HEALTH: WHO Warns Against ‘Bird Flu Fatigue’
brian Stella GonzalesMANILA, Oct 7 2008 (IPS) - So where is the pandemic? This is a question most often asked of health experts years after they warned about a pandemic influenza…
Q&A: Escalating Violence Against Women in Swaziland
Mantoe Phakathi interviews HLOBISILE DLAMINI-SHONGWE, gender activistMBABANE, Swaziland, Nov 27 2008 (IPS) - Still wearing a campaign t-shirt with the slogan FED UP: with violence against women , Dlamini-Shongwe, the…
MIDEAST: Alarm Spreads Over Use of Lethal New Weapons
Erin CunninghamGAZA CITY, Jan 21 2009 (IPS) - Eighteen-year-old Mona Al-Ashkar says she did not immediately know the first explosion at the United Nations (UN) school in Beit Lahiya had…
IRAQ: Medical Care At Last, At a Price
Dahr JamailBAGHDAD, Mar 6 2009 (IPS) - Prompt medical care is at last on offer in Iraq, for those who can find the dollars for it. Why would I want…
HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Government Promises to Rebuild Health System
Stanley Kwenda interviews HENRY MADZORERA, minister of Health and Child WelfareHARARE, Apr 4 2009 (IPS) - The resuscitation of Zimbabwe s health care system has been identified as one of…
HEALTH: Chernobyl Kids Keep Arriving in Cuba
Patricia Grogg* - IPS/IFEJHAVANA, May 7 2009 (IPS) - Thousands of kilometres from Ukraine, where the worst nuclear accident in history occurred 23 years ago, the sun and fresh air…
DEVELOPMENT: ‘‘19th WEF on Africa Just About Elite Agendas’’
Miriam MannakCAPE TOWN, Jun 9 2009 (IPS) - The 19th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, which kicks off tomorrow, is a space for the rich and powerful elites who…
US-ECUADOR: Chevron Fails in Effort to Lift Trade Benefits
Jim Lobe*WASHINGTON, Jul 2 2009 (IPS) - In the latest in a string of setbacks that could cost the U.S. oil giant Chevron billions of dollars in damages, President Barack…
MIDEAST: New Israeli Plan to Warn of Impending Attacks
Eli CliftonWASHINGTON, Aug 6 2009 (IPS) - The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is taking new measures to warn Palestinian civilians about impending aerial attacks. This comes in response to questions…
HEALTH-NIGERIA: Maternal Mortality, a Rural Community’s Example
Toluwa OlusegunFARASINME, Nigeria, Sep 2 2009 (IPS) - Women, their children strapped to their backs, defy the mid-morning sun and converge on the Primary Healthcare Centre, located on the outskirts…
HEALTH: U.S. Urged to Double Aid to Global Projects
Matthew BergerWASHINGTON, Oct 29 2009 (IPS) - As the effort to achieve universal health coverage within the U.S. crawls forward in Washington, a new report by a coalition of global…
UGANDA: Lifting Silence on Menstruation to Keep Girls in School
Joshua KyalimpaKAMPALA, Oct 22 2009 (IPS) - More than half of Ugandan girls who enrol in grade one drop out before sitting for their primary school-leaving examinations. The fact that…
US: Soldiers Forced to Go AWOL for PTSD Care
Dahr JamailMARFA, Texas, Dec 11 2009 (IPS) - With a military health care system over-stretched by two ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, more soldiers are deciding to go absent…
ASIA: ‘Post-Disaster Psychosocial Support a Must for Children’
B. C. LeeBANGKOK, Jan 27 2010 (IPS) - When disaster strikes, acute stress disorders, especially among children, may follow. Yet the need for early psychosocial interventions is often overlooked, if…
EAST EUROPE: Taxing Fast Foods for Health
Pavol StracanskyBRATISLAVA, Mar 2 2010 (IPS) - Health experts have called on European governments to use a pioneering tax on fast foods to be introduced in Romania as a model…
HEALTH-INDIA: Trained Birth Attendants Save Rural Mothers’ Lives
Manipadma JenaBHUBANESWAR, India, Apr 7 2010 (IPS) - It was her fourth unplanned pregnancy, but Sani Jani still made it a point to have a monthly checkup at the nearest…
Q&A: Anti-Counterfeit Policy Will Provide “Proper” Generics
Wambi Michael interviews JUMA MWAPACHU, secretary general of the East African Community (Part 1)KAMPALA, May 7 2010 (IPS) - The anti-counterfeit draft policy and law that the East African Community…
HEALTH-NEPAL: Multiple Problems Mar Fight Against HIV/AIDS
Bhuwan SharmaKATHMANDU, Jun 20 2010 (IPS) - To women who have lost their husbands to the killer AIDS disease, learning a skill to earn a living could be a matter…
ROMANIA: Digging Gold With a Cyanide Lining
Claudia CiobanuBUCHAREST, Jul 16 2010 (IPS) - Canadian company Gabriel Resources has managed to resurrect a cyanide-based gold exploitation project which had been declared illegal in courts, and is opposed…
ZIMBABWE: Questions Raised Over Water Treatment Funding
Mufudzi MoyoHARARE, Aug 9 2010 (IPS) - The memories of Zimbabwe s 2008-2009 cholera outbreak are fresh in the minds of everyone except the people who have the safety of…
BAHRAIN: No Change Seen in Ban on Entry of People with HIV
MANAMA, Sep 6 2010 (IPS) - Bahrain may be dependent on expatriate labour, but that has not stopped it from deporting migrant workers who are found to be HIV-positive. The…
BURMA: Heroin Trade Tears Social Fabric of Ethnic Minorities
Marwaan Macan-MarkarBANGKOK, Sep 29 2010 (IPS) - Dustbins in a university toilet rarely elicit a second look, but those at one of the oldest universities in Burma s Kachin State…
HAITI: Health Workers Scramble to Keep Cholera out of Crowded Camps
Ansel HerzPORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 22 2010 (IPS) - Some 1.3 million people have lived in makeshift camps throughout Port-au-Prince since the January earthquake devastated the city. Living conditions are appalling ,…
LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to HIV Risk
Marcela ValenteBUENOS AIRES, Nov 24 2010 (IPS) - My mother used to beat me. She would lock me away, and then she started chaining me to the table, says Elizabeth.…
DR CONGO: Promise of Potable Water for Kikwit
Badylon K. BakimanKIKWIT, DR Congo, Jan 10 2011 (IPS) - When the ground is broken for the Kakobola dam, engineers just might be able to hear the jubilation in the…
PERU: Nutritional Supplement Programme Big Business for a Few
Ángel PáezLIMA, Feb 24 2011 (IPS) - Peru s Glass of Milk Programme (PVL) is failing in its aim of providing nutritional supplements to all poor children in Peru. But…
Japan Nuke Disaster Could Be Worse Than Chernobyl
Stephen LeahyUXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 17 2011 (IPS) - A global nuclear disaster potentially worse than Chernobyl may be under way in Japan as hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive spent…
MEXICO: Recurring Risks from Radioactive Materials
Emilio GodoyMEXICO CITY, Apr 18 2011 (IPS) - Mexico needs to take urgent steps to tighten oversight of the storage, handling and disposal of radioactive materials that can threaten the…
HEALTH: Water, Sanitation Could Erase Cholera and Guinea Worm
Isolda AgazziGENEVA, May 19 2011 (IPS) - The World Health Assembly could adopt landmark resolutions asking governments to improve water and sanitation to eradicate cholera and guinea worm, the latter…
SRI LANKA: Onset of Rains Tests Anti-Dengue Campaign
Amantha PereraCOLOMBO, Jun 16 2011 (IPS) - With the monsoon season upon it, Sri Lanka s war against the deadly dengue- carrying mosquito faces its toughest test yet, but early…
U.S.: Floods and Wildfires Trigger New Fears over Nuke Safety
Portia CroweNEW YORK, Jul 1 2011 (IPS) - Just 100 days after a deadly earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, concerns are being raised…
EUROPE: ‘Fat Tax’ May Hurt Poor
Pavol StracanskyBUDAPEST, Aug 7 2011 (IPS) - The introduction of some of Europe s most far-reaching taxes on unhealthy foods has sparked renewed debate about the effect of such levies…
Low-Cost Healthcare Goes High-Tech
Christian PapeschUNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 2011 (IPS) - Cell phones and computer applications can help save the lives of thousands of mothers and children worldwide. Tembli, a patient at Nolungile…
GHANA: Toxic Electronic Waste Contaminates Nearby Areas
Stephen LeahyUXBRIDGE, Canada, Nov 1 2011 (IPS) - Mountains of hazardous waste grow by about 40 million tons every year. This waste, mostly from Europe and North America, is burned…
SRI LANKA: Peace Brings Little for the War-Disabled
Amantha PereraVAVUNIYA, Dec 18 2011 (IPS) - There are times when Thiyagarajah Santhirakumaran, 35, wishes that he had died in Sri Lanka s civil war. There is peace now, but…
ARGENTINA: Victims of State Terrorism No Longer on Their Own
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 13 2012 (IPS) - Mental health professionals in Argentina have accumulated such a wealth of experience in treating victims of state terrorism that they are now sharing…
Urban Chicken-Keeping Movement Spreads Its Wings
Matthew CardinaleATLANTA, Georgia, Mar 16 2012 (IPS) - With increasing concerns about the economy and environmental sustainability on the minds of many U.S. citizens, leaders in the grassroots movement to…
India Serves Up Costly Cocktail of Vaccines
NEW DELHI, Apr 27 2012 (IPS) - Ignoring widespread concern over the safety, efficacy and cost of pentavalent vaccines, India’s central health ministry has, this month, approved inclusion of the…
Deinstitutionalisation of Mental Health Patients in Argentina Not Enough
BUENOS AIRES, Jun 1 2012 (IPS) - A new approach to mental health care is slowly making headway in Argentina, against heavy resistance. Based on short-term hospitalisation, fewer psychiatric hospitals,…
Caribbean Moves to Protect Rights of HIV-Positive Workers
Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Caribbean Regional Support Team, Dr. Ernest Massiah. Credit: Desmond Brown/IPSBASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Jul 19 2012 (IPS) - Thirty…
OP-ED: Women and Girls at Heart of the Blue Revolution
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 11 2012 (IPS) - World Water Week recently concluded in Stockholm with a special emphasis on the linkages between water and food security. Lakshmi Puri. Credit: UN…
Injured Struggle in the Sahara
The destroyed Tabu neighbourhood at Gadarfai in southern Libya. Credit: Rebecca Murray/IPS.KUFRA, southern Libya, Oct 20 2012 (IPS) - Safia’s six-year-old body is riddled with scars from the rocket that…
Guyana Seeks to Shield Gold Miners from Mercury Ban
A small-scale gold miner shows off his earnings for the day. Credit: chuck624/cc by 2.0GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 26 2012 (IPS) - As regional delegates meet to discuss a legally binding…
Injustice Overshadows Growth in Chile
A Santiago demonstration calling for decent minimum wages is violently repressed in July 2012. Credit: Fernando Fiedler /IPSSANTIAGO, Jan 18 2013 (IPS) - Chile s positive economic performance in 2012…
U.S. Unveils Major New Proposal to Cut Vehicle Emissions
Smog over Los Angeles, California. Credit: Steven.Buss/cc by 2.0WASHINGTON, Mar 29 2013 (IPS) - Environmentalists and public health advocates are lauding a key, long-awaited proposal put forward by President Barack…
Survivors of Factory Collapse Speak Out
Many of the workers who survived the factory collapse in Bangladesh have lost their limbs. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPSDHAKA, May 20 2013 (IPS) - “It was dark and hot with choking…
The Girl Who Couldn’t Herd Goats Now Saves Lives
Jane Meriwas (l) addresses women from the Samburu community, in Kipsing Plains in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, about harmful cultural practices. Courtesy: Jane MeriwasNAIROBI , Jun 11 2013 (IPS) -…
/CORRECTED REPEAT*/River Diversion Project Spells Disaster
A major diversion project threatens to choke Mongolia's Orkhon River, the longest in the country. Credit: Michelle Tolson/IPSSELENGE PROVINCE, Mongolia, Jul 19 2013 (IPS) - Tsetseghkorol, a Mongolian herder, stares…
U.S. Report of GE Alfalfa Contamination Was “Inevitable”
Alfalfa is the fourth-widest grown crop in the United States. Credit: Public domainWASHINGTON, Sep 13 2013 (IPS) - With state and federal government agencies investigating a U.S. farmer’s complaint that…
Grappling to Give Uganda’s Fistula Patients Dignity
In Uganda, two percent of women of a reproductive age have experienced fistula, according to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2011. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPSKAMPALA , Nov 19 2013 (IPS) - Ever…