BRUSSELS, Mar 12 2013 (IPS) – The negotiations launched this week for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Thailand and the European Union have raised concerns among both Thai and European non-governmental organisations, who fear that EU demands could have a negative impact on Thailand’s progressive public health policies.

Launched during Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s visit to Brussels on Mar. 6, the negotiations will include the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, an international accord that lays down rules for dealing with intellectual property such as branded medicine. If the EU pushes the interests of its pharmaceutical companies, access to generic drugs in Thailand could be at risk, according to some NGOs and European pa…

From Apr. 1, the South African Department of Health introduced fixed-dose ARVs. Activists and health professionals have welcomed the FDAs as easier and more convenient for patients. Credit: Nastasya Tay/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 6 2013 (IPS) – “If I don’t have my pills, I don’t know what will happen. I will probably get sick again, very sick. Maybe I will die this time,” says Xoliswa Mbana* as she readies her four young children for school in the impoverished informal settlement of Masiphumelele, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Two years ago Mbana, who was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2008, had a CD4 count of less than 200. Dangerously ill, she was convinced by nurs…

KIEV, May 30 2013 (IPS) – As a hepatitis C pandemic rages among drug users and threatens the lives of millions around the world, a group of high-level leaders called today on governments to reform their drug policies and raise awareness about the public health threat of hepatitis C.

Sharing needles among injecting drug users is the main driver of the spread of hepatitis C in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Credit: Lauri Rantala/CC by 2.0

In a major new report, the , which includes former president…

WASHINGTON, Jul 2 2013 (IPS) – Environmental safety groups are stepping up efforts to prevent a reportedly dangerous yet widely used herbicide from being sold in the United States, even as the country’s primary environmental regulator is considering increasing the amount of the herbicide allowed in the U.S. food supply.

The agricultural giant Monsanto has for years relied on its flagship product, a weed-killer known as Roundup. The primary ingredient in Roundup is an herbicide called glyphosate, which Monsanto has used to selectively kill weeds while allowing genetically modified versions of sugarcane, corn, soy and wheat crops to grow.“Part of the problem is that there is no ethical way to prove that [glyphosate] is as toxic as it is.” — Sayer Ji of GreenMedInfo

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Cigarettes are a popular buy from vendors selling imported goods here in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

SYDNEY, Aug 19 2013 (IPS) – Governments in the Western Pacific Islands, believed to be home to a third of the world’s smokers, have begun a long battle with the growing crisis of non-communicable diseases. Such diseases currently account for 75 percent of the region’s fatalities.

Kiribati and the Marshall Islands have the highest rates of diabetes in the world at 25.7 percent and 22.2 percent respectively. Fiji carries the greatest burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD)-related deaths in the region at 501 per 100,00…

In Nepal, many children who suffer from malnutrition belong to young mothers. In fact, teen marriages and pregnancies are common and over 23 percent of women give birth before they are 18 years old. Credit: Naresh Newar/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 30 2013 (IPS) – Before we begin, perhaps we can set aside the stereotypes: no, she didn’t mess herself up by following boys around , and no, it is not in fact her fault that she became pregnant.

Adolescents rarely have children because they want to. Yet 7.3 million girls under the age of 18 give birth every year, with two million of those births to girls under the age of 14.

“The powerlessness girls experience…

A CD4 testing machine. Research by the University of Zimbabwe shows that female patients with high CD4 counts have developed a nevirapine toxicity. Credit: Jennifer Mckellar/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec 9 2013 (IPS) – New research suggests that some AIDS patients are developing drug intolerance and severe side effects and will now have to switch to new, more expensive antiretroviral regimens.

Researchers in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi say some patients on the first-line antiretroviral drugs nevirapine and efavirenz (EFZ) are showing signs of being intolerant to the two drugs.

Daniel Sibanda, a University of Zimbabwe researcher, said whil…

Sex education is expelled from Egyptian schools. Credit: Victoria Hazou/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14 2014 (IPS) – As the world moves closer to the 2015 end mark of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new U.N. report illuminates how far global society has come, but also how far it still must travel to achieve its objectives.

The tracks the last two decades of progress on issues such as universal access to family planning, sexual and reproductive health services and reproductive rights, and equal access to education for girls.”This report gives us the leverage to take things to the next level, where women, girls and young people will be central to the next developm…

This story is part two of a three-part series on how social and economic inequalities impact cancer treatment. The third installment examines how Peru’s Plan Esperanza is providing comprehensive treatment for cancer patients, especially the poor.

The King Hussein Cancer Centre, Jordan’s premier cancer treatment facility located in Amman, is being expanded to double its capacity as national and regional cancer rates continue to rise. Credit: Elizabeth Whitman/IPS

AMMAN, Apr 10 2014 (IPS) – The concrete skeleton of a twin 13-storey complex towers over surrounding buildings on one of Amman s busiest streets. The ongoing expansion of the King Hussein Cancer …

In Nepal, 38 percent of the population still defecates in the open. Credit: Naresh Newar/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, May 28 2014 (IPS) – At the height of his election campaign last October, Narendra Modi, India s Hindu nationalist leader, briefly set aside his spiritual aspirations when he told a surprised audience that economic development should take precedence over religion.

Toilets before temples, pleaded Modi, the newly-elected prime minister of India, a country which has been in the throes of a perpetual sanitation crisis, and where open defecation is an all-too-common sight in villages and urban slums.

As chief minister of the state of Gujarat, M…