Nergui Manalsuren interviews JAE SO and PETER KOLSKY of the World Bank

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 31 2009 (IPS) – The world s developing nations, particularly in Asia and Africa, are struggling to cope with two of the basic necessities of life: fresh water and adequate sanitation.

Jae So Credit: Simone McCourtie/World Bank

The United Nations says there are still some 1.1 billion people who lack access to safe water, and 2.6 billion without basic sanitation.

The World Bank allocates 60 percent of its 10.7-billion-dollar budget for water supply and sanitation for water, and only…

Servaas van den Bosch

WINDHOEK, Apr 30 2009 (IPS) – Within the next twelve months, eight Southern African countries will synchronise their battles against malaria through cross-border collaboration. They hope to eliminate malaria in four of them by 2015.
The Elimination Eight (E8) initiative will establish an early warning mechanism and a rapid response system in the eight Southern African countries. In addition the countries health ministers promise to invest in malaria research and make financial resources available for the project.

A budget for the E8 initiative has not yet been set, but the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) believes it will cost a whopping $200 million a year to control the disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

International cooperati…

HO CHI MINH CITY, May 29 2009 (IPS) – While investors and their opponents argue the pros and cons of an ambitious plan to mine bauxite deposits in Vietnam s Central Highlands region, life for the tea and coffee farmers in nearby towns has already become a lot more complicated.
Hills that used to be plantations of tea have already been bulldozed into a 50-hectare site to locate the bauxite project, the state-controlled ‘Tuoi Tre newspaper reported in April from Lam Dong province in central Vietnam, the location of one of the planned mines.

The same thing has happened to the coffee hills in Dak Nong province, but on a larger scale the construction site may stretch to 200 hectares, ‘Tuoi Tre said of the second proposed mine site.

The government s plan to mine baux…

Miriam Mannak

CAPE TOWN, Aug 3 2009 (IPS) – For the first time in eighty years, a new Tuberculosis (TB) vaccine has entered the efficacy stage of a clinical trial. While the developers are optimistic about the outcome, lung health and TB experts are warning against being overly excited.
The bacteria that causes TB is a tricky one, as people can get the disease more then once which is different when one looks at conditions such as measles, said Anthony Harries, head of the research department of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

The organisation, with headquarters in Paris aims to bring expertise, solutions and support to address health challenges in low- and middle-income countries.

This makes developing a vaccine that protects p…

Fabio Scarpello

DENPASAR, Indonesia, Aug 24 2009 (IPS) – Women s rights groups who are campaigning for widening the scope of abortion in Indonesia are calling for an amendment to a colonial era law that puts poor women at risk.

Tini Hadad (right): We want the health law to be updated Credit:

Tini Hadad, secretary general of the Association for Women s Health, says Indonesia has one of the world s highest rates of deaths from unsafe abortions. This is because the current laws are totally inadequate, she told IPS.

The Association f…

Bonnie Allen

BAILA, Liberia, Oct 1 2009 (IPS) – As heavy rain hammers the grass thatch roof of her mud hut, Goromah Borbor huddles inside and quietly describes how her daughter Annie died while giving birth.

For women like Queen Smith, it s a long trek from their forest homes in northern Liberia to …

Eli Clifton

WASHINGTON, Oct 16 2009 (IPS) – The global economic crisis has led to an historic increase in hunger and undernourishment in the world s poorest countries, with broad consequences for political security and stability, according to two reports released for World Food Day, observed Friday.

A child eats a World Food Programme nutritional biscuit. This year, WFP will help feed…

Hilmi Toros

ISTANBUL, Nov 16 2009 (IPS) – Success in fighting violence against women may well hinge on partnership with an often overlooked but still a critically vital party men themselves.
Population experts are moving ahead with strategy and projects that go beyond treating men simply as perpetrators or, at best, uncaring and passive onlookers. Recently, more and more men are looked upon to become allies in combating violence against women.

The current approach is that without men s involvement, the problem cannot be solved, Karen Daduryan, a senior officer of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), told IPS as the U.N. body presented a study at a meeting in Istanbul Nov. 11-13 on women s health in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Otherwise, the risk is that women retur…

Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi interviews UNAIDS senior advisor for human rights and law, SUSAN TIMBERLAKE, on the criminalisation of HIV transmission.

ARUSHA, Dec 7 2009 (IPS) – The East African Community is currently developing a law to guide the region s response to HIV/AIDS. The move comes ahead of the commencement of the East Africa common market protocol.

Susan Timberlake, UNAIDS senior advisor for human rights and law. Credit: Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi

The law will allow…

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 18 2010 (IPS) – Rosemarie Tintin s black hat and veil barely concealed the sorrow on her face. She recently lost her entire family in Haiti s devastating earthquake and the only place she could find solace was at her church.

Port-au-Prince residents retrieve the body of their relative from a pile outside the general hospital. Credit: UN Photo/Logan Abassi

But that too was hardly p…