Investors: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2003; Toye Olori; LAGOS, Jul 9 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush s visit to Nigeria on Friday will only benefit American investors, says a human rights activist. It is purely an economic trip. It is to persuade (President Olusegun) Obasanjo to opt out of OPEC to ensure that the U.S. has a hold on the country s oil, claims Segun Jed
SCIENCE: Vials and Trials Inch Closer to Malaria Vaccine: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2003; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Jul 9 (IPS) - The development of a vaccine against malaria could be five to eight years away, a leading researcher says. We will try to shorten that, but it is not going to be easy, Prof Adrian Hill, a Wellcome Trust research fellow at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford told media r
HEALTH-FRANCE: Gov't Makes AIDS Worse for Immigrants: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2003; Julio Godoy; PARIS, Jul 9 (IPS) - Immigrants of African origin report an unusually high incidence of AIDS in France , and recent government measures are only making it worse. The reported incidence of AIDS is rising particularly among immigrant women, says a report by the French Health Watch Institute (INVS, after its French name)
CULTURE-MALAWI: Young Women Leaders Rise Up To Challenges: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2003; Frank Phiri; BLANTYRE, 9 Jul (IPS) -- Faced with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection, environmental degradation and sluggish economic growth, young women professionals in Malawi have put their heads together and intensified efforts to bring about a major paradigm shift. The women, under a grouping called the Young Women Leaders
HEALTH: Preventable Diseases Claim 11 Million Children Each Year: Inter Press Service - July 4, 2003; Katherine Stapp*; NEW YORK, Jul 4 (IPS) - Nearly 11 million children do not live to see their fifth birthday each year due to a lethal combination of malnutrition and mostly preventable diseases, according to a new article in the Lancet journal -- a catastrophe that experts say is needless. Every single day -- 365 days a year -- an atta
POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Africa Trip More Spin Than Substance?: Inter Press Service - July 3, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jul 3 (IPS) - Will President George W. Bush s first trip to Africa as president amount more to spin than to substance? That s what most Africa specialists are waiting to find out, and the betting so far, despite his administration s leaning toward sending U.S. peacekeeping troops to Liberi
HEALTH-ROMANIA: A New Chance for Children with AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 3, 2003; Marian Chiriac; BUCHAREST, Jul 3 (IPS) - Fifteen-year-old Nicu Popescu (not his real name) has written a long list of gifts he wants, including new shoes and a football T- shirt. He also wants to be an airplane pilot, but who knows whether that wish can come true. Nicu, a seemingly healthy boy with big, blue eyes and thick, dark hair,
HEALTH-U.S.: Bush's Look to Big Pharma for AIDS Czar Evokes Concern: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jul 2 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush s surprise pick of a former top executive of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and major Republican contributor as his global AIDS co-ordinator has drawn expressions of concern and even outrage among Africa and AIDS activists here. Bush s choice of former
LABOUR-ASIA: HIV Testing of Migrant Workers Fuels Pandemic: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 2 (IPS) - A practice common in some Asian countries - forcing migrant workers to face mandatory HIV/AIDS tests - is bound to hasten the spread of the disease than curb it, say experts and officials at a regional conference on migrant workers here. These policies spark fear through an already vulnerable gro
POLITICS: South Africa's First Female-Led Party Launched: Inter Press Service - June 30, 2003; Farah Khan; JOHANNESBURG, Jun 30 (IPS) - South Africa s first significant female-led political party was launched in South Africa by Patricia de Lille, a former trade unionist and leader of the Pan Africanist Congress. De Lille, one of the country s top ten most popular politicians, is taking the ruling African National Congress
HEALTH: Innovation Triumphs in Haiti's AIDS Fight - but for Poverty: Inter Press Service - June 25, 2003; Jane Regan; PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jun 25 (IPS) - My mother and my godmother helped deliver him right there, said Marie-Michelle, 27, smiling as she balanced the chubby six-month-old on one hip and pointed to the unmade bed. She could be any young mother -- her hair dishevelled, her home in disarray.. Dinner was still just an idea. B
HEALTH-UGANDA: High Incidence of Rape Exposes Girls to HIV/AIDS Infection: Inter Press Service - June 25, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Jun 25 (IPS) - Faridah Ssentongo, 10, may remain traumatised for the rest of her life, right groups fear. A year ago, she was raped by a man she did not know. It all started when her mother Martina, a widow, confided in a family who promised an education for Ssentongo in a nearby school in Mpigi, a district so
PAKISTAN: Painter from Outcast Community Brings Change from Within: Inter Press Service - June 24, 2003; Muddassir Rizvi; LAHORE, Pakistan , Jun 24 (IPS) - The narrow alleys behind the majestic, Mughal-era Badshahi Masjid (King s mosque) here in Pakistan s second largest city cradle a people who are looked down upon as social outcasts. Though these musicians, dancers and sex workers provide services to many, they are stuck in a profession
EDUCATION: Secondary Schools, the Weakest Link in Africa: Inter Press Service - June 23, 2003; Brahima Ouedraogo; KAMPALA, Jun 23 (IPS) - Ugandan Joshua Byabashaija has no idea what he will be doing after completing his secondary school in five months. It s almost the end of my secondary programme. I have no idea what the future holds for me, says a worried Byabashaija. I could become a teacher, because that s what my parents did,
HEALTH-RUSSIA: 'Disastrous' Rise in HIV Among Youth: Inter Press Service - June 20, 2003; Sergei Blagov; MOSCOW, Jun 20 (IPS) - Medical authorities are considering new control measures following a sharp rise in the number of young people infected with HIV. Tatyana Yakovleva, deputy head of the healthcare committee of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, warned a parliamentary committee last week of a
SRI LANKA: Case of Child with HIV Reignites Debate on Treatment: Inter Press Service - June 17, 2003; Kumudini Hettiarachchi; COLOMBO, Jun 17 (IPS) - Anil (not his real name) resembles a baby and only his long, matchstick limbs reveal that he is older. Very ill, his underdeveloped body is wracked by bouts of coughing. The plight of this three-year old boy with HIV has revived a debate in Sri Lanka over what many say i
Persuade a Man, Without Hitting Him on the Head: Inter Press Service - June 14, 2003; Katy Salmon; NAIROBI, Jun 14 (IPS) - It s not easy to change the pattern of a man who is used to making love to ten women, who is polygamous in nature, says Nigerian Femi Jarret, executive producer of the African Radio Drama Association. Traditionally, his forefather had 10 wives. There were 40 of them as children. Most of them don
HEALTH: Vaccine Trial Offers Hope in Fight against HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - June 13, 2003; Neena Bhandari; SYDNEY, Jun 13 (IPS) - A new HIV vaccine developed in Australia , if successful after its first-ever clinical trial on humans here and in Thailand , will offer hope to the world s poor in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, say researchers. The development of a HIV vaccine is particularly important in resource-poo
ECONOMY-AFRICA: Scramble for Tourists Spurs Competition for New Airports: Inter Press Service - June 13, 2003; James Hall; KRUGER PARK, South Africa , Jun 13 (IPS) - The new Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport boasts of having the world s largest thatched roof . The claim is verified by the enormous grass ceiling supported by dark-stained wooden posts that greets holiday and business travellers arriving in northeast South Africa. But t
SCIENCE: South Africa Strives to Develop Vaccines for a Sick Continent: Inter Press Service - June 11, 2003; Yolandi Groenewald; JOHANNESBURG, Jun 11 (IPS) - Africa is infamous for being a disease-torn continent that looks to the West to save it from falling into a bottomless pit of ailments. But African scientists are proving the perception wrong as they strive to solve the problems of a sick continent themselves. An all female team at the Univ
INDIA: HIV Case Shows Need to Fix Rules on Assisted Reproduction: Inter Press Service - June 5, 2003; Sujoy Dhar; KOLKATA, India , Jun 5 (IPS) - Already under emotional stress from being infertile, Indian couples are finding that the artificial route to conceiving children is fraught with danger, and that sometimes it can be deadly. The discovery in May that a 35-year-old woman in the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata contracte
DEVELOPMENT: EU Bows to International Pressure Over Aid: Inter Press Service - June 3, 2003; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Jun 3 (IPS) - The European Union has responded to calls from the U.S. and civil society to step-up its humanitarian aid to Africa by pledging more than 2 million euros in financial help to the troubled continent. The EU and two of its largest member states responded to international pressure by announcing a s
DEVELOPMENT: African NGOs Call G8 "A Lost Opportunity": Inter Press Service - June 3, 2003; Nilla Ahmed; EVIAN, France , June (IPS) - Six African organisations, representing women, labour, researchers and development activists have described the outcome of the G8 summit a stunning failure . As the world s seven major industrial nations and Russia concluded their deliberations, the group said some drops of aid out of Ev
RIGHTS: Handing Out Condoms to Students Causes Uproar in Trinidad: Inter Press Service - June 3, 2003; Peter Richards; PORT OF SPAIN, Jun 3 (IPS) - On two occasions last month, Svenn Miki Grant, the community outreach co-ordinator of the Young Men s Christian Association (YMCA) stood outside a secondary school and the main library in the city and handed out condoms and sex education literature to school children. His action, he said, w
RIGHTS: AIDS - the Latest Challenge to Face South Africa's Poor children: Inter Press Service - June 2, 2003; Farah Khan; JOHANNESBURG, Jun. 2 (IPS) - My father died a long time ago, says an 11-year old girl from South Africa s KwaZulu-Natal province. My mother died last year, she says. That will always stay in me because the life that I am living is not a good one. While AIDS deaths are not notifiable and stigmatisation in South Africa i
DEVELOPMENT: Growing Doubts About Value of G8 Summits for Africa: Inter Press Service - June 1, 2003; Nilla Ahmed; EVIAN, France , Jun 1 (IPS) - Civil society organisations are becoming increasingly sceptical about the value of the G8 summits to Africa. More energy has gone into non-African issues such as the aftermath of the Iraq war than into matters of vital importance to Africa, says Ezra Mbogori, executive direct
AFRICA: G8 Leaders Challenged To Fulfil Commitments: Inter Press Service - May 31, 2003; Nilla Ahmed; ANNEMASSE, France May 31 (IPS) - African leaders have joined non governmental organisations in calling on the Group of Eight countries to deliver on previous commitments, in particular on the Africa Plan of Action that was launched at last year s G8 Summit in Canada . In a communiqué issued at the end
PAKISTAN: Truckers' Sexual Behaviour a Risky Journey to HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - May 28, 2003; Zofeen Ebrahim; KARACHI, Pakistan , May 28 (IPS) - Khurshid, a truck driver for more than seven years now, says he is enticed by the charm of this southern Pakistani city, but would not bring his wife and children here even if he earned enough money to do that. It s no place to bring up children, they may get wayward, says the 32-yea
DEVELOPMENT: Analysis - Iraq Rift May Harm Africa at G8 Summit: Inter Press Service - May 27, 2003; Nilla Ahmed; EVIAN, France , May 27 (IPS) - As G8 leaders prepare to meet next Sunday in Evian-les-Bains in the French Alps, the fall-out of the diplomatic rift over Iraq is threatening to push Africa to the fringes. Signs are that squabbles over the Iraq war have profoundly strained relations between France and the
DEVELOPMENT-EU: Cheap Medicines for the Poor: Inter Press Service - May 26, 2003; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, May 26 (IPS) - The European Union adopted a new regulation Monday, enabling exporters to provide essential medicines at starkly reduced prices to poor countries. The European Council, made up of Heads of State or Government of the 15 member states of the EU and Romano Prodi, President of the European Commissi
HEALTH: Drug Patent Debate Divides World Health Assembly: Inter Press Service - May 22, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, May 22 (IPS) - Brazil and more than 60 developing countries confronted the United States Thursday at the World Health Assembly in the debate on pharmaceutical research on the most common diseases in poor nations. The Brazilian and U.S. delegations presented divergent proposals for resolutions on the matters of
DEVELOPMENT: Poverty, Environmental Damage Undercut World Stability: Inter Press Service - May 22, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, May 22 (IPS) - The persistent gap between rich and poor nations, continued environmental decline and higher military spending are all undermining global stability, according to the latest annual edition of WorldWatch Institute s Vital Signs report. Global poverty is directly linked to environmental degradat
DEVELOPMENT-U.S.: Aid Promises Misleading - Report: Inter Press Service - May 21, 2003; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, May 21 (IPS) - The Bush administration s loudly trumpeted recent announcements of development aid hikes coupled with more money to fight HIV/AIDS globally do not match budgetary realities and may translate into far smaller increases than anticipated, say two economic think tanks. In a report released on Tue
ECONOMY: Church Groups Launch Global Corporate Code of Conduct: Inter Press Service - May 20, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, May 20 (IPS) - Major church groups from around the world Tuesday launched a global corporate code of conduct that will be used to help determine whether their investment arms should buy or shun shares in corporations working in developing countries. Ten years in the making, Principles for Global Corporate R
HEALTH: Africa Urged to Fight AIDS as it Fought Slavery and Apartheid: Inter Press Service - May 19, 2003; Allan Peters; LUSAKA, May 19 (IPS) - Former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda is no stranger to HIV/AIDS, having lost his own son to the incurable disease in the late 1980s. After losing his son, he became the first African leader to come out publicly and campaign against the pandemic. Now, Kaunda says African leaders should approach
HEALTH: Breath of Tobacco-Free Air as World Assembly Begins: Inter Press Service - May 19, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, May 19 (IPS) - The World Health Assembly got underway in an unexpectedly optimistic climate due to the decision of the United States to withdraw its objections to the first global treaty on tobacco control, paving the way for its approval Wednesday. But concern about the persistence of the SARS epidemic was a c
Senate Clears Global AIDS Bill, Activists Sceptical: Inter Press Service - May 16, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, May 16 (IPS) - In what its supporters hailed as a milestone in the U.S. commitment to fighting the global spread of HIV/AIDS, the Senate approved by voice vote a five-year, 15 billion dollar anti-AIDS package in the pre-dawn hours Friday morning. But Africa and anti-AIDS activists complained afterwards that
Discrimination at Work a Major Problem in Central America: Inter Press Service - May 15, 2003; Nefer Munoz; SAN JOSE, May 15 (IPS) - Persecution of labour activists, black lists drawn up by employers, and lower wages paid to women are just a few of the forms of labour discrimination suffered by groups like trade unionists, women, indigenous people, the disabled, and immigrants in Central America. In the 1990s, the peace acco
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Ample Time Needed to Provide Free Anti-retrovirals: Inter Press Service - May 14, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; JOHANNESBURG, May 14 (IPS) - South Africans living with HIV and AIDS will have to carry on waiting, while the government decides if it will make anti-retrovirals, drugs which ease the impact of the disease and reduce its transmission from mother to child, freely available in the public health system. Last week, a joint
RIGHTS: World Leaders Fail Children: Inter Press Service - May 12, 2003; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (IPS) - When 70 world leaders gathered at the United Nations last year for a special session of the General Assembly, they solemnly pledged to create a world fit for children . The heads of state, along with 1,700 delegates representing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from 117 countries, co
LABOUR: ILO Denounces Race, Gender, Age, HIV/AIDS Discrimination: Inter Press Service - May 12, 2003; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, May 12(IPS) - Every minute, around the world, there are incidents of flagrant discrimination in the workplace against women, persons with HIV/AIDS, members of ethnic groups, the elderly and others, says the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in a new report. Creuza Maria Oliveira, president of the Brazilia
HEALTH-AFRICA: Creating A Positive Public Image For Africa: Inter Press Service - May 11, 2003; Anderson Fumulani; DAKAR, May 11(IPS) -- No good news ever appears to emerge out of Africa. As a developing continent it is often inundated with negative reports of war, hunger, disease and death but the African Women s Media Centre (AWMC) - a women s media Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) - thinks it can change this negative percepti
HEALTH-U.S.: Denial Marks South Asians' HIV/AIDS Experience: Inter Press Service - May 9, 2003; Akhilesh Upadhyay; New York, May 9 (IPS) - Ask any HIV/AIDS outreach workers in New York how the city s fast growing South Asian community is faring in its new home and they are most likely to say, old habits die hard . South Asians believe that AIDS is something that doesn t happen to them, says Gurpreet Clair of the city s APICHA (Asia
DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: U.S. Grant for Millions at Risk of Starvation: Inter Press Service - May 6, 2003; Chisa Mutaka; LUSAKA, May 6 (IPS) - The U.S. government has granted 114 million U.S. dollars to a consortium of three aid agencies to assist people at risk of starvation in Malawi , Zambia and Zimbabwe . The grant will be channelled through the U.S. Aid for International Development (USAID) to Catholic Relief Servic
South African Government Under Fire For Delaying Release of Global Funds: Inter Press Service - May 5, 2003; Nawaal Deane; JOHANNESBURG, May 5 (IPS) - The South African government delay in facilitating the release of millions of dollars in funding that would provide the desperately needed anti-retroviral treatment is a clear indication that the country lacks the political leadership to provide treatment for those living with HIV/Aids, acti
U.S.: Test of 15-Billion-Dollar Global AIDS Measure Comes Later: Inter Press Service News Agency - May 2, 2003; Jim Lobe; The U.S. House of Representatives approval Thursday of a five-year, 15 billion dollar package to fight HIV/AIDS in 14 African and Caribbean nations is a key victory for President George W Bush and anti-AIDS activists, but the concrete test of this commitment lies ahead. The bill, which would p rovide three billion doll
HEALTH: US Clashes with World Health Organisation: Inter Press Service - April 30, 2003; Leonardo Sacchetti; ROME, Apr 30 (IPS) - While the most dramatic global health issue of the moment is the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which had claimed a total of 353 lives by Wednesday, a heated political battle continues to rage quietly between the United States and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The
HEALTH: SARS May Hog Headlines But Malaria Still Major Killer in Africa: Inter Press Service - April 29, 2003; James Hall; JOHANNESBURG Apr 29 (IPS) -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) may have captured the world s headlines as the most alarming worldwide health problem, displacing AIDS in the news of Africa. But according to African health ministers meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania , this week malaria remains a persistent and wo
RIGHTS-LIBERIA: War Threatens Survival of Children: Inter Press Service - April 25, 2003; Abdullah Dukully; MONROVIA, Apr 25 (IPS) - Liberia s long-running war - coupled with the UN sanction on diamonds trade, and the high level of poverty and unemployment - seriously threatens the survival of the country s children. Health Minister Dr. Peter Coleman gave the assessment in his contribution to a UN forum for development dialo
HEALTH-MALAWI: No Celebrations Despite Apparent Drop In HIV Infection Rates: Inter Press Service - April 23, 2003; Anderson Fumulani; LILONGWE, 23 Apr (IPS) -- HIV/AIDS infection rates appear to be on the decline in Malawi and authorities have attributed the drop to the declining number of AIDS related deaths of already infected people. The national prevalence rate in 1999 indicated that 16 percent of the country s 11.2 million population were infect
HEALTH: SARS as 'Global Pandemic': Inter Press Service - April 23, 2003; Stephen Leahy; TORONTO, Apr 23 (IPS) - With reports that SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) can survive for up to 24 hours on inanimate surfaces, turning any object into a potential transmission source, it looks like the virus might indeed be the global pandemic suggested by health experts. But what exactly does that mean? Davi
TRADE: Iraq War Deflects Attention from Africa: Inter Press Service - April 21, 2003; Farah Khan; JOHANNESBURG, Apr 21 (IPS) - Even before the United States sent troops to the Middle East, South Africa s government has been warning that the war in Iraq will deflect attention from Africa, a region which had become a focus after the unveiling of the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD) two years ag
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Waiting For Death As Government Drags It's Feet: Inter Press Service - April 19, 2003; Nawaal Deane; JOHANNESBURG, Apr 19 (IPS) -- People must support Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) because the government is dragging its feet for four years. It is no good for me to be on anti-retroviral drugs and my friends on the ground are dying. These were some of the last words spoken by Edward Mabunda (36), TAC activist, who die
FINANCE: IMF and World Bank Fire Development Blanks at Meetings: Inter Press Service - April 14, 2003; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Apr 14 (IPS) - Despite launching their semi-annual get together asserting that they are not political bodies, last weekend revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are prone to manipulation by their richest members, a weakness that can have the effect of sidelining pressing develop
HEALTH-LATAM: Tens of Thousands Lack Access to AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - April 11, 2003; Dalia Acosta; HAVANA, Apr 11 (IPS) - Tens of thousands of people living with HIV, the AIDS virus, in Latin America and the Caribbean lack access to the anti-retroviral medication needed to delay the onset of full-blown AIDS. We don t have time was the most frequently heard refrain at the community forum held during the second Forum
UNITED NATIONS: Debate on Progress in Combating Illicit Drug Abuse: Inter Press Service - April 11, 2003; Mehru Jaffer; VIENNA, Apr 11 (IPS) - Government representatives from over 100 countries are locked in a passionate debate at the Vienna premises of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) over the continuing abuse of narcotic drugs by at least 185 million people around the world. And the number is said to be rising.
ECONOMY: Slow, Unsteady Growth Ahead for Developing Regions - IMF: Inter Press Service - April 9, 2003; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Apr 9 (IPS) - Economic performance will continue to languish in most regions of the world in 2003, with developing countries recording slight improvements and rich nations achieving mixed results, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday. Growth in the globe s major economic engines, the
HEALTH-COTE D'IVOIRE: New Grant to Fight AIDS Epidemic: Inter Press Service - April 9, 2003; Franky Kouakou; ABIDJAN, Apr 9 (IPS) - The Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS has just granted 92 million U.S. Dollars to Cote D Ivoire to fight AIDS in the strife-torn West African country. Cote d Ivoire , with a population of 16 million, is the most affected by HIV/AIDS in West Africa. Unfortunately, the country has been spl
PAKISTAN: Poverty, Lack of Options Keep Women in Sex Work: Inter Press Service - April 9, 2003; Muddassir Rizvi; ISLAMABAD, Apr 9 (IPS) - Najma says she does not like her work, but that circumstances compel her to continue being a sex worker. The 30-year-old mother of a seven-year-old daughter, was forced into prostitution 15 years ago. There s no way out, said Najma, who lives in Heera Mandi, the red light area in the eastern to
DEVELOPMENT: A Month's Food a 'Blessing' for Many Africans - U.N.: Inter Press Service - April 8, 2003; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Apr 8 (IPS) - The United Nations is underlining the stark irony of an average war-battered Iraqi family being assured of at least one month s food stocks while its African counterpart has to literally make do with nothing. I can assure you that 40 million Africans, most of them women and children, would
DEVELOPMENT: Iraqi War A Wake Up Call For Africa: Inter Press Service - April 7, 2003; Nilla Ahmed; JOHANNESBURG, Apr 7 (IPS) - The war in Iraq is a wake up call for Africa to rid itself of aid dependent economies and to realise that the future of the continent lies in the hands of Africans and not foreigners, South African Trade Minister Alec Erwin said on Monday. Addressing a three-day African Investment Forum
RIGHTS: Women Demand Major Say in Africa's Development: Inter Press Service - April 7, 2003; Nilla Ahmed; JOHANNESBURG, Apr 7 (IPS) - As African leaders and business executives gather in South Africa s commercial capital Johannesburg on Monday for a three-day dialogue within the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD), African businesswomen say the gender blind blueprint needs a major overhaul to benefit women.
POLITICS-MALAWI: Victory for Democracy As Muluzi Names Presidential Candidate: Inter Press Service - April 2, 2003; Anderson Fumulani; LILONGWE, Apr 2 (IPS) - Most Malawians breathed a sigh of relief this weekend as the gloomy face of President Bakili Muluzi filled the local television screen announcing that the National Executive Council (NEC) of his ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) had endorsed a new person to run as the presidential candidate.
POLITICS: Young Africans Unhappy about the Way their Continent is Being Run: Inter Press Service - March 31, 2003; Katy Salmon; NAIROBI, Mar 31 (IPS) - Many young Africans are unhappy about the way their continent is being run. Most African politicians, like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, are middle-aged men. Rarely do you see a 20 or 30-year old in Parliament. Yet the majority of Africans are young people. And they are the ones bei
HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Flaws Ail New Policy on Blood Safety - Critics: Inter Press Service - March 31, 2003; Muddassir Rizvi; ISLAMABAD, Mar 31 (IPS) - The increasing incidence of hepatitis and fears of an HIV breakout forced the Pakistani government to finally formulate this month a framework to ensure blood screening, but public health experts say it suffers from major flaws. The National Blood Policy and Strategic Framework for National Bl
RIGHTS-UGANDA: Child Abductions by Rebels Resurface: Inter Press Service - March 28, 2003; Katy Salmon; NAIROBI, Mar 28 (IPS) - Child abductions by rebels of the Lord s Resistance Army in Uganda have surged in recent months, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). In the last ten months, some 5,000 Ugandan children have been abducted - more than in any other year of the 16-year old conflict. The incre
HEALTH-GABON: People Living with AIDS Turn to Traditional Healers: Inter Press Service - March 28, 2003; Antoine Lawson; LIBREVILLE, Mar 28 (IPS) - With medical bills constantly shooting up, people living with HIV/AIDS in Gabon are increasingly turning to traditional healers for treatment. One of the most popular traditional healers, Dr. Ferdinand Ngoubili, the founder of the Association for Research into Natural Healing Secrets, has bee
HEALTH-ZAMBIA: Fighting Tuberculosis - an Uphill Battle: Inter Press Service - March 26, 2003; Charles Mubambe; LUSAKA, Mar 26 (IPS) - Frederick Tembo, 42, was afflicted by unprecedented bouts of fever, low blood pressure, poor appetite, night sweats and general body weakness. Medical doctors and traditional healers tried to help, but failed to diagnose the illness.That was in Sep 2001. Between Sep 2001 and June 2002 Tembo submi
DEVELOPMENT: Ending Hunger in Africa: Inter Press Service - March 26, 2003; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 26 (IPS) - If Suresh Babu had his way, the small farmer would be supported to solve the problems of hunger and poverty bedeviling Africa. Babu strongly believes that raising the output of small-scale farmers would increase their incomes and food security, lower food prices, stimulate the economy as a
HEALTH: Charges Laid against Ministers for Failure to Provide AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - March 25, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 25 (IPS) - Charges of culpable homicide have been laid against the South African minister of health, Manto Tshabala-Msimang, and the minister of trade and industry, Alec Erwin, by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) - an organisation demanding the provision of anti-AIDS drugs to poor people living wit
POLITICS-SWAZILAND: Relations Between Monarchy And Bush Regime Worsen: Inter Press Service - March 20, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Mar 20 (IPS) - Swaziland may not harbour weapons of mass destruction, but sub-Saharan Africa s last absolute monarchy, that rules this kingdom of less than one million people, is becoming increasingly nervous about the doctrine of United States President George W. Bush, which finds little tolerance for une
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: We Will Break the Law to Get Free Drugs - AIDS Activists: Inter Press Service - March 20, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 20 (IPS) - The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a lobby group fighting to get the South African government to make anti-HIV/AIDS drugs, like anti-retrovirals, freely available in the public health system, is getting ready to launch a civil disobedience campaign in support of their demands. Controversi
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Campaigners Demand Free HIV/AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - March 19, 2003; Anthony Stoppard; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 19 (IPS) - The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a lobby group fighting to get the South African government to make anti-HIV/AIDS drugs, like anti-retrovirals, freely available in the public health system, is getting ready to launch a civil disobedience campaign in support of their demands. Controversi
CULTURE: Destructive Superstitions Key Part of Political Life in Swaziland: Inter Press Service - March 14, 2003; James Hall; MBABANE, Mar 14 (IPS) - Ritual murder has allegedly long been a dark and secret part of politics in Swaziland , a conservative kingdom where traditions good and bad, including some destructive superstitions, are a key part of life. The charming traditions draw the tourists, and the nefarious ones cause ambitious people
RIGHTS-UGANDA: Unending Tales of Domestic Violence: Inter Press Service - March 10, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; It happened fast, without a warning. Madina Nakamya died after her husband poured acid on her because she refused to sleep with him without a condom. Both were HIV positive. KAMPALA, Mar 10 (IPS) - In the southern city of Mbarara, Alien Mutari was battered and killed after she refused to have sex with her husband, afte
RIGHTS-ZAMBIA: Army 'Reversing' Decades of Campaign to De-stigmatise AIDS: Inter Press Service - March 10, 2003; Zarina Geloo; After more than two decades of campaign to de-stigmatise AIDS, the Zambian government has been stymied by one of its own department. The Ministry of Defence has announced that it would no longer accept HIV-positive recruits. LUSAKA, Mar 10 (IPS) - Defence is not a kindergarten or Red Cross. We need people who are fit,
INT'L WOMEN'S DAY/HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Leap in Unsafe Abortions: Inter Press Service - March 7, 2003; Marcela Valente; Hospital admissions arising from unsafe abortions in Argentina rose 50 percent in five years, and multiplied by a factor of 2.5 in some provinces -- a lethal consequence of the economic crisis and soaring poverty. BUENOS AIRES, Mar 7 (IPS) - In 1995, some 53,000 hospital admissions due to complications caused by aborti
INT'L WOMEN'S DAY/HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: AIDS Orphans Turn to Grandmothers: Inter Press Service - March 7, 2003; Hilary K. Siyachitema; Agnes Thom Mavhuto, 68, wonders why women should ever celebrate the International Women s Day every year. HARARE, Mar 7 (IPS) - Sometimes, I wonder if some of these days are worth celebrating because of the struggles we have gone through and continue to face as women, says Mavhuto. Mavhuto, who lives in Epworth, a poor
POLITICS-CAMBODIA: Women Gear up to Test Clout in Poll: Inter Press Service - February 28, 2003; Marwaan Macan-Markar; PHNOM PENH, Feb 28 (IPS) - While Cambodia s male-dominated political parties prepare for the July national election, the country s only women s media group is gearing up to put the candidates in the hot seat. It is no secret what issues animate the team of broadcast journalists and producers at the Women s Media Centre
THAILAND: Legalising Sex Work Has Social Gain - Activists: Inter Press Service - February 21, 2003; Chayanit Poonyarat; BANGKOK, Feb 21 (IPS) - There are mixed reactions to a recent proposal to legalise prostitution, but activists and sex workers in Thailand say that this would bring not only financial but social gain, by ensuring better protection of rights. I see that every party can benefit from the change, said Natee Teerarojjanapo
HEALTH-U.S.: Bush Ponders Anti-Abortion Conditions for AIDS Money: Inter Press Service - February 20, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (IPS) - Population and women s reproductive-health groups are calling on U.S. President George W. Bush not to impose strict, anti-abortion conditions on his five-year, 15-billion-dollar plans to fight HIV-AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. They are currently drafting letters to the administration bash
DEVELOPMENT: Experts Plead for Rural Growth to Eradicate Global Poverty: Inter Press Service - February 20, 2003; Ramesh Jaura; ROME, Feb 20 (IPS) - Development experts from around the world have stressed the crucial significance of rural and agricultural development as a strategy to enable some 900 million rural poor liberate themselves from the yoke of poverty. Government officials from some 160 countries and specialists from United Nations a
DEVELOPMENT-SOMALIA: Optimism About the Future - Even If War Continues: Inter Press Service - February 19, 2003; Katy Salmon; NAIROBI, Feb 19 (IPS) - Despite the slow progress at peace talks aimed at ending more than a decade of anarchy in Somalia , the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) is optimistic about the future - even if the war continues. Steven Lauwerier was UNICEF s project officer based in Baidoa, in southern Somalia, until fighting broke
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Gov't, AIDS Group Heading for A Winter of Discontent: Inter Press Service - February 19, 2003; Farah Khan; JOHANNESBURG, Feb 19 (IPS) - Government and the AIDS movement are heading for another winter of discontent in South Africa as attempts to forge a national deal on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment fell apart at the weekend. Despite a march by more than 10,000 people on the opening of parliament to lobby government to s
HEALTH-COTE D'IVOIRE: Displaced Persons At Risk of HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - February 18, 2003; Marie Chantal Obinde; ABIDJAN, Feb 18 (IPS) - Prostitution, resulting from extreme poverty, is increasing the risk of HIV/AIDS infection among displaced persons in Cote d Ivoire , according to the UN Children s Fund (UNICEF). In five months of political crisis, nearly a million people have been displaced in Cote d Ivoire, 80 percent of whom
Some Success Found Against AIDS: Inter Press Service - February 17, 2003; Julio Godoy; PARIS, Feb 17 (IPS) - French scientists claim at least partial success in developing a vaccine against HIV. This is a world first, Michel Kazatchkine, director of the Paris-based National Agency for Research on AIDS (ANRS, after its French name) announced last week. For the first time in the clinical history of AIDS (A
Nations Still Far Apart on Farm Subsidies, Cheap Drugs: Inter Press Service - February 17, 2003; Suvendrini Kakuchi; TOKYO, Feb 17 (IPS) - Twenty-two countries that ended a mini-summit Sunday on trade liberalisation, including the touchy issues of agricultural subsidies and access to cheaper drugs, reached no breakthrough here -- and managed only an agreement to discuss the matter further. But while World Trade Organisation (WTO) dir
Donor Fatigue May Force Aid Agencies to Cut Back on Food: Inter Press Service - February 13, 2003; Katy Salmon; NAIROBI, Feb 13 (IPS) - Aid officials warn that they will probably have to cut back on food aid to hungry Eritreans because donors have not responded to repeated appeals for emergency assistance. Some 70 percent of Eritrea s 3.3 million people are facing hunger because of drought in the tiny Red Sea country. A third of
The Second HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trials: Inter Press Service - February 12, 2003; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Feb 12 (IPS) - Mutabazi Enos, 33, is a proud man. He was among the 40 Ugandans who volunteered for the first HIV/AIDS vaccine trials in 1999. Today, Enos stands as an example, proving to sceptics that the vaccine was not harmful. The vaccine is not dangerous, he says. His family was worried about the vaccine,
HIV Drive to Reach Sex Workers -- If They Can Be Found: Inter Press Service - February 11, 2003; Nadeem Iqbal; ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 (IPS) - Shabnum (not her real name), a 30-year-old sex worker in the Pakistani capital, does not ask her clients to use condoms as protection against HIV/AIDS, fearing this might scare them off. She has a network of clients who fixes appointments with her through cellular phone. On average, she has fo
Congress Skirmishes Over Bush AIDS Programme: Inter Press Service - February 10, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (IPS) - Two weeks after announcing his five-year, 15-billion-dollar emergency plan for AIDS relief , U.S. President George W. Bush is under fire by activists for pressing Congress to limit U.S. money for the disease next year and insisting that the vast majority of it be spent on bilateral programmes
Men Who Have Sex with Men Speak up: Inter Press Service - February 7, 2003; Ramyata Limbu; KATHMANDU, Feb 7 (IPS) - In a slinky back sari and a miniscule string blouse, Kumar glid across the packed conference room in four-inch heels, as numerous heads turn. The 18-year-old tossed back long, black tresses and bats a luxuriant pair of false eyelashes, before addressing the first
HIV Tests Cost Workers Their Privacy, Rights: Inter Press Service - February 6, 2003; Aldwin Fajardo; SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands , Feb 6 (IPS) - Vanni recalls being dumbfounded when a fellow Filipino migrant worker he knew packed his bags and left this Pacific territory in a rush two years ago. The worker, a hairdresser at a beauty parlour for more than five years, had earlier been keen on staying on in this U.
Victory in Fight for Low-Cost AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - January 30, 2003; Nefer Munoz; SAN JOSE, Jan 30 (IPS) - Six Central American countries made strides in their fight against HIV/AIDS by reaching an agreement with five of the world s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers to slash prices on antiretroviral medications. The health ministers of Costa Rica , El Salvador ,
World Community Gives Bush AIDS Pledge Mixed Reception: Inter Press Service - Janaury 29, 2003; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (IPS) - While welcoming President George W. Bush s pledge to sharply increase funding for HIV/AIDS programmes overseas, Africa and AIDS activists complain that the plan s funding for the U.N.-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria remains far short of what is required and targets too few c
Groups Welcome New Law Banning Female Genital Mutilation: Inter Press Service - January 29, 2003; Ali Idrissou-Toure; COTONOU, Jan 29 (IPS) - Rights groups have welcomed a new law, banning all forms of female genital mutilation in Benin . I am pleased with the passage of the law, because, of all the countries in the sub-region, Benin was the last to outlaw female genital mutilation, says Genevieve Boko Nadjo, president of WILDAF-Benin
Davos Elitist Club Snubs Africa: Inter Press Service - January 27, 2003; Emad Mekay; DAVOS, Switzerland , Jan 27 (IPS) - Despite talk from officials of the World Economic Forum that the exclusive organization is moving towards openness and sharing, African officials and NGOs complained here Monday that the elitist gathering has failed them. Africa didn t really shine here, Trevor Manuel, South African