Chryso D Angelo
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 6 2009 (IPS) – An estimated 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely and more than one million die each year, say health experts.
Africa tops preterm birth rates around the world at 11.9 percent, followed by North America (10.6 percent) and Asia (9.1 percent), according to The Global and Regional Toll of Preterm Birth , a report from the March of Dimes charity based on statistics recently published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The study, presented at the Fourth International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World Oct. 4-7 in New Delhi, India, reveals that Africa and Asia accounted for an overwhelming 85 percent of all preterm births combined in 2005, despite the fact t…
Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Nov 12 2009 (IPS) – It is one of the world s oldest professions, dating so far back that it is even mentioned in the Bible. But in the deeply cultural and religious country of Swaziland, Senator Thuli Msane stirred a hornet s nest when she publicly challenged a new strict bill opposing prostitution.
Senator Thuli Msane spoke out against arresting sex workers. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS
Msane spoke out against arresting sex workers, when she said government should first address…
Neena Bhandari
SYDNEY, Dec 2 2009 (IPS) – Once a week lunch order from the school canteen was something Emily and Damien s children looked forward to, but since the global financial crisis began last year, little treats and outings are an absolute No .
Salvation Army s Paul Moulds: Young people are back into very difficult circumstances. Credit: Paul Moulds
Lunch order for our four kids aged 14, 13, 9 and 8 costs 50 [Australian] dollar…
Eli Clifton and Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 2010 (IPS) – As U.S. and international relief efforts chugged toward Haiti Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama announced an immediate investment of 100 million dollars in the relief efforts underway following Tuesday s devastating earthquake.
Haitians wash in a public fountain af…
MANILA, Feb 19 2010 (IPS) – Rice and condoms do not usually land on the same list of household basics in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, but extremely poor couples here with huge families would choose rice if given the two options.
This is what Fe Nicodemus, head of KAKAMPI, a Philippine non-government organisation advocating reproductive rights, learned when her group distributed free condoms in an urban poor district of Manila recently as part of her group s advocacy.
When we were distributing condoms, there was this group that arrived and started distributing rice, she recalled. The people quickly moved to the other group, but we continued to give condoms to those lining up for rice, hoping that we could still put contraceptive use in their minds even if their s…
LUSAKA, Mar 24 2010 (IPS) – HIV-positive Bupe Mwamba, 22, lies next to her newborn baby girl at the rural clinic she just gave birth in and wonders if her baby is HIV-positive too.
She has been for counselling throughout her antenatal check-ups and knows there is a chance her baby girl may be HIV-negative. But it still does not eliminate her fears and anxieties.
It is a moment of reflection about the future of your child and how your child will cope being HIV-positive. It cannot go without (me feeling) some kind of fear as a human being, she said.
Here at the Chipulukuso rural health centre in Ndola, Zambia’s Copperbelt province, when an HIV test was done, blood samples were taken and then transported to a central regional hospital for analysis. The results were …
David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Apr 27 2010 (IPS) – Life-saving medicines could become too costly for the world s poor after a new trade agreement between the European Union and India comes into effect, public health activists have warned.
Brussels officials are seeking that robust rules on intellectual property be approved by India when talks aimed at finalising a free trade deal get under way this week.
At least three of the provisions in a leaked version of the agreement have been identified as a potential risk to India s status as the leading manufacturer and exporter of non-branded medicines.
One of these clauses would introduce a so-called data exclusivity regime, whereby an Indian company making generic drugs would be prohibited from availing of formulae used to…
Nastasya Tay
JOHANNESBURG , Jun 5 2010 (IPS) – Backtracking by international donors in funding the fight against HIV/AIDS risks widening the treatment gap in Africa, undermining years of positive achievements in the field, warns a new Medecins Sans Frontières report. And many more unnecessary HIV-related deaths will be caused by these shifts in international donor funding
Lynette Lee Corporal
PATHUM THANI, Thailand, Jul 7 2010 (IPS) – Teenage boys gape at a coloured photograph of a vagina, while girls give embarrassed smiles as they watch a cartoon that showed penises talking about masturbation. Young girls crowd around a display panel about love and relationships, as a boy embraces a female mannequin with all his might in order to measure the strength of his hug.
Milagros Salazar
LIMA, Jul 28 2010 (IPS) – Peruvian President Alan García confirmed Wednesday that the permit of the U.S. mining and metallurgical company Doe Run to operate a major smelter complex was being cancelled because the firm missed the deadline for proving that it had the necessary financing to restart operations and complete an environmental cleanup.
La Oroya, where the smelter operates in Peru s highlands region, is one of the most polluted cities in the world.
In a message to the nation delivered in Congress, García said the deadline had expired, the law was being enforced to the letter, and the permit for the Doe Run Peru multi-metal smelter had been cancelled.
A company cannot be allowed to abuse or blackmail our country, as Doe Run has been …