Women's Health

Walking Among the Victims of Pakistan’s ‘War’ on the Taliban

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
It has been just two weeks since the Pakistan army began a full-blown military offensive - codenamed ‘the sword of the Prophet Muhammad strikes’ (Zarb-e-Asb) – to eradicate the Taliban from the country’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), particularly from the sprawling North Waziristan Agency.

Maternal Deaths Due to HIV a Grim Reality

By Miriam Gathigah
An African proverb says that every woman who gives birth has one foot on her grave. Sadly, this is still true today, especially within the context of the AIDS epidemic.

Improved Access to Water May Hold the Solution to Ending FGM in Africa

By Joshua Kyalimpa
Could it be possible that if women in Africa had access to water, it could save them from undergoing the harmful practice of female genital mutilation (FGM)? It seems that according to yet-to-be released research by Ugandan-based Gwada Ogot Tao, FGM and other forms of circumcision in Africa could be linked to water.

ARV Shortages Hit Mozambique’s HIV Treatment Programme

By Amos Zacarias
Chronic shortages of antiretrovirals across Mozambique are endangering the health and the lives of tens of thousands of HIV positive people on treatment.

Obstetric Fistula Haunts Pakistani Women

By Zofeen Ebrahim
The word on the street was that if there were one place on earth that could treat Mohammad Lalu’s wife, it would be the Koohi Goth Women’s Hospital in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.

U.N. Releases Guidelines on Reparations for Victims of Sexual Violence

By Thalif Deen
When sexual violence - whether against men, women or children - takes place in United Nations peacekeeping missions worldwide, the world body has been quick to single out the perpetrators and expel them back to their home countries.

Op-Ed: First Decolonisation, Now ‘Depatriarchilisation’

By Lakshmi Puri
At the end of this week leaders of the Group of 77 and China will meet in Bolivia to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the group.

Marriage a Barrier to ARV treatment for Swazi Women

By Mantoe Phakathi
For months, Nonkululeko Msibi could not find her voice each time she wanted to share the news to her husband. She had learned that she was infected with HIV at the age of 16 when delivering her firstborn baby at Swaziland's Mbabane Government Hospital.

Working Cambodian Women ‘Too Poor’ to Have Children

By Michelle Tolson
The movement for reproductive justice sees women’s decision to have – or not have – children as a fundamental right. Should they choose to bear a child, women should have the right to care and provide for them; if they opt not to give birth, family planning services should be made available to enable women to space or prevent pregnancies.

OP-ED: Why Ending Child Marriage in Africa Can No Longer Wait

By Julitta Onabanjo, Benoit Kalasa, and Mohamed Abdel-Ahad
Just 17 years old, Clarisse is already a mother of two, who lives with her husband and his four other wives in rural southern Chad. Three years earlier, she had watched her mom and sisters preparing food for a party one day. At first she celebrated along with everyone else, not realising it was her own wedding ceremony. When she discovered this, she was frantic.

Indian Girls Break Taboos on Menstrual Hygiene

By Stella Paul
Fifteen-year-old Nasreen Jehan, a student in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, proudly flaunts a yellow and red beaded bracelet encircling her wrist. This humble accessory, she tells IPS, is her most treasured possession.

Divided Opinions on Feasibility of Kenya’s Option B+ Roll Out

By Miriam Gathigah
Kenya’s health sector has been facing significant challenges, ranging from a shortage of health care providers to a series of labour strikes. The problems have not only disrupted health services, but have HIV experts divided on whether to roll out Option B+ nationwide or just to pilot it in high volume facilities such as major referral hospitals. 

OP-ED: Violence Leaves Women, Girls, and Young People on the Edge in South Sudan

By Julitta Onabanjo
As with many conflicts and other humanitarian emergencies around the world, those who suffer the most are women, young girls and children. The current terrible crisis in South Sudan is no exception. 

OP-ED: Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture It!

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Nearly 20 years ago, the world came together in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. There, 189 governments adopted a visionary roadmap for gender equality: the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Nigeria’s Nightmare Gives New Momentum to IVAWA

By Michelle Tullo
Amidst intensifying concern over the fate of more than 200 girls abducted by a radical Islamist group in northern Nigeria, at least 100 representatives of various activist groups Tuesday pressed the U.S. Senate to approve legislation designed to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls and discourage child marriages around the world.

Divisions over Gender Complicate Development Agenda

By Jonathan Rozen
As the U.N. focuses on refining its Post-2015 Development Agenda, divisions surrounding issues of population and development continue to plague consensus on a universal way forward.

HIV/AIDS Highlights Gender Inequalities in Cuba

By Ivet González
All illusions of love, trust and dedication to a relationship flew out the window for Mayda Torres in 1992, when she found out she was HIV-positive while undergoing routine exams to start a new job.

Vaccinating Against Their Will

By Monde Kingsley Nfor
The growing number of child deaths from diarrhoea in Cameroon has necessitated the introduction of a new vaccine (RotaTeq) designed to protect babies under five against common types of rotaviruses that cause diarrhoea. But growing skepticism over new vaccines, and lack of potable water and proper hygiene could thwart such public health efforts, experts say.

Displaced and Disturbed in Pakistan

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Every night in his sleep, Rizwan Ahmed sees his sons being killed. “When he wakes up, he starts crying. He realises they are dead and it was the nightmare he has been having,” says Dr. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the psychiatrist treating him.

Egyptian Quacks Mutilate Millions

By Hisham Allam
Saber Abd El-Mawgoud began his career castrating sheep and goats before moving on to humans. His first human experiment was a young boy he attempted to circumcise back in 1999 at the insistence of the boy’s father.

Reproductive Rights Have a Rocky Ride

By A. D. McKenzie
For policy makers and activists working for sexual and reproductive health and rights, it’s been a long road since the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994.
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