Rosalia Omungo
NAIROBI, Jun 2 2008 (IPS) – The road leading to the informal settlement of Korogocho is narrow and winding. Here, in Nairobi s third largest slum, up to 150,000 people are crammed into an area of just over one square kilometre, their shanties made of cardboard, wood or metal.
A hanging toilet , in Korogocho, where water supplies are inadequate for the demands of residents. Credit: APHRC
Arguably of greater concern, thoug…
Tran Dinh Thanh Lam – Newsmekong
CAN THO, Vietnam, Jun 30 2008 (IPS) – The bustling city of Can Tho is the capital of southern Vietnam s fertile Mekong Delta and one of the country s two main rice baskets. Good food in abundance makes it an ideal place to raise ducks and chickens, but this also means it is also one of the most high-risk areas in the country for bird flu.
While new outbreaks of the disease threaten the entire country, as harvest season gets underway officials are urging farmers in the Delta to be particularly vigilant.
This is the time of the year when the whole of the Mekong Delta should keep our wits about bird flu, Nguyen Trong, a senior official in Can Tho s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and a member of the local Bird Flu Control…
Annie Brown
WASHINGTON, Jul 30 2008 (IPS) – HIV/AIDS activists Wednesday hailed President George W. Bush s reauthorisation of the President s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to 48 billion dollars for fiscal years 2009 to 2013 as a major step in the global fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Paul Davis, director of Health GAP (Global Access Project), welcomed the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorisation Act of 2008 as a huge step forward for people with AIDS worldwide.
Health GAP and its allies were a leading voice in the yearlong negotiations that pushed the United States to pass legislation that they say goes beyond an increase in funding Bush s original proposal author…
Milagros Salazar
PUERTO OCOPA, Peru, Sep 15 2008 (IPS) – Ashaninka women give birth at home, in accordance with tradition, declares José Ponce, the head of the health committee in Puerto Ocopa, a village of 253 Ashaninka indigenous families deep in the central Peruvian jungle.
Native women prefer to give birth at home. Credit: Milagros Salazar/IPS.
But the Peruvian government is trying to convince indigenous women to give birth in medical facilities, in order to cut maternal and infant mortality rates.
Since 2004, i…
Diana Cariboni
MONTEVIDEO, Nov 11 2008 (IPS) – Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez and his cabinet have 10 days to promulgate or veto a bill that would decriminalise abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, which was passed Tuesday by the Senate.
A year ago, in November 2007, the Senate approved the original version of the bill on sexual and reproductive health. On Nov. 5, it barely squeaked through the lower house of Congress, but with slight modifications, which meant it had to clear the Senate again, which it did with 17 of the 30 senators present.
However, socialist President Vázquez of the governing left-wing Broad Front has long announced that he would veto the bill.
For us, the verdict was in on Wednesday Nov. 5, but today marks the start of the …
Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 2009 (IPS) – A raging debate over mandatory HIV screening has exposed fear and ignorance within government, despite years of awareness campaigns to eradicate prejudice against people living with the virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Some high officials have suggested that those with HIV be quarantined at specially constructed camps, or even isolated on islands, to safeguard the general population.
Others are calling for new mandatory rules forcing all Muslim couples, about to tie the knot, to be tested for HIV status before being allowed to marry. They also want rules to bar infected couples from having sex or having babies.
There have even been calls for mandatory screenings for all Malaysians, irrespe…
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 2009 (IPS) – The food crisis that spilled over from last year could take a turn for the worse in the next decade if there are no explicit answers to a rash of growing new problems, including declining agricultural production, a faltering distribution network and a deteriorating environment worldwide.
The Polis…
Ben Case
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 24 2009 (IPS) – On World Tuberculosis Day Tuesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report showing that new surveillance techniques and more complete country reports reveal the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) co-infection with HIV to be almost double what was previously thought.
Tuberculosis bacteria multiply…
Mohammed Omer
AMSTERDAM, Apr 27 2009 (IPS) – Mohammed Al-Sheikh Yousef could save his eyesight if only he could cross the border out of Gaza. He was denied a permit by Israel; he got one from Egypt, but not for someone to accompany him. And he can t go on his own because he cannot see very well.
Gazan children protesting at the Rafah border with Egypt. Credit: Mohammed Omer
If Mohammed does not get out of Gaza for medical treatment within the next 14 days, he may totally lose his eyesight and be blind for life, Dr. …
Keya Acharya
BANGALORE, May 25 2009 (IPS) – India passed a law for equal opportunities and rights for persons with disabilities in 1995, but in spite of taking more steps than some other developing countries, its 60 million physically challenged population remains hugely disadvantaged.
There are very few options in wheelchair production, especially for children, with no regular supply of whatever is available, K.N. Gopinath, assistant director of the Bangalore-based Association of People with Disabilities (APD), a national organisation working to empower the physically challenged told IPS.
Technology in locomotion and mobility for the disabled has progressed worldwide, but India continues to use antiquated tricycles and wheelchairs as mobility devices.
Basic…