Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, May 15 2007 (IPS) – For nearly a week the advertising pages of Thai and English-language dailies have been the stage for debates on Thailand s decision to break patents on anti-AIDS drugs in the interest of public health. A lobby championing the cause of the powerful pharmaceutical companies ran full-page spreads […]
Category: Wellness
GERMANY: Warming Climate Helps Some Species, Kills Others
Julio Godoy BERLIN, Jun 23 2007 (IPS) – The weather conditions in the heart of Europe were abnormal last year the summer too hot, too dry, and too long, and the winter too warm. But they were excellent for some foreign species, which, benefiting from the changed weather, settled in Germany, and have become a […]
SECURITY-BRAZIL: Oedipus Caught in the Crossfire
Fabiana Frayssinet RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 17 2007 (IPS) – A child mown down by a hail of bullets from a rifle aimed by an unseen gunman is one of the drawings kept on file by psychologist Ricardo Parente, and produced in evidence to support his claim that Freudian theory must be revised when treating […]
HEALTH-ASIA: Unheard Voices Resonate at AIDS Photo Show
Karen Yap Lih Huey* – IPS/TerraViva COLOMBO, Aug 18 2007 (IPS) – Sabina Yeasmin Putul has a silent, determined look with her left fist clenched tight in front of her face a vision of strength, grace, and resilience all in one. The 17-year-old Bangladeshi has a lot going for her. Mature beyond her age, she […]
Q&A: “It’s a Brave Politician Who Will Talk About Toilets”
Interview with Clarissa Brocklehurst, UNICEF Water and Environmental Sanitation Chief UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 2007 (IPS) – When it comes to discussing the critical health problem of inadequate sanitation, few politicians want to take the lead, despite the mountains of scientific evidence that poor hygiene and lack of proper toilet facilities are the cause of […]
HEALTH: Maternal Mortality Shames Superpower U.S.
Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13 2007 (IPS) – Despite its enormous wealth and highly advanced technology, the United States lags far behind other industrialised countries and even some developing ones in providing adequate health care to women during pregnancy and childbirth. The U.S. ranks 41st in a new analysis of maternal mortality rates in […]
PARAGUAY: The Dark Side of the Soy Boom
David Vargas ASUNCIÓN, Nov 8 2007 (IPS) – A sea of green stretches as far as the eye can see on both sides of the dirt road leading to the communities of Lima, Capiibary and Guayaibí, 250 km from the capital, in the northern Paraguayan department (province) of San Pedro, one of the country s […]
DEVELOPMENT: Food Prices Climbing, With No End in Sight
Abra Pollock WASHINGTON, Dec 5 2007 (IPS) – Globalisation, climate change, and the mass production of biofuels are pushing up food prices worldwide, which could jeopardise the livelihoods of the world #39s poorest, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Man working a rice field in Bangladesh. Credit: […]
HEALTH-PAKISTAN: National Alert Over Bird Flu Deaths
Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Jan 24 2008 (IPS) – Although genetic sequencing tests conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) of samples from a man who died of H5N1 avian influenza do not confirm human-to-human transmission, authorities in this region, bordering Afghanistan, are taking no chances. Ilyas, 28, a livestock official was admitted to the Khyber […]
DEVELOPMENT: A Humanitarian Disaster Unfolds in Eastern DRC
Michael Deibert KIBUMBA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mar 1 2008 (IPS) – In a mist-shrouded valley between the Mount Nyiragongo volcano and a pair of its dormant cousins looming in Rwanda to the east, nearly 3,000 souls wait in limbo, having fled a conflict that has succeeded in making this lush corner in eastern Democratic […]