Monika Manke

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 2008 (IPS) – Joyce and Tanya two women of different ages, nationalities, cultures and religions share something: both became victims of a missing goal.

Maria José Alcalá, senior advisor at UNIFEM Credit: UN Photo

Combating violence against women is what Inés Alberdi, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), calls the missing goal, because it is not an issue addressed by the U.N. s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

But it is an issue with a lot of faces, like J…

David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Nov 13 2008 (IPS) – Funding from the European Union s Brussels headquarters for research into tuberculosis stands at about a fifth of what it should be given the EU s enormous wealth, a new study has found.
With TB killing 1.7 million people per year, health policy analysts estimate that 1.45 billion euros (2 billion dollars) needs to be devoted to research and development (R D) specifically targeting the disease every year. During 2007, however, the EU s executive arm, the European Commission, spent less than 19 million euros, according to the humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF).

According to the organisation, the Commission should have given at least 101 million euros to TB research last year as its fai…

Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Jan 8 2009 (IPS) – An international chorus of condemnation has blasted Israel over its human rights abuses in Gaza. Operation Cast Lead, into its 12th day, has now claimed the lives of over 700 Palestinians.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded safe access Thursday for ICRC officials and Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) ambulances to evacuate the wounded. It accused Israel of deliberately delaying ambulances.

Rescue teams made several attempts to rescue the wounded and retrieve bodies in several areas of Gaza city but were refused entry by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers.

On Wednesday, however, after a week s intensive negotiations with Israeli officials, ICRC officials and PRC ambulance teams managed to reach …

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 19 2009 (IPS) – Despite the heavy military presence of the United States and other Western powers, Afghanistan remains the world s largest illicit producer of opium, according to a new study released by experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotics on behalf of the United Nations.
Afghanistan is the source of over 90 percent of the illicit opium in the world, Mylven Levitsky, a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), told a news conference after releasing the board s latest study on the global trade in illicit drugs.

Levitsky, who thinks that lack of security is the main obstacle to halting opium production in Afghanistan, urged the U.S.-backed authorities in Kabul to take immediate measures to address the d…

Miriam Mannak

CAPE TOWN, Mar 26 2009 (IPS) – Despite repeated calls for integrated HIV and tuberculosis (TB) health services from medical experts and AIDS activists, most of South Africa s public health facilities continue to treat the diseases independently. Co-infection presents a major risk to the lives of people living with HIV.

Women protests against lack of TB services du…

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 29 2009 (IPS) – More than half of all children in Argentina are at risk of illness because of lack of access to clean, running water, while a large proportion are also threatened by polluting industries and the use of pesticides in agriculture, according to a study by the ombudsman s office.
Los efectos de la contaminación ambiental en la niñez. Una cuestión de derechos (The Effects of Environmental Pollution on Children: A Question of Rights) is the title of a report released this month by the national ombudsman s office, carried out with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations children s agency (UNICEF), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO).<…

José Adán Silva

MANAGUA, May 28 2009 (IPS) – The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) described the criminalisation of abortion under any circumstances in Nicaragua as a violation of human rights.
At its 42nd session in Geneva, the CAT expressed its profound concern about Nicaragua s strict ban on abortion, urging the government to repeal the 2006 law that banned therapeutic abortion and to make its legislation on abortion more flexible, especially in cases of rape or incest.

In October 2006, the Nicaraguan parliament approved a draft law to revoke article 165 of the criminal code, which had permitted abortion for medical reasons since 1893.

Under that law, therapeutic abortion had been legal in cases where the mother s life was in danger, the foet…

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…