COLOMBIA: Therapeutic Abortion - A Right in Name Only?
By Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA - A woman in Pasto, the capital of the western Colombian province of Nariño, found out that the baby she was expecting was severely deformed. But when she went to the provincial university hospital for an abortion, the chief obstetrician gynaecologist told her that "If your son is born deformed, take him to a circus."
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BURMA: UN Aid Arrives, But Many Doors Still Closed
By Arlene Chang
UNITED NATIONS - As the first U.N. relief planes landed in Yangon early on Thursday, humanitarian officials complained that the aid flowing into cyclone-devastated Burma (Myanmar) is still encountering bureaucratic obstacles that are threatening the lives of desperate survivors.
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LATIN AMERICA: South-South Cooperation to Fight Child Malnutrition
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - Cooperation between Latin American countries, which is cheap, efficient and horizontal, could fast-track the fight against child malnutrition, Nils Kastberg, the regional director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said at a conference held in the Chilean capital.
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DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Bodies Under Fire for Food Crisis
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - 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.
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DEVELOPMENT-ZAMBIA: Counting the Cost of Recent Floods
By Newton Sibanda
LUSAKA - Samson Mwenda, a farmer from Namwala in Zambia’s Southern Province, recalls with bitterness the massive floods of the 2007/2008 rainy season and the harsh consequences they had for his life.
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ENVIRONMENT: "Doctor" Nature in Danger
By Stephen Leahy*
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - "When we harm nature, we are harming ourselves," says Aaron Bernstein, a doctor at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the upcoming book "Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity".
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RIGHTS-US: Vets Await Verdict in Class Action Lawsuit
By Aaron Glantz
SAN FRANCISCO - Arturo Gonzalez delivered his closing arguments inside a packed courtroom on the 17th floor of the Federal Building in downtown San Francisco.
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MOZAMBIQUE: Officials Master Floods - But Battle To Contain Diseases That Follow
By Steven Lang
GRAHAMSTOWN - More people have died of cholera following recent floods in Mozambique than the number of those who perished in the rising floodwaters. Most rivers in central and northern Mozambique burst their banks after heavy rains in December, January and February, and as a result of Cyclone Jokwe -- which hit in early March.
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Q&A: Circumcision an "Opportunity To Take Great Strides Forward" Against HIV
Interview with Mark Heywood
JOHANNESBURG - Results from trials in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda in 2006 showed that male circumcision reduced the transmission of HIV from women to men by up to 60 percent. On the basis of these results, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organisation have recommended that countries encourage men to be circumcised.
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HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Where Have the Piglets Gone?
By Kathryn Strachan
JOHANNESBURG - Each psychiatric patient leaving Tower Hospital in the Eastern Cape Province under a new project to integrate patients into the community is sent home with two piglets. While at the hospital, patients are trained to raise pigs, the hope being that they will use the piglets for breeding to develop a sustainable source of income once discharged.
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