CAPE TOWN, Dec 31 (IPS) - The past weeks have been tumultuous for women in South Africa s ruling African National Congress (ANC). On one hand, they end the year with a key gain in hand: the party s acceptance that 50 percent of posts in its decision-making structures must be held by women (albeit with an exception made
WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (IPS) - Racing to adjourn for the year, the U.S. Congress this week approved a 560- billion-dollar omnibus 2008 appropriation that includes 70 billion dollars more for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and sizable increases in development, refugee, and disaste
BANGALORE, Dec 14 (IPS) - Lack of regulation, accountability, low costs of operation and wide availability of target participants are reasons why multinational drug companies, researchers and institutions are increasingly basing their clinical trials in India . An estimated 40 percent of all clinical trials now take pl
BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (IPS) - AIDS has become a forgotten disease in the European Union, according to the man in charge of the bloc s public health policies. Markos Kyprianou, the European commissioner for public health, has said that while AIDS awareness had been promoted through aggressive information campaigns in the 199
VANCOUVER, Dec 12 (IPS) - Suicide rates are now five to seven times higher for First Nations youth than for non-aboriginal youth, according to Health Canada , and among Inuit youth, suicide rates are 11 times the national average. Some aboriginal bands have suicide rates over 800 times the national average. In nort
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 10 (IPS) - The U.N. children s agency UNICEF says that increased cooperation among developing countries is benefiting the lives of poor children around the world, particularly in the critical first months of life. What we have seen is a very exciting new South-South collaboration in some of the area
SEATTLE, Washington, Dec 10 (IPS) - It s a mighty hard row that my poor hands have hoed. My poor feet have traveled a hot, dusty road. Out of your dust bowls and westward we rode. Your deserts were hot and your mountains were cold. So sang troubadour Woody Guthrie of Great Depression-era refugees fleeing the Dust Bowl
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (IPS) - A coalition of more than 200 not-for-profit human rights and social justice organisations charge that the George W. Bush administration is contributing to racial, religious and ethnic discrimination in the U.S. -- and attempting to cover up its violations in a report to the United Nations they
NEW YORK, Dec 7 (IPS) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security s wing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has used its authority to detain nearly 30,000 immigrants in hundreds of prisons, jails and immigration detention centres throughout the United States . In a 71-page report released Friday, Chronic Indi
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6 (IPS) - On Aug. 9, as South Africans celebrated National Women s Day, which marks the 51st anniversary of women s resistance to the apartheid-era pass system restricting free movement, three lesbians were brutally murdered in two separate incidents. Although authorities refused to speculate on whe
MADANG, Dec 5 (IPS) - When the new government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) set up in August a separate ministry devoted to containing HIV and AIDS in this Pacific Island country, it reflected the enormity of the threat to its six million people. The government also increased funding for the fight against HIV and AIDS
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 30 (IPS) - Millions of women across the world are beaten, killed, bought and sold by men, yet the gruesome violence and cruel treatment they face every day rarely makes headlines in the global media. The press has either underreported, ignored or underplayed five key issues with regard to violations
SAN SALVADOR, Nov 30 (IPS) - The rise in new HIV/AIDS cases in El Salvador shows either that the government strategy to combat the epidemic is failing, or that a larger proportion of the population is being tested, depending on the respective viewpoints of non-governmental organisations and local authorities. Maria
MEXICO CITY, Nov 30 (IPS) - The United Nations presented the call for nominations for the Red Ribbon Award 2008 to honour community leadership and action against HIV/AIDS in the Mexican capital Friday. Communities are at the forefront of addressing the core challenges of HIV, said Peter Piot, executive director of the
WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (IPS) - On the eve of World AIDS Day Saturday, the U.S. Park Police arrested 40 demonstrators outside the White House as they chanted for sweeping changes to the George W. Bush administration s domestic and global AIDS policies. The protesters were part of a larger rally in Lafayette Park just across
NAIROBI, Nov 30 (IPS) - HIV/AIDS cuts workers down in their prime, taking to the grave a wealth of training and experience that companies can ill afford to lose. Lower productivity, absenteeism from work and increased medical bills exact a further toll on the private sector -- all of which begs the question: are employ
NEW YORK, Nov 30 (IPS) - As millions of people plan to show solidarity with the struggle against HIV/AIDS on Saturday, a new multi-nation poll released in Washington by the group Catholics for Choice shows that a majority of Catholics around the world believe that -- contrary to the edicts coming from Rome -- good Cath
KOLKATA, Nov 30 (IPS) - Sex workers in this eastern metropolis are being encouraged to put pleasure back into their services as one way of limiting the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Rajyashree Choudhuri, chief of the Institute of International Social Development (IISD), a non-governmenta
BOSTON, Nov 29 (IPS) - The United States has slashed the AIDS death rate among white and wealthy U.S. citizens, but the disease continues to ravage the black community at full force, leaders say. African Americans are 13 percent of the U.S. population but are 50 percent of those diagnosed with HIV each year and 50 perc
BANGKOK, Nov 29 (IPS) - Thailand s reputation as a world leader in combating the spread of HIV and AIDS is being challenged by a new study which accuses Bangkok of ignoring those most vulnerable to the virus -- drug users. Such marginalisation prevails despite the government being aware of the reality, adds the study r
HAVANA, Nov 28 (IPS) - While scientists devote their best efforts to developing an AIDS vaccine, prevention continues to be the most effective way of containing the pandemic which has already caused the deaths of 2.1 million people this year, and new infections in another 2.5 million people. The world is doing its best
Interview with Dr. Seth Berkley, president of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
NEW YORK, Nov 27 (IPS) - When one of the world s most promising large-scale HIV vaccine trials was shut down in September after it became clear that not only did the drug fail to block the virus, but may have even increased the vulnerability of some test volunteers to contracting HIV, it was a profoundly disappointing
BANGKOK, Nov 26 (IPS) - Public health and HIV/AIDS activists from the developing world are seeking to break the monopoly over drugs held by pharmaceutical giants through a new global campaign designed to influence international debate over the issue. Formulated at the end of a three-day meeting, last week, which brough
KAMPALA, Nov 22 (IPS) - The political crisis in Pakistan and global trade negotiations are amongst issues set to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that starts Friday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The Nov. 23-25 event is expected to bring together leaders from the 53 member states of the C
CAPE TOWN, Nov 10 (IPS) - Tuberculosis (TB) in Africa cannot be dealt with while TB and HIV/AIDS organisations refuse to set aside their differences, health experts said Friday during the 38th Union World Conference on Lung Health, underway in Cape Town, South Africa . So far, many TB and HIV programmes in Africa -- or
CAPE TOWN, Nov 10 (IPS) - In a world where countless humanitarian causes clamour for action and funding, raising money to combat tuberculosis (TB) can prove a challenge. This is despite the fact that the airborne disease claims the lives of 590,000 people each year in Africa alone, according to the World Health Organis
CAPE TOWN, Nov 8 (IPS) - What is known so far about the scope and prevalence of extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in sub-Saharan Africa may only be the tip of the iceberg, said TB experts Thursday during the 38th Union World Conference on Lung Health, in the South African coastal city of Cape Town. The Nov
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 2 (IPS) - With young people a growing segment of the world s poorest, their voices in setting global development policies at the highest levels have never been more important. Some estimates indicate that almost one in five young people survive on less than a dollar per day, while nearly half get by
CAPE TOWN, Nov 2 (IPS) - The prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) amongst people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa has reached crisis levels and will escalate further if decisive steps are not taken, says a new report by the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research -- HIV-TB Co-Infection: Meeting the Challenge . The forum i
LONDON, Oct 22 (IPS) - The Women Deliver conference held in London last week has reminded a lot of people in the world of healthcare how much more they need to deliver to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women. More than 1,800 delegates from 109 countries, among them 70 ministers and parliamentarians, met in Lon
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (IPS) - In this 21st century, when medical science and gender empowerment are rising progressively, no woman should die giving life , declares Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). It is unacceptable that one woman dies every minute during pregnancy and chil
BANGKOK, Oct 14 (IPS) - People living with HIV and AIDS in two corners of Asia may benefit from a campaign that seeks to broaden public policy responses to the syndrome. Central to this new drive is to make nutrition programmes a part of treatment, say experts. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a retrovirus that ca
MANZINI, Oct 11 (IPS) - Located on the outskirts of Swaziland s commercial hub, the state of the art Manzini Waste Treatment Centre was built to end the city s sewage disposal problems. A World Bank loan was secured by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to construct the 16 million dollar facility: a spotless
BRUSSELS, Oct 10 (IPS) - The European Union is not delivering on promises to increase aid for contraception and sex education in poor countries, family planning advocates have declared. A policy paper titled the European consensus for development , which was approved by the EU s main institutions in 2005, recognised th
BRUSSELS - It s a first for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): a Congolese filmmaker directing a television series in Lingala -- the most widely spoken language in the country -- about HIV/AIDS. The idea for this television series came to me by chance while I was looking at a programme...on Congolese television,
HAVANA, Oct 3 (IPS) - Two women set out nine years ago to help the barrio of Balcón Arimao, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, tackle its numerous problems through community participation. After an uphill battle, the Paulo Freire Community Centre has become the neighbourhood s main social centre, and the permanent
VANCOUVER, Canada , Oct 3 (IPS) - For more than two decades, the Geneva-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has tried to discourage nations from developing harm reduction programmes and other HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. Civil society critics have argued that the position of the INCB is built upon a f
BERLIN, Oct 1 (IPS) - A further 9.7 billion dollars agreed last week for a global fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria may still not be enough. Developed countries, financial institutions and private companies agreed the new funding for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM) at a meeti
BOSTON, Sep 30 (IPS) - The executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ) is urging action as concerns the transmission of HIV to children through sexual abuse, incest and early teenage sex. Many outreach programmes target HIV-positive pregnant women and young children, and progress is
BOSTON, Sep 28 (IPS) - A new form of AIDS treatment for children, targeted at families in rural areas, will be available within months, according to an official from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The latest formulation, made up of standard AIDS medicines, is easier to take and simpler to dispense than current dr
CAPE TOWN, Sep 27 (IPS) - The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), one of South Africa s largest AIDS lobby groups, says it has obtained evidence indicating that government has been involved in illegal medical experiments on people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania , involving the discredited product Virodene. According
ABIDJAN, Sep 16 (IPS) - Certain West African researchers have expressed concern at the disparities between rural and urban areas in their countries as regards HIV/AIDS services and prevention initiatives. In urban areas, says Bonfo Bassirou, a researcher in Côte d Ivoire for the Swiss Centre for Scientific Research, th
VANCOUVER, Sep 13 (IPS) - This week, Stephen Lewis, the outspoken former U.N. special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, was invested as Knight Commander of the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe -- a knighthood which is Lesotho s highest honour. IPS correspondent Am Johal spoke with Lewis by telephone from the Nairobi Sere
HAVANA, Sep 12 (IPS) - Cuba and the United Nations have agreed to concentrate their cooperation on five areas in the next few years, in order to avoid spreading resources too thinly, and to increase synergy between projects. U.N. aid to the island will amount to more than 100 million dollars during that period. Th
BROOKLIN, Canada , Sep 11 (IPS) - Many new medical technologies to improve the lives of people in the global South fail to be adopted not because of the costs but because of ethical, social and cultural issues, a new study reveals. These issues include community and public engagement, cultural acceptability and gender,
PORT OF SPAIN, Aug 30 (IPS) - Among the frequently asked questions on the website of the National AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) in Trinidad and Tobago is one dealing with the use of condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (IPS) - Though adolescents are said to be at the centre of the AIDS epidemic and India has the largest number of infections in Asia, this conservative country continues to shy away from incorporating sex education in school curricula. As many as 11 of India s 29 state governments have either banned or
BRUSSELS, Aug 29 (IPS) - The European Union s only directly elected body is demanding increased aid for basic health and education in poor countries before it approves next year s budget for the 27-nation bloc. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have recently begun scrutinising the EU s draft budget for 2008, wh
BRUSSELS, Aug 28 (IPS) - The European Union s top trade official has called on Thailand to revise its efforts to provide cheap medicines to people with AIDS over concerns that the country could be undermining global rules on intellectual property. Since last year, Thailand has issued compulsory licenses on several pate
BANGALORE, Aug 27 (IPS) - Activist groups campaigning for affordable drugs will continue their boycott campaign against Swiss pharma major Novartis AG, whose controversial petition arguing that Indian patent laws violated World Trade Organisation (WTO) provisions was rejected by the Madras High Court in southern Chenna
COLOMBO, Aug 23 (IPS) - For Padma, a sociology graduate from a Sri Lankan university, the three-day International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) that ended Thursday was nothing short of an enlightening experience in her life. When I arrived at the conference, I was filled with fear and prejudice again
COLOMBO, Aug 21 (IPS) - Burma is seen as a reclusive country whose real HIV and AIDS situation is a deep, dark secret. But top Burmese officials, independent experts and AIDS researchers here painted a picture of a country that is making some progress, despite what some called its unethical abandonment by internation
COLOMBO, Aug 21 (IPS) - The steep rise in HIV cases in recent years in Central Asia -- at a pace faster than in other regions of the world -- has set alarm bells ringing among government and non-government groups in the former Soviet republics. At highest risk of getting HIV and AIDS among the 58 million people in the
COLOMBO, Aug 21 (IPS) - The feminisation of HIV and AIDS continues in full swing in the Asia-Pacific, reflected in the fact that almost 40 percent of new HIV cases are among women, even if the newest estimates show that there are fewer people than originally estimated to be living with the virus in the region. What is
COLOMBO, Aug 19 (IPS) - The 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) opened here with a strong message of hope, anchored on the fact that the world s most populous region still has relatively low prevalence rates of HIV despite problems of poverty, discrimination and stigma. Some 2,500 partici
COLOMBO, Aug 19 (IPS) - To Princey Mangalika from Sri Lanka , AIDS has come to mean hatred, hunger, humiliation and death. The people in her own village, who had been ready to help her sick husband, turned hostile once they learned of his positive status. But after his death, their anger became more pronounced, directe
COLOMBO, Aug 18 (IPS) - Sabina Yeasmin Putul has a silent, determined look with her left fist clenched tight in front of her face -- a vision of strength, grace, and resilience all in one. The 17-year-old Bangladeshi has a lot going for her. Mature beyond her age, she has a good understanding of what she has been throu
COLOMBO, Aug 18 (IPS) - On the second day of the three-day Interfaith Community Forum ahead of the 8th International Congress for AIDS in the Asia-Pacific (ICAAP) here, different religious groups gathered together to share their experiences dealing with HIV and AIDS -- once a controversial, taboo issue for many of them
KARACHI, Aug 18 (IPS) - I ve been running temperature for the past 25 days and lost about five kg in the last one month... just feel so weak every day, says Mohammad Sohail, 28, who tested HIV positive a little more than ayear ago. His CD4 count is 152. The strength or weakness of a person s immune system is calculated
STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (IPS) - There are more than 2.6 billion people, roughly 42 percent of the world s population, waiting in line for toilets that just do not exist. That s a reality, says the United Nations, which will launch the International Year of Sanitation , come November. No private toilets, no public toilets, no
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (IPS) - In September 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders came together and agreed to a set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. Called the Millennium
NEW DELHI, Aug 9 (IPS) - Cancer patients in India have reason to be relieved at a high court ruling this week which dismissed a petition by Swiss pharmaceuticals multinational corporation (MNC) Novartis challenging an Indian law which denies patents for minor or trivial improvements to known drugs. At immediate sta
FREETOWN, Aug 8 (IPS) - Female genital mutilation (FGM) can make sex painful, complicate childbirth, lead to urinary tract infections, enable the transmission of HIV -- and induce a host of other ills. So, promising to fight this practice should be a winning strategy for someone hoping to be elected to parliament this
IMPHAL, Manipur, Aug 7 (IPS) - For the past fortnight, the menu on the Manipur state government s table has changed from the staple of fighting HIV infections to stamping out an outbreak of avian influenza. That effort has paid off. On Monday the state, which shares a 1,600 km-long border with Burma , w
GENEVA, Aug 6 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations that advocate poor countries access to affordable medicines applauded an Indian court s dismissal of a challenge brought by Swiss-based drug-maker Novartis. The ruling handed down Monday by the High Court of Chennai, the Indian city known as Madras (the name was form
MAPUTO, July 30 (IPS) - Over 1,000 Mozambicans, including children, are trafficked to South Africa every year where they are forced into prostitution or to provide free or cheap labour. In response, Mozambique s government last week approved a new law which will make human trafficking a crime punishable with long priso
BUCHAREST, Jul 27 (IPS) - The release of six Bulgarian medics detained in Libya for eight years seems to have led to a sudden normalisation of ties between Libya and the European Union. In 1999, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were imprisoned in Libya for allegedly intentionally infecting 426 infants wit
SYDNEY, Jul 25 (IPS) - The 4th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention concluded here Wednesday with a call for antiretroviral drugs developed specifically for HIV-infected children. We must do more to protect our future, finding better ways to treat the youngest among
SYDNEY, Jul 24 (IPS) - Male circumcision could prevent millions of new HIV infections a year, delegates at the 4th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention were told here on Tuesday. Over 45 observational studies, three clinical trials and several biological studies all
SYDNEY, Jul 21 (IPS) - Delegates at a major international conference on HIV and AIDS, set to unfold here on Sunday, are expected to urge the developed countries to help guarantee the supply of affordable drugs to combat the virus and the syndrome. Over 5,000 delegates from 130 countries are in Sydney to attend the Four
BRUSSELS, Jul 20 (IPS) - The European Union s only directly elected institution is at loggerheads with the bloc s 27 governments over a measure officially designed to ensure that poor countries have access to affordable medicines. In 2003, the EU helped broker a temporary waiver to the World Trade Organisation s (WTO)
BULAWAYO, Jul 19 (IPS) - Priscilla Ndlovu feels like she has seen it all. She works as a member of one of myriad community home-based care groups, the prevalence of which shows the extent of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe , highlighting the country s struggle to control the pandemic. The way things are going and the poverty that
BOANE, Mozambique , Jul 17 (IPS) - Anita Elena looks frail after months of chronic diarrhoea. I prefer this illness to malaria because malaria kills you rapidly, says Elena, sitting on a reed mat in front of her makeshift two-roomed stick and mud home, which she shares with her husband and three children. My older bro
CAPE TOWN, Jul 13 (IPS) - The woes of the child bride in many ways illustrate the conditions underlying the failure of African countries to achieve many of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The recently released United Nations report entitled The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 states tha
SYDNEY, Jul 13 (IPS) - Organisers of the fourth International AIDS Society (IAS) conference have called for donors to set aside 10 percent of funding for HIV prevention, treatment and care to research. Organisers believe research is critical to informing scale-up efforts in the developing world and ensuring that HIV pr
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 11 (IPS) - What is a common factor in ensuring that women do not marry too young, do not have more children than they can cope with, do not die giving birth -- and contract HIV in smaller numbers? Men. That is the message for World Population Day 2007, which is being marked Wednesday under the theme
BUENOS AIRES, Jul 7 (IPS) - Science has yet to provide rigorous studies of how HIV/AIDS or the impacts of antiretroviral medications affect women s bodies in particular, Argentine activist Patricia Perez, nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, told Tierramerica. This lack of knowledge is due to the fact that women r
WASHINGTON, Jul 6 (IPS) - Despite strong verbal commitments to reproductive and sexual health, the so-called multilateral development banks (MDBs) that lend to poor nations have spent relatively little money on such projects and, in some cases, have followed policies on the ground that in fact impeded women s empowerme
THE HAGUE, Jul 5 (IPS) - The use of contraceptives in poor countries needs to be actively promoted, the Dutch minister for development assistance has said. Bert Koenders, who recently marked his first 100 days as member of the Dutch government, claimed that an ideological campaign against condoms is sabotaging the figh
COLOMBO, Jul 5 (IPS) - Having won over conservative communities in three Sri Lankan districts, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) is confident that the problem of stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) can be overcome. There have been no great strides towards total acce
THE HAGUE, Jul 4 - The European Commission has decided that its development aid activities should not focus on health and education, a senior official with the EU executive has admitted. Anti-poverty activists have recently criticised the Commission for paying little heed to such issues as AIDS and illiteracy in a seri
SAN SALVADOR, Jul 3 - While health authorities in El Salvador have launched a campaign under the slogan Take the test: positive or negative, we are all human beings in the face of AIDS , people living with HIV complain of a lack of medicines and of discrimination, even at the hands of public health doctors. The Sal
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 27 - In under a decade, programmes providing universal free access to antiretroviral medicines have greatly decreased AIDS mortality in countries like Argentina and Brazil , but this progress is now threatened by the rising prices of new formulas patented by the big pharmaceutical companies.
DAR ES SALAAM, Jun 25 - Poverty, lack of knowledge of proper child care and the scarcity of healthcare facilities and qualified health workers pose major obstacles to Tanzania s quest to reduce child mortality by 2015. This is the deadline for the achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the Unit
GABORONE, Jun 18 (IPS) - While Botswana has succeeded in decreasing its poverty rate, it is unlikely that the country will achieve the United Nations fourth Millennium Development Goal of decreasing child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015. Figures have shown an increase in child mortality between the 1990s and the
KAMPALA, Jun 15 (IPS) - The 8th Triennial Commonwealth Women s Affairs Ministers Meeting (8WAMM) has closed with an acknowledgement that gender equality is central to democracy, peace and economic growth; it also called for greater efforts to achieve parity between men and women. The four-day gathering in the Ugandan c
KAMPALA, Jun 14 (IPS) - The issue of women continuing to be at higher risk of HIV infection than men has received considerable attention at a gathering of women s affairs ministers from Commonwealth countries underway in Uganda s capital, Kampala. Of the 53 Commonwealth member states, 38 are represented at the 8th Trie
MOSCOW, Jun 11 (IPS) - Although the Group of Eight industrialised nations agreed at their summit in Heiligendamm, Germany , to allocate 60 billion dollars to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa, health activists say the treatment targets are much lower than originally pledged, which is devastating news , es
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany , Jun 8 (IPS) - This year s summit of the G8 heads of government will likely be remembered as a how not to organise such an event, for the contrast between the expectations it raised and its negligible accomplishments, and for its enormous security costs. The three-day Group of Eight summit, held
MOSCOW, Jun 8 (IPS) - The industrialised nations of the Group of Eight are failing on the promises made in their previous summits to help Africa s economic development and to push for poverty alleviation for those struggling to survive on less than a dollar per day, say World Bank experts and development activists. I
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany , Jun 8 (IPS) - The Group of Eight industrialised countries suffered a setback Friday in its plan to strengthen intellectual property rights through promoting innovation - protecting innovation when the five developing world s leaders -- China , India
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany , Jun 8 (IPS) - The Group of Eight industrialised countries (G8) agreed to allocate 60 billion dollars in new aid to Africa in the coming years , to beef up the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and to improve primary education across the continent. But the summit of the heads
NAIROBI, Jun 7 (IPS) - Does electronic learning (eLearning) threaten to displace the teacher? This question emerged at an international conference held in Nairobi last week, attended by 1,400 people from 88 countries. The latest in information communication technology (ICT) with a focus on education, training and devel
JOHANNESBURG, Jun 5 (IPS) - In the final hours before this week s Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany , activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation -- key items on the meeting s agenda -- for there to be real improvement in Africa s living conditions
MOSCOW, Jun 3 (IPS) - Russia s HIV infection rate continues to rise -- most notably in the heterosexual and non-drug-using populations -- despite steady increases in funds to fight the disease. Experts and medical researchers say dramatic changes in sexual attitudes and behaviour are essential if the trend is to be rev
MOSCOW, May 31 (IPS) - While UNICEF is happy that children s rights are commemorated on Jun. 1, we would like to see every day of the year be International Children s Day , particularly in Russia , where children remain highly vulnerable, says Carel de Rooy, the United Nations agency s representative in Russia and
WASHINGTON, May 30 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush has nominated Robert Zoellick, a Wall Street executive, former administration official and a free market fundamentalist to succeed disgraced World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who steps down Jun. 30. Bob Zoellick is the right man to succeed Paul in this vital w
WASHINGTON, May 30 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday called for Congress to double spending on his global AIDS programme to 30 billion dollars from fiscal 2009 through 2013. In a brief appearance in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said his four-year-old President s Emergency Programme for AIDS Relief (P
JOHANNESBURG, May 29 (IPS) - About one million people in need of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment are yet to receive it in four southern African states, according to Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a global nongovernmental organisation specialising in medical services. On the African continent, some 70 percent of people
HARARE, May 25 (IPS) - Attempts to convince Zimbabweans to stay in their country are futile as long as the political and economic crisis continues, say activists and politicians. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a campaign in Zimbabwe to dissuade the youth from crossing the border to neig
JOHANNESBURG, May 25 (IPS) - A shortage of health care workers is paralysing the health system in Lesotho , Malawi , Mozambique and South Africa , and threatens the lives of millions, particularly in rural areas, warns Medecins Sans Frontiers, a global nongovernmenta
KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (IPS) - Lorong Haji Taib is a garbage-filled, rat-infested lane in the heart of the capital famous for its cheap sex, drugs and brawls. Here vagrants, transvestites, drug pushers, drug addicts, sex workers and a transient population of usually well-heeled customers merge, exchange cash for drugs, g
MEXICO CITY, May 17 (IPS) - We don t want more or less rights than anyone else; we want exactly the same rights, says Mexican transsexual Sofía Valero, one of millions of Latin Americans who suffer discrimination and are at risk of gay bashings and murder because of their sexual orientation. In Brazil
JOHANNESBURG, May 15 (IPS) - A few years ago, this IPS correspondent posed a question at a workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa , about whether non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be held more accountable for their actions. Afterwards, the key speaker at the event pulled me aside, and issued a polite rebuke
BANGKOK, May 15 (IPS) - For nearly a week the advertising pages of Thai and English-language dailies have been the stage for debates on Thailand s decision to break patents on anti-AIDS drugs in the interest of public health. A lobby championing the cause of the powerful pharmaceutical companies ran full-page spreads i
UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (IPS) - Humans are predisposed to respond to individual suffering; they are overwhelmed by huge numbers, Henry-Paul Normandin, Canada s ambassador to the United Nations, told diplomats, U.N. officials and journalists gathered at the Canadian Mission here Monday. Normandin was introducing Stephani
WASHINGTON, May 13 (IPS) - A new U.S. policy to include internationally recognised labour and environmental standards in future trade deals with foreign countries has received mixed reactions in the United States . Some industry groups say that the policy could be used to justify more protectionist trade policies, whil
MEXICO CITY, May 11 (IPS) - Patricia Perez, an activist from Argentina who was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1986, has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism on behalf of women living with the AIDS virus. But her case is an exception to the rule. Most Latin American women who contract HIV hide their
BERLIN, May 10 (IPS) - With only a couple of weeks to go to this year s summit of the group of the eight most industrialised countries (G8), Africa and its immense needs are again the theme of the day. Niger Prime Minister Hama Amadou and Togo Prime Minister Yawovi Agboyibo were in Berlin this week to present their dem
BANGKOK, May 10 (IPS) - By standing up to pressure from big pharma over cheap anti-AIDS drugs, Thailand may have created an opening in global trade rules that will permit developing countries to more readily break patents in times of public health emergencies. The fact that the United State
SAO PAULO, May 9 (IPS) - Pope Benedict XVI s five-day visit to Brazil , which begins Wednesday, has not raised much of a stir, except for among the devout faithful and those who are closely involved with the Catholic Church. I m Catholic, and I have a Bible that was signed by Pope John Paul II, but I don t believe in t
GUATEMALA CITY, May 7 (IPS) - Guatemala is making slow, uneven progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with maternal mortality and illiteracy remaining the most persistent problems, mid-way to the 2015 deadline. One of the hardest goals for us to fulfil is to reduce maternal mortality (by two-
UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (IPS) - When the United States tried to water down a longstanding policy on reproductive health and family planning at the World Bank last month, there was a storm of protests from population experts and activist groups worldwide. The protests came from several non-governmental organisations, incl
CAPE TOWN, Apr 28 (IPS) - For six weeks, Andre van Zijl has been pumping petrol around the clock at a gas station in the picturesque seaside town Knysna on South Africa s south coast. Why? To raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. The 57-year-old AIDS campaigner aims to log 1,000 working hours this week in his latest publicit
GABORONE, Apr 27 (IPS) - Batswana are divided about the viability of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In random interviews, IPS found some arguing that the MDGs are elitist ideas unattainable in reality while others contend that the MDGs can be used to address socio-economic problems. In 2000, go
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 26 (IPS) - One in four women in an abusive relationship, a woman killed approximately every week by her close male partner: these figures, from People Opposing Women Abuse, a Johannesburg-based non-profit, indicate the extent of the problem posed by gender-related violence in South Africa
BRUSSELS, Apr 23 (IPS) - With two-thirds of the world s HIV/AIDS victims living in sub-Saharan Africa, sickness and death is too often a part of doing business in the region. But now microfinance institutions have found ways to reduce financial risk while attacking new infections. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have
DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 23 (IPS) - While the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a bright idea , the hidden agenda of western countries makes it impossible for African states like Tanzania to achieve the goals, expounds actor Rashid Mkwinda. He is one of the people whose thoughts IPS canvassed in the stre
BUENOS AIRES, Apr 20 (IPS) - I feel happy when I m with my friends; at those times, I don t even remember that I have the infection, Keren, an 11-year-old Honduran girl living with HIV, told IPS. Her story brought home the ignored and largely invisible impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on girls in Latin America and the C
NAIROBI, Apr 19 (IPS) - The year 2007 marks the birth of a new species : Homo Urbanus. For the first time in history there will be as many city dwellers as rural inhabitants in the world. Executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat), Anna Tibaijuka, coined this term to describe the
MUMBAI, India , Apr 13 (IPS) - Why were phase-1 safety trials for an HIV vaccine started in India days before the release of the results of the same trial in Belgium and Germany ? And why were phase-2 trials of the same vaccine conducted in Africa? These are some of the questions that scientists and eth
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 12 (IPS) - African states should put in place sufficient budget allocations and the right policies if the continent is to meet the global and regional health care targets that governments have committed themselves to, say campaigners. In 2000 African states, along with most of the world, agreed to mee
COLOMBO, Apr 9 (IPS) - Tired of waiting for governments to deliver on promises, activists, experts and people living with HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific will push for stronger community leadership in the battle against the disease at a regional summit to be held in this city in August. This is coming out strongly fro
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 6 (IPS) - South Africa seems to have succeeded in preventing an outbreak of Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) from spiralling out of control and spreading beyond its borders, at least for now. XDR-TB is a more serious form of Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB). While various strains of MDR-TB
JOHANNESBURG - For 16 years, Themba was proud to be a teacher in South Africa but a wave of violence at her school has proven so nerve-wracking that she may leave the profession. I feel like a security guard, not a teacher, said Themba, who requested anonymity. Some mornings I don t bother getting out of bed. Students
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 23 (IPS) - Zimbabwe s outspoken Catholic archbishop, Pius Ncube, has volunteered to lead peaceful, mass protests to remove President Robert Mugabe from power, as Cardinal Jaime Sin did to unseat dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines more than two decades ago. Sin made headlines around the w
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 23 (IPS) - Although most people in the developed world view tuberculosis (TB) as a disease of the past, this curable ailment still kills a human being every 20 seconds. According to the World Health Organisation s Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2007, 1.6 million people died of TB in 2005, making
BANGKOK, Mar 21 (IPS) - A broad coalition of Thai non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is threatening to tap the spirit of nationalism, which runs deep and wide here, in a showdown with a Chicago-based pharmaceutical giant. The need for access to cheaper life-saving drugs has sparked this row. The street outside the
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 20 (IPS) - In a State of the Nation address delivered in February, South African President Thabo Mbeki said his country had already achieved the Millennium Development Goals in respect of basic water supply, with improvement of access from 59 percent in 1994 to 83 percent in 2006. Eight development go
BRUSSELS, Mar 20 (IPS) - The leading pharmaceuticals firm Novartis is seeking to prevent the EU s political bodies from supporting an Indian law allowing access to cheap medicines in developing countries. The Swiss firm has contacted all 785 members of the European Parliament over the past few weeks, urging them not to
MAPUTO, Mar 19 (IPS) - Sandra Alberto was heavily pregnant when Cyclone Favio struck Mozambique earlier this month on 2 March, ripping the zinc roof off the house she and her two children had taken refuge in. I grabbed hold of my children because I thought the wind would blow them away, she said. Roofs and other obje
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 19 (IPS) - Images of tiny, malnourished African children, some scavenging for leftover food, have continued to grace the cover of brochures, posters and video clips of aid agencies since the devastating famine that claimed more than one million lives in Ethiopia 22 years ago. Since that famine, re
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 16 (IPS) - As though the decimating effects of HIV/AIDS and malaria were not enough to deal with, African countries also have to battle with the continuing exodus of health professionals leaving the continent for greener pastures. Some 400 Anglican ministers from across the world discussed these and o
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 14 (IPS) - The people of Nigeria s oil-rich Niger Delta are poor not because they do not have resources but because they do not have political power. Those who wield power in Nigeria are building skyscrapers in Lagos and Abuja while there is nothing in the Niger Delta. It is the same at the global lev
WASHINGTON, Mar 8 (IPS) - Dozens of international civil society groups have endorsed a call to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to require enforceable gender protections and equality for women as conditions for project financing in developing nations. It is no surprise that these mega-developmen
NAIROBI - With AIDS cutting a swathe through Africa s workforce, there is an urgent need for employers to set up policies that support HIV-positive staff -- and ensure they are not victims of stigma. But, it s a need that often goes unaddressed. In fact, some employers are training two people on the same job in anticip
MEXICO CITY, Feb 28 (IPS) - Mexico s Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the military to expel HIV-positive members, a practice that is habitually followed by the armed forces. The verdict handed down on Tuesday represented a triumph for the 11 HIV-positive members of the military who filed an appeal be
BRUSSELS, Feb 27 (IPS) - Does the presence of Heineken beer in Sierra Leone contribute to reduction of child mortality? And to what extent does the chemicals company Akzo Nobel contribute to prevent environmental damage? The Dutch have set up an MDG Scan to keep the score on what multinational companies do towards real
HARARE, Feb 27 (IPS) - You cannot talk of halving poverty when our country is going in the opposite direction. We are totally lost, says Maxwell Tambarare, a teacher in Chiredzi, a region to the south east of Zimbabwe . He is referring to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The first goal is to halv
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 23 (IPS) - Results issued this week show that the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) has swept to back to power in parliamentary elections held Feb. 17. The party, at the helm since 1998, won 61 of the 80 contested seats -- leaving the main opposition grouping, the All Basotho Convention (ABC
BLANTYRE, Feb 21 (IPS) - Grace Kafere is tired. She has been on her feet for close to five hours, bending over as she moves up and down in a forest gathering twigs and branches to sell as firewood. The 45-year-old single mother of five children lost her job as an administrative assistant three years ago. The firm where
PORT LOUIS, Feb 20 (IPS) - In contrast to the rest of southern Africa, intravenous (IV) drug users have become the group most vulnerable to the transmission of the HI virus in Mauritius . This has led the Mauritian government to introduce a syringe and needle exchange programme in a bid to stem HIV infection among Maur
BUCHAREST, Feb 19 (IPS) - About two million of Romania s 22 million people are carrying some form of hepatitis, in the highest infection rates in Europe. Between 6 to 8 percent suffer from hepatitis B, and between 8 to 12 percent from hepatitis C. Hepatitis is the main cause for hospitalisation. Hepatitis B is a liver
LISBON, Feb 16 (IPS) - Nearly five years after the advent of peace in Angola , following four decades of war which cost a million lives, the new killers in this Southern African country are cholera, malaria and AIDS. Last week alone there were 111 deaths, to be added to the 3,017 fatalities among the 76,823 cholera cas
BANGALORE, Feb 13 (IPS) - As public health groups await the outcome of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG s legal challenge to India s patent law, a campaign is building up against a parallel move to obtain data exclusivity on clinical data submitted to government for marketing approval. Under the drug regulatory p
MAPUTO, Feb 9 (IPS) - The school year kicks off in Mozambique with more children enrolling for primary school than ever in the past. But educational prospects remain bleak for orphans like Regina Massango. Regina was only 12 years old and had barely completed grade two of primary school when her sick mother asked her t
BANGKOK, Feb 6 (IPS) - As the month began the fate of an already vulnerable community in Cambodia grew bleaker. An estimated 740,000 people faced with acute food shortages could see no relief in sight. Signs of this looming crisis in one of South-east Asia s poorest countries first emerged in October when funds from in
BANGKOK, Feb 2 (IPS) - Civil society and humanitarian groups slammed the new head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the sidelines of a meeting here, after she appeared to favour the interests of pharmaceutical giants over the plight of the sick and the poor in the developing world. It is not the role of the WH
NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (IPS) - As a legal battle launched by the Swiss pharmaceuticals multinational Novartis against India s patents law warms up, health activists are gearing up to mount a campaign against drug monopolies and the people s right to medicines at affordable prices. At stake is not just the fate of the Indian
MBABANE, Jan 31 (IPS) - AIDS orphans aren t the only children suffering in Swaziland . Those who have lost one or both parents to the epidemic have it rough, but so do tens of thousands of other Swazi children vulnerable to food shortages, scant medical care, and unsettled home life. The bureaucracies of government
BANGKOK, Jan 31 (IPS) - Thailand s military-appointed government appears set to insist on the right of a developing country to save the lives of its people rather than protect the profits of Western pharmaceutical corporations. But signs of the pressure that Bangkok can expect emerged this week, when a senior diplomat
BANGALORE, Jan 30 (IPS) - A public outcry has followed the challenge offered by Novartis AG in the Madras High Court to the Indian Patents Act as violating international trade laws and restricting the Swiss pharmaceutical giant s trade. In April 2005, the Indian government as a member of the World Trade Organisation (W
TRIPOLI, Jan 30 (IPS) - Please, do not leave us, we ll die here! Nasya Nenova, the youngest of the five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death by a firing squad in Libya on Dec. 19, 2006 shouted out through the bars of her locked cage. She was losing all hope of salvation, although Christiana Vulcheva who had been sharing
BROOKLIN, Canada , Jan 29 (IPS) - A quarter of a million people from over 150 countries don t think a multinational drug company should seek to overturn a provision of India s patent law that permits the manufacture of low-cost life-saving drugs for the world s poor. Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG went to India
MEXICO CITY - Using a condom is not safe, the morning after pill is an abortifacient, and campaigns in favour of sexual tolerance promote homosexuality. These are some of the ideas of Mexican Health Minister Jose Cordova that are alarming social activists and analysts. But the Catholic Church and conservative organisat
BANGKOK - International health experts are warning Burma s neighbours that they face more threats from the spread of HIV along the porous borders that they share with the military-ruled country. The record number of HIV cases in two of India s north-eastern provinces that have Burma as a neighbour offers a troubling si
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 27 (IPS) - This year s rainy season has brought some mixed blessings to farmers and aid agencies operating in Southern Africa, which experienced a spell of drought and famine last year. In most of the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), the rainfall on which most farmers rely -- u
MOSCOW, Jan 26 (IPS) - Health NGOs and experts are accusing Russia s health and social development ministry of endangering the lives of tens of thousands of infected Russians by altering the list of anti-retroviral drugs the government plans to buy this year. The activists and experts say government officials surreptit
NAIROBI, Jan 26 (IPS) - The mammoth World Social Forum (WSF) wound to a close in the Kenyan capital after five days of dialogue, art, poetry, dance, drama and protests led by participants from around the globe who believe another world is possible -- the slogan of the global civil society movement. Some 50,000 delegate
NAIROBI, Jan 24 (IPS) - The issue of violence exacerbating the spread of HIV/AIDS, particularly in women, has remained a hot one at the World Social Forum (WSF), taking place here this week. From Africa to Asia, activists are reiterating that violence against women remains a threat to the HIV/AIDS fight, and that witho
NAIROBI, Jan 21 (IPS) - We were told to come for this celebration because it is a celebration to end poverty, Edward Njeru, driver of a tuktuk (a three-wheel vehicle used as a taxi in urban areas), said about the World Social Forum (WSF) that opened here Saturday. He told IPS, I hope this poverty really ends. Njeru, wh
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 (IPS) - The world s response to protect and support HIV-infected and AIDS-affected children remains tragically insufficient , but that is beginning to change, according to a new report by the U.N. children s agency UNICEF. The Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS initiative was launched in Octo
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 11 (IPS) - As many as 150,000 delegates from more than a hundred countries are expected to attend the upcoming World Social Forum (WSF), to be held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, from Jan. 20-25. And, expectations for the meeting appear as varied as the nationalities that will pass through Jomo Kenya
MAPUTO, Jan 10 (IPS) - The contradictions in Maria s life are typical of many women in Mozambique . On one level the 33-year-old is advancing. She is able to attend night school to gain the education that the 16-year-long civil war interrupted when she was a child. She has learnt to sew to complement the money she make
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