Abra Pollock
WASHINGTON, Feb 1 2008 (IPS) – Investing in young women and girls in developing regions must be a top priority for governments, multilateral agencies and the private sector, say the authors of a report released here this week.
Titled, Girls Count: A Global Investment Action Agenda, the 89-page report highlighted the systematic disadvantages faced by girls and women in developing countries in areas ranging from health, education, and nutrition to workforce participation and the burden of household tasks.
Countries that do not address these significant disparities risk perpetuating a cycle of poverty within their populations, the report said yet by investing in women and girls, countries can reap significant benefits in the spheres of political and economic…
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 11 2008 (IPS) – The United Nations warns that a sharp decline in international funding for reproductive health is threatening global efforts to reduce poverty, improve health and empower women worldwide.
This is especially evident in the case of funding for family planning where absolute dollar amounts are lower than they were in 1995, says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a report released here.
If this trend is not reversed, he cautions, it will have serious implications for the ability of countries to address the unmet need for such services, and could undermine efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce maternal and infant mortality.
Compounding the problem further, the largest share of population funding is now…
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, May 23 2008 (IPS) – The ongoing food crisis, characterised by growing shortages and rising prices of staple commodities, has far reaching implications for the world s scarce water resources, says a new study released here.
More food is likely to come at a cost of more water use in agriculture, according to the report titled Saving Water: From Field to Fork .
The emerging challenges facing the food sector include growing water scarcity; unacceptably high levels of under-nourishment; the proliferation of people who are overweight or obese; and of food that is lost or wasted in society.
All these challenges mean that a narrow perspective on food security in terms of production and supply is no longer sufficient, the study notes.
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Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON, Jun 18 2008 (IPS) – A new poll reveals that three-quarters of respondents in 18 geographically and culturally diverse countries reject the use of criminal penalties to discourage abortions.
The poll, released Wednesday by World Public Opinion (WPO) a website managed by the Programme on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that 17 of 18 countries polled have majorities that reject punitive measures, such as fines and imprisonment for those who give and receive the procedure, as deterrents to abortion.
While it does appear that many people around the world are uncomfortable with abortion, few think that the government should use punitive means to try to prevent it, said WorldPublicOpinion.org director Steven Kull.
Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Aug 27 2008 (IPS) – Hard on the heels of the signing of the Gender Protocol at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit, Swazi women have challenged King Mswati III on the monarchy s lavish lifestyle in the face of abject poverty and disease.
The Gender Protocol calls for 50 percent representation of women in all levels of government by 2015 and further urges member states to put in place legislative measures guaranteeing gender sensitive political and policy structures.
The protocol also calls for gender-specific approaches to treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS which the more than 1,000 demonstrators, mainly women and people living with HIV/AIDS, demanded in petitions to the Minister of Finance, Majozi Sithole…
Miriam Mannak
LUBUMBASHI (Democratic Republic of Congo), Oct 27 2008 (IPS) – With almost 200,000 people dying of malaria each year in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the disease remains the country s biggest killer.
The DRC is one of the worst affected countries in the world when it comes to malaria, a disease that is transmitted through the bite of infected female mosquitoes.
According to a 2005 survey financed by World Bank, 97 percent of the DRC s population of 60 million lives in areas permanently affected by malaria. The remaining three percent are vulnerable to malaria epidemics.
The report also states that 180,000 Congolese die of malaria each year, and it is estimated that one in five Congolese children dies before age five as a result of malaria. …
Mercedes Sayagues
PRETORIA, Dec 22 2008 (IPS) – Public health and individual human rights are poor friends. What may be good for society may be bad for the individual, or the other way round. And nothing sharpens this tension as starkly as AIDS.
Does a mother s right to refuse HIV testing prevail over the baby s right to a healthy life? Should infectious patients with drug-resistant TB be locked up? Can a father reduce maintenance payments because he must buy nutritious food to help his antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and stay alive?
Such tensions are explored in Balancing Act , the annual review launched in December by the Centre for the Study of AIDS at the University of Pretoria. It looks at public health practices and legislation around AIDS and rape, drug-resistan…
Hilmi Toros interviews JOKE MUYLWIJK, executive director of Gender and Water Alliance
ISTANBUL, Mar 21 2009 (IPS) – Climate change and corrupt practices are considered root causes for a potential water crisis of global proportions, leading to scarcity where water is needed most and flooding where it is needed the least.
Joke Muylwijk Credit: Gender and Water Alliance
The victims are unmistakeable: women, often poor and powerless.
The irony is that women know so much about water, but are allowed to say so little about its use and management, says Joke Muylwijk, ex…
Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Apr 22 2009 (IPS) – The Swazi government s slow response to a fast-growing tuberculosis epidemic has eroded the possibility of controlling it.
Themba Dlamini, the National TB Control Programme manager, says there has been a nearly ten-fold increase in the last 20 years from about 1 000 TB cases per year in 1987 to over 9,600 cases in 2007. Swaziland also has the world s highest HIV prevalence rate; people living with HIV/AIDS are significantly more vulnerable to catching tuberculosis.
This escalation of TB cases can be attributed to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, said Dlamini. 80 percent of the TB cases are also co-infected with HIV.
The country is falling short of meeting the World Health Organisation (WHO) TB treatment rate of 85 percent. …
Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, May 19 2009 (IPS) – The first step towards a massive global health prevention mechanism, under which billions of people around the world could be vaccinated against the H1N1 influenza virus while a handful of transnational pharmaceutical corporations raked in the profits was taken Tuesday parallel to the World Health Assembly.
The World Health Organisastion (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on influenza A vaccines estimated that if the current outbreak turns into a full-fledged global pandemic, 4.9 billion doses of a vaccine would be needed.
An approximate idea of the numbers involved emerges from a comparison with the price of the vaccine against the common seasonal flu, which costs around 10 dollars per dose in the United Sta…