Abderrahim El Ouali

CASABLANCA, Aug 12 2007 (IPS) – Despite an annual health budget of half a billion euros, large numbers of people in this nation of 30 million still have no access to essential medical care.
Reform of the public health system began in 1995, with changes introduced that were intended to be in line with international standards. But some of the changes were, quite literally, in name only.

The hospitals division came to be known as the hospitals directorate, and the medicines division came since then to be called the medical directorate. But there is still a shortage of both hospitals and medicine.

According to the ministry of health Morocco has 42 general hospitals and 11 specialised ones. The country has a population of 32 million, which means…

Diógenes Pina

SANTO DOMINGO, Sep 10 2007 (IPS) – A proposal by a coalition of civil society groups to make therapeutic abortion legal in the Dominican Republic has prompted heavy pressure on Congress from the Catholic Church.
The penal code in this staunchly Catholic country makes abortion illegal under any circumstance, and provides for prison sentences of between six months and two years for those found guilty of using food, potions, medicines, treatments or any other method to cause an abortion.

The coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations of health professionals propose modifying the penal code to make abortion legal in cases in which a woman has become pregnant as a result of rape or incest, the fetus is deformed, or the pregnant woman…

Cécile Walschaerts

BRUSSELS, Oct 4 2007 (IPS) – It s a first for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): a Congolese filmmaker directing a television series in Lingala the most widely spoken language in the country about HIV/AIDS.
The idea for this television series came to me by chance while I was looking at a programme on Congolese television, says Djo Tunda Wa Munga, who trained at INSAS, a film school in the Belgian capital, Brussels. I was very surprised to see AIDS patients come openly and with uncovered faces to speak of the illness on television. I thus wanted to go and see more.

At the end of 2006 he tracked down the people from this programme and was inspired by the accounts of their lives to write a fictional television series called My Story .

F…

José Adán Silva

MANAGUA, Oct 31 2007 (IPS) – Nearly 90 women have died in Nicaragua as a direct or indirect result of the repeal, one year ago, of the legislation permitting abortion in cases of risk to the mother s health, according to women s and human rights groups.
Ana María Pizarro, the head of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sí Mujer, and Latin American coordinator of the 28th September Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Therapeutic Abortion, told IPS that the reform of the abortion law has driven up the number of fatalities reported in this impoverished Central American country.

Studies by Sí Mujer indicate that 12 young pregnant women died from lack of care in health centres where personnel were afraid of the penalties of up to eight years in j…

Rajiv Fernando

NEW YORK, Nov 30 2007 (IPS) – As millions of people plan to show solidarity with the struggle against HIV/AIDS on Saturday, a new multi-nation poll released in Washington by the group Catholics for Choice shows that a majority of Catholics around the world believe that contrary to the edicts coming from Rome good Catholics can use condoms .
The poll asked Catholics living in Ghana, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States if using condoms is pro-life because it helps save lives by preventing the spread of AIDS. It found an overwhelmingly positive response, with agreement expressed by 90 percent of Catholics in Mexico, 86 percent in Ireland, 79 percent in the United States, 77 percent in the Philippines and 59 percent in Ghana.

The Vatican …

Aaron Glantz

SAN FRANCISCO, California, Jan 15 2008 (IPS) – Last year, the United States woke up to the reality of hundreds of thousands of soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and began to grapple with what to do about it.

Wounded Iraq war veteran at a protest in Washington, DC on Sep. 15, 2007. Credit: SusanAstray

On Feb. 18, 2007, a headline titled Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army s Top Medical Facility splashed across the front page of one of the nation s premier…

Analysis by Aileen Kwa*

GENEVA, Feb 21 2008 (IPS) – Uganda s major trade partners are not only looking for food markets but also for seed markets. This has happened in a push that has been packaged as the new green revolution by corporations involved in biotechnology and chemicals. They have been supported by philanthropic organizations, notably the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Another such organisation is the Yara Foundation which was established in 2005 by Yara International, the world s leading supplier of mineral fertilizers. This Norwegian company is the only international fertilizer producer which has had a significant presence in Africa over the past 25 years.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) al…

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…

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 …

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

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…