Bernarda Claure LA PAZ, Jun 12 2008 (IPS) – Domestic workers in Bolivia, most of whom are young indigenous women from the highlands region, are about to gain access to healthcare coverage. Women line up seeking domestic work in La Paz. Credit: Bernarda Claure/IPS A law in effect since 2003 already limited their workdays to … Read more
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
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
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
Diego Cevallos MÉRIDA, Mexico, Dec 3 2008 (IPS) – A breakout of yellow fever among monkeys caught authorities in Argentina and Brazil, and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), off-guard in October. As in dozens of cases that occur every year, the outbreak was the result of growing interaction between wild animals and humans and changes … Read more
Ben Case UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27 2009 (IPS) – The United Nations children s agency UNICEF said Tuesday that it must raise over a billion dollars this year to meet the basic needs of women and children in disaster zones worldwide, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Juba, Sudan carry … Read more
Peter Richards PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Mar 12 2009 (IPS) – The fight against widespread sexual violence in the Caribbean has been joined by a high-profile new women s coalition that warns it could be a major reason for the spread of HIV among women and girls in the region. The Caribbean Coalition on Women, … Read more
Siyabonga Kalipa and Brenda Nkuna CAPE TOWN, Apr 7 2009 (IPS) – It s a Wednesday afternoon at the Joe Gqabi bus terminus in Philippi, Cape Town, and ticket touts scramble to recruit passengers wanting to travel to the rural Eastern Cape, a 1,000 kilometre, 16-hour haul away. Mvuselelo Chicco Tokwe, and his three-year-old son … Read more
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
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