HEALTH: Activists Hail US Senate Approval of Major AIDS Bill

Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Jul 17 2008 (IPS) – AIDS and global health activists are hailing Wednesday s approval by the U.S. Senate of an unprecedented five-year, 48-billion-dollar bill to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis overseas, particularly in Africa. The bill also overturned a 21-year-old law that bans most foreign visitors who are HIV-positive from entering … Read more

HEALTH-US: HIV On The Rise

Sam Cassanos NEW YORK, Aug 12 2008 (IPS) – A new study shows that the annual number of HIV infections in the United States is greater than was previously believed. The findings place increased scrutiny on the country s lack of a national HIV/AIDS program as well as the current Presidential candidates plans to combat … Read more

HEALTH-MALAWI: Help for Women with Obstetric Fistula

Pilirani Semu-Banda LILONGWE, Oct 14 2008 (IPS) – A group of 138 unhappy and mostly destitute women from Malawi s lake district of Mangochi have something to look forward to this week: They will have a chance to restore their dignity and pride by accessing a medical service usually not available to them. Little medical … Read more

HEALTH: WHO Shifts Away from DDT for Malaria Control

Matthew Berger UNITED NATIONS, May 11 2009 (IPS) – While much of the public health community s attention is consumed by the H1N1 human swine flu outbreak, efforts are quietly being made to plug away at the continued threat of malaria. Malaria still kills nearly a million people each year, according to the World Health … Read more

VIETNAM: Saltwater Intrusion Adds to Water Woes

Tran Dinh Thanh Lam MEKONG DELTA, Vietnam, Jun 12 2009 (IPS) – When they got out of bed one morning in April this year, the residents of Vi Thanh City here in southern Vietnam s Mekong Delta were surprised to find that their water had become salty. During the night, seawater had intruded into the … Read more

WATER-MAURITANIA: Govt Needs to Invest

Ebrima Sillah NOUAKCHOTT, Jul 7 2009 (IPS) – Ndey Sall, a resident of Sixième, one of the poorest suburbs in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, spends the equivalent of a dollar a day on water. That s almost half of her income not much left to pay for food, rent, or medicine if a family member … Read more