HEALTH-ASIA: Report Faults Gov’t Complacency on AIDS

Nergui Manalsuren

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 26 2008 (IPS) – Some 10 million Asian women sell sex, and at least 75 million men buy it regularly, while male-to-male sex and drug injecting add another 20 million or so to the number of those at high risk of HIV infection, says the first report by the Commission on AIDS in Asia.
Chakravarthi Rangarajan, the chair of the commission, said Wednesday at the United Nations that these are the main causes of new HIV infections that regional governments need to address through targeted policies.

The independent commission of nine members was set up in June 2006 and given an 18-month mandate to study and assess the impact of AIDS in Asia, and to recommend strategies for a stronger response to HIV and AIDS.

Nearly five million peo…

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Bodies Under Fire for Food Crisis

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 5 2008 (IPS) – As the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) readies for a summit of world leaders next month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday defended the Rome-based U.N. agency, which has come under fire for its failure to help meet the growing challenges of hunger worldwide.
The harshest attack came last week from Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who described the FAO as a bottomless pit of money, largely spent on its own functioning, with very little effective operations on the ground.

Asked to respond, Ban told reporters Monday: In view of the gravity and seriousness of the situation, I can understand and sympathise with the frustrations of many African leaders, including President Wade of Senegal.

But I would …

BURMA: One Million Survivors Not Yet Reached – U.N.

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 11 2008 (IPS) – U.N. officials are giving the impression that the world body is making headway in helping the millions of survivors in Burma s cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta.
Bodies lay amongst piles of debris in the wake of Nargis. Credit: anonymous/IPS

Bodies lay amongst piles of debris in the wake of Nargis. Credit: anonymous/IPS

Yet, according to the U.N., so far more than one million survivors have not been reached. Cyclone Nargis killed 130,000 to possibly 300,000 people and affected 2.5 million to 5.5 million people.

Since the Cyclone Nargi…

Q&A: Family Planning In Its Infancy in South Sudan

Interview with Makur Kariom, Director of Reproductive Health for South Sudan

JUBA, Jul 11 2008 (IPS) – With few roads and almost no health and education infrastructure for the estimated 10 million people of South Sudan an April census has yet to release any results health care workers have an enormous task ahead of them.
Competing priorities and cultural resistance are slowing down adoption of family planning techniques Credit: Neil Thomas/IRIN

Competing priorities and cultural resistance are slowing down adoption of family planning techn…

CHINA: Greening of the Games

Omid Memarian

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 7 2008 (IPS) – Though human rights and environmental issues such as censorship and pollution in Beijing have been the two major focuses of criticism levelled against the Chinese government during the lead up to the Olympic games, Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is expected to address some of Beijing s environmental successes during the opening ceremonies.
Achim Steiner briefs correspondents at UN Headquarters. Credit: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

Achim Steiner briefs correspondents at UN …

DEVELOPMENT-ANGOLA: Building Sustainable Water Systems

Louise Redvers

LUANDA, Oct 1 2008 (IPS) – Angola may be emerging as an African super power with its plentiful oil exports and a booming property market. But look behind the façade of this boom and real entrenched poverty continues to blight millions of lives.
In spite of its huge mineral wealth and escalating GDP (24 percent last year) Angola has the second worst child mortality rate in the world, only outdone by Sierra Leone.

According to The State of the World s Children report published in September by the United Nation s Children s Fund, 260 out of every 1,000 Angolan children die before their fifth birthday. The same UNICEF report reveals just 31 percent of Angolan children have access to adequate sanitation, a key factor in the country s high rate of cholera an…

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Abortion Decriminalised But Stays Controversial

Stephen de Tarczynski

MELBOURNE, Nov 24 2008 (IPS) – While pro-choice groups have welcomed the recent decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria Australia s second most-populous state, where around 20,000 abortions are believed to be performed annually anti-abortionists have vowed to continue opposing termination of pregnancies.
I see it as a real victory for common sense, for one, but I also see it as a way in which we ve taken another step towards moving away from the paternalistic framework that was governing termination in Victoria, says Dr. Leslie Cannold, spokesperson for Pro Choice Victoria (PCV), a group of individuals and organisations campaigning for legal access to abortion for all women.

In what was a hotly-contested and controversial decision by the Victo…

HEALTH-THAILAND: Burmese Migrant Workers Key to Fighting Bird Flu

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jan 20 2009 (IPS) – Thailand s plans to contain the spread of the deadly avian influenza virus must involve the tens of thousands of Burmese migrant workers employed in this country s poultry industry, say experts.
They form the frontline of Thailand s defence against the spread of bird flu, Jasper Gross, research officer for the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF), told IPS. The industry has to protect these migrant workers, give them proper information, equipment and provide a reporting mechanism.

The call for such a programme comes in the wake of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) attempting to drum up attention to help poultry workers and farm…

ARGENTINA: Countryside No Longer Synonymous with Healthy Living

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 4 2009 (IPS) – Once a serene refuge from urban pollution and chaos, the Argentine countryside has now become a place fraught with risks for many local residents. The massive use of pesticides on fields of soy, the country s top export, is creating a health catastrophe in the rural sector, environmentalists warn.
A report by the Rural Reflection Group (GRR), a local environmental organisation, points to an increase in health problems in the countryside, such as cases of cancer at early ages, birth defects, lupus, kidney problems, respiratory ailments and dermatitis, based on the accounts of rural doctors, experts and the residents of dozens of farming towns.

The GRR has been carrying out a campaign since 2006 to identify towns affected…

AUSTRALIA: Concerns Rise Over Leak at Uranium Mine

Stephen de Tarczynski

MELBOURNE, Australia, Apr 3 2009 (IPS) – The revelation that a substantial amount of contaminated water is leaking each day from a tailings dam at a uranium mine, located in a World Heritage Site, has sparked protests from environment activists.
About 100 cubic metres per day of contaminated water is coming from the tailings dam, according to official information given at a recent Senate committee hearing by Alan Hughes, the supervising scientist for the Alligator Rivers region in Australia s Northern Territory, where the Ranger mine is located.

Tailings are the crushed rock that is left over from the mining process. According to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), these tailings contain some 80 percent of the radioactivity of the origi…