BHATINDA, India , Dec 31 (IPS) - Life could not have looked any bleaker for Manpreet, 28, when she and three of her four young daughters were found HIV-positive in April, not too long after her truck driver husband died possibly of AIDS. When Raju (her husband) died of suspected AIDS, last year, we did not think that h
CHENNAI, India , Dec 30 (IPS) - Swallow this before you deliver or who knows, your baby too will have it (HIV/AIDS) too, a nurse told Mallika (not her real name), tossing her a tablet of Nevirapine at a government medical facility in Trichy city, 400 km south of this southern Indian city. In an example of the insen
NEW YORK, Dec 26 (IPS) - Even as donations from wealthy countries to a global fund to fight HIV/AIDS decline, activists are pushing for new ways to expand access to life-saving drugs in the hardest-hit parts of the world. On Dec. 13, a new initiative called the International HIV Treatment Access Coalition (ITAC) was la
BOGOTA, Dec 26 (IPS) - Since Elizabeth Torres, a mother of two who lives in the city of Cali in western Colombia , found out five years ago that she, her older child and her ex-husband all tested positive for HIV, she has been working hard to provide assistance for and fight for the rights of women living with HIV.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 26 (IPS) - Sumaia dos Santos Dias was railroaded into having her tubes tied after she gave birth to her third child at the age of 24, because she tested positive for HIV, the AIDS virus. Today she is working to defend the reproductive rights of other pregnant women living with HIV in
WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush s decision to delay a widely anticipated trip to Africa has prompted accusations from experts that Washington is growing callous to the world s development problems. The White House said last weekend that it was cancelling the January 10-17 trip, which would have
HARARE, Dec 23 (IPS) - Loveness Phelimon, 24, dropped out of school soon after finishing her primary school in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe . My father opted to send my younger brother to school, so I did not get an opportunity to go on to form one, although I would have loved to if I had been given a chance, says
MASAKA, Uganda , Dec 20 (IPS) - About six years ago Rosemary Kityo, 31, discovered that she was HIV-positive. Her husband, Yowasi Kityo, had already succumbed to the disease, after a long illness. At first I didn t know that it was slim (AIDS). But my neighbours talked about it. Even then, I did not believe it. My husb
NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (IPS) - An anti-HIV campaign involving visits to India by celebrity donors such as billionaire Bill Gates and Hollywood idol Richard Gere has become bogged down by hostile publicity in the local media. Much of the hostility revolved around figures released by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
OTTAWA, Dec 20 (IPS) - Most Canadian prisons are failing to meet their legal obligations to establish measures to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C among inmates, a new report concludes. Action on HIV/AIDS in Prisons: Too Little, Too Late, A Report Card , by the Montreal-based Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network,
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam , Dec 19 (IPS) - Poor teacher training and a high incidence of teenage pregnancies and abortions are prompting experts and educators to back reforms in the way Vietnam teaches its youth about sexual and reproductive matters. I ve got a boyfriend in the same class. At first we only hugged and k
BANGKOK, Dec 18 (IPS) - Over 30 Asia-Pacific countries have achieved what in a post-Sept. 11 political climate is, increasingly, a daunting task: exposing U.S. government policy as being out of touch with reality. This triumph stood out this week at the end of a regional conference on population, after an overwhelming
BAMAKO, Dec 17 (IPS) - If HIV/AIDS is declared a public-health threat just as smallpox, leprosy and tuberculosis were, discrimination against people living with the virus would diminish, believes an activist. The activist, Modibo Kane, who is the president of the Malian Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, says
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 16 (IPS) - Argentine women who are poor and between the ages of 15 and 24 are the group most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, say experts, citing traditional gender roles, lack of information, and the asymmetry of male-female power in sexual relations as contributing fac
BANGKOK, Dec 16 (IPS) - In a clear show of regional solidarity, Asia-Pacific countries are standing up to an U.S. government effort to change existing international commitments to reproductive health rights and services at a population conference here. On Monday, the text of the action plan due to come out of the Fifth
GENEVA, Dec 15 (IPS) - The divergent interests of the developing South and the industrialised North when it comes to access to essential medicines and to special and differential treatment continue to muddle World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks with just five days left before the deadline for resolving the two matters.
DAKAR, Dec 11 (IPS) - Recognised for its effective HIV/AIDS programme, Senegal s accomplishments may suffer defeat due to the growing number of women coming down with the disease. Women have found themselves at the heart of the pandemic s risk pool. In 14 years, the number of women living with HIV/AIDS has quadrupled,
MEXICO CITY, Dec 11 (IPS) - The world s two billion children deserve the right to be heard and to fully participate in society, says the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) in its flagship report, deploring that millions of minors continue to suffer neglect. Allowing children to participate in the decisions that af
OTTAWA, Dec 5 (IPS) - Canadian aboriginals, who are prone to far higher rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and suicide than the rest of the country s population, say they are disappointed in a major new study of the nation s health system. The report by former provincial premier Roy Romanow is expected to be used
COLOMBO, Dec 5 (IPS) - After shunning involvement in Sri Lanka s nearly two-decade old ethnic conflict, the business community is spearheading efforts to put the country back on track not only through its support of the peace process, but other initiatives as well. Questions are asked. Why didn t we get involved earlie
PORT OF SPAIN, Dec 4 (IPS) - The family of a young man suffering from the HIV virus cleans him by donning boots and hosing down the bed, with him on it. They feed him by pushing food along the floor to the man. A 23-year-old mother of one tells of her ordeal at a hospital here, after it was revealed that she had contra
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 4 (IPS) - Chagas disease, malaria and leishmaniasis are part of a group of neglected diseases that claim millions of lives a year, mainly in poor countries, while little research and development is being carried out on drugs to combat and treat them, activists and health experts pointed out in
HARARE, Dec 4 (IPS) - An acute shortage of food is worsening the health of people living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe , health officials have warned. About half of Zimbabwe s 14.5 million people need urgent food aid between now and March 2003. Reports say some rural families have already resorted to eating wild fruits, pr
BEIJING, Dec 4 (IPS) - The Chinese government, long in denial of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, looks set to finally deal with the problem squarely. A series of authoritative studies showing the socio-economic impacts of the deadly disease on China appears to have finally persuaded authorities, who attach paramo
TORONTO, Dec 3 (IPS) - Although it has long been apparent that women are more vulnerable to catching the HIV virus during vaginal sexual intercourse than men, services and treatments for women have been slow in coming in rich western countries such as Canada . This may be in part because HIV/AIDS emerged in North Ameri
GEORGETOWN, Dec 3 (IPS) - CARICOM countries will request a further reduction in the price they pay for retroviral drugs used to treat patients infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Last year, the 16 members of the regional body negotiated substantial price reductions from drug makers but they say that without
MBABANE, Dec 3 (IPS) - A deadly equation is gradually being understood in the socially conservative society of Swaziland : that sexual abuse contributes significantly to the spread of HIV, and is rooted in a lack of women s rights. For a country with traditional values, there seems to be a lot of incest and spousal abu
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 2 (IPS) - European Union (EU) trade commissioner Pascal Lamy is upbeat at the prospect of a World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal to ease access to cheap medicine for developing countries, despite the failure of technical talks in Geneva last Friday. Lamy on Monday ended a four-day, three country trip t
NEW DELHI, Dec 1 (IPS) - Lalitha s (not her real name) pregnancy was cause for joy in the affluent Arora family, which quickly resolved to get her the best private pre-natal care that money could buy in India s capital. The obstetrician at the large and well-appointed private nursing home, located in the middle of a po
HAVANA, Dec 1 (IPS) - The use of condoms is key to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, although many people in Latin America and the Caribbean who should be using them fail to do so due to cultural, social and financial hurdles. Health experts underline that used correctly, condoms are highly effective in preventing unw
MEXICO CITY, Dec 1 (IPS) - Young people in Latin America, 560,000 of whom are living with HIV, are put at higher risk by contradictory advice or a complete lack of sex education, say activists. The youth in this heavily Catholic region are told on one hand to inform yourself, and practice safe sex, and on the other to
SANTIAGO, Dec 1 (IPS) - Discrimination continues to plague those who are HIV-positive in Latin America, but women and men with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are opening social spaces for themselves by creating their own organisations in which solidarity, activism and education all play a role. AIDS, the result
BELGRADE, Nov 30 (IPS) - Serbia is learning to break the taboo on AIDS as it emerges from earlier years of isolation. Under the rule of former president Slobodan Milosevic, AIDS and HIV patients were the problem of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and themselves, not of the government.
GENEVA, Nov 29 (IPS) - Negotiators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) failed Friday to reach an agreement to ensure poor countries access to essential medicines. Health activists blame the fiasco on opposition from the United States and a handful of other industrialised countries. The WTO council on the Trade-Rela
JOHANNESBURG, Nov 29 (IPS) - South Africa would need to reignite a debate on whether to make HIV/AIDS a notifiable disease, believes Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. This is in light of a mortality study which reveals the grim extent of the pandemic in South Africa. The report, released earlier this month by S
MANILA, Nov 29 (IPS) - Larri Hayhurst held a throw pillow with both hands, laid it on her lap, buried her head in it, and let out a scream. There! That s how you deal with the big noise, says Hayhurst. The relief that a cushion and a scream like this can give you is amazing. And, nobody can really hear you. Hayhur
NEW YORK, Nov 28 (IPS) - Women s advocates are hailing a new HIV test that gives results in minutes, although they say that counselling and prevention are still key in fighting the disease. The test, called OraQuick, will be available for sale to the nearly 40,000 qualified locations in the United States certi
HAVANA, Nov 28 (IPS) - Pregnant women living with HIV in Cuba are no longer under such heavy pressure to undergo an abortion, and perinatal transmission of the AIDS virus has been virtually eliminated through medical treatment administered to HIV-positive expectant mothers. It was really hard for me to come to grips wi
LAGOS, Nov 28 (IPS) - The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is a result of stigmatisation and discrimination against people who have tested positive, say experts. Discriminating against people who are infected is forcing the epidemic under the carpet, where it does no one any good. It continues to spread. But if we a
NAIROBI, Nov 27 (IPS) - The United Nations Children s Fund (Unicef) has launched a nation-wide television, radio and poster campaign urging Kenya s politicians to put the issue of Kenya s 1.2 million AIDS orphans at the centre of the 2002 election agenda. The number of children orphaned by AIDS is expected to double by
BEIJING, Nov 27 (IPS) - Turned-away faces, rejected handshakes and a wall of hostility are a daily reality for Ge Yueqin, a 28-year-old woman who opted not to shrink from public view because of HIV but went on with her life and moved in with her boyfriend. But even with their determination, Ge and her boyfriend, 24-yea
COLOMBO, Nov 27 (IPS) - These days, senior employees of companies in Sri Lanka s free trade zones not only look over the work of their staff, mostly women garment workers, but also teach them about health and HIV/AIDS. This is but one of the many lessons that Sri Lanka is learning from other countries whose businesses
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 26 (IPS) - Rakiya Omaar works with some of the estimated 250,000 women who saw their loved ones killed, and then were raped during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda . Today, Omaar helps the survivors tell their stories on videotape in an attempt to ensure the prosecution of the men who raped them. The
HARARE, Nov 25 (IPS) - At a time when race relations are strained in Zimbabwe , one group is finding itself shunned by both white and black people. They are the more than 15,000 black people with albinism, an inherited lack of pigment in the skin, hair, and eyes. Besides being treated like lepers, there is a rise in th
BANGKOK, Nov 22 (IPS) - Bon, 18, says that being in sex work earns him more than enough money for his needs, but he still hopes to do something else in the future. You don t need special qualifications to join this business and the pay is impressive, he explains in an interview. But he says he has set some goals for hi
COLOMBO, Nov 20 (IPS) - Seven years after the launch of Asia s only public broadcaster, the pioneering station is struggling to stay alive because corporate sponsors shy away from support, pushing it to become increasingly dependent on U.N. agencies and other supporters. It s a struggle to keep this station going, sai
PA DAENG, Thailand , Nov 18 (IPS) - This village nestled along the banks of the Sai River in northern Thailand has become the new home for 15 Burmese who fled here to avoid the stigma of being HIV-positive. Before them, others from Burma afflicted with HIV have also slipped across the porous Thai-Burmese border to be c
SYDNEY, Nov 16 (IPS) - A just-ended mini-summit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) here highlighted the complexity of balancing trade and public health concerns, an issue that critics say remains tilted toward the interests of richer countries and companies. At the end Friday of the two-day informal meeting of trade
WINDHOEK, Nov 15 (IPS) - Namibia has become the second country in Africa -- after South Africa -- to start producing condoms to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS, devastating the continent. A Namibian-owned firm, Commodity Exchange, says it aims to make the condoms available at an affordable price.
DHAKA, Nov 15 (IPS) - Spiritual affairs usually dominate the Friday sermons of Maulana Athikur Rahman at a mosque here in Bangladesh , but these days he touches on religion, life - and risky sexual behaviour. I tell my congregation, Never engage in sex with any woman other than your wife. Never engage in homosexual act
LONDON, Nov 13 (IPS) - More than 70 countries will fail to make the deadline of Education For All set for 2015, and some are even going backwards, says a new report released by UNESCO in London on Wednesday. But 83 countries are on track to achieve Education For All (EFA) by the deadline of 2015 set at the World Educat
NEW DELHI, Nov 11 (IPS) - A 100 million U.S. dollar grant to fight HIV/AIDS in India , announced by the world s richest man Bill Gates soon after he landed in the national capital Monday, has been mired by controversy after policy makers suspected a hidden U.S. agenda behind the largesse. Speaking at a function --
MAPUTO, Nov 9 (IPS) - The European Union (EU) has donated 101 million U.S. dollars to promote regional integration among the 14-nation members of the Southern African Economic Community (SADC). The EU and the Southern African Development Community signed the agreement, which provides a comprehensive framework for the E
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7 (IPS) - Millions of lives could be saved from deadly diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis if the world learned from the success of efforts to eradicate oncoceriasis - or river blindness - from Africa, say United Nations officials and public health advocacy groups. The key to overcoming the
BANGKOK, Nov 7 (IPS) - In a high school classroom here in the Thai capital, Nakorn Saniyothin takes out a condom packet, tears off the wrapper and uses a rubber model of a penis to show her male students how to use the protector. Sometimes, she also shows her class how female condoms and home pregnancy kits are used.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov 6 (IPS) - Testing positive for HIV, the AIDS virus, often brings ostracism for black women in Brazil , who already suffer from prejudice and social inequality due to the colour of their skin, their gender, and in many cases, their poverty. It was terrible to discover that I was living with HIV five
CAPRIVI, Namibia , Nov 6 (IPS) - The introduction of female condom, Femidom, in Namibia two years ago was seen as a weapon to empower women to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. It was also meant to allow women to take decisions in their sexual relationships and not to rely on
MAPUTO, Nov 5 (IPS) - Ana Martinho, 15, is the eldest in a family of six. Her mother died in March, after a long illness. My mother had been ill for a long time but we did not know what she was suffering from until her friend contacted Reencontro (a non-governmental organisation helping orphans and people living with H
NEW DELHI, Nov 5 (IPS) - India may be the ideal place to source anti-virus software, but an anti-HIV vaccine may prove to be a different kettle of fish -- as Bill Gates himself is about to discover when he arrives in the country next week. The Maharaja of Microsoft is scheduled to begin Monday a four-day tour of severa
BOGOTA, Nov 4 (IPS) - Women living with HIV/AIDS in Colombia have set up their own network to provide each other with support, fight ignorance about the disease, and press gender-specific demands for health care. At the age of 19, Miriam Cossio felt safe from infection with the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV), beca
WASHINGTON, Nov 1 (IPS) The United States pro-corporate trade agenda in the ongoing free trade talks with Latin American countries in Quito, Ecuador could deprive millions of patients in the region of lifesaving medicines, says a leading health advocacy group. Doctors Without Borders, also know as Medecins Sans Fro
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 31 (IPS) - The Argentine Congress passed a new law on reproductive health that provides for free birth control methods and advice to women nationwide, and will help prevent teen pregnancy, back-alley abortions, cancer of the reproductive system and breasts, and the spread of sexually transmitted disea
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 29 (IPS) - South Africa , which is keeping a tight control on government spending, is moving to protect the country s poor from rocketing food prices and the threat of hunger. Poverty reduction remains the over-arching goal of government policy. Education, health services, welfare, social security and
TORONTO, Oct 25 (IPS) - Some Canadian doctors are breaking the law by automatically testing pregnant patients for HIV/AIDS unless a woman has explicitly refused to be tested. The provinces of Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador have officially adopted this automatic, opt-out approach, ignoring the informed consent pr
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 25 (IPS) - A new prevention programme implemented in nine public hospitals in Argentina has reduced the rate of mother-child transmission of HIV, the AIDS virus, by nearly 90 percent. Perinatal transmission is the cause of seven percent of HIV/AIDS cases in this Southern Cone country of 37 million.
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 25 (IPS) - Government has moved to end the double jeopardy facing people who are raped in South Africa by approving a law allowing them to demand their rapists have HIV tests. South Africa has one of the highest rates of rapes in the world and the second highest rate of AIDS infection, according to th
LUSAKA, Oct 24 (IPS) - Sonile Zulu is very comfortable using the female condom Femidom as it is popularly known. She says she just cannot understand all the fears and criticism around its use in Zambia that successfully scuttled a campaign to make it the ultimate empowerment tool for women when it was launched. Mos
WINDHOEK, Oct 22 (IPS) - Rights and AIDS support groups in Namibia have accused the government of failure to make anti-retroviral drugs available to people living with HIV/AIDS. But Dr. Libertine Amathila, the Minister of Health and Social Services, has denied that the government is applying delaying tactics in making
NAIROBI, Oct 21 (IPS) - Caroline was 30 years old when she found out she was HIV-positive. In 1999, when she went public about her status, her husband walked out, leaving her to raise their two children on her own. In traditional African societies, a woman s place is in the home. She defers to her husband who is the br
MBABANE, Oct 21 (IPS) - Theatre in Swaziland is proving to be a very successful way to educate both the young and old, men and women, about gender issues and how to protect themselves against sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS. A production called Theatre under the trees is drawing enthusiastic audiences who stay on after the s
MANILA, Oct 21 (IPS) - Education campaigns on HIV/AIDS and health care programmes among lesbians are badly needed in the Philippines , given the misconceptions among many of them that they are not susceptible to the pandemic, activists here say. Low risk doesn t mean no risk. For all we know, we might be a ticking time
NEW YORK, Oct 18 (IPS) - Thousands of U.S students are being taught that chastity is the only way to avoid pregnancy or HIV/AIDS, although whether these abstinence-only programmes really work is highly questionable, activists say. Public school programmes teaching that no sex is safe sex have been around since 1996, wh
CHIANG MAI, Thailand , Oct 18 (IPS) - The Thai government s production on Friday of a key anti-retroviral drug for its HIV-affected people marks a major victory in the global quest for access to cheaper life saving drugs. Thailand s state-run Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) will go ahead with the productio
NEW YORK, Oct 17 (IPS) - Multinational beverage giant Coca Cola is under fire from AIDS activists in the West who are demanding the company pay for HIV/AIDS treatment for its infected workers in developing countries. On Thursday, activists in New York and several U.S. cities took to the streets to condemn Coca Cola s a
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 (IPS) - Despite a strong political boost by world leaders, the global fight against HIV/AIDS is being seriously undermined by a severe shortage of resources, says a U.N. report released here. The good news is that in several countries - including Nigeria , Indo
HAVANA, Oct 16 (IPS) - An 18-year-old sex worker in the Cuban capital says that over the past two years, the foreign tourists she frequents have used condoms maybe four times at the most. Her Italian, Spanish or Mexican friends -- she flatly rejects the description of them as clients -- would be offended by the idea, s
COTONOU, Oct 16 (IPS) - We must reposition Africa in a globalised economy to enable us to fight poverty and improve the quality of life of Africa s (600 million) people. The statement, by 500 African legislators who met in Cotonou, Benin last week, endorses the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD). NEPA
DHAKA, Oct 15 (IPS) - Faruque Ahmed, a retired employee of the Bangladesh Army, went to take up a mechanic s job with Saudi Arabia s defence ministry in 1986, leaving behind his pregnant wife. Ahmed first saw his son two years later, when he came home for a month s holiday. Soon after going back to work, he had kid
NAIROBI, Oct 12 (IPS) - Cajetan Boy s new play, By Any Means Necessary , reflects some dark and uncomfortable truths about contemporary Kenya , just as the country is counting down to elections. People don t think about who the politician is. The bottom line is what can he or she do for me. A lot of our political situa
DHAKA, Oct 11 (IPS) - Shefali Akhtar, a teenage girl from the district town of Gazipur, Bangladesh , did not know that she would end up as a domestic worker with an Arab family in Kuwait . All her agent -- who charged 65,000 taka (1,100 U.S. dollars) to find her an employment in the Midd
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 4 (IPS) - South Africa is reporting an alarming increase in sexual violence against children, most of it involving family members or people known to the victims, a United Nations official said Friday. According to reports, attackers are targeting young children as sexual partners in order to reduce
SWAZILAND, Oct 4 (IPS) - The vow of Swaziland s maidens to adhere to age-old chastity rules after these had been in abeyance for years made international headlines a year ago. King Orders Girls to Forego Sex, was a typical story title of a European publication, which parroted the media belief that 34 year-old King Mswa
HAVANA, Oct 3 (IPS) - Vimang, a product made in Cuba from an extract of the bark from certain varieties of mango tree, is improving the quality of life of people with HIV/AIDS and could turn into an effective complement to antiretroviral treatments, says a study conducted by a group of Cuban scientific and medical orga
LIMA, Oct 3 (IPS) - When Peruvian teacher Sonia Borja found out four years ago that she tested positive for HIV, she turned to a support group, only to find that many female patients, who are a minority, felt uncomfortable in groups that consisted mainly of men. Borja, who was 38 at the time, said I found there that or
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (IPS) - With women now constituting nearly half of all people living with HIV and AIDS around the world, more studies are focusing on how to tailor treatment to their specific health issues. Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the AIDS death rate in the
BROOKLIN, Canada , Oct 1 (IPS) - Developing a handful of biotechnologies to prevent and treat diseases could save millions of lives in developing countries each year, say the authors of a study released Monday in Nature Biotechnology magazine. It would also ensure those countries do not fall behind the rest of the worl
BEIJING, Sep 30 (IPS) - In a swift, uncompromising crackdown on yellow vice in karaoke parlours near the Dazhongsi temple in the Chinese capital, the police detained all the women who were made-up and dressed in the traditional cheongsam . Some tried to argue that they were simply hostesses and not prostitutes, but suc
SIEM REAP, Cambodia , Sep 27 (IPS) - Muny has been fretting for weeks, but is too scared to go back to the hospital where he had his blood tested for HIV months ago. My girlfriend is okay. She has no HIV, so maybe I m okay too, he said, referring to the results of his partner s blood tests. But I m afraid to know if I
HO CHI MINH CITY, Sep 27 (IPS) - By the time 28-year-old Nguyen Thi Nhung, a sex worker in this southern Vietnamese city, learned about the dangers of contracting HIV, it was too late: she was already infected. I used to go out overnight and have sex with customers. Two years later, I discovered I was HIV-positive, Nh
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 (IPS) - The United Nations renewed its appeal Thursday for immediate food and relief supplies to save the lives of millions of people in sub-Saharan African facing death from starvation and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Shocked by the horrors caused by the disease and the continuing famine in
OTTAWA, Sep 25 (IPS) - While Canada s justice minister says he is ready to defy pressure from the United States and decriminalise possession of marijuana, the country s health minister is fighting in court against a group of seven people who smoke pot for medical reasons. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said in a recen
ABIDJAN, Sep 24 (IPS) - The little village of Gbangbegouine, located some 630 kilometres west of Abidjan, the commercial capital of Cote D Ivoire, woke up one morning to a woman s, uncontrollable, sobs. Marie Gueu, in her 50s, was crying because she was unable to afford the excision ceremony for her eldest daughter, Fi
PORT OF SPAIN, Sep 23 (IPS) - When Ginelle McDonald of the Rap Port Drop in Centre here in Trinidad and Tobago , spoke recently to a youth audience on the Turks and
TOKYO, Sep 20 (IPS) - Megumi (not her real name) is 16 and sexually active. She started going out with her boyfriend last year and they use condoms irregularly. I have heard about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. But my boyfriend does not like to use condoms all the time and I love him too much to force hi
OTTAWA, Sep 19 (IPS) - A three-year programme in Canada s west coast province of British Columbia (BC) to anonymously test the blood of pregnant aboriginal women in rural communities is creating some controversy among aboriginal AIDS activists. On the one hand, the data will be valuable in pinpointing the extent of HIV
MEXICO CITY, Sep 19 (IPS) - Pilar recently watched her little boy die of AIDS, as well as her husband, who infected her after his latest stint working in the United States . Pilar, 35, who did not want to give her real name, is living with HIV in the city of Puebla, near Mexico City and far from her home village, the n
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 18 (IPS) - After devastating millions of lives elsewhere, HIV/AIDS is moving to parts of the former Soviet Union and neighbouring regions much faster than anywhere else in the world, says a new study by the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF). The 120-page report warns that without immediate and
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 16 (IPS) - The 190-member U.N. General Assembly formally endorsed Monday a new initiative to rebuild and rejuvenate one of the world s most crisis-stricken and war-ravaged continents: Africa. I am delighted to join you for this important meeting dedicated to exploring ways in which the international
OUAGADOUGOU, Sep 16 (IPS) - Groups caring for AIDS orphans in Burkina Faso are shifting to community approach to keep the children within the local community. Burkina Faso, a semi-arid West African country, with a population of about 11 million, has 350,000 AIDS orphans. Using a community approach means that the local
LISBON, Sep 15 (IPS) - Portugal is the only European Union (EU) country where AIDS continues to spread in an alarming manner, due to public awareness campaigns that focus only on marital fidelity and abstinence, especially on the part of women, complain experts. The number of people living with HIV, the AIDS virus,
NAIROBI, Sep 14 (IPS) - If you are HIV-positive and looking for employment in Kenya the chances are employers will put your job application in the reject pile. - Pre-employment HIV testing is widespread both in government and the private sector, says Dr. Chris Ouma of Action Aid. I know many companies who test all
LOME, Sep 10 (IPS) - Female condom, which is still new in much of Africa, offers the best protection against AIDS and allows women to negotiate safe sex, says a campaigner. The campaigner, Sandrine Agbokpe, who is a top model and Miss Togo 2001 , is urging Togolese women to take charge of their body and use the female
GABORONE, Sep 9 (IPS) - It is midnight on Saturday. Thick crowds pack the three bars in Kilimanjaro, a shabby shopping centre in the Gaborone township of Broadhurst. Beer and whisky bottles litter the grounds. It is brisk business for liquor, dagga and sex. A few blocks away, business is also booming in the more upmark
LUNDA, Sep 6 (IPS) - Luisa Cruz* felt like she had won the lottery. She got her life back. But her windfall turned into a nightmare. Earlier this year, Cruz, 22, was seriously sick in Luanda, the capital of Angola , with AIDS-related infections. Her weight was down to 39kgs. Bingo, she got a free trip to get free anti-
KOLKATA, India , Sep 5 (IPS) - Come Durga Puja, the raucous Indian festival in October dedicated to the ten-armed goddess Durga, and sex workers in this bustling eastern metropolis are in demand not just for the satisfaction of lust but also the dust on their doorsteps. By age-old custom, the numerous, gaudily painted,
BEIJING, Sep 3 (IPS) - China s apparent attempt to silence one of its most prominent AIDS activists, just as he was about to receive an international award, mirrors the continued divergence within the government on how to handle the country s escalating HIV epidemic. Dr Wan Yanhai, who disappeared in Beijing more than
JOHANNSEBURG, Sep 3 (IPS) - Causes from AIDS awareness to gender equality and human rights have a powerful tool in new Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), felt participants at a conference devoted to new media on the sidelines of the World Summit of Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg,
JOHANNESBURG, Sep 2 (IPS) - By the end of 2000, 13 million children in the world had lost their mother or both parents to AIDS. That 75 percent of these children lived in sub-Saharan Africa indicates the heavy toll the disease is taking in this region of the developing world. Mozambique is one nation that has alrea
BROOKLIN, Ontario, Aug 29 (IPS) - Failure to invest in scientific research in developing countries is undermining efforts to fight poverty, disease and environmental destruction, says renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs. Politics and economic policies cannot solve these problems without substantial investments in science
COTONOU, Aug 28 (IPS) - Benin s first national study of AIDS orphans has recorded a total of 42,000 children who have lost one or both parents to the killer disease. Innocent Kpoton, of the Cotonou-based National Programme Against AIDS, says Benin s AIDS orphans are creating a new social class in the country. Statisti
LIMA, Aug 28 (IPS) - HIV/AIDS patients in Peru will be cared for in their homes by their own families, who will receive special training from the Health Ministry and a local non-governmental organisation, Vˇa Libre. The new programme is aimed at improving the quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients, especially in the term
KINGSTON, Aug 28 (IPS) - Almost a year ago, the Jamaica National AIDS Committee proposed changing some 20 laws that activists said discriminate against people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Till now, the government has remained silent on the issue, unwilling to risk a controversy that could affect its bid for a
CONAKRY, Aug 27 (IPS) - Guinea has more than 13,000 children, orphaned by AIDS, who face frequent discrimination, according to a non-governmental organisation (NGO). The organisation, Stat Views International, shed light on the plight of the orphans during a recent conference held in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, to
NEW YORK, Aug 26 (IPS) - Women of colour, who comprise the vast majority of HIV/AIDS cases in the United States , continue to be stigmatised and have difficulty accessing the services they need, advocates say. These problems are magnified behind prison walls, where the proportion of woman inmates with HIV is as high as
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 23 (IPS) - Weeks after the United States cut off 34 million dollars in funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), activists are devising a strategy to ensure the money cannot be blocked again so easily. They say they will use November s mid-term elections in the United States as a platf
NEW YORK, Aug 23 (IPS) - AIDS support groups say they will not abandon their in-your-face protest tactics despite a demand from a dozen members of the U.S. Congress that the organisations be investigated for disrupting a recent speech by a high-level government official. Activists from a number of U.S.-based organisati
AGRA, India , Aug 22 (IPS) Here in the shadow of India s fabulous Taj Mahal, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan s 17th century marble monument to love, there is little evidence of social stigma attached to prostitution. When Basanti, a minor Bedia girl, was rescued from a brothel and returned to her parents who live in Agra s r
CANBERRA, Aug 22 (IPS) - When Deanna lines up to compete in the triathlon at the World Masters Games in October, she will be part of a team determined to change attitudes about what it means to live with HIV. Deanna - she prefers not to reveal her surname - is looking forward to competing in a sport she loves and to ch
MBABANE, Aug 20 (IPS) Like many actors in impoverished countries in Southern Africa, where few people are able to buy theatre tickets to support the performing arts, jobs and theatrical experience are coming from commissions from Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government ministries for plays with educational
SHIMABALA, Zambia , Aug 20 (IPS) -- Eunice Mulenga trades sex for food. The 38-year-old is one of a growing number of Zambian women who say they have little choice but to have sex with men so that they can feed hungry mouths at home. The single mother of three is caught up in the double emergency faced by Southern Afri
NAIROBI, Aug 17 (IPS) - Kenya s government is now offering free drugs to all HIV positive women when they give birth to protect their babies from the virus. Whereas mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS has been virtually eliminated in the developed world, it is still an enormous challenge for countries south of the
MBABANE, Aug 16 (IPS) - Traditionalists who hold sway over public opinion in Swaziland , the last African nation to be ruled by a hereditary monarch, reject abortion as a woman s right over her body. In fact, women and teenage girls are considered legal minors here: they cannot take loans, enter into contracts or own l
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 15 (IPS) - Some of South Africa s largest mining houses have announced plans to make anti-retrovirals - drugs which reduce the transmission HIV and ease the effects of AIDS -available to their workers. This week, Anglo-American, one of the world s largest mining groups, detailed its plans to make anti
JAKARTA, Aug 14 (IPS) - One Saturday night, a driver was taking a nap inside his parked truck here in the Indonesian capital when a middle-aged woman woke him up -- and handed him a condom. Bewildered, the driver refused to accept the condom. But after the woman explained why she was distributing it, he took the condom
NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (IPS) - Indian scientists have come up with a short regimen against tuberculosis (TB) that halves the six months needed under the directly observed treatment short course or DOTS, approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Because it is shorter, the new regimen developed at the Tuberculosis Rese
MBABANE, Aug 8 (IPS) - The timing could not have been worse. The week that UN agencies at work in the kingdom called for 19 million U.S. dollars in emergency food relief from international donor source to prevent hundreds of thousands of Swazis from starving, government announced it is purchasing a 50-million-U.S.-doll
BOGOTA, Aug 5 (IPS) - Legal claims in Colombia demanding that the social security system provide full and complete medical treatment for people with HIV/AIDS have multiplied more than 400 percent in the last two years. Most of the lawsuits for free HIV/AIDS treatment are being filed by women, according to unofficial re
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (IPS) - The World Bank loaned two billion dollars more to developing countries in the last year in response to a slowing world economy and the Sep. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, but anti-poverty activists say the money has not been effective. In statements released Wednesday and Thursday, the
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 2 (IPS) - A set of political gatherings in the past month has signalled the growing distance between the African National Congress (ANC) on the one hand, and its Communist and trade union allies on the other. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) with 1.7-million members, will undertake
MBABANE, Aug 2 (IPS) - Churches in Swaziland are going beyond their traditional functions as places of religious and social congregation to assist young women. Religious leaders are assuming new activist roles as combatants of child abuse and AIDS. The Swaziland Council of Churches, which estimates that over 90 percent
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 1 (IPS) - The Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), which admitted the newly independent nation of East Timor as its eighth member, agreed on a joint programme against AIDS, to include the construction of a laboratory to produce generic drugs and a condom factory. The fourth summit of t
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 1 (IPS) - The success or failure of the battle against HIV and AIDS in South Africa rests in the hands of the young in general and of young men, in particular. The sexual behaviour of teenagers drives the epidemic in South Africa, says a report released in July by Lovelife, an organisation targeting y
WASHINGTON, Jul 31 (IPS) - A prominent economist is urging poor nations to redirect their debt payments away from rich creditors and spend the money on health and education. Columbia University s Jeffrey Sachs says that the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries, known as HIPC nations, should re-channel their debt payments to
NAIROBI, Jul 31 (IPS) - David Odhiambo is one of the smartest students in his school. He recently won a Kenya-wide essay writing competition in which he described the kind of president he would like to see ruling his country. I would like a president who respects children s rights because nowadays in our country childr
ONITSHA, Eastern Nigeria , Jul 30 (IPS) - Health authorities in Nigeria have launched a major campaign to combat the illegal selling of fake drugs in the country. The evil of fake drug is worse than malaria, HIV/AIDS and armed robbery put together. Whereas AIDS can be avoided, malaria can be prevented and armed robbers
HARARE, Jul 30 (IPS) - Zimbabwe s main Parirenyatwa Hospital Tuesday looked desperate with the emergency units over flooded with patients seeking assistance as doctors refuse to go back to work demanding salary increment. Junior and middle-level doctors, who form the bulk of doctors in Zimbabwe s hospitals, are demandi
BANGKOK, Jul 30 (IPS) - Thailand s medical community has earned for the country new stripes as a leader in the fight to stall the spread of HIV - by working on a new drug regimen designed to further cut the virus transmission rate from mother to child. This latest effort adds to a list of other achievements in fighting
CHIMFUNSHI, Zambia , Jul 26 (IPS) - Malita Chembe stares dejectedly at her two-year old son, his wasted body steadily getting warmer and weaker. And, mother s instinct tells her the boy is seriously ill and needs urgent medical attention. Restless, she decides to do what her colleagues do in Chimfunshi, a remote Zambia
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 26 (IPS) - South Africa will consider special rates for food aid arriving at local ports as its contribution to tackling the hunger crisis afflicting the region, President Thabo Mbeki announced this week. We can treat an emergency situation as a normal transport arrangement. We must consider reducing
WASHINGTON, Jul 22 (IPS) - In another apparent bow to the Christian Right, U.S. President George W. Bush has denied 34 million dollars in funding approved by Congress for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) because of its presence in China . The decision, which had been rumoured for several weeks, was announced
NAIROBI, Jul 20 (IPS) - The Kenyan government is going to bring in new legal protection to safeguard the rights of people affected by AIDS, says Attorney General Amos Wako. Speaking at the launch of a report by the task force on legal issues relating to HIV/AIDS this week, Wako promised the new legislation would be in
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 19 (IPS) - The mishandling of a R600-million (60 million-U.S.-dollar) grant to fight HIV and AIDS in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal has led to calls for the resignation of the South African Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. The province - which has the highest rate of HIV and AID
MBABANE, Jul 19 (IPS) - Non-government organisations in the health sector are spearheading the fight against AIDS in one of the worst affected nations in the world. Government is doing nothing, she doesn t even have an AIDS policy, so we must step in to save lives and bring comfort to the afflicted, says Hannie Dlamini
CHIANG RAI, Thailand , Jul 19 (IPS) - A Buddhist temple tucked in a picturesque terrain of sloping hills covered with lush tropical foliage is offering hope to some of the most vulnerable children in northern Thailand - AIDS orphans. For three years, orphaned girls like Chintana and Chaba, both 15, and both from famili
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 (IPS) - Warning of a major humanitarian crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations appealed Thursday for immediate food and relief supplies for nearly 13 million people living in Lesotho , Malawi , Mozambique , Swaziland ,
DEHRA DUN, India , Jul 18 (IPS) - Rangeeli collected more than 10,000 dollars as bride price for her fourth marriage and the groom had to sell off his apple orchards to raise the money that must, by custom, be paid to her last husband. This is not part of the plot of a Victorian novel, but an everyday happening among t
SANTIAGO, Jul 18 (IPS) - Public health policies that originally put an emphasis on keeping female HIV-carriers in Chile from getting pregnant are slowly giving way to a new focus on the conscious exercise of reproductive rights, thanks to advances in prevention of mother-to-child transmission. History has changed
KINSHASA, Jul 18 (IPS) - The World Bank has proposed to cancel 80 percent of the Democratic Republic of Congo s foreign debt next year if government continues to implement its strict monetary programme. World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, made the announcement this week after a three-day visit to Kinshasa, the capi
BANGKOK, Jul 15 (IPS) - Cambodia s healthy approach to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS has been identified as an example of a poverty-stricken nation that can stare the killer epidemic in the face -- with the hope of actually winning over it one day. Central to Cambodia s progress in lowering the rate of HIV prevalenc
BARCELONA, Spain (IPS) - The main victims of the AIDS epidemic are women, shouted some 200 female activists Friday at the closing ceremony of the 14th International AIDS Conference in this port city in northeastern Spain. The closing speakers at the week-long event that drew 15,000 delegates were former presidents Nels
HARARE (IPS) - Governments committed to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS need to specifically target soldiers, says a new report. The report, Combat AIDS: HIV and the World s Armed Forces, released this week in Africa, says HIV prevalence reaches as high as 50 to 60 percent in countries where the disease has been presen
RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) - Brazilian lawyer Beatriz Pacheco, 53, has felt like a second-class citizen ever since she tested positive for HIV, the AIDS virus, five years ago. Due to her work as a defence attorney for people living with HIV, and to her AIDS activism, her condition became public, which led to discrimination.
BARCELONA (IPS) - An experimental therapeutic vaccine against AIDS, produced and tested with some success in Spain , was presented Thursday at the 14th International AIDS Conference in this northeastern Spanish port city. The head of the immunology service at the Gregorio Marańón Hospital in Madrid, Eduardo Fernández C
ENUGU, Eastern Nigeria (IPS) - The number of people living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria has risen from 600,000 in 1991 to 3.6 million in 2002, with more than 50 percent of those infected being in the 15-29 age bracket, according to official statistics. This grim statistics has forced government and other stakeholders t
ISLAMABAD (IPS) - Four women in a support group of more than 20 people living with HIV in the eastern Pakistani town of Lahore have been infected with the virus by their husbands, who contracted it while they were working in Dubai. Two knew that their husbands were HIV-positive, but didn t know how to protect themselve
BARCELONA, Jul 10 (IPS) - Some 14 million children across the world have lost at least one parent to AIDS, according to a joint report by United Nations and United States agencies released Wednesday at the international AIDS conference. The situation is especially alarming in sub-Saharan Africa, although the Caribbean
SANTIAGO (IPS) - Ver˘nica, 45, worked three days a week as a domestic in a household in a posh district in the Chilean capital, until her employer found out she was an HIV-carrier and dismissed her. She never received any explanation from her employer, who simply stopped calling her, thus abruptly cutting short a six-
HARARE, Jul 10 (IPS) - At least two teachers die from AIDS-related complications in Zimbabwe everyday, according to a top trade union official. The official, Raymond Majongwe, who is secretary general of the Zimbabwe Progressive Teachers Association, says more than a quarter of the country s 103,000 teachers is infecte
BARCELONA, Spain (IPS) - An adviser to the United Nations secretary-general said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson should not have been surprised when his speech to the 14th International AIDS Conference was drowned out by booing activists Tuesday. Jeffrey Sachs, an economist from Columbia Univ
TORONTO (IPS) - The agencies charged with managing Canada s blood supply are contravening this country s Charter of Rights and Freedoms by excluding blood donations from men who have had sex with other men at least once since 1977, say activists. There is no longer an identifiable biomedical reason for an exclusion cat
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Police harassment and abuse of front-line AIDS- prevention workers in India are adding to the epidemic s rapid advance in the world s second most populous nation, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The Indian government s official policies recognise the importance of
JOHANNESBURG (IPS) - As the South African Constitutional Court ruled that the government must provide anti-AIDS drugs to pregnant mothers, the leader of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Zackie Achmat - who is HIV positive, fell ill with a lung infection. On Monday (Jul 8), Achmat s condition had reportedly improved
WASHINGTON (IPS) - The results of nine pilot projects in seven developing countries show that poor people, including those with very little if any education, are able to follow an anti-AIDS drug regime that restore them to significantly better health. So say Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) an
BARCELONA, Spain , Jul 8 (IPS) - There is no more time for delays or excuses in the global fight against AIDS, which will claim the lives of 50,000 people across the world during the six-day 14th International AIDS Conference, meeting in this port city in northeastern Spain. Two aspects stood out Monday, the second day
LUSAKA, Zambia , Jul 8 (IPS) - Africa is facing a double emergency with HIV/AIDS and conflict combining to threaten lives, according to a new report to be launched this week at the XIV International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain . Conflicts are accelerating the spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, with young
JAKARTA (IPS) - It is mid-day and the Muslim women preachers at a seminar here on HIV/AIDS seemed ready for a break when one of them spoke into a microphone: Men should also be given this kind of training because they are the ones buying sex when they could have it free at home. All the women at the session at the Istq
HARARE (IPS) - HIV/AIDS is posing a potentially major threat to food security and nutrition, mainly by diminishing the availability of food due to falling production, and loss of family labour, according to AIDS support groups and relief workers. Malnutrition is one of the major clinical manifestations of HIV infection
BANGKOK, Jul 5 (IPS) - The spectre of HIV/AIDS moving from the margins of society to the mainstream should prod Asians into taking a hard look at taboos that help the pandemic - including how openly they can talk about sex. But the answer to whether the region actually does this is mixed, say experts promoting the need
MADRID (IPS) - Promising new medications will be presented at the 14th International AIDS Conference, to run Jul 7-12 in Barcelona, Spain , providing a glimmer of hope in a world where less than two percent of all people testing positive for the AIDS virus currently receive medical treatment. The characteristics of
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - A U.N.-sponsored global fund to fight AIDS is desperately under-funded , a senior U.N. official warned Wednesday. What has not yet resonated are the dollars to meet the commitment, Stephen Lewis, the U.N. Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, told reporters. Lewis described the shortfall as stagg
BANGKOK, Jul 3 (IPS) - The community of Non Sung in north-eastern Thailand has been awarded for its outstanding village chief and public health volunteers, but its otherwise exemplary record does not include an acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS. Last month, 86 villagers and the president of this subdistrict in
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 2 (IPS) - Contrary to widespread belief, the HIV/AIDS epidemic shows no signs of slowing down, the United Nations warned Tuesday. New reports provide positive proof that HIV, if left to run its natural course, will cause devastation on an unprecedented scale , said UNAIDS in a 226-page study
BANGKOK, Jul 2 (IPS) - Countries across the Asia and the Pacific are rife with the correct conditions to propel HIV/AIDS from a killer disease that is still in the margins to a regional pandemic, experts here warned Tuesday. The epidemic is concentrated among many vulnerable groups in the region, those on the margins,
TORONTO, Jun 28 (IPS) - Canada s new mandatory HIV testing of all incoming immigrants and refugees appears aimed at areas of the world like sub-Saharan Africa where there is a higher prevalence of HIV and AIDS. So states Philip Berger, chief of the department of family and community medicine at St Michael s Hospital he
OTTAWA, Jun 27 (IPS) - Leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) economic powers, meeting in a sealed-off resort in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, have reached a compromise African aid plan that stops far short of proposals pressed by Canada s prime minister and the stated requirements of African leaders. African nations appe
BANGKOK, Jun 27 (IPS) - By passing Cambodia s first HIV/AIDS-specific law, the country s lawmakers seek to give women another instrument to fight the pandemic, and the unequal gender relationships that make them more vulnerable to it. The law was approved this month by the national legislature in an attempt to respond
BANGKOK, Jun 27 (IPS) - Drug abuse and HIV/AIDS together make a risky, potentially lethal mix for young people in Thailand , a country that has both a serious HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as a growing problem with amphetamine use. This is why the events set this week around the International Day against Drug Abuse and Ill
LOMAHASHA, Swaziland , Jun 27 (IPS) - Of all the causes for the spread of the HIV virus in Swaziland, so that now one-third of the country s population is infected, no health organisation ever lists the presence of immigrants from Mozambique as a significant contributing factor. Yet, at a meeting of headmen who r
NEW YORK, Jun 25 (IPS) - At a time when many Arab Americans feel anxious and besieged by both the U.S. government and the society at large, at least Wahba Ghaly can say his job is not much harder than it was before. Ghaly, a native of Egypt , is the founder of Mentors, the only HIV/AIDS outreach programme in the
GENEVA, Jun 25 (IPS) - AIDS is destroying sub-Saharan Africa, where over 28 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today, a specialised United Nations agency warned the Group of Eight (G-8) leading industrial countries on the eve of their summit in Canada . AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) has led to an at l
NEW DELHI, Jun. 24 (IPS) - India s notorious social distinctions based on caste and class have spilled into the blood donation sector that even reputable blood banks now advertise blood that is guaranteed not to come from the dregs of society. A pamphlet distributed by the Rotary Blood Bank run in the national capital
TORONTO, Canada , Jun 24 (IPS) - Genetic research could help save millions of lives in poor countries by helping defeat diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, says the World Health Organisation (WHO). Some experts say faith in the genomic industry -- with its emphasis on high technology and profits -- is mi
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 20 (IPS) - Ignorance about health issues and lack of information are a factors contributing to the rapidly rising infection rates of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the precursor to AIDS) among women in Brazil . Figures from the National Organisation of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS,
MAKGADIGADI PANS, Botswana , Jun 20 (IPS) - The nomadic bush people of Botswana s Central Kalahari Desert have won certain legal rights this year that will help preserve their traditional way of life and custodianship of parts of their environment, which is inhospitable to all but these diminutive people. But discr
WASHINGTON, Jun 19 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush s new, 500-billion-dollar anti-HIV/AIDS initiative, announced here Wednesday, gained a bitter reception from AIDS activists who complained the plan was too little and far too narrowly focused. The plan is all for show, ACT UP, the Global AIDS Alliance, and other
DHAKA, Jun 19 (IPS) - In one of the modest rooms lined with rows of three-tiered beds, a little girl points at her own nose and says she is learning the English words for nose and apple . Another girl comes forward and recites a rhyme on numbers, her chubby face solemn in concentration. These two are among the younger
LOZITHA PALACE, Swaziland , Jun 18 (IPS) - They are called Emakhosikati, literally the females of the king (ikhosi) . As of this month, they now number nine. In the traditional hierarchy of sub-Saharan Africa s last absolute monarchy, they reign with an influence unmatched by other women in a country where gender right
HO CHI MINH CITY, Jun 14 (IPS) - The needle stung Tran Thi Ai Lien s fingers while she was trying to inject a drug-addicted patient with a sedative. The nurse froze for a second, but she recovered her composure and continued injecting the patient. As soon as she was through, however, she reported the incident to her bo
SANTIAGO, Jun 13 (IPS) - One of the main objectives of Opusgay, the first newspaper put out by Chile s homosexual community, is to give a boost to, and help renovate, AIDS prevention campaigns. The Chilean government s anti-AIDS campaigns have been successful in raising public awareness on how to prevent the disease, b
BUENOS AIRES, Jun 12 (IPS) - Argentines with HIV/AIDS are on the alert because the supply of medications for treating their disease could be completely cut off in July as a result of the economic and social crisis thrashing this South American nation. There have been interruptions in drug supplies in the past, but this
ROME, Jun 12 (IPS) - Food aid pledges to avert a crisis in Southern Africa are only a fraction of the estimated funds required to feed 13 million hungry people in the next year. Drought, inclement weather, ill-considered political administration and high-maize prices have combined to create a dangerous cocktail that is
NAIROBI, Jun 10 (IPS) - More than 120 senior muftis, sheikhs, archbishops, patriarchs and swamis from across Africa are meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to discuss ways they can contribute to the fight against AIDS. The historic meeting - the first of its kind - shows that religious leaders are taking an increas
MBABANE, Jun 7 (IPS) - Swaziland s return to tradition to curb HIV/AIDS with the revival of chastity rules for girls and single women eight months ago has drawn praise and brickbats in a country where one in three people are infected with the virus. Most girls adhere voluntarily. But in some instances there has been co
DHAKA, Jun 6 (IPS) - Her face is heavily and provocatively made up, but it is the face of a mere child nonetheless. Wrapping her arms around her thin body, she shyly approaches the doctor and begs him to give her some medicine so that her body fills up fast. The venue is the largest brothel in Banglades
WASHINGTON, June 5 (IPS) - A high-profile trip to Africa by U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O Neill may have introduced the U.S. official to scenes of African poverty, but it produced no immediate changes in U.S. foreign development policy. It is too soon to announce policy recommendations from the trip, but I certainly l
MBABANE, Swaziland , May 30 (IPS) - In a highly competitive and sometimes dangerous business, road freight companies and drivers are strategizing new ways to combat crooks set on stealing their vehicles, contents and all, and operate safely on Africa s pot-hole pocked and sometimes non-existent roads. When we succ
HARARE, May 29 (IPS) - Support groups have welcomed government decision to declare a six-month emergency period to fight HIV/AIDS which is claiming 2,000 lives a week in Zimbabwe . We appreciate the action, although it was long overdue. It is now time for us to work together to ensure that the drugs and any other funds
MANILA, May 29 (IPS) - Eleven-year-old Bryan has his mother s long, curly lashes that lace around soft, round eyes. When they are together, they are easily mistaken for siblings. It is not just because his mother, Geena, is only 28. They are like two peas in a pod, their bond is unmistakable. On May 20, Bryan summoned
JOHANNESBURG, May 24 (IPS) - The Bono and Paul show hit South Africa this week when the U2 lead singer and the U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O Neill jetted into Johannesburg after being delayed in Ghana , their first stop on a four-nation tour. First up was a photo opportunity with President Thabo Mbeki at the Union B
GENEVA, May 21 (IPS) - Developing countries will have greater representation on a more gender-balanced World Health Organisation (WHO) secretariat, according to a resolution passed by the World Health Assembly. The decision of the meeting of health ministers from around the world recognises the need to expand the prese
GENEVA, May 20 (IPS) - A sharp imbalance continues between the resources earmarked for researching diseases predominant in the industrialised world and for those prevalent in poor countries, but experts and activists are confident that the disparity can be reduced. This gap has been dubbed 10/90 because 90 percent of t
GENEVA, May 17 (IPS) - Civil society organisations are calling on the World Health Organisation (WHO) and health ministers around the globe to recognise and take action to prevent the disastrous impacts that certain economic policies have on public health. Ravi Narayan, a doctor from India and representative of th
UNITED NATIONS, May 8 (IPS) - A coalition of more than 100 advocacy groups criticised governments worldwide Wednesday for reneging on pledges to protect children from sexual abuse, violence, and exploitation. Millions of children are denied basic rights and suffer unconscionable abuse because governments have failed to
GENEVA, May 6 (IPS) - Much of the expansion of HIV/AIDS can be attributed to the discrimination suffered by people who are infected with the virus, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as it begins a global campaign against the stigma associated with the disease. The fight against t
JOHANNESBURG, May 2 (IPS) - South Africa is beginning to feel the impact of HIV and AIDS on its workforce - and the implications for the country s economy. Last week, the gold mining industry spelt out just how much the disease was costing it. AngloGold, the world s largest gold producer, estimates that the disease wil
LONDON, Apr 30 (IPS) - Genetic research could deliver treatment of several killer diseases within ten to 20 years, the World Health Organisation says in a report released Tuesday. Medical advances being made against diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS can potentially save millions of lives, particularly in
LUSAKA, Apr 30 (IPS) - The wages of sin are jailable but in Zambia you can avoid that if you give a little sex and your night takings to the law enforcers. Commercial sex workers in Lusaka, Zambia s sprawling capital city, got fed up with sharing their loot and their bodies to male policemen and complained to new deput
BANGKOK, Apr 29 (IPS) - Her work in pushing Thailand to make affordable drugs has made her a heroine for activists here, but now Dr Krisana Kraisintu has set her sights across the seas - to share this technology with African countries similarly affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of Dr Krisana, head of th
MBABANE, Apr 26 (IPS) - Efforts to contain the spread of AIDS in Southern Africa are targeting specific high risk individuals to receive medical information, blood testing and, if tests prove the person is infected with the HIV virus that leads to the incurable disease, immediate counselling. Migrant workers and itiner
GENEVA, Apr 25 (IPS) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended Thursday that African countries speed up implementation of a new, more effective therapy to fight malaria, a disease that has developed resistance to conventional medicines. The WHO position, announced on Africa Malaria Day, echoes the demands of hu
KINGSTON, Jamaica , Apr 24 (IPS) - The pending closure of Jamaica s oldest and largest non-governmental support group for people living with HIV-AIDS is raising questions about funding policies that activists say rob millions of people in the developing world of much needed care and medication. Head of the National
NAIROBI, Apr 23 (IPS) - Shortages of discounted AIDS drugs are seriously endangering the lives of HIV/AIDS patients in Kenya by forcing them to switch to alternate medications or interrupt their treatment altogether. Some of Kenya s largest health centres regularly find it takes more than two months to get vital suppli
GEORGETOWN, Guyana , Apr 22 (IPS) - The United States will send experts and use its weight in the international community to help Caribbean countries access funding to fight the region s HIV-AIDS scourge, according to a plan drawn up at a weekend meeting here. Tommy Thompson, U.S. secretary of health and human serv
SWAZILAND, Apr 20 (IPS) - American soul singer Erykah will headline an all-star cast of African and U.S. talent at an AIDS benefit concert organised by King Mswati. Sub-Saharan Africa s last absolute monarch, Mswati, whose 34th birthday this week is a national holiday in the small kingdom of fewer than one million peop
JAKARTA, Apr 19 (IPS) - Indonesian prison authorities have long known about the rampant drug use and drug-dealing in the country s jails, but many of them had chosen to play dumb because they themselves had a part in the trade, say activists here. Now that drug abuse is being singled out as one of the major reasons for
GEORGETOWN, Guyana , Apr 19 (IPS) - An increase in the number of Caribbean nationals seeking AIDS treatment in the United States has prompted U.S. officials to assemble a high-level delegation for region-wide talks here this weekend. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, will head the delegation
WASHINGTON, Apr 19 (IPS) - Policies pushed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on debt-strapped African countries over the past two decades bear major responsibility for the region s health crisis, including the devastating spread of HIV-AIDS, according to a new report by a major U.S. Africa adv
MBABANE, Swaziland , Apr 18 (IPS) - In the wake of a decision by soccer officials at this year s African Cup of Nations championship to banish spell-casting witchdoctors from the football pitch during games, police departments throughout Southern Africa have taken steps to curb superstitious practices that are more dan
BANGKOK, Apr 18 (IPS) - Since the start of this month, a state-run pharmacy in northern Bangkok has been witnessing a two-fold increase in the number of patients seeking anti-HIV drugs. Close to 20 patients with HIV are purchasing the drugs daily, according to sales clerks at this drug store. That is double the number
BUCHAREST, Apr 17 (IPS) - The living conditions of thousands Romanian children infected by the HIV/AIDS virus have improved in the last decade, but hundreds now face the risk of dying rapidly because the medication they need to keep them alive is no longer available, analysts say. Romania s deep poverty added to the hi
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 15 (IPS) - Even though it is a privately funded, the flight by South African millionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian Soyuz craft is being billed as the first African in Space Project. Shuttleworth, who is scheduled to blast of on Apr 25, will be the first
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 12 (IPS) - Democracy is taking hold in Africa, but if people s high expectations that it will deliver economic and social progress are disappointed, then there is a danger that they will turn their backs on the system of government, says a new survey. The survey, which was conducted in 15 countries, s
LUSAKA, Apr 11 (IPS) - AIDS has changed the way people live. Now it is changing the way they are buried. As the AIDS toll rises, Zambia s local government authorities complain that burial ground is being filled up almost as soon as it is designated, and predict a serious shortage soon. Zambians are being encouraged to
BEIJING, Apr 9 (IPS) - As an administrative official of a major news organisation here in Beijing, Liu Jie has become used to multi- tasking. But for the last few years, one particular item in her list of duties had become quite a challenge to accomplish - family planning, largely because she has to introduce contracep
JOHANNESBURG, Apr 5 (IPS) - The South African government has run out of legal options in its efforts to prevent the immediate and widespread distribution of anti-retrovirals - drugs that reduces the impact of AIDS and prevents the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes the disease - through the public health system
KINGSTON, Mar 27 (IPS) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) says lack of money is endangering a commitment to cut the rate of tuberculosis in the Third World, but Jamaican health authorities say the disease is under control here. Tuberculosis (TB), a contagious and possibly fatal disease has been making a comeback wor
NEW DELHI, Mar 22 (IPS) - The claim by a top medical expert here that genetically modified (GM) foods can trigger off Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has added to existing fears engendered by a sudden flood of transgenic products in India s newly globalised markets. If a plant is genetically modified at any time
HARARE, Mar 20 (IPS) - Fungai Mataya, a domestic in the capital Harare, had a bout of tuberculosis (TB) - a life threatening disease - in 1999. She spent months treating herself from the ailment. I could not go to work or out with friends, she recalls. I was afraid I would infect other people. Mataya lost her mother to
NEW DELHI, Mar 20 (IPS) - Pregnant women in India may access anti- HIV therapy better than plain antenatal care, under a programme now being put in place at government hospitals across the country. The programme, recently launched by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), is aimed at Prevention of Mother to Chi
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 14 (IPS) - South African courts are becoming increasingly vocal in the fight against HIV and AIDS. This week, the High Court in Pretoria granted an emergency order to make the anti-retroviral Nevirapine available to pregnant mothers who are HIV-positive and to their new-born babies. This followed an e
MOSCOW, March 7 (IPS) - Analysts say an increase in the use of illegal drugs and a rise in the number of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis cases is overburdening Russia s health sector which is struggling to cope. Between two to four million of Russia s total population of 146 million are thought to use illegal drugs, either o
BEIJING, Mar 7 (IPS) - Liu Ziliang is in many ways a television star in China , but the 33-year-old s claim to fame comes not from his looks or acting ability. Liu, a farmer by profession, is the first Chinese with HIV to tell his tale on national television in China. He says he will keep on recounting his story not on
CAPE TOWN, Mar 6 (IPS) - A global exhibition about HIV and AIDS, now on in Cape Town, South Africa is a strikingly different response to the stock portrayal of the disease. Covering countries from Australia to Zimbabwe , the exhibition features many photographers who have spent time documenting th
OUAGADOUGOU, Mar 5 (IPS) - Some 150 anti-AIDS groups have urged the government of Burkina Faso to reject the revised Bangui Agreement - of the African Organisation for Intellectual Property - which, they argue, will limit access to cheap generic drugs. The revised Bangui Agreement, which was supposed to come into effec
MUMBAI, India , Mar 5 (IPS) - Many of the women had lived there for years, and although their lives were obviously far from being perfect, they thought their lot was only improving now that they were getting help from a non-government organisation. Indeed, the sex workers in the small town of Nippani, which lies on the
KINGSTON, Mar 5 (IPS) - Pressure for gay men to lead normal sex lives is fuelling a rise in the number of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infections among women, say Jamaican health officials. High levels of discrimination and the threat of violence force male homosexuals to fit in by having sex with women, increasi
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 3 (IPS) - In less than 50 years, the world s elderly will outnumber its children but disease and migration trends mean fewer of the aged will be able to enjoy their twilight years , says the United Nations. By 2050, one out of every five persons, two billion people, will be 60 years or older. The ol
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 28 (IPS) - Pressure is growing on government to extend anti-AIDS drug treatment to the most vulnerable - pregnant mothers and newborn babies. The treatment, known as mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT), could save as many as 70,000 young lives a year through providing a dose of the drug Nevirapine (or
BANGKOK, Feb 24 (IPS) - The increasing number of tuberculosis (TB) patients being detected among the elderly in Japan and Singapore has triggered an alarm within the public health community in East Asia. Some health experts see this pattern as an ominous sign of the deadly lung disease -- that spreads through the air
KINGSTON, Feb 22 (IPS) - AIDS drugs remain beyond the reach of most Jamaicans who need them despite discounts of up to 90 percent offered by major pharmaceuticals companies, say health activists here. Four major drug makers also have agreed to provide free anti- retroviral medication for HIV-positive expectant mothers.
NEW DELHI, Feb 20 (IPS) - Indian health workers and activists are accusing international agencies of inflating HIV/AIDS statistics, which in turns skews priorities in the area of public health. The issue of inflated figures for HIV/AIDS victims in India has been the subject of controversy ever since Health Minister C P
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20 (IPS) - Efforts by the South African government to engineer a politically acceptable climb-down from its opposition to the provision of anti-retrovirals to people living with HIV and AIDS, have collapsed in the face of objections by the national Minister for Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. The
PORT OF SPAIN, Feb 19 (IPS) - Prime Minister Patrick Manning termed it sound advice but the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church was not too impressed. Indeed, the U.S.-born Archbishop of Roseau, Edward Gilbert, has felt compelled to make clear that there is no change in the Church s teaching on sexuality and sexual
BANGKOK, Feb 15 (IPS) - If someone could tell you how many days you have left before leaving this world, would you really want to know? asked Kaew, a Thai woman in her twenties who is busy making every moment of her life count. Kaew found out she was HIV-positive when she received, a year ago, the results of the blood
GABORONE, Feb 15 (IPS) - Future batches of priests coming out of theological institutions in nine African countries will benefit from a training workshop to help them better understand and handle HIV/AIDS. Sixty participants from Lesotho , Swaziland , Mozambique ,
WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (IPS) - Some 200 health and relief groups have called on the Congress to triple U.S. bilateral and multilateral assistance to combat the HIV-AIDS epidemic, even as the administration of President George W. Bush has defended its latest budget request as tremendously generous. The groups, ranging from
GENEVA, Feb 13 (IPS) - Doctors without Borders (MŠdicins Sans Fronti‚res, MSF) warned the health ministers of East African countries Wednesday that the ill-advised changes in malaria treatments could cause fatalities, and urged donor countries to join in effective, long-term efforts to fight the disease. The new malari
LOME, Feb 13 (IPS) - More and more Togolese women are stepping out from the sidelines in this patriarchal society, to join the fight against social ills like Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). More than ever, Togolese women are concerned about the deleterious effects of HIV/AIDS. Faced with the inexorable spre
NEW YORK, Feb 11 (IPS) - Sometime in the last century, most AIDS researchers agree, a relatively harmless simian virus managed to gain a foothold in humans, outwitting our formidable immune system on the way to becoming a global pandemic. As they delved into the murky origins of this species jump , some scientists beca
PARIS, Feb 8 (IPS) - Heads of government and senior officials of thirteen African states and of the richest countries of the world re- launched Friday in Paris a new plan of international economic co-operation for Africa. The main subject of the summit was the declaration 16 African leaders signed last October in Abuja
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (IPS) - President Thabo Mbeki delivered a conciliatory state of the nation speech on Friday, seeking to extricate himself from his central policy pitfalls: Zimbabwe and AIDS. And he also set himself an socio-economic rights agenda, promising to deal decisively with the deep poverty that still besets
BANGKOK, Feb 7 (IPS) - To some, it is a bold, candid and realistic attempt to teach young Thais sex education. To others, it is dangerous material that could well corrupt impressionable minds. At the centre of this debate is a 32-page booklet called Khumue Waisai (Handbook for Teenagers), which was produced to educate
HARARE, Feb 7 (IPS) - Cremation is not a popular catch phrase in Africa, where HIV/AIDS is threatening to wipe out the population. Mentioning the word evokes emotional response in Africa, where local councils are finding it hard to set aside new land for burial as death cases relating to HIV/AIDS continue to rise.
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 5 (IPS) - A glimmer of hope has emerged for HIV- positive pregnant women and babies born with the virus. Grassroots pressure has forced a rethink from the national government on the provision of potentially life-saving anti-AIDS drugs to these two most vulnerable groups. After a two-day meeting betwee
GENEVA, Jan 31 (IPS) - Health strategies that up to now have focused mainly on disease prevention must incorporate treatment with drugs, according to a new report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Today as opposed to five years ago, the paradigm for the control of infectious disease is not only preventio
MBABANE, Jan 30 (IPS) - Unreliable, outdated or non-existent data is a prescription for frustration in the Information Age, and is one reason why poor developing countries like the Kingdom of Swaziland are regressing rather than progressing with efforts of social upliftment. From the number of people suffering from AID
BEIJING, Jan 29 (IPS) - He is just one among China s estimated 600,000 thousand people with HIV, but there are two things that make Xiao Li (not his real name) very different from most of his countrymen who are HIV-positive. One is that he knows exactly what virus it is that he is positive for. The other is that for th
HONG KONG, Jan 24 (IPS) - Marie is seated at a corner table, her profile flickering amid the confusion of lights at a popular disco where she works. She is the latest recruit in a virtual army of heavily-made up young Asian women that enlivens Hong Kong s entertainment district of Wanchai. At 1 a.m. on a cold Wednesday
MBABANE, Jan 24 (IPS) - Diviners and traditional healers through their governing organisations have come out to strongly condemn the belief, endorsed by some healers, that sleeping with virgins cures HIV and AIDS. We wish to categorically denounce this superstition, and say that traditional healers reject this dangerou
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 18 (IPS) - The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has come to the defence of doctors who are defying the government s ban on administering anti-retrovirals - drugs designed to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS - in the public health system. SAMA represents around 70 percent of South African doct
HAVANA, Jan 16 (IPS) - Cuban maternity clinics suffer from a lack of hygiene, of sterilised cotton, of much-needed iodine to treat wounds, on top of many other shortages, but one almost never sees death. The decade-old economic crisis has failed to bring down the country s health indicators. And there has even been pro
CARACAS, Jan 9 (IPS) - A legal verdict radically changed the lives of AIDS patients in Venezuela , who after a protracted legal battle now have access to free medicine and health care from the state. Carriers of HIV - the AIDS virus - who number 10,000 according to the Venezuelan government and 60,000 according to Unit
MBABANE, Jan 3 (IPS) - A long denial of its AIDS dilemma will transform Africa s smallest country into a destination for foreign migrant workers, to the dismay of a national leadership that seeks to keep the character of the traditional kingdom of Swaziland intact in the 21st century. The workers who will keep the
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