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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Women's Health
DEVELOPMENT: Chinese Step In, Efficiently
For Jany Chen from Shanghai, concern often-raised in Europe and North America about the Chinese invasion of Africa is a lot of wasteful talk that deserves to be flushed down the toilet. Efficiently.
NAMIBIA: Feature Film Explores Realities of Safer Sex
A new film explores the real complexities of relationships for young people in Namibia, and the effects of gender inequality and culture on the choices people make about their sexual lives.BENIN: Skills Upgrade for Midwives Saves Lives
Training of midwives in the active management of the third stage of labour targets one of the most common causes of maternal deaths: bleeding after delivery.INDIA: Unnecessary C-Sections Violate Women’s Rights
It was smooth sailing for 30-year-old Susan George throughout her pregnancy, until the day she went to give birth at the government hospital. Doctors told her they had to do a caesarean section because they could not wait for a normal delivery.
PHILIPPINES: Women Clamour for Contraceptives
In a small women's clinic in the congested community of San Andres Bukid in the Philippine capital, a mother of 11 is availing herself of family planning services for the first time in her life.
AFRICA: More Skilled Attendants Needed to Reduce Maternal Mortality
Sub-Saharan African countries have claimed nine of the ten bottom places in a ranking of maternal health around the world. "The Mothers' Index", a new survey of motherhood by Save the Children, analyses health, education and economic conditions for women and children in 164 countries.
PAKISTAN: Health Workers Without Maternity Leave
Shazia Kiran is seven months pregnant with her third child and worried she might be unable to juggle her work and the responsibilities of caring for a newborn. But what worries her more is that she has no maternity benefits, and she has not received her salary as a Lady Health Worker (LHW) for the last three months.OP-ED: Maternal Meltdown From Chernobyl to Fukushima
On this day 25 years ago, a massive explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine released clouds of radioactive particles into the atmosphere across Russia and Europe. The catastrophe had lasting effects on people's health, particularly on women and their unborn children. On this sober anniversary, we look back at Chernobyl and the lessons learned to ensure the health of Japanese women as the Fukushima disaster unfolds.
BANGLADESH: W.A.S.H. Keeps Communities Clean
One sunny afternoon, 19-year-old Sufia Aktar presides over a courtyard gathering of housewives discussing the use of safe water, a hygienic environment, and personal cleanliness. It is the last of such gatherings for Sufia, who will soon leave, knowing it was "mission accomplished."
LATIN AMERICA: Lack of Prevention, Timely Treatment Make Women Vulnerable to Cancer
In many cases, cancer is preventable, treatable and curable if detected on time. But the fate of millions of women with the disease varies enormously, depending on where they live.JAPAN: Quake’s Aftermath Weighs Heavily on Women
Since the horrific Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated her coastal town of Minato, in Ishinomaki city, Masami Endo’s three-year-old daughter has been crying and clinging to her every night.Vast Majority of Stillbirths Found in Developing Countries
According to a special series in the medical journal The Lancet presented in New York Wednesday at the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, over 2.6 million stillbirths occur worldwide annually, affecting mostly African and Asian women who lack proper access to health care and facilities.U.N. Decries Stagnant Funding For Population Goals
As the international community readies to cope with a rising world population of some seven billion people by the middle of this year, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns that financial assistance for population-related activities has made no visible gains since 2008.Smart Planning for the Global Family
When it comes to population growth, the United Nations has three primary projections. The medium projection, the one most commonly used, has world population reaching 9.2 billion by 2050. The high one reaches 10.5 billion. The low projection, which assumes that the world will quickly move below replacement-level fertility, has population peaking at eight billion in 2042 and then declining.
SOUTH AFRICA: The Invisible People
Since psychiatric care was decentralised last year in South Africa, patients have been moved from hospitals into community day hospitals that don't have the appropriate resources to deal with mental illnesses. As a result, many of society's most vulnerable have slipped through the cracks in the system and now walk the streets like invisible people.In Cambodia, Women Fear Death at Childbirth
Death haunts women in this Cambodian village at a moment of happiness - when they give birth.
PAKISTAN: And Then There Was Light
Hasan Ibrahim’s tea stall is the busiest place in the sleepy, sand-dune covered village of Sholani, proof of the economic and social change the arrival of electricity has ushered in.Women in Garment Factories Help Cambodia Out of Poverty
Cambodia’s rise out of poverty continues to depend on the nimble fingers of young women like Khiev Chren.SRI LANKA: Parliamentarian Breaks Silence on Domestic Violence
She became famous playing the role of ‘Pabha’, a poor young girl in love with a rich man in a long running hit television series here. But these days, Upeksha Suwarnamali is better known for her real-life role: A victim of domestic violence turned champion of abused women.DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Managing Mental Illness on a Few Pesos a Month
Cristina, 41, was able to support the last two of her five children despite the fact that she could neither read nor write. Raised by a step-grandfather, she started working as a house cleaner when she was 14 and had the misfortune to have children by two alcoholic and abusive men.
Integrating HIV Care with Broader Maternal and Child Health
From the outside, little has changed at the Maternal and Child Healthcare Clinic: pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers wait patiently on wooden benches. A chorus of infant call-and-response betrays the less long-suffering approach of their children to the wait.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Worldwide, women’s health is a serious issue. The result of a wide diversity of factors, most notably insufficient access to education, women’s health issues must be addressed. Without access to proper schooling, many girls grow up without the necessary understanding of reproductive health. Due to this, reproductive issues and sexually transmitted infections plague women in developing countries. Women struggle to battle infections such as HIV. The lack of relevant services, coupled with the lack of women’s rights pertaining to their own health, are some of the serious issues that these stories seek to explain.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
