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…

Claire Ngozo

LILONGWE, Feb 23 2010 (IPS) – By this time last year, Mkanda had recorded 14 cholera cases as rainy season descended on central Malawi. This year, there has not been a single report of cholera.

Mgona township, Lilongwe: water-borne diseases strike the young especially hard; fitting that children play a k…

Pavol Stracansky

PRAGUE, Apr 1 2010 (IPS) – Eastern Europe s organic food industry is mushrooming as it brushes off the effects of the global recession, and more consumers in the region turn to healthier foods.
Some countries now have twice as much agricultural land turned over to organic farming as those in Western Europe, and experts are predicting a bright future for the industry in the former communist bloc.

Christof Arndt, project coordinator at the Dresden-based EkoConnect non- profit group promoting organic agriculture in Eastern Europe, told IPS: The last few years have seen a huge rise in organic farming, food production and consumption in Eastern Europe, and the market is developing really quickly despite the recession.

In Eastern Europe under commu…

Zofeen Ebrahim

KARACHI, Apr 30 2010 (IPS) – Perween Riaz, 36, waited till after she gave birth to her sixth child before she finally got herself sterilised.

Like these newly born twins, more children are born daily into families who can barely afford to raise a child. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Before then she had undergone a total of four abortions in a span of six years despite her basic knowl…

Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY, Jun 11 2010 (IPS) – While successful immunisation programmes worldwide have saved millions of lives, the threat of new infectious diseases and drug-resistant strains of existing diseases is posing a major challenge to governments, especially in developing regions like Asia, in meeting their commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
We have two major problems in the context of emerging infectious diseases in the coming decade outbreaks, which might develop into pandemics, and the continuing increase in anti-microbial resistance, Professor Tanya Sorrell, director of the newly established Sydney Institute of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, based at University of Sydney, tells IPS.

This raises the dual problems of prevent…

Ranjit Devraj

New Delhi, Jul 12 2010 (IPS) – At a time when the World Health Organisation (WHO) faces charges that it hyped up the swine flu pandemic to benefit pharmaceutical companies, India is sprucing up its indigenous capacity to manufacture vaccines against the H1N1 virus.
The privately-owned Serum Institute of India has launched Nasovac , a nasal spray, following clearance from the Drug Controller of India. The spray follows Vaxiflu-S , a single dose injectable manufactured by the Indian pharmaceutical major Zydus-Cadila, which has been on Indian drug store shelves since Jun. 3.

With a large population (1.2 billion) spread over a vast country, we cannot depend on other countries for vaccines against a pandemic like swine flu, India s health minister Ghulam Nab…

NAIROBI, Aug 3 2010 (IPS) – Nancy Njeri’s life changed when she contracted HIV through a gang rape. Not only did the infection traumatise her, she was ostracised by close friends and neighbours whom she had known for almost a decade. She was fired from her job and when she attempted to sell vegetables, people boycotted her stand because of her status.

Nancy Njeri at her house in Korogocho slum, longs for a speedy AIDS tribunal. Credit: David Njagi

Sadly Njeri’s case is not …