2004

THAILAND: No Sign of New Year Festivities in Phuket: Inter Press Service - December 31, 2004; Fabio Scarpello; PHUKET, Thailand , Dec 31 (IPS) - It might be New Year s Eve but there s certainly no sign of festivity in this southern Thai island resort. The stench of death, instead, permeating through the air will greet any newcomer to this former playground of Western tourists. More bodies are still being recovered from the debr
'Pharma Crops' Threaten Food Safety: Inter Press Service - December 30, 2004; Stephen Leahy; BROOKLIN, Canada , Dec 30 (IPS) - Medicine and farming are merging as genetically engineered (GE) maize and soy crops promise cheap drugs, but they also threaten to contaminate food and the environment, warn activists and experts. The United States has planted very small amounts of these experimental pharma crops
For Zambia's Street Kids, the Outlook is Bleak: Inter Press Service - December 27, 2004; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Dec 27 (IPS) - The festive season is traditionally a time of giving in Zambia , where the streets of the capital - Lusaka - are awash with people caught up in the buying frenzy that characterizes the end of the year. Accordingly, the city s street children are tracking the mood of consumers as carefully as any
RIGHTS-BURMA: The Trafficking Trap Persists in Border Towns: Inter Press Service - December 27, 2004; Win Naing*; RANONG, Thailand , Dec 27 (IPS) - A Burmese woman sits on the wooden floor of a small room in Ranong, a Thai town bordering southern-most Burma . Over the sound of a whirring fan, the 18-year-old who is just over four feet tall recounts her past. I was sold twice to brothel houses, says Mi Kay (not her real name
Drugs Make a Good Christmas Gift: Inter Press Service - December 25, 2004; Christina Scott; CAPE TOWN, Dec 25 (IPS) - On Christmas Day in South Africa , who will get the most precious present of all - the gift of life? Up to 65,000 people, that s who. These lucky men and women will swallow a series of anti-retroviral (ARV) tablets and pills which will bully the deadly AIDS virus lurking in their bloodstream i
MEDIA-U.S.: Terrorism Shaped 2004 News Agenda: Inter Press Service - December 23, 2004; Analysis - By Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (IPS) - While President George W Bush s November re-election topped the Associated Press (AP) annual listing of the top 10 news stories for 2004, the other leading choices suggested that the news media might have helped him in his quest. The list, which reflected the votes of 234 national and local
U.S.: Soaring Deficit, Crises, Menace Overseas Food Aid: Inter Press Service - December 22, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (IPS) - Washington s soaring budget deficit, as well as unanticipated crises and natural disasters in poor countries, is resulting in sharp cuts to the U.S. overseas food-aid programme, the world s largest, according to relief and development agencies affected by the reductions. The administration of
CUBA: Sexual and Reproductive Health Requires Cultural Changes As Well: Inter Press Service - December 22, 2004; Dalia Acosta; HAVANA, Dec 22 (IPS) - Adriana was just two years old when she asked her mother what dialectic meant. Now she is 14 and understands that it roughly means that the world is in a ceaseless state of movement and change. But she has new questions. Adriana s 40-year-old mother, who has a degree in philosophy, has not always
CANADA: Drug Injection Site Pricks U.S., U.N. Agencies: Inter Press Service - December 22, 2004; Am Johal; VANCOUVER, Dec 22 (IPS) - Jeff West, one of the coordinators of the safe drug injection centre known as Insite, leads the way through the doorway. Track lighting makes the room dim but you can see that it is clean. Twelve mirrored booths line the wall, making the place look more like a backstage dressing room than a he
DEVELOPMENT: South-South Cooperation Soars: Inter Press Service - December 20, 2004; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Dec 20 (IPS) - Cooperation between nations of the South will eventually trigger growth and development in some of the world s poorest countries, according to the United Nations, which marked the first U.N. Day for South-South Cooperation on Monday. The world body has launched an aggressive campaign to
BURKINA FASO: More ARVs, Please: Inter Press Service - December 13, 2004; Boris Edson Yameogo; OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 13 (IPS) - The good news about AIDS in Burkina Faso is that HIV prevalence in the West African country is on the decline. The bad news is that people who have already contracted the virus appear to be having difficulties in getting drugs to treat themselves. According to the most recent statistics from
RIGHTS: Billion Children Under Threat, says Unicef: Inter Press Service - December 10, 2004; Stefania Milan; LONDON, Dec 10 (IPS) - Poverty, conflict and HIV/AIDS are the biggest threats to children s lives in developing countries, says a new Unicef report. Poverty does not come from nowhere: war does not emerge from nothing; AIDS does not spread by choice of its own, United Nations Children s Fund (Unicef) director Carol Bel
WOMEN: In Bed with Bush for Four More Years: Inter Press Service - December 10, 2004; Marcela Valente; BUENOS AIRES, Dec 10 (IPS) - Four more years of President George W. Bush in the White House will pose a major obstacle for efforts to promote sexual and reproductive health in Latin America, according to Monty Eustace, the president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR)
LATIN AMERICA: Born on the Streets - Just One of Millions of Poor Children: Inter Press Service - December 9, 2004; Diego Cevallos; MEXICO CITY, Dec 9 (IPS) - A baby was born on the streets of the Mexican capital this week. Just two days old, she still hasn t been given a name. Her parents, homeless youngsters, say they are happy, but that they don t know how they will support her. Her father, Jesus Omar, who has lived on the streets since he was
ZIMBABWE: Risky Sex and the Law - Incompatible Bedfellows?: Inter Press Service - December 7, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Dec 7 (IPS) - For teenagers in the eastern Zimbabwean town of Mutare, a popular disc jockey who goes by the name of Kaiboni has long epitomized the glamorous life. But now, his future is anything but enviable. The 30-year-old could spend several years in prison for statutory rape and willful transmission of H
SOUTHERN AFRICA: AIDS Initiative Focuses on Women: Inter Press Service - December 6, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; PRETORIA, Dec 6 (IPS) - HIV is just a virus...If we change our attitudes, HIV will die. It will have no space and capacity to spread, says Musa Njoko, a young South African woman who has been living with the virus for the past decade. When I was diagnosed HIV-positive, I was given three months to live by a doctor. She
WORLD AIDS DAY: Bank, IMF Blamed for Health Spending Cuts: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (IPS) - Watchdog development groups accused the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday of doing too little to help the global battle against HIV/AIDS, but the two institutions responded that they are at the forefront of the struggle. The groups rallied outside the Washington-ba
Vioxx Scandal Raises Global Doubts on U.S. Drug Safety: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Katherine Stapp; NEW YORK, Dec 1 (IPS) - The scandal over a painkiller implicated in thousands of heart attacks is gaining international scope, as lawsuits against the drug s maker spread to other countries and the credibility of the industry and its Washington regulators nears an all-time low. The numbers are just staggering in terms
HEALTH-VENEZUELA: Side Effects of Generic AIDS Drug Controversy: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Yensi Rivero; CARACAS, Dec 1 (IPS) - AIDS activists in Venezuela are keeping a close eye on the controversy that has emerged between the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian pharmaceutical companies that produce the generic drugs used to treat roughly 12,000 Venezuelan AIDS patients. Given the doubts that have surface
WORLD AIDS DAY: African Women's Rights Protocol a Weapon Against HIV: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Dec 1 (IPS) - When you look at the larger picture of HIV/AIDS, the leadership is mainly men. We need to train and have more women leaders, says Prudence Mabele, an AIDS campaigner in South Africa . The comment came during a one-day workshop organised by the leading British charity, Oxfam, in the South Afr
WORLD AIDS DAY: In Swaziland, HIV Hides in Plain Sight: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; James Hall; MBABANE, Dec 1 (IPS) - Read the obituaries in Swaziland , and you will discover that many people here die from unspecified lingering illnesses . Attend funerals, and you may hear that tuberculosis , dysentery, diarrhea - even flu - are also proving surprisingly lethal. Virtually no-one, it seems, is dying of AIDS.
WORLD AIDS DAY: Thai Teenage Sex Education Vital, Say Activists: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; CHIANG RAI, Thailand , Dec 1 (IPS) - On a recent Friday afternoon, the students at a secondary school on the outskirts of this town in northern Thailand took a break from their books to watch a play that produced steady bursts of laughter. The cast was all students from the school -- girls and boys in their early teen
HIV/AIDS Threat Unites Religions in India: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Dec 1 (IPS) - Fear of a rapidly spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic in India has resulted in a rare coming together of the country s several religious faiths that are known to have a tremendous influence on their respective flocks. Much of the credit for the new initiative must go to Bishop Pradeep Samantaroy, chai
If Unchecked Asia Could Be Another Africa - U.N. Envoy: Inter Press Service - December 1, 2004; Zofeen T. Ebrahim; ISLAMABAD, Dec 1 (IPS) - She had no qualms whatsoever of putting the harsh realities on the table - especially on World AIDS Day. And for anyone listening to Nafis Sadik, a medical doctor who is also the U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, the prognosis is alarming when she warns that Asia-Pacific
BRAZIL: New Offensive Against Patents for AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - November 30, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 30 (IPS) - The Brazilian government announced Tuesday that it would break the patents on several medications to prevent the financial collapse of its widely praised public health programme that provides antiretroviral drugs free of charge to people living with HIV/AIDS. The process of compulsory lic
Sexual and Reproductive Rights Missing in Millenium Goals: Inter Press Service - November 30, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 30 (IPS) - The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) should incorporate sexual and reproductive rights, which were ignored in the targets and indicators adopted by the international community in 2000, along with the recommendations of U.N. conferences on population and women. The importance of sexual
Jamaican Business Joins Chorus Against Anti-Gay Songs: Inter Press Service - November 30, 2004; Zadie Neufville; KINGSTON, (IPS) - Jamaica is preparing itself for what many people believe could be economic fallout from the decade-long battle between gay rights groups and the local entertainment industry. Ten years after the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and British gay rights group Outrage began their campa
WORLD AIDS DAY: Innovative Initiatives in Spain: Inter Press Service - November 29, 2004; Tito Drago; MADRID, Nov 29 (IPS) - Madrid Positivo, a Spanish non-governmental organisation that helps homeless people and others living with HIV/AIDS kick their drug habit, while curbing the spread of AIDS, awarded its annual prizes Monday for outstanding efforts in the fight against the disease. The awards not only recognised th
SOUTHERN AFRICA: HIV/AIDS May be Undermining Democracy: Inter Press Service - November 26, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; PRETORIA, Nov 26 (IPS) - The figures speak volumes. Between 1999 and 2003 almost 1.5 million of about 20 million registered voters in South Africa were removed from the voters roll because they had died - most, it appears, from AIDS-related diseases. The impact of the HIV pandemic on electoral processes was illustrate
Goodbye to Cheap Indian AIDS Drugs?: Inter Press Service - November 26, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Nov 26 (IPS) - As India moves to meet a New Year s Day deadline to comply with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the cheap, generic anti-AIDS drugs that this country is famed for could be a thing of the past. On Nov.
WORLD AIDS DAY: Profits Delay Cheap Canadian Drugs: Inter Press Service - November 24, 2004; Paul Weinberg; TORONTO, Nov 24 (IPS) - The highly touted Canadian plan to export cheap medicines to poor developing countries fighting HIV/AIDS and other health emergencies, hailed by Prime Minister Paul Martin in his June re-election campaign as a bold achievement, is in trouble over profits for participating drug makers. And a Unit
RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: Anti-Apartheid Warrior Identifies New Enemies: Inter Press Service - November 24, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Nov 24 (IPS) - Former Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu does not mince his words. Known as a straight talker, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was a thorn in the flesh of successive apartheid regimes in South Africa until the demise of white rule in 1994. Now, with apartheid gone, Tutu is directing his desir
ASIA: Govt-NGO Partnership, the Key to Millennium Goals?: Inter Press Service - November 24, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Nov 24 (IPS) - Four years after it was launched, a global programme with a drab title - the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - is becoming a rallying cry for a broad spectrum of activists from across Asia and the Pacific. The reason: commitments made by governments to achieve the MDGs have given rise to pol
Girl Power Needed to Fight AIDS: Inter Press Service - November 23, 2004; Maarten Messiaen; BRUSSELS, Nov 23 (IPS) - The poor urgently need a female-centred strategy to fight AIDS, says a landmark new report. Women are increasingly affected by HIV and this destructive trend can only be reversed if prevention is targeted at women, says the AIDS Epidemic Update 2004 released Tuesday by the United Nations Progra
The Cost of Dying Without Having Been Born: Inter Press Service - November 22, 2004; Diego Cevallos; MEXICO CITY, Nov 22 (IPS) - Martin died of an unidentified illness at 11 months of age in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, but there is no record that he ever even existed. The same fate befalls millions of people who live in countries that have no way of gathering accurate figures on numbers and causes of deaths
SOUTHERN AFRICA: With the Rains, Comes Malaria: Inter Press Service - November 22, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Nov 22 (IPS) - In the blistering summer heat, slow-gathering clouds that promise rain are welcomed by farmers in Zimbabwe and other water-scarce countries in Southern Africa. Yet the rains - when they come - also worsen the incidence of malaria. We are expecting a normal to above-normal overall malaria seaso
Presidents Spread a Mosquito Net: Inter Press Service - November 17, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Nov 17 (IPS) - Malaria is billed as top priority in a new health initiative being launched in Africa this week. The initiative comes at the high-level session of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which began in Arusha in Tanzania Wednesday. The meeting is being attended by President Benja
POLITICS-NAMIBIA: A Milestone Election Gets Underway: Inter Press Service - November 15, 2004; Jatah Kazondu; WINDHOEK, Nov 15 (IPS) - A two-day general election got underway in Namibia Monday. The poll marks the end of an era in the Southern African country, as it will see President Sam Nujoma step down after 14 years as head of state. Nujoma has governed Namibia since its independence in 1990. Almost a million of Namibia
Latin America Cannot Meet Millennium Development Goals Alone: Inter Press Service - November 13, 2004; Diego Cevallos; MEXICO CITY, Nov 13 (IPS) - Latin America will not achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) for health indicators unless its governments demonstrate the necessary political will and the industrialised North provides the region with more support, according to the executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission
WHO Wants Research Put to Work for People: Inter Press Service - November 11, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Nov 11 (IPS) - Some medical researchers are primarily interested in the three P s of publication, patents and professorships, while others focus on policies, practice and people. Unfortunately, the former vastly outnumber the latter in the scientific world today. A new World Health Organisation report, Knowled
Countries Failing to Meet Targets: Inter Press Service - November 11, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Nov 11 (IPS) - Many developing countries are failing to decrease the number of deaths in line with the Millennium Development Goals, says a new World Bank report. The report Rising to the Challenges: The Millennium Development Goals For Health released Thursday says more than 11 million children died in 2002
ASIA: Fight Child Prostitution By Curbing Demand - Groups: Inter Press Service - November 10, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Nov 10 (IPS) - Child rights experts are urging governments and societies across East Asia and the Pacific to shed their long-held cultural practices and throw their weight behind children in order to save them from being exploited as prostitutes. Such a call stemmed from a growing campaign by activists aimed
RIGHTS: EU and India Agree 'Strategic Partnership': Inter Press Service - November 8, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Nov 8 (IPS) - The European Union and India have signed an unprecedented strategic partnership deal amidst concerns over India s human rights record. Top European Union (EU) officials and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the agreement Monday (Nov. 8) at the 5th EU-India summit in The Hague, the
RIGHTS-KENYA: Free Schooling - Good, but not Enough: Inter Press Service - November 3, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Nov 3 (IPS) - By any measure, the enrolment of over a million extra children in Kenya s primary school system over the past two years is a success story. Enrolment figures in the East African country burgeoned after President Mwai Kibaki introduced free primary education in 2003, when he took over as head of s
EU: Cheaper Medicines for AIDS Welcomed: Inter Press Service - November 1, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Nov 1 (IPS) - A leading development group has welcomed EU proposals to allow export of cheap medicines to poor countries fighting HIV/AIDS and other killer diseases. The European Commission, the European Union (EU) executive, proposed a regulation Friday (Oct. 29) to allow generic pharmaceutical manufacturers
NEPAL: No Sniggers on Condom Day: Inter Press Service - November 1, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; KATHMANDU, Nov. 1 (IPS) - There were no sniggers at the National Condom Day rally in this Himalayan capital -- not even when someone suggested that the 172 year-old Bhimsen tower stretching 50 meters into the clear blue mountain skies was ideal for a giant condom display. Condoms are being taken seriously in
MOZAMBIQUE: The Condom and Culture Clash: Inter Press Service - October 31, 2004; Bayano Valy; MAPUTO, Oct 31 (IPS) - Earlier this year, a chilling statistic cropped up repeatedly at a conference on reproductive rights that was held in London. Delegates to Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All (which took place at the beginning of September) heard that on average, men in sub-Saharan A
POLITICS-BOTSWANA: Voters Expected to Choose More of the Same: Inter Press Service - October 29, 2004; Bester Gabotlale; GABORONE, Oct 29 (IPS) - With the gaze of the international community fixed on next week s presidential election in the United States , little attention has been paid to the fact that Botswana is also scheduled to go to the polls within the next few days. The fact that the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is
RIGHTS: U.N. Faulted for Failing to Curb Gender Violence: Inter Press Service - October 28, 2004; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (IPS) - The United Nations is admitting its collective failure to curb the spiralling violence against women and young girls in conflict and post-conflict situations worldwide. Despite the adoption of a Security Council resolution four years ago calling for the protection of women, gender-based
U.S. ELECTION: Africa Barely on the Candidates' Radars: Inter Press Service - October 27, 2004; Analysis by Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Oct 27 (IPS) - With American voters anxiously contemplating the body count arising from the United States deployment in Iraq - as well as the associated threat of terrorism - it was probably to be expected that Africa would get little face time in the U.S. presidential election. But as the campaign
EU: NGOs Spell Out their Concerns: Inter Press Service - October 26, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Oct 26 (IPS) - Leading international civil society groups are shoring up support to challenge the European Union over the future of the bloc s development policy. They want concrete action in six areas of the European Union s (EU) development cooperation policy. The groups say improvements must be made in the
POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Electoral Code to Make its Debut: Inter Press Service - October 25, 2004; Analysis by Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Oct 25 (IPS) - Voters in Botswana go to the polls this week to elect a new parliament and local government. The diamond-rich nation will become the first to test a new electoral code of conduct adopted by the Southern African Development Community in August. In many respects, however, this will simply be
Boost Biotech in South, Report Urges: Inter Press Service - October 21, 2004; Stephen Leahy; BROOKLIN, Canada , Oct 21 (IPS) - The science of biotechnology could save tens of millions of lives each year in developing countries if the technology is shared equitably, says a new report to the United Nations. New medical tools that quickly and accurately diagnose diseases like AIDS and malaria top a list of 10 bio
ZAMBIA: HIV-Positive Prisoners Find Freedom a Mixed Blessing: Inter Press Service - October 21, 2004; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Oct 21 (IPS) - The HIV pandemic has proved a divisive force in several African countries, not least Zambia . As IPS reported last month, the question of whether to make HIV tests mandatory has sparked fierce debate in the country. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (
Chile Making Headway in Fight Against HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - October 19, 2004; Daniela Estrada; SANTIAGO, Oct 19 (IPS) - After one year of implementation, a project financed by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and carried out jointly by government and civil society agencies has succeeded in slowing down the spread of HIV/AIDS in Chile , although prevention still remains a difficult task.
ARGENTINA: The Struggle for the Right of Same-Sex Couples to Adopt: Inter Press Service - October 19, 2004; Marcela Valente; BUENOS AIRES, Oct 19 (IPS) - Who is the mommy and who is the daddy for children adopted by same-sex couples? Does being raised in this kind of family affect the emotional and psychological development of these children? These are some of the questions addressed in a new book to be released in Argentin
SENEGAL: Adverts Spark Debate on Traditional Medicine: Inter Press Service - October 15, 2004; Abdou Faye; DAKAR, Oct 15 (IPS) - A Nigerian traditional healer who goes by the name of Papa Magic Pot may appear more comical than threatening. However, he and several other Nigerian healers have caused consternation in Senegal . In recent months, those who tuned into private radio stations in the capital, Dakar, might have hear
CUBA: Transvestites and Transsexuals Slowly Finding a Place in Society: Inter Press Service - October 15, 2004; Dalia Acosta; HAVANA, Oct 15 (IPS) - Transvestites and transsexuals face varying degrees of discrimination and marginalisation all over the world, but in a country like Cuba , with a firmly entrenched culture of machismo , life can be even more challenging. Between 1998 and 2003, psychologists Janet Mesa and Diley Hernandez conduct
Venezuela's Prisons Still Plagued by Severe Violence and Neglect: Inter Press Service - October 6, 2004; Humberto M�rquez; CARACAS, Oct 6 (IPS) - Ch�vez, remember you were a prisoner too! read a sign held up by protester Ana Mart�nez in a recent demonstration by families of prisoners in the Venezuelan capital. The demonstrators were demanding that something be done about the appalling conditions in the country s prisons, where 225 inmates
ARGENTINA: Major Shift in Political Support for Reproductive Health: Inter Press Service - October 6, 2004; Marcela Valente; The Argentine government of N�stor Kirchner is forging ahead with a strong agenda of sexual and reproductive health policies that is in line with demands by women s groups. BUENOS AIRES, Oct 6 (IPS) - The centre-left administration, which has taken a proactive approach on human rights issues across the board, has left
HIV-Positive Movers and Shakers: Inter Press Service - October 4, 2004; Mercedes Sayagues; KAMPALA, Oct 4 (IPS) - The fragrance of ginger and paw paws from market stalls floats into the tiny room where Musisi Josephus Gavah shows visitors a thick ledger - the register of members of the Mukono District Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. The 650 members of the network (which is also referred to as Mudinet
No Relief for the Poor: Inter Press Service - October 2, 2004; Emad Mekay; Finance ministers from the world s richest nations have delayed a plan to write off 100 percent of debts owed by the planet s poorest countries, quashing hopes those nations could start spending more on services like health and education and work toward ending their extreme poverty. WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (IPS) - Finance mi
Debt Forgiveness Only First Step: Inter Press Service - October 1, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (IPS) - Poor countries might need increased grants and an end to lending conditions imposed by public lenders like the World Bank and IMF if a proposal to cancel their debts is to really work towards ending poverty, say analysts. The United States , the most powerful of the Group of Seven (G7) most i
AFRICA: Debt Dooms Development Goals - UN: Inter Press Service - September 30, 2004; Marty Logan; MONTREAL, Sep 30 (IPS) - Unless the debts of the poorest African nations are completely forgiven, those countries stand no chance of achieving the world s development goals by the target date of 2015, says a United Nations report released Thursday. It was published one day before ministers from the seven most industria
DEVELOPMENT-EU: Migration Not a Separate Matter: Inter Press Service - September 29, 2004; Ann De Ron; THE HAGUE, Sep 29 (IPS) - The EU should establish a system for orderly intake and integration of migrants, experts recommended at a conference on European development policy. Though progress has been made, the European Union does not take the undeniable links between development and migration sufficiently into account,
Seize Golden Opportunity on Debt, Groups Urge IMF: Inter Press Service - September 27, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Sep 27 (IPS) - Global anti-debt activists are rallying around a call issued by Britain on Sunday that urges the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cancel debts owed by the world s poorest nations and finance the forgiveness through sales of its own gold. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown called
Activists Urge US to Lobby Hard for Debt Forgiveness: Inter Press Service - September 24, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Sep 24 (IPS) - Development groups and economists are stepping up the pressure on rich nations to act on a proposal backed by the United States to cancel the debts of the world s poorest poor nations. The amount of money being spent by poor countries on debt repayment is crushing when compared to the size of
Tuberculosis resurges in Southern Africa: Inter Press Service - September 23, 2004; Fuelled by a burgeoning Aids problem, tuberculosis is experiencing a resurgence in Southern Africa where health officials are beginning to talk of integrating programmes to fight the two diseases. In the last decade, there has been a four-fold increase in the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in the sub-region, the pre
DEVELOPMENT: Richest Nations May Drop Debt of 33 Poorest: Inter Press Service - September 22, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Sep 22 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have been campaigning for years to write off tens of billions of dollars in debt owed by poor countries to international financial institutions (IFIs) say their dream may soon be realised, perhaps as soon as just nine days from now. That s when the f
TRADE-CAMBODIA: WTO Entry Far From Being Rosy: Inter Press Service - September 22, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Sep 22 (IPS) - Cambodia s entry as a full member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) tests the groundwork on whether poor countries in the world would be better off or worse by becoming new members of the global free trade body. This South-east Asian country is days away from becoming the 148th member of the
SOUTH AFRICA: Helping Men Become Men: Inter Press Service - September 19, 2004; Mercedes Sayagues; PRETORIA, Sep 19 (IPS) - In the Nguni languages, which include Zulu and Xhosa, an indlavini is a violent and reckless man who disrespects elders and tradition. The indlavini emerged in the early twentieth century, when millions of South African men migrated to towns - looking for jobs in the gold and diamond mines.
EDUCATION-SOUTH AFRICA: Are Preschoolers Getting Their Due?: Inter Press Service - September 17, 2004; Christina Scott; CAPE TOWN, Sep 17 (IPS) - Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man, goes the old Jesuit saying - an advertisement, if ever there was one, for the virtues of preprimary education. Yet, a decade after the advent of democracy, South Africa appears to spend more on keeping convicted criminals in their
R&D that Addresses the Needs of the Poor: Inter Press Service - September 17, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Sep 17 (IPS) - Clinical trials of a new anti-malaria drug will begin before the end of the year in Thailand , representing faster than expected progress in one of several scientific research efforts aimed at combating a deadly disease that affects 500 million people and claims up to two million lives a year.
INDIA: Activists Continue Fight to Decriminalise Homosexuality: Inter Press Service - September 16, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; While the Delhi High Court dismissed this month public interest litigation seeking to quash laws dating back to colonial times that make homosexuality a punishable offence, human rights activists have sworn to continue seek legal avenues to decriminalise gay sex between consenting adults. NEW DELHI, Sep 16 (IPS) - We
New Drug Formulas Needed for Children With AIDS: Inter Press Service - September 16, 2004; Katherine Stapp; With HIV-infected children dying much faster than adults - shockingly, one-half by their second birthday - doctors are scrambling to design new treatment protocols that work even in the most resource-poor settings. NEW YORK, Sep 16 (IPS) - And in many cases, they are meeting with measurable success. In
HIV/AIDS-THAILAND: A Buddy and Hope for Life: Inter Press Service - September 15, 2004; Sonny Inbaraj; MAE CHAN, Thailand , Sep 15 (IPS) - While Charoen Orn-Norm and Aranya run a successful recycling business in this border town, just a stone s throw away from Burma , seldom, however, do their clients realise that one of them is HIV positive. Initially it s a shock to them, but when they see that I m as normal as ever
ZAMBIA: In a Quagmire Over AIDS Testing: Inter Press Service - September 15, 2004; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Sep 15 (IPS) - Voluntary testing or mandatory testing? That is the question AIDS activists and government officials are grappling with in Zambia , where about one million people have already died in the pandemic since the late 1980s. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS puts HIV prevalence in Zambia a
Poor Countries Footing Reproductive Bill: Inter Press Service - September 15, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Sep 15 (IPS) - Developed countries are failing to live up to their commitments to fund sexual and reproductive health care leaving poorer countries to pick up the bill, says a new UN report released Wednesday. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report titled The Cairo Consensus at Ten: Population, Rep
LATIN AMERICA: Progress for Women, But Poverty Rates Still High: Inter Press Service - September 15, 2004; Marcela Valente; BUENOS AIRES, Sep 15 (IPS) - The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have made progress in the past 10 years in terms of empowering women and ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health services. However, poverty reduction in the region remains an elusive goal, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) liai
New Hope for Reproductive Rights: Inter Press Service - September 13, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Sep 13 (IPS) - Positive developments have given new rise to hopes of moving towards the goal of reproductive rights for all women by 2015, UNFPA executive director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid says. Obaid says there is reason for optimism despite the ideological and actual opposition from the present U.S. administration
ZIMBABWE: The War That Might Not Have Been: Inter Press Service - September 10, 2004; Wilson Johwa*; BULAWAYO, Sep 10 (IPS) - Two years after Zimbabwean troops returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe s public remains largely unaware of the activities of the mission. Government has kept a tight lid on information about the controversial deployment, which was allegedly carried out to prevent Congo
Battling Poverty or Fighting Wars?: Inter Press Service - September 10, 2004; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10 (IPS) - World Bank President James Wolfensohn, a longstanding critic of excessive global military spending, says he cannot comprehend why the world spends only 50 billion dollars on development aid annually while it squanders a whopping 950 billion dollars on its armed forces. If the world s rich
U.N. Seeks Rapid Action to Cut Poverty and Hunger: Inter Press Service - September 9, 2004; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Sep 9 (IPS) - The world s developing nations have made significant progress in reducing extreme poverty and alleviating hunger and disease, says U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in an year-end review of the U.N. s much-publicised Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But he warns that progress has been
ECONOMY-AFRICA: IMF Chief Sees a Glimmer of Hope: Inter Press Service - September 8, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Sep 8 (IPS) - For Africa to outgrow its economic woes, it will need a heavy dose of financial assistance from the world s richest countries, says Rodrigo de Rato - managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The advanced economies should provide more, and better coordinated development ass
At Three Cents a Unit, Condoms Often Rare as Hen's Teeth: Inter Press Service - September 3, 2004; Jacklynne Hobbs; Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All , a conference that wrapped up in London Thursday, was awash with statistics on a range of matters. One statistic had particular resonance, however - namely that men in sub-Saharan Africa only have access to an average of three condoms a year. LONDON, S
Men - Final Frontier for Education on Sex and Family Planning?: Inter Press Service - September 1, 2004; Jacklynne Hobbs; It s not as if men are conspicuous by their absence at Countdown 2015: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All ; quite a few have braved the meeting, even though it must be disheartening to hear the shortcomings of their gender so thoroughly dissected. LONDON, Sep 1 (IPS) - The same cannot be said of the exte
INDIA: Serious Question of Accuracy in AIDS Statistics: Inter Press Service - September 1, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Sep 1 (IPS) - India s National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) claims to have halted the growth of new HIV infections in its tracks but newly released studies suggest that its figures may be unreliable and that worse could be in store if business continues as usual. According to NACO s latest available figu
MOZAMBIQUE: AIDS Stripping Widows Off Their Rights: Inter Press Service - August 31, 2004; Bayano Valy; When her husband died two months ago, Albertina Come did not only lose him. She also lost their house and belongings acquired through hard work over ten years of marriage. MAPUTO, Aug 31 (IPS) - Come s husband is among some 97,000 Mozambicans who health authorities say will die of HIV/AIDS this year alone. More than 40
Army Recruits Seek Legal Action over HIV Sacking: Inter Press Service - August 30, 2004; Marion Edmunds A legal battle looms between the army and four South Africans who claim they have been shut out of the military because they tested HIV positive. It comes at a time when the South African National Defence Forces (SANDF) has embarked on collaborative research with the U.S. Department of Defence on the ef
New Priorities to be Set at London Meet: Inter Press Service - August 29, 23004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Aug 29 (IPS) - A London conference of non-governmental organisations will set clear and coherent new priorities to take forward the agreements on reproductive health reached in Cairo ten years back. The follow-up moves in London will mark a statement of priorities for the next decade, president of the Internat
New EU Members Taught to Look Around: Inter Press Service - August 27, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Aug 27 (IPS) + IBM- The new EU member states will soon take lessons in development cooperation from developing countries. The Netherlands which currently holds EU presidency is sending representatives from these new member states to visit development projects in Uganda and
Recalling Cairo Ten Years Later: Inter Press Service - August 24, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Aug 24 (IPS) - More than 700 professionals in the health field from 107 countries will gather in London next week to push forward a delivery of reproductive health services that has been slowing down if not stalling. The conference Countdown 2015 called by leading non-governmental organisations in the field is
INDIA: Double Murder Probe Puts Gays in Bad Light: Inter Press Service - August 24, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Aug 24 (IPS) - Homosexuality is illegal in India but public reaction to the sensational murder this month of a gay project officer with an international aid agency has exposed the limited social acceptability in India for alternative sexual preferences. Police in the capital are still trying to figure ou
ZIMBABWE: Media Monopoly Said to Underpin Mugabe's Popularity: Inter Press Service - August 21, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Aug 21 (IPS) - An opinion poll published this week indicates that trust in Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has more than doubled since 1999. Researchers says certain Zimbabweans have benefited from ruling party patronage, but that Mugabe s higher approval rating can mostly be ascribed to state propagan
INDIA: Govt Sits on World Bank Funds as AIDS Spreads: Inter Press Service - August 21, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Aug 21 (IPS) - Critics of India s World Bank-funded National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) are finding a powerful ally in the country s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which has taken the organisation to task for poor utilisation of millions of dollars worth of funds meant for containing the HIV ep
Bold New Steps Taken Towards MDGs: Inter Press Service - August 19, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Aug 19 (IPS) - - Little Belgium and not so little India are taking some of the boldest steps yet towards meeting the millennium development goals by proposing a tax in financial markets. A currency transaction tax (CTT) was approved by the lower house of the Belgian parliament last month.
POPULATION: No Slowdown in Developing World: Inter Press Service - August 19, 2004; Eli Clifton; WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (IPS) A newly released survey projects massive population growth in the developing world over the next 45 years, due to its disproportionately young populace and higher birth rates. While there has been a decline in fertility rates in parts of Latin America and Asia, growth rates in Africa and other
AFRICA: Helping the Continent to Grow Old Gracefully: Inter Press Service - August 18, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Aug 18 (IPS) - If only I can stop sewing for a month, my cough will come down.I spend the money from my sewing for buying food and making sandwiches for my grandchildren to take to school, says an old South African woman captured on video while working at an archaic sewing machine. A 57-year old Ugandan m
ZIMBABWE: Time's Up for the "Kerb Crawlers": Inter Press Service - August 18, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Aug 18 (IPS) - A recent crackdown on men who frequent prostitutes in Zimbabwe has left human rights activists there a little confused. Is the new approach a victory for those who claim that it is unfair to punish sex workers, if similar penalties aren t handed down to their clients? Or is it simply a diversio
CAMEROON: An Illegal Circulation of Blood: Inter Presse Service - August 16, 2004; Sylvestre Tetchiada; YAOUNDE, Aug 16 (IPS) - The term blood money has come to have new meaning in Cameroon , where certain patients and their families complain that a brisk trade in trafficked blood has led to shortages in hospitals. Getting hold of a pouch of blood for a patient who has urgent need of it can be an experience akin to Calv
INDIA: WHO Hurting Cheap AIDS Drugs Industry - Experts: Inter Presse Service - August 14, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; Indian medical experts see the hand of powerful Western drug manufacturers in the World Health Organisation s withdrawals of its recommendations, this month and earlier in May, for some of India s cheap and popular combination drugs against HIV/AIDS using generic copycats. NEW DELHI, Aug 14 (IPS) - Generic copycats ar
AUSTRALIA: End Days to Cheap Drugs With U.S. Trade Deal: Inter Presse Service - August 13, 2004; Bob Burton; CANBERRA, Aug 13 (IPS) - Australia s ratification of a free trade agreement with the United States has sparked warnings that it represents a major win for the U.S. drug industry in blocking generic manufacturers and undermining the country s internationally acclaimed system for lowering pharmaceutical prices. The
PAKISTAN: Sex Workers Come Together to Fight HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - August 7, 2004; Zofeen T. Ebrahim; KARACHI, Aug 7 (IPS) - Placing her cell phone on the table, Zulekha runs her fingers through her long, streaked hair and smiles uncertainly. Next to her, Mariam, stifles a yawn and apologises, I had a late night, she adds, reading the text message on her phone. Then there is Bakhtawar who chews on the ghutka (a tobacc
COMMUNICATION-BRAZIL: The Voices of the Homeless: Inter Press Service - August 5, 2004; Mario Osava; PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil , Aug 5 (IPS) - Boca de rua is a unique newspaper, written and sold by the homeless in this city in southern Brazil, bringing together the exceptional stories of people who seek to rejoin society and reclaim their rights in adverse conditions. Reinaldo Luiz dos Santos, 35, dropped out of law school
The End of Polio Is Near: Inter Press Service - August 3, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Aug 3 (IPS) - The spread of poliomyelitis could be totally curbed this year worldwide and the disease could be eradicated by 2005, thanks to the removal of the last obstacles in Africa, David Heymann, World Health Organisation (WHO) special representative on polio eradication, said Tuesday. The polio immunisati
TRADE-THAILAND: Bilateralism Takes Back Seat After WTO Advance: Inter Press Service - August 3, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Aug 3 (IPS) - The recent breakthrough at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is fuelling calls for the Thai government to abandon its plans for bilateral trade deals in favour of the multilateral trade agenda that the WTO offers. This appeal, which has voices ranging from academics, activists and grassroots gro
Namibia battles high rate of HIV in Caprivi: Inter Press Service - August 2, 2004; Jatandauka Kuzee; Namibia s health officials are grappling with the magnitude of the HIV/Aids pandemic in the Caprivi Strip, which borders three of the world s worst-affected countries -- Zambia , Zimbabwe and Botswana . The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women in the Caprivi region stands at 43%, much higher than
SOUTH AFRICA: Like Apartheid 'We Must Defeat TB': Inter Press Service - August 2, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Aug 2 (IPS) - To get their freedom, South Africans fought apartheid without backing off. So let s use the same method to defeat TB, says a short video clip prepared for the country s anti-TB campaign. In the video clip, Dr. Moji Mogari, secretary general of South African Medical Association (SAMA) and cha
INDIA: HIV Positive Children Face Severe Discrimination: Inter Press Service - July 30, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India , Jul 30 (IPS) - Growing up in India can be hard for most children in India. But for those afflicted with the HIV virus, it can prove to be doubly damning. Two weeks ago A.K. Antony, Chief Minister of southern Kerala, the Indian state which boasts 95 percent literacy and has human developmen
Senegalese adults shy away from condoms: Inter Press Service - July 29, 2004; Senegal is a role model in the fight against HIV/Aids. Along with Uganda and Thailand , the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids says the West African country has succeeded in reducing the spread of the virus. Senegal s success in the fight against the disease lies in its pragmatic approach, somethin
High cost caps use of female condom: Inter Press Service - July 28, 2004; It s bigger and uglier than its male counterpart. Sometimes it even makes a noise. But many South African women who have used it say they prefer it. Ten years after it was first introduced to South Africa, the female condom, or femidom, is gaining popularity in the country, but cost is limiting its use. The government
INDIA: Ancient System of Medicine Survives Despite Odds: Inter Press Service - July 27, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (IPS) - Reviving Siddha , the world s oldest known system of medicine, is not easy especially when many of its prescriptions smack of alchemy and depend heavily on concoctions prepared from toxic metals such as lead and mercury. Yet the sheer curative power of Siddha and the unshakeable fa
Aids war reaps positive results: Inter Press Service - July 26, 2004; James Hall; Southern Africa is responding to its Aids pandemic with new programmes that promoters say must be as adaptable as HIV itself. Just as HIV mutates, frustrating efforts to come up with a vaccine, so do our prevention, mitigation and treatment efforts have to be flexible and innovative. We are not yet crippled by this cri
Teachers of the World - United and Underpaid: Inter Press Service - July 26, 2004; Mario Osava; PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil , Jul 26 (IPS) - Education is facing a paradox today: students are not learning, despite the enormous accumulation of educational theories and the technology available to many schools and teachers. That view, expressed by Ju�ara Dutra Vieira, president of Brazil s National Confederation of Educati
FILM-BRAZIL: Cazuza's Music Doesn't Stop: Inter Press Service - July 24, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 24 (IPS) - More than a million Brazilians flocked to the cinemas over the past month and have been moved by the film Cazuza, o tempo nao para (Cazuza: Time Doesn t Stop), reviving the late poetic rock-and-roll rebel of the 1980s, with his excesses of sex and drugs, and his intense but undefined nost
In Death's Face There's A Ray of Hope: Inter Press Service - July 21, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Jul 21 (IPS) - Strong leadership, access to life- prolonging drugs and reducing infections will be the main challenges facing southern Africa in the next decade, AIDS campaigners say. Southern Africa is currently at the epicentre of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Around 70 percent of people living with HIV are in
HAITI: Donors Exceed Aid Target, Debt Relief Next Goal, Group Says: Inter Press Service - July 20, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jul 20 (IPS) - Donors have pledged 1.1 billion dollars -- 160 million dollars more than requested -- in new aid over the next two years to cover yawning gaps in Haiti s budget, begin restoring basic services, and hopefully jumpstart the Americas poorest country after years of stagnation. The announcement, w
Britain Takes Lead in Fight Against AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 20, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Jul 20 (IPS) - Britain has become a pre-eminent global AIDS funder with the announcement of a 2.8 billion dollar grant, UNAIDS chief Peter Piot said Tuesday. UNAIDS welcomes the UK s new strategy on aids, Piot said in a statement. This is a qualitative step forward, and demonstrates the scale of leadership nee
Churches Overcome Embarrassment to Tackle AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 19, 2004; James Hall; MBABANE, Jul 19 (IPS) - Churches in Swaziland appear to be stepping up efforts to fight the AIDS pandemic � and to help their congregations deal with sexual abuse. This comes in the wake of revelations that this tiny Southern African country now has the world s highest HIV prevalence. In a recent disaster relief re
VENEZUELA: NGOs Successfully Press for Replacement of Dubious AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - July 19, 2004; Humberto Marquez; CARACAS, Jul 19 (IPS) - The Venezuelan government will supply HIV/AIDS patients with alternative antiretroviral drugs after versions of lamivudine ( 3TC ) and zidovudine ( AZT ) produced by the CIPLA laboratory in
HIV/AIDS: Once Marginalised Issues Now in the Forefront: Inter Press Service - July 17, 2004; Analysis - Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 17 (IPS) - While the lack of major medical breakthroughs might have been the hallmark of the just concluded 15th International AIDS Conference, a radical shift that has occurred on another front, however, is hard to ignore. Language used by AIDS activists, which once had been on the margins has, now, been
HIV/AIDS: Cry for Funds and Mixed Feelings Mark Conference End: Inter Press Service - July 16, 2004; Moyiga Nduru*; BANGKOK, July 16 (IPS) - The largest AIDS conference to date ended in the Thai capital with campaigners calling for more funding to fight the disease, which is ravaging the world, and participants having mixed feelings about whether significant achievements were made in what they termed as a giant talk fest. In a displ
AIDS Vaccine Still in Sight of Mankind: Inter Press Service - July 16, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 16 (IPS) - Local communities in developing countries are coming in for lavish praise for the new bonds they are forging with the scientific world in the search for the elusive AIDS vaccine. Such interactions have helped move developing countries from the margins of vaccine research four years ago to centre
HIV/AIDS: Medical 'Brain Drain' Worsens African Crisis: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2004; Eli Clifton; WASHINGTON, Jul 15 (IPS) - To cope with the AIDS epidemic that continues to ravage Africa, the international community and the region s governments must do more to stop the brain drain of skilled medical professionals to wealthier countries, argues a new report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). The document, An Ac
HIV/AIDS: The Mandela Charm Glistens Conference: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; BANGKOK, Jul 15 (IPS) - A frail-looking but persuasive Nelson Mandela urged world leaders to increase funding to combat HIV/ AIDS and to raise global awareness about the dangers of the disease. Speaking at the 15th International AIDS Conference on Thursday, the former South African president took the opportunity to int
Culture Key to Millennium Goals, Says UNDP Report: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Jul 15 (IPS) - Inclusive, culturally diverse societies are key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, according to the new Human Development Report released Thursday. The report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN s global development network, says cultural diversity must be e
HIV/AIDS: Lessons from Africa for Asia to Study: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; BANGKOK, July 15 (IPS) - A visibly touched Asian campaigner stepped forward and shook her African counterpart s hand while another hugged her - all with a mixture of respect and, possibly, remorse. Ludfine Anyango is living with HIV. I was diagnosed with the virus nine years ago, 32-year-old Anyango told IPS. It s
THAILAND: Migrant Fishermen's High- Risk Sex Poses Grave Danger: Inter Press Service - July 15, 2004; Sonny Inbaraj; BANGKOK, Jul 15 (IPS) - Motivated by a sense of adventure that allows them to explore a world beyond their villages, many young men in the Mekong countries take to the high seas - lured by the promise of high earnings as fishermen on Thai-owned vessels. But a recent report warns that the high-risk behaviour of these mi
U.S. AIDS Chief Versus The Hecklers: Inter Press Service - July 14, 2004; Ma Guihua; BANGKOK, Jul 14 (IPS) - Two years ago at the last International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, U.S. health official Tommy Thompson was booed so loudly his speech was barely audible. This time, it is U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias turn to feel the heat from protesters who stood up Wednesday and held up placa
HIV/AIDS: Simplicity Could Save More Lives: Inter Press Service - July 14, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 14 (IPS) - A one time belief that state-of-the-art hospitals are a must to deliver anti-AIDS drugs in the developing world was dispelled at the 15th International AIDS Conference, currently being held in Thailand . In its place, now, is a view that is key to the ambitious programme being championed by the
Pharmaceutical Firms Neglecting Children with HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 14, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; BANGKOK, Jul 14 (IPS) - More than 2.5 million children living with HIV/AIDS have been neglected by pharmaceutical companies that mainly produce life-prolonging drugs, such as antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), for adults, says Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). HIV treatment for adults is slowly becoming easier, with increasing
GUINEA: Killing AIDS Patients With Kindness: Inter Press Service - July 13, 2004; Saliou Samb; The debate on how best to provide anti-retroviral medication to HIV-positive citizens has taxed the ingenuity of many an African government - not least that of Guinea . However, the administration of this country now appears to be making citizens the victim of its own good intentions. At present a government agency
New Pressures Likely Over 0.7 Percent Target: Inter Press Service - July 13, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Jul 13 (IPS) - The G8 and the European Union are due to come under new pressure to spend more on official development assistance after Britain said it would increase its contribution to 0.7 percent of its GNI by 2013. Britain will have presidency of both the G8, a group of leading industrialised countries - the
Freedom of Expression Tested at AIDS Meet: Inter Press Service - July 13, 2004; Diana Mendoza; BANGKOK, Jul 13 (IPS) - Freedom of expression is being tested at the 15th International AIDS Conference here, where NGOs and activists have been busy making pharmaceutical companies the object of their noisy, colourful protests this week. Eight giant pharmaceutical companies loom large in the exhibition hall of the non
HIV/AIDS: The ABC Debate Heats Up: Inter Press Service - July 13, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 13 (IPS) - Chompoo Yokhee and Simon Onaba represent two extreme poles of a debate that is coursing through the deliberations of the 15th International AIDS Conference. The deliberations are on whether condoms are good for a woman s health. For Chompoo, a 30-year-old Thai mother of two girls, a condom coul
UGANDA: Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Defies Prevention Efforts: Inter Press Service - July 12, 2004; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Jul 12 (IPS) - Uganda s success in fighting AIDS has been justly celebrated. In 1993, the country had an HIV prevalence rate of 30 percent - this according to the Uganda AIDS Commission, which was set up by government to coordinate the fight against HIV. The rate now stands at six percent. Health workers conti
U.S. Should Reach Out to African Muslims - Report: Inter Press Service - July 12, 2004; Eli Clifton; WASHINGTON, Jul 12 (IPS) - The United States should increase its military readiness for peacekeeping or counter-terrorist action in Africa, and make new efforts to reach out to the region s Muslim population, according to a new report by a 16-member bipartisan expert panel. Commissioned by Congress, the document, Risi
THAILAND: Combating AIDS the Military Way: Inter Press Service - July 12, 2004; Sonny Inbaraj; BANGKOK, Jul 12 (IPS) - When Thailand s armed forces went through a crisis period with high HIV infections among its rank and file, it bit the bullet and ordered mandatory testing for its conscripts. The gamble has since paid off. Now, the success of the Thai army in prevention and control of HIV/AIDS has been praised
LATIN AMERICA: Participation the Best Anti-AIDS Weapon: Inter Press Service - July 12, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 12 (IPS) - Jacqueline Rocha Cortes symbolises the fight against AIDS in many regards, particularly the important role played by civil society in controlling the epidemic in Brazil and in other Latin American countries. At age 44, she has been HIV-positive for ten years and is active in many differe
HIV/AIDS: 'Access for All' Theme Comes Under Criticism: Inter Press Service - July 11, 2004; Naw Seng *; BANGKOK, Jul 11 (IPS) - The overarching theme for the 15th International AIDS Conference -- Access for All -- came under fire just before the opening ceremony in Thailand s capital today as activists rallied for the poor in developing countries who are denied the availability of treatments for HIV. We would like the co
HIV/AIDS: Despite Criticism WHO Says '3 by 5' Achievable: Inter Press Service - July 10, 2004; Cher Jimenez; BANGKOK, Jul 10 (IPS) - Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) conceded that its strategy of delivering antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to the millions of needy people living with HIV/AIDS is making slow progress, it, however, is optimistic that its 2005 treatment target can be met. We are moving in the right direction
HEALTH: A New Inclusive Community for AIDS to be Born?: Inter Press Service - July 10, 2004; Analysis - Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 10 (IPS) - When the 15th International AIDS Conference (IAC) begins here Sunday, this biennial event will lay the foundations for a new relationship between people living with HIV, grassroots groups and the scientific community. The space provided at the Bangkok conference for people infected with the kill
U.S. Retreats From AIDS Meet: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2004; Katherine Stapp; NEW YORK, Jul 9 (IPS) - When the world s top experts on HIV/AIDS gather to swap strategies and experiences in Bangkok, Thailand this weekend, only a tiny handful of the estimated 15,000 attendees will be representing the United States . Two years ago, Washington sent 236 employees from Health and Human Services (HHS)
THAILAND: Zealous NGOs Force Positive Change: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 9 (IPS) - In February 1997, Anthony Pramualratana walked out from a secure job with the United Nations to plunge into the uncertain world of non-governmental work. What inspired him was the mission of the nascent non- governmental organisation (NGO) he joined. That NGO is trying to create a sensitive and p
THAILAND: Afro-Asian Music Connection Helps AIDS Awareness: Inter Press Service - July 9, 2004; Sonny Inbaraj; BANGKOK, Jul 9 (IPS) - The defining moment for U.S.-born Thai folk-rock musician Todd Lavell Tongdee, in terms of relating to the AIDS deaths of African musicians to his own crusade back home in Thailand , was when he played with Nigerian Afro-rock star Femi Kuti and his Positive Force Band at an international concert
HEALTH-SENEGAL: Cardinals and Khalifs Unite Against AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 8, 2004; Mercedes Sayagues*; DAKAR, Jul 8 (IPS) - When the muezzin calls, they kneel, bow and pray in perfect unison. It is a moment of intense collective spirituality - and a chance to ponder the more earthly problem of AIDS. The sermon dwells on how to avoid contracting HIV, and the fact that people who are infected with the virus must be helped
'Fighting AIDS Needs More Than Money': Inter Press Service - July 7, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Jul 7 (IPS) - A new study shows a significant rise in bilateral aid to fight AIDS, but development groups point out that it will take more than money to fight the pandemic. A new study by the development assistance committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, a group of 30 ind
ZIMBABWE: Street Children Vulnerable to AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 7, 2004; Stanley Karombo; HARARE, Jul 7 (IPS) - Ten-year-old Molin considers the streets of Zimbabwe s capital her home. She s not alone. Research by a Harare-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) - Futures International - in May 2004, indicated that at least 12,000 children eke out a living on the country s highways and byways. Molin says
'More Money, Less Ideology' - AIDS Activists to Bush: Inter Press Service - July 7, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jul 7 (IPS) - As some 15,000 official delegates and representatives of civil society gather in Bangkok this week for an international AIDS meeting, one of the big questions is whether U.S. President George W Bush is prepared to modify his more ideological positions on fighting the disease. While Bush s admi
DEVELOPMENT: Tied Aid Strangling Nations, Says U.N.: Inter Press Service - July 7, 2004; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS, Jul 7 (IPS) - Donor money that comes with strings attached cuts the value of aid to recipient countries 25-40 percent, because it obliges them to purchase uncompetitively priced imports from the richer nations, says a new U.N. study on African economies. The 24-page study singles out four countries --
BURMA: Real Magnitude of AIDS Hard to Tell, But Worries Rising: Inter Press Service - July 7, 2004; Larry Jagan; LASHIO, Burma , Jul 7 (IPS) - Three young Burmese women sit quietly in the foyer of one of the main tourist hotels here in this northern town in Burma. The youngest is barely 13, and obviously very unhappy. A few minutes later, a visiting Chinese businessman comes down to meet them with his Burmese host, and the group
LATIN AMERICA: HIV/AIDS an Unequal Epidemic: Inter Press Service - July 6, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 6 (IPS) - There are 1.6 million people in Latin America living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the AIDS epidemic is growing, and although it is under some control, it continues to hit certain countries and certain groups very hard. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (
Moves to Contain AIDS Failing: Inter Press Service - July 6, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Jul 6 (IPS) - Moves to fight AIDS have been failing overall with five million more infections reported last year, UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot announced Tuesday. It is a failure of reaching infected people, and of treating them, Piot said while releasing the UNAIDS annual report. The report was release
AIDS Catastrophe Set To Hit Asia, Warns U.N.: Inter Press Service - July 6, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 6 (IPS) - With one in four new HIV cases being reported from Asia, the sprawling continent is on the verge of being felled by an AIDS epidemic that would dwarf the devastation wrought by the killer disease in Africa, experts warned. Asia now is facing life and death choices when it comes to the epidemic,
INDIA: Poverty, Gender Imbalances A Lethal Mix for HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - July 5, 2004; Patralekha Chatterjee; HASAMPUR, India , Jul 5 (IPS) - In this village in India s north-western state of Rajasthan, Kamla, a woman in a long and flowing sequined skirt and a bright pink headscarf speaks of the hurdles in spreading awareness HIV/AIDS among other village women. It is not an easy task. Most women in Hasampur are illiterate.
EAST TIMOR: Hip-Hop and Rock for Condoms Challenge Church: Inter Press Service - July 5, 2004; Sonny Inbaraj; DARWIN, Australia , Jul 5 (IPS) - Musicians in the predominately Catholic East Timor are taking their HIV/AIDS message directly to the people by circumventing official Church policy that bans the use of condoms. It is sheer hypocrisy to tell youth that it is a sin to use condoms and to abstain from pre or post marital
CUBA: Door Opens for Sexual Diversity: Inter Press Service - July 3, 2004; Dalia Acosta; HAVANA, Jul 3 (IPS) - The semi-nude bodies of men interlaced in a passionate embrace seems to stun the Cuban audiences in every performance of The Life and Death of Pier Paolo Pasolini , the play about the Italian filmmaker who was assassinated in 1975, and about discrimination, conventionalisms and mediocrity. The
An African Army, for Africans?: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Jul 2 (IPS) - As the third annual summit of the African Union (AU) draws closer, the spotlight is falling on the organisation s newest branch: the Peace and Security Council, and its proposed standby force. Inaugurated in May at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia , the 15-member council will be advised by a pan
POLITICS-AFRICA: Women Charting the Continent's Future: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; PRETORIA, Jul 2 (IPS) - We must congratulate Rwanda for achieving 48.8 percent of women representation in parliament. This is the highest in the world. It means gender parity is no longer a dream but a reality in Africa, said Lulu Xingwana, South Africa s Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy, to thunderous applause
HEALTH: Discrimination Could Offset Thailand's HIV/AIDS Gains: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jul 2 (IPS) - The thousands of foreign delegates due to arrive here for this month s world AIDS conference will not have to wait long to get the first lesson about their host s healthy attitude towards safe sex. They will be given condoms as welcome gifts at Bangkok s airport or en route to their hotel. Th
INDIA: Free ARVs, a Ploy by Drug Firms to Pressure Govt?: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2004; Ranjit Devraj; NEW DELHI, Jul 2 (IPS) - Kaushalya is convinced her unborn baby would be alive today if she was not compelled to abort it by the so- called HIV/AIDS mafia. Trouble began for Kaushalya after her husband Ranbir, who drove buses for the state-owned Delhi Transport Corp (DTC), died of tuberculosis in 1996 shortly
CUBA-AFRICA: Decades of Assistance and Cooperation: Inter Press Service - July 2, 2004; Patricia Grogg; HAVANA, Jul 2 (IPS) - Dozens of countries in Africa benefit from medical or other assistance programmes from Cuba , and in four decades this socialist island nation has helped train around 30,000 young people from that continent in a number of specialties. Medical assistance, which began in 1963 when Cuba sent health
'Failed Aid Kills A Million Women': Inter Press Service - July 1, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Jul 1 (IPS) - More than a million women have died because rich nations have failed to honour their commitments to promote sexual and reproductive health, a group of NGOs said at the launch of a new campaign in London Thursday. About three-quarters of a million pregnant women and newly delivered mothers in the d
EU Development Policy 'Out of Gear': Inter Press Service - July 1, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Jul 1 (IPS) - The European Union development policy is inadequately geared towards the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, according to a new report released Thursday. Alliance2015, a partnership of six European development organisations says that although there has been a growing focus on the Millen
SOUTH AFRICA: Reversing the Medical Brain Drain: Inter Press Service - June 30, 2004; Nawaal Deane and Jacklynne Hobbs; JOHANNESBURG, Jun 30 (IPS) - The flight of nurses and doctors from South Africa - and other African states - has long been a source of concern for the governments of these countries. And, the advent of AIDS has sharpened fears about the effects of this migration. IPS was not able to get comment on the matter from South
HEALTH-MOZAMBIQUE: Lessons Learned About AIDS Prevention: Inter Press Service - June 30, 2004; Joana Macie; MAPUTO, Jun 30 (IPS) - The AIDS pandemic has taken a particularly heavy toll on Southern African countries - not least Mozambique . According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ), latest statistics indicate that about 13 percent of the country s 19-million-strong population is infected with HIV
DEVELOPMENT: Lesotho Bears the Brunt of a Difficult Harvest in Southern Africa: Inter Press Service - June 30, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Jun 30 (IPS) - The camera zooms in on a woman who is complaining of weakness and a skin rash. The doctor says I m not eating enough, she told a South African television station this week, in a news clip shot in the tiny kingdom of Lesotho . This country, surrounded by its giant neighbour, South Africa, i
INDONESIA: Firms Find that HIV/AIDS is Bad for Business: Inter Press Service - June 30, 2004; Richel Dursin; JAKARTA, Jun 30 (IPS) - Don t let AIDS destroy our future! reads a banner that greets visitors to the complex of tire manufacturer Gajah Tunggal in Tangerang, Banten province, an hour away from the Indonesian capital. Around its production plants are handmade posters that read, My friend got infected with HIV/AIDS.
AFRICA: Pregnant Women Beware: Inter Press Service - June 29, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, June 29 (IPS) - A decade after the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, maternal mortality continues to plague Africa. Delegates to a meeting held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, recently heard that of the 585,000 deaths caused every year by obstetric complications, many occur
RIGHTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: No Rest in the Twilight Years: Inter Press Service - June 29, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, June 29 (IPS) - Getting older in Africa isn t what it used to be. While some of the continent s senior citizens may, in years gone by, have enjoyed a relatively quiet retirement, this prospect has largely been wiped out by the responsibility of caring for grandchildren who have been orphaned by AIDS.
RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: AIDS Orphans Turn to Streets for Survival: Inter Press Service - June 29, 2004; Vannaphone Sitthirath*; PHNOM PENH, Jun 29 (IPS) - For six-year-old Samnang, life offers little hope. The Cambodian boy has been orphaned by the death of his parents due to AIDS, and has recently tested positive for HIV. As many as 300,000 Cambodian children will become AIDS orphans in this country of 12 million this year, and face a whole lo
SOUTH AFRICA: Ending Discrimination No Easy Task: Inter Press Service - June 25, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, June 25 (IPS) - A devout Muslim with beard, flowing gown and prayer cap folded his arms as a female participant reached out to shake his hand. They ended up exchanging verbal greetings. On the opposite side of the hall, a man suggested a dress code for young women, drawing the ire of feminists. Welcome to
DEVELOPMENT: Afghan 'Bomb' Hovers Over Europe: Inter Press Service - June 25, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, Jun 25 (IPS) - The illicit production of opium in Afghanistan is a time bomb waiting to hit Europe, says a new report by the United Nations drugs agency. Production of opium in Afghanistan is expected to increase this year and will have a significant knock-on effect in Europe, says the United Nations Office
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Human Trafficking Stretches Across the Region: Inter Press Service - June 23, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; BENONI, South Africa , June 23 (IPS) - Young South African women are being given false job offers to lure them into prostitution in Macau , a former Portuguese colony now under Chinese control, says the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). IOM official Jonathan Martens told a three-day conf
NIGERIA: A Visionary Plan For Preventing Blindness: Inter Press Service - June 23, 2004; Toye Olori; LAGOS (IPS) - It is 08.00 in Iba Town - a suburb of Nigeria s southern economic hub, Lagos - and people have defied heavy rains to start lining up outside a mobile clinic that treats eye disorders. The queue will ultimately include hundreds of peasant farmers, fishermen, traders, school children and senior citizens.
THAILAND: Report on Development Goals Receives Kudos: Inter Press Service - June 23, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, Jun 23 (IPS) - In an effort to blaze a trail within the developing world, Thailand announced Wednesday that it was pursuing higher targets to meet eight globally recognised development goals, which include poverty reduction and better health care. Bangkok s new blueprint to help the economically and socially
POLITICS-AFRICA: Upbeat on Globalisation, Although Southern Africa Lags: Inter Press Service - June 16, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jun 16 (IPS) - Africans feel relatively positive about globalisation and the United States , although the enthusiasm for both is markedly weaker among southern Africans and Tanzanians than among people in other parts of the continent, according to a major survey of seven sub-Saharan African nations. Th
DEVELOPMENT: Poor Face Deadlines, But Not the Rich - U.N. Official: Inter Press Service - June 16, 2004; Thalif Deen; SAO PAULO, Jun 16 (IPS) - The international community, which four years ago approved a set of key development goals on poverty, hunger, health, education and environment, set deadlines for the poor but not for the rich, says a senior United Nations official. The September 2000 U.N. General Assembly proposed a target of
POLITICS: Retired Top Diplomats, Soldiers Tell Bush to Beat It: Inter Press Service - June 16, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Jun 16 (IPS) - In an unprecedented broadside, more than two-dozen top retired U.S. career diplomats and military commanders, many of whom reached their top positions under former President George HW Bush, have called for George W Bush to be defeated in his re-election bid in November. It is time for a chang
RIGHTS-JAMAICA: Gays Living in Fear: Inter Press Service - June 16, 2004; Dionne Jackson Miller; KINGSTON, Jun 16 (IPS) - Going to a party is a normal activity for most people. For a homosexual in Jamaica , it can be a dangerous pastime. I m still shocked it happened. Some layabouts obviously stayed up the whole night and stoned (our) cars at about 4 am, Lawson Williams (not his real name) told IPS. To be gay
EDUCATION-LIBERIA: Civil War Leaves School System in Tatters: Inter Press Service - June 16, 2004; Abdullah Dukuly; MONROVIA, June 16 (IPS) - The Day of the African Child, celebrated Wednesday, is a sober occasion for Liberia , where fourteen years of intermittent civil war have undermined the education system on which many of the country s children depend. According to the Ministry of Education, 2,400 schools had been established
RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: Children's Wishes for Children: Inter Press Service - June 16, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, June 16 (IPS) - While driving from South Africa s capital, Pretoria, to the commercial centre of Johannesburg this week, Jody Kollapen - Chairman of the Human Rights Commission - said he spotted a collection of shacks that were housing families. I don t know whether they have running water or electricity,
SOUTH AFRICA: Making a Necessity "Sexy": Inter Press Service - June 15, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, June 15 (IPS) - A sparkling, bright blue cap, and a mask for the nose and mouth await visitors at the main door. Before being let into the building, visitors are also handed a pair of nylon socks to cover their shoes: mandatory attire for touring Africa s only condom manufacturing firm. M.K. Vinod, a tech
POLITICS: Will Development Aid Follow in Dinosaurs' Footprints?: Inter Press Service - June 14, 2004; Thalif Deen; SAO PAULO, Jun 14 (IPS) - When United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan addressed a press conference here Monday, he was asked why no speaker on the opening day of a major U.N. meeting had thought fit to address the problem of declining official development assistance (ODA). Will the long-promised ODA, which industr
POLITICS-AFRICA: Arab Leaders Steal the Show At G8 Summit: Inter Press Service - June 11, 2004; Analysis - By Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, June 11 (IPS) - Kenyan civil society activist Edward Oyugi says Africa s relations with the developed world amount to the continent holding out a begging bowl. But, African leaders insist they have a partnership with wealthy nations - one based on investment in return for good governance. The claim came u
HEALTH-AFRICA: Religious Leaders Focus on AIDS: Inter Press Service - June 11, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, June 11 (IPS) - A meeting of over 187 church leaders from across Africa has highlighted the role of female clergy in fighting the AIDS pandemic that has swept the continent. The four-day gathering, which ended Friday (Jun. 11), was held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. It was organised by the All Africa Confere
DEVELOPMENT: G8 Offers Meagre Debt and AIDS Plan: Inter Press Service - June 10, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Jun 10 (IPS) - Leaders of the world s most industrialised nations ended their annual gathering Thursday without committing to any major debt relief for poor nations or new financial backing for the fight against HIV/AIDS. Anti-debt activists, who had raised their hopes that the world was about to see the lo
MIGRATION: 'Uncoordinated' Movements Undermine Labour Rights - ILO: Inter Press Service - June 7, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Jun 7 (IPS) - The International Labour Organisation (ILO) this week is underlining its concern that migration movements amongst regions are increasing but there are no international agreements to regulate or protect the immigrants and their families. To fill that void, the ILO proposes the development of a non
DEVELOPMENT-U.S.: Congress Mulls Debt Cancellation: Inter Press Service - June 7, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Jun 7 (IPS) - U.S. legislators are examining a new bill that would completely cancel the debts that poor countries owe to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Jubilee Act would require the U.S. Treasury to work with multilateral lenders to achieve 100 percent cancellation of the debts of 50 nations, m
HEALTH-VENEZUELA: Gov't Imports Generic AIDS Drugs from India: Inter Press Service - June 7, 2004; Humberto M�rquez; CARACAS, Jun 7 (IPS) - Venezuela bought generic antiretroviral drugs from India , for distribution free of charge among the 12,000 HIV/AIDS patients attended to by the state. The purchase will represent a savings of 17 million dollars, to go towards AIDS prevention efforts.
INDONESIA: Rights Advocate's Expulsion, a Step Backwards: Inter Press Service - June 7, 2004; Andreas Harsono; JAKARTA, Jun 7 (IPS) - Freedom of expression in Indonesia s emerging democracy suffered a big blow Sunday with the expulsion of a researcher with U.S. citizenship, in a well-respected think tank, who had exposed links between the Indonesian military intelligence and an Islamic group allegedly linked to terrorism. T
POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Regional Parliament Too Costly?: Inter Press Service - June 5, 2004; Rosemary Nalisa; WINDHOEK, June 5 (IPS) - The prospect of a regional parliament in Southern Africa appeared less certain Friday (Jun. 4), when a five-day meeting of the Southern African Development Community s Parliamentary Forum wrapped up in the Namibian capital, Windhoek. Earlier, speakers at the meeting had simply bemoaned the lack
POLITICS: G8 Set to Snub Development, Poverty Issues - Groups: Inter Press Service - June 3, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Jun 3 (IPS) - The Middle East, security, Iraq , nuclear proliferation, oil and the world economy will likely squeeze aside other pressing issues like HIV/AIDS, development, poverty and debt at the coming meeting of the leaders of the world s richest countries, activists here say. The summit of the Group
HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Provision of AIDS Drugs Fragmented: Inter Press Service - June 3, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, June 3 (IPS) - It wasn t an instance where absence made the heart grow fonder. A three-day regional conference on improving access to AIDS treatments held in Zimbabwe s capital - Harare - in March, failed to attract a single government representative from the host country. About 150 delegates from elsewhere i
MEXICO: Court Rules Military Cannot Discharge HIV-Positive Soldier: Inter Press Service - June 1, 2004; Diego Cevallos; MEXICO CITY, Jun 1 (IPS) - A Mexican court ruled that an armed forces law making infection with HIV/AIDS grounds for discharge by the military is discriminatory and unconstitutional, thus opening the door to the possibility that the law could be repealed, as activists have demanded. The legal ruling is a triumph, but w
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Efforts to Get ARVs For Kids Are Still in Their Infancy: Inter Press Service - May 31, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, May 31 (IPS) - When AIDS activists have locked horns with the South African government in recent years, it has often been over the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to pregnant women - or adults living with AIDS. The challenges of supplying the medicines to HIV-positive children appear to have received l
DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Willing Hearts Do Battle With Empty Pockets: Inter Press Service - May 30, 2004; James Hall; MBABANE, May 30 (IPS) - In a country where funds for social programmes are often lacking, volunteers find themselves being called on to fill the gap. Of late, however, the demands placed on these individuals have become increasingly burdensome. Good intentions are running up against the realisation that there is too mu
POLITICS-MALAWI: Mutharika's Daunting Task: Inter Press Service - May 28, 2004; Frank Phiri; BLANTYRE, May 28 (IPS) - As Malawi s courts grapple with the electoral challenge lodged by the opposition Mgwirizano coalition to last week s poll, the country s new president, Bingu wa Mutharika, is trying to win hearts and minds with talk of poverty alleviation and corruption busting. A damning report by the United N
RIGHTS-GUINEA: Trauma of War Resurfaces Often among Women Refugees: Inter Press Service - May 26, 2004; Saliou Samb; CONAKRY, May 26 (IPS) - Under a makeshift tent in the Laine refugee camp in southern Guinea , Charlesetta Kollie, a Liberian refugee, buckles down to teach dressmaking to a new group of apprentices. Kollie s nine students have four sewing machines with which to stitch together women s garments - the camisoles and pagne
REFUGEES: Millions 'Warehoused' Without Rights for 10 Years or More: Inter Press Service - May 24, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, May 24 (IPS) - More than seven million of the world s nearly 12 million refugees have been warehoused in dangerous border areas or urban slums without regard to their basic human rights for 10 or more years, according to the 2004 World Refugee Survey released Monday by the U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR)
HEALTH-UGANDA: Condoms Take a Back Seat to Abstinence With U.S. AIDS Money: Inter Press Service - May 24, 2004; Rachel Rinaldo; KAMPALA, May 24 (IPS) - Uganda will receive over 90 million dollars this year from the United States to assist it with preventing and treating AIDS. Activists fear, however, that Washington may be showing too great a preference for abstinence-based programmes in its allocation of these funds - and that alternative pre
CULTURE-ZIMBABWE: "Dogs and Pigs" No More?: Inter Press Service - May 23, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, May 23 (IPS) - Worse than dogs and pigs is how Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe described homosexuals almost a decade ago, when the gay community attempted to highlight widespread homophobia in the Southern African country. That statement, reported around the world, still reverberates in the country, castin
THAILAND-U.S.: Freer Trade Weakens Access to HIV/AIDS Drugs: Inter Press Service - May 21, 2004; Marwaan Macan-Markar; BANGKOK, May 21 (IPS) - Thailand s impressive achievement in caring for those with HIV is under threat if the government signs a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States , activists say as Bangkok prepares to start discussions in June. This fear stems from the likelihood that once the FTA is signed, Thailand
HEALTH: AIDS, Africa Groups Suspicious of Latest Bush Move: Inter Press Service - May 17, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, May 17 (IPS) - Africa and AIDS activists say they are wary of the Bush administration s pledge to expedite its approval process for low-cost, generic anti-retroviral drugs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) for their use in Bush s 15 billion-dollar anti-AIDS initiative for Africa and the Cari
HEALTH: Last Round in Polio Fight: Inter Press Service - May 17, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, May 17 (IPS) - International health campaigns have pushed poliomyelitis to the threshold of eradication in four of the six countries where the disease is still endemic -- India , Pakistan , Afghanistan and Egypt -- but i
HEALTH: Jam-Packed Agenda for WHO Assembly: Inter Press Service - May 14, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, May 14 (IPS) - The World Health Assembly is set to take up the hottest issues in its area -- HIV/AIDS, road safety, obesity and fighting disease like polio, measles and SARS -- when ministers from around the globe sit down here next week. World Health Organisation director-general Lee Jong-Wook, of
HEALTH: HIV/AIDS 'Biggest Threat' to Developing World: Inter Press Service - May 11, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, May 11 (IPS) - HIV/AIDS is the greatest threat to development in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, European interest groups are warning. More than 13.4 million children under the age of 15 have lost their mother, father or both parents to AIDS, according to the non-governmental organisation (NGO) CONC
HEALTH: Defeating AIDS Means Changing Course of History: Inter Press Service - May 11, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, May 11 (IPS) - Medical treatment for the millions of people with HIV/AIDS could bring the worst epidemic of the last few centuries under control, and mark a hope-giving change in global public health, say experts. Some six million people in developing countries could survive the disease if they were to receive
EDUCATION-SWAZILAND: School Funds for AIDS orphans So Near - Yet So Far: Inter Press Service - May 8, 2004; James Hall; MBABANE, May 8 (IPS) - Swazi school children returned to their hostels Friday (May 7) in preparation for the second term of the academic year. However, a question mark hangs over the fate of thousands of AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children who may not be permitted to continue their schooling this term. In a spee
AID: U.S. Names Nations Eligible Under New Scheme: Inter Press Service - May 7, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, May 7 (IPS) - The Bush administration has chosen 16 countries to receive aid under a new programme that provides financial assistance for nations that undertake political and economic reforms approved by Washington. U.S. President George W Bush had promised 15 billion dollars over five years to combat the H
EU EXPANDS: HIV and Drugs Become a Growing Concern: Inter Press Service - May 5, 2004; Stefania Bianchi; BRUSSELS, May 5 (IPS) - The enlargement of the European Union could push the bloc into a major drugs crisis , a leading international drug policy think-tank warns. The Senlis Council, an international network that gathers expertise and facilitates new initiatives on drug policy, says two major challenges threaten an en
CANADA: Activists Claim Partial Victory on Export of Generic Drugs: Inter Press Service - May 5, 2004; Saul Chernos; TORONTO, May 5 (IPS) - Canada is on the verge of passing a law that would allow makers of genetic medicines to produce and export relatively inexpensive versions of patented, brand name products to developing countries trying to tackle serious epidemics. On Tuesday, Parliament approved legislation formally introduced
INDONESIA: Prison Officials' Ignorance Hampers Drive vs HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - May 3, 2004; Richel Dursin; JAKARTA, May 3 (IPS) - A recent seminar on HIV/AIDS, attended by the chief wardens of Indonesia s prisons, was about to end when one of the participants blurted out: What is HIV/AIDS all about? Immediately after he spoke up, majority of the 15 chief prison wardens at the meeting started asking questions about basic fa
URUGUAY: More and More Children Help Support Their Families: Inter Press Service - April 29, 2004; Raul Pierri; MONTEVIDEO, Apr 29 (IPS) - Christian, 14, and his 13-year-old brother Jorge spend their afternoons hawking little calendar cards on buses in the Uruguayan capital. Unfortunately, the sight of children forced to work and panhandle on the streets to help support their families has become more and more common in this coun
RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Making the Law Less of an Ass: Inter Press Service - April 27, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Apr 27 (IPS) - As thousands of Zimbabwean women have discovered, the law is a blunt instrument when it comes to domestic disputes that threaten health and well-being. A distress call from a squabbling family has no guarantee of eliciting a reaction from the police, who can do nothing unless there are indicati
CHINA: Due to HIV/AIDS, Gov't Sends Army of Doctors to Rural Areas: Inter Press Service - April 27, 2004; Antoaneta Bezlova; BEIJING, Apr 27 (IPS) - In a health campaign harking back to Maoist era, China is dispatching droves of young doctors to work in rural areas and rectify the shortcomings of economic reforms that have left the vast countryside vulnerable in the face of heath pandemics. After years of trying to cover up its HIV/AIDS cris
RIGHT-U.S.: Women's March Goes Global: Inter Press Service - April 26, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Apr 26 (IPS) - Women from Albania to Zambia joined hundreds of thousands of men and women from the United States on Sunday to charge that the Bush administration s assault on women s reproductive health rights is costing lives worldwide. U.S. policies are, in particular, raising maternal mo
POLITICS: Bush Ideology Hurts Women Worldwide - Groups: Inter Press Service - April 20, 2004; Marty Logan; MONTREAL, Apr 20 (IPS) - U.S. President George W Bush can talk a good line on women s issues but his performance is a flop, said U.S. groups Monday in a preview of this weekend s March for Women s Lives in Washington. Grading the Bush administration in four areas -- its emergency plan for HIV/AIDS, global women s right
Small Island States Swamped: Inter Press Service - April 16, 2004; Thalif Deen; UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - The tiny Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives , which depends primarily on fishing and tourism for its economic survival, is threatened with extinction because of a projected rise in sea level caused by global warming. My country is like a can of tuna fish, says Maldivian Foreign Minister Fa
POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: "It's Now Time for the People to Speak": Inter Press Service - April 15, 2004; Jacklynne Hobbs; PRETORIA, Apr 15 (IPS) - Just an hour and a half after polling stations in South Africa closed Wednesday night, results for the country s third democratic election were already starting to roll in. Officials had set 21.00 local time (19.00 GMT) as the deadline for people to cast ballots. However, long queues outside c
FINANCE-NIGER: Groups Say Partial Debt Forgiveness Inadequate: Inter Press Service - April 9, 2004; Emad Mekay; WASHINGTON, Apr 9 (IPS) - International creditors of the African nation of Niger have agreed to cancel 1.2 billon dollars of its debt over time under a controversial debt relief scheme, rewarding the country for its pro-free market economic restructuring plan. Niger becomes the 11th nation to reach the completion point
RIGHTS-SUDAN: Women Demand a Place at the Negotiating Table: Inter Press Service - April 9, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Apr 9 (IPS) - Strategic Initiatives for the Horn of Africa, a regional organisation that promotes women s participation in politics, has called for gender issues to be addressed in the Sudanese peace negotiations. So far, there is no voice of women in the talks. Women are not visible in whatever has been accom
POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: AIDS Casts Shadow on Upcoming Election: Inter Press Service - April 9, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; PRETORIA, Apr 9 (IPS) - As the countdown to South Africa s Apr. 14 general elections entered its final week, researchers warned that the AIDS pandemic could undermine efforts to entrench democracy in the country. This came during a one-day workshop, Elections 2004: Understanding the implications of HIV/AIDS on the Elec
RIGHTS-RWANDA: Women Survivors of the Rwandan Genocide Face Grim Realities: Inter Press Service - April 6, 2004; Rachel Rinaldo; KIGALI, Apr 6 (IPS) - Mamerthe Karuhimbi was 19 when the killers came to her home in the Rwandan town of Nyamata, a decade ago. On 6 Apr. 1994, a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down over the Rwandan capital - Kigali. Shortly after that,
POLITICS-SWAZILAND: Uneasy Donors Stay Put - For the Time Being: Inter Press Service - April 6, 2004; James Hall; MBABANE, Apr 6 (IPS) - The sacks of maize that are keeping Mbali Mthembu s family alive bear the stamp United States of America . The 25- year-old mother of three collects her monthly food stipend from a distribution point near the village of Siphofaneni in Swaziland s eastern Lubombo region, which has been hard hit b
RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Instead of Targeting Sex Workers, Police Harass All Women: Inter Press Service - April 5, 2004; Wilson Johwa; BULAWAYO, Apr 5 (IPS) - It is retold so often that the account of how an embarrassed government minister rescued a female relative, who had been caught in a police sex worker crackdown he sanctioned, has become something of an urban legend. Some say it is surprising that the woman s embarrassment - not to mention that
CUBA: A Rare Glimpse at Life Behind Bars: Inter Press Service - April 2, 2004; Dalia Acosta; HAVANA, Apr 2 (IPS) - The bars are not visible from outside. At a glance, the solid buildings of one of Cuba s main prisons merely have rectangular openings in the concrete walls to allow air to flow. Few people who are not part of the Cuban penitentiary system have been allowed to visit the inside of Combinado del Est
HEALTH: AIDS Groups Protest U.S. Efforts to Block Generics: Inter Press Service - March 29, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Mar 29 (IPS) - U.S. Africa and AIDS activists are increasing pressure on the administration of President George W. Bush to abandon its apparent efforts to block the use of U.S. aid to purchase life-preserving, generic anti-AIDS drugs for needy Africans, about 6,000 of whom die every day from the disease.
HEALTH-SWAZILAND: A Positive Spin-off From the AIDS Crisis: Inter Press Service - March 29, 2004; James Hall; MBABANE, Mar 29 (IPS) - It may be a dim silver lining to a particularly dark cloud, but one apparent result of the AIDS pandemic in Swaziland is that fewer people in the country are smoking. When people learn they are HIV-positive, they are counseled to live a healthy lifestyle to prolong their lives. The shock that t
DEVELOPMENT: Polio on the Brink of Elimination: Inter Press Service - March 26, 2004; Stephen Leahy; BROOKLIN, Canada , Mar 26 (IPS) - A final assault to eradicate polio, an infectious disease that paralyses children, is underway with the goal of halting transmission of the disease by the end of 2004. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a massive 16-year effort involving governments, international agencies, huma
POLITICS-SOUTH AFRICA: A Polarised, Muddy Election Campaign: Inter Press Service - March 24, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 24 (IPS) - As the date of South Africa s general election grows closer, the gloves are coming off in campaigning amongst political parties - even though the outcome of the poll is expected to hold few surprises. On Apr. 14, the country will vote to elect a new president and parliament. This will be th
HEALTH: Experts Divided in War Against Tuberculosis: Inter Press Service - March 24, 2004; Gustavo Capdevila; GENEVA, Mar 24 (IPS) - World Tuberculosis Day found the scientific community divided on the status of this disease: the optimism of the World Health Organisation contrasts with the gloomy forecasts of Doctors Without Borders (M�decins Sans Fronti�res, MSF). Meanwhile, every year nearly nine million people are infected
HEALTH-MALAWI: Drug Theft Poses Threat to Battle Against TB: Inter Press Service - March 24, 2004; Frank Phiri; BLANTYRE, Mar 24 (IPS) - Malawi joined other countries Wednesday in commemorating World TB Day - this to draw attention to a disease that claimed two million lives last year, according to the World Health Organisation. However, the efforts of Malawian officials to curb tuberculosis are being
HEALTH-U.S.: Women Seniors Battle HIV/AIDS: Inter Press Service - March 22, 2004; Molly M. Ginty**; NEW YORK, Mar 22 (IPS) - Miriam Schuler cannot say enough about sex. Over bingo at the senior centre and on the street outside the grocery store, she discusses the topic with unabashed chutzpah, offering up hearty laughter and no-nonsense advice. Schuler, an 86-year-old Ft Lauderdale, Florida widow, never expected to s
HEALTH: Taxi Drivers Becoming Agents of Change in AIDS-Ridden Rwanda: Inter Press Service - March 20, 2004; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Mar 20 (IPS) - Transporters and taxi drivers from Rwanda are learning how to fight HIV/AIDS from their counterparts in neighbouring Uganda . A delegation of eight members from the Association De Transport En Common (ATRACO) in Rwanda visited the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Mar. 15-18 to learn more on how to
HEALTH-AFRICA: A Church Group Makes Strides in Supplying ARVs: Inter Press Service - March 19, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; The case for providing anti-retroviral drugs to as many HIV-positive Africans as possible was made again this week in South Africa , by the Community of Sant Egidio, a Catholic organisation. JOHANNESBURG, Mar 19 (IPS) - Spokesman Mario Marazziti told reporters that the group had established 13 centres in
HEALTH-ZAMBIA: Anger at Move to Declare Schools Condom-Free Zones: Inter Press Service - March 16, 2004; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Mar 16 (IPS) - One step forward, three steps backwards: that s how various AIDS activists, parents and teachers in Zambia are describing government s decision to ban the distribution of condoms in schools on the grounds that it promotes promiscuity. Walter Tapfumaneyi, HIV/AIDS Regional Programme Coordinator f
HEALTH: Silent Disease Finds a Voice: Inter Press Service - March 16, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Mar 16 (IPS) - Filariasis has been the forgotten condition in what has emerged as a kind of snobbery among diseases, with global attention focused on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. But new drugs offer new hope to a billion people at risk of getting filariasis. One of the world s most disfiguring and disabling tropic
RIGHTS-UGANDA: An Equal Hearing for Women in Divorce Cases: Inter Press Service - March 14, 2004; Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura; KAMPALA, Mar 14 (IPS) - The ideal of gender equality in Uganda was brought closer to realisation recently with a Constitutional Court ruling on the country s Divorce Act. The court struck down ten sections of the act, saying they contravened a clause in the constitution that guaranteed women equal rights to men. The c
RIGHTS-CAMEROON: Report Paints Bleak Picture of Women's Lives: Inter Press Service - March 12, 2004; Sylvestre Tetchiada; YAOUNDE, Mar 12 (IPS) - The situation of women in this country is worrisome. At home, women are beaten, girls are sexually abused, there is violence linked to the dowry and there is marital rape, says a new report about the challenges facing women in Cameroon . Surveys seem to indicate that at least a third of women ar
HEALTH-KENYA: Gender Equality Key to Combating AIDS: Inter Press Service - March 11, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, March 11 (IPS) - The importance of placing gender equality at the heart of efforts to combat AIDS was highlighted in Kenya this week, with the release of a new plan by the gender sub-committee of the National AIDS Control Council. Entitled Mainstreaming Gender Into the Kenya National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2
HEALTH-BRAZIL: AIDS Spreading Six Times Faster Among Teenage Girls: Inter Press Service - March 10, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 10 (IPS) - HIV/AIDS is spreading at an alarming rate among teenage girls in Brazil , with six 13 to 19-year-old girls infected for every boy in that age group. That is the only category in which the growth of the epidemic shows such a huge gender difference, with the rate dropping among teenage boy
RIGHTS-KENYA: The Threat of Demolition Looms in "Africa's Largest Slum": Inter Press Service - March 10, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Mar 10 (IPS) - When the World Social Forum took place in India during January, Kenyan activists who attended the event pledged to highlight their country s housing crisis. This issue has hit the headlines again now, with the planned demolition of buildings in one of Nairobi s poorest areas.
HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Reproductive Care a Work in Progress: Inter Press Service - March 9, 2004; Nawaal Deane; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 9 (IPS) - With the world marking International Women s Day this week, women in South Africa might find themselves asking what benefits 10 years of democracy have brought them - especially in the important area of reproductive health. Women have different levels of access to reproductive health servic
HEALTH-ZAMBIA: NGO's in the Hot Seat: Inter Press Service - March 8, 2004; Zarina Geloo; LUSAKA, Mar 8 (IPS) - Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa has had an uneasy relationship with civil society from the beginning of his term in office. However, matters worsened recently when he accused AIDS activists of monopolising the funds provided by donors to fight the pandemic. Mwanawasa s accusations came hot on the
DEVELOPMENT-NEPAL: Anti-Poverty Measures Need a New Push: Inter Press Service - March 8, 2004; Surendra Phuyal; KATHMANDU, Mar 8 (IPS) - Fifty-five-year-old Santa Bahadur Majhi moved to Kathmandu from a remote village in Ramechhap district in eastern Nepal in 2000, the same year world leaders pledged to halve world s poverty by 2015. But four years on, the farmer-turned-rickshaw-puller s plight has not become any better despite
RIGHTS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: AIDS the Focus of Int'l Women's Day: Inter Press Service - March 8, 2004; Moyiga Nduru; JOHANNESBURG, Mar 8 (IPS) - As a woman, I can t bring a condom home. If I do, then I m not a wife -- I m a prostitute. My husband will ask me whether I have a secret lover. If I don t, he will want to know where I had learnt how to use a condom, says Siphiwe Hlophe. A member of the non-governmental organisation
INT'L WOMEN'S DAY: Sexual Violence on the Rise in Kenya: Inter Press Service - March 6, 2004; Joyce Mulama; NAIROBI, Mar 6 (IPS) - Rights groups this week unveiled a plan to reduce sexual violence in Kenya within two years. More than 90 percent of all violence in Kenya is committed against women, says Medico-Legal Network on Gender-Based Violence in Kenya , which comprises 16 bodies, most of them women. A large percenta
GLOBALISATION: If These Two Could Agree: Inter Press Service - February 25, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Feb 25 (IPS) - If the presidents of Finland and Tanzania could agree what globalisation should mean, then activists must be right to be hopeful about the rest of the globe. The two presidents did, at least at the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation, which they co-chair
HEALTH-BRAZIL: Carnival's Condoms Sliced by Censorship: Inter Press Service - February 23, 2004; Mario Osava; RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 23(IPS) - Safe sex and condom use are the themes of this year s main acts during the Rio carnival, adding fuel to the debate sparked by the Catholic Church when it cast doubt over the effectiveness condoms in preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The Grande Rio samba school made i
HEALTH-U.S.: AIDS Activists Slam New Bush Strategy: Inter Press Service - February 23, 2004; Jim Lobe; WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (IPS) - President George W. Bush s new, five-year, 15-billion-dollar strategy for fighting the global HIV/AIDS pandemic provoked dismay among health activists here Monday, just hours after the 103-page document was released and the first disbursements -- totalling 350 million dollars -- were announce
HEALTH: AIDS Spreading Rapidly in Eastern Europe: Inter Press Service - February 23, 2004; Sanjay Suri; LONDON, Feb 23 (IPS) - Eastern Europe is seeing the fastest growing AIDS epidemic in the world, studies by UN agencies show. AIDS is also on the rise again in Western Europe, causing new concern about the spread of the infection in areas thought relatively safe, new data shows. Across Eastern Europe and the Central Asi
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