Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN, Jul 30 2009 (IPS) – In Sierra Leone, a mother who transmits HIV to her child can be fined, jailed for up to seven years, or both. Human Rights Watch reports that in 2008, several men were arrested in Egypt simply for being HIV positive. New legislation is currently being discussed in Angola that could lead to a three to ten year jail sentence for those who knowingly pass on HIV.
The legislation is inspired by a September 2004 workshop organised by the influential reproductive health organisation Family Health International developed an African Model Law intended to protect those who are infected and exposed to HIV.
But various civil society organisations fear that these legislative measures will hurt more than help the fight against HIV/AIDS.<…
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Aug 21 2009 (IPS) – A behind-the-scenes tussle between the pro-business, free trade wing of the Thai government and the country s public health activists is raging over the fate of a national programme to supply cheaper generic drugs.
Activists are worried that Bangkok s plans to strengthen the country s intellectual property (IP) strategy could come at a heavy price for the tens of thousands of Thais who depend on the locally produced generic versions of expensive brand-name drugs to stay alive.
Signs that this clash could spill over into the public arena emerged this month following a strongly worded letter written to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which accused the government of ignoring the plight of Thais who depend on generic med…
Louise Redvers
LUANDA, Sep 29 2009 (IPS) – Angelina Silva doesn t remember the exact dates when her sons died. She just remembers their ages.
Many Angolan children don t reach their fifth birthday. Credit: Louise Redvers/IPS
One was one year old, the other was one year and nine months, she said. They had an illness. We think it was malaria, but we don t know for sure.
The 30-year-old, who has five other children and lives in a shantytown on the outskirts of Angola s capital Lu…
KANO, Oct 8 2009 (IPS) – Cowpeas are of vital importance to the diets and livelihood of millions of people in West and Central Africa. But the crop is notoriously difficult to store beetles and other pests can destroy an entire granary full of cowpeas within 12 months.
In September, ten people died – twenty mo…
MIDRAND, South Africa, Nov 13 2009 (IPS) – As the Second Africa Water Week ends, participants have reiterated that lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation has a direct bearing on public health and the economy in Africa.
Podcasting Africa Water Week
Click on the links below to listen to audio reports from the week-long summit on water issues.
The South African minister for water and environmental affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, who takes over as chair of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) for the next two years, observed that cooperation on these matters will serve as a principal building block towards breaking the cycle of poverty in Africa.
She also emphasised the need for enhancing regional capacity to carry forw…
Wambi Michael
ARUSHA, Dec 4 2009 (IPS) – All HIV-positive east Africans could soon access free anti-retroviral treatment even as they move freely from country to country, if a new proposed law comes into effect.
Catherine Mumma led a consultation in the five East African states before the drafting of the new proposed law. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS
The East African Community (EAC) is currently developin…
Elizabeth Eames Roebling
SANTO DOMINGO, Jan 15 2010 (IPS) – The Dominican Republic, which has historically regarded its Haitian neighbour with suspicion, has turned toward Haiti with a tremendous outpouring of aid and love since a devastating earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.
A grizzly scene marks the road to mass graves holding hundreds of bodies near Port-au-Prince. Credit: UN Photo/Logan Abassi
All of t…
Mario Osava* – Tierramérica
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 22 2010 (IPS) – Limiting your cholesterol through diet may not be enough to maintain cardiovascular health in polluted cities like São Paulo in Brazil: the particulates suspended in the air alter the molecular composition of LDL, popularly known as bad cholesterol, making it even more dangerous.
Polluted cities are a health risk, especially for the poor. Credit: Alejandro Arigón/IPS
The structure of LDL (low density lipoprotein) facilitates …
Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Mar 26 2010 (IPS) – The U.S.-based multinational Union Carbide got away lightly after causing the world s worst industrial tragedy at Bhopal, but that legacy has come to haunt U.S. corporations seeking to tap India s newly opened market for nuclear power equipment.
On Mar. 15, the government was to have tabled the civil nuclear liability bill, which would cap foreign firms liability at 450 million U.S. dollars in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant and nail responsibility on the Indian state operator instead of on the equipment supplier.
But because opposition parties to the right and left of the ruling Congress party were uneasy about such provisions, the government sensed that there was a good chance that the bill would be defe…
Stephen Leahy
LIVERPOOL, Apr 28 2010 (IPS) – Poor intervention in Injecting drug use (IDU) is driving the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe and is also largely responsible for the tuberculosis epidemic in parts of Russia, says a new study.
Shockingly, a mere three US cents a day per injecting drug user are being invested to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and TB, according to the study released at the opening of the Harm Reduction 2010 conference this week in this English port city.
Our report shows that just 160 million US dollars a year are being used in total for all the harm reduction programmes to prevent the spread of HIV around the world, says Gerry Stimson, executive director of the International Harm Reduction Association.
Harm reduction involves pr…