Women's Health

HEALTH-NIGER: A Hundred Dollars Goes a Long Way to Ending Genital Mutilation

By Ousseini Issa
"It’s not easy to give up a profession passed down to you by your parents that you’ve been at for years. But once you become aware of the grave harm you do others in this job, you have to quit," says Salmou Himadou.

HEALTH-KENYA: Women Die Silently, Invisibly From Pregnancy

By IPS Correspondents
Last week’s call by the United Nations Population Fund to governments to increase spending on reproductive health may prove to be hard for Kenya to implement. Kenya has no budgetary allocation for reproductive health.

RIGHTS: On a Mission Against Tradition

By IPS Correspondents
Hawa Aden Mohamed was only eight when she experienced the brutal pain of circumcision. Performed in a small Somali village, the operation was carried out without anesthesia, using only basic cutting tools and thorns.

WORLD HEALTH DAY: There’s Nothing Natural About These Deaths

By IPS Correspondents
Although pregnancy-related complications kill 500,000 women each year, and nearly 11 million children never reach their fifth birthday, U.N. experts say this largely preventable tragedy is just not a high enough priority for many governments or the international community.

WORLD HEALTH DAY: Orthodox ABC Strategy Falls Short in AIDS Fight

By IPS Correspondents
More resources are being poured into campaigns against HIV/AIDS than ever before, even as an unprecedented number of advocates demand new treatment and prevention strategies to address the skyrocketing number of women becoming infected with the virus.

POPE JOHN PAUL II: Paying Respects, But Also Hoping for a Miracle

By IPS Correspondents
Reform-minded Catholic groups in the United States are praying the successor to John Paul II will prove more receptive to softening church doctrine on contraception, abortion, homosexuality and women's equality, although they acknowledge that these issues are probably not high on the Vatican agenda.

WORLD HEALTH DAY: U.S. Pursues Disruptive Anti-Abortion Agenda

By Thalif Deen
As expected, the United States has once again raised the politically divisive issue of abortion at a crucial U.N. meeting here, refusing to reaffirm the landmark Programme of Action unanimously adopted at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo.
One person's blessing - another one's bane. (Photo: Keystone Dienstbild) Credit: PictureNET Africa

HEALTH-AFRICA: Thou Shalt Not Condomise

By Moyiga Nduru
Muslims and Catholics do not see eye-to-eye on many issues. But when it comes to practices which they fear will allow the encroachment of unacceptable secular values - abortion, gay marriage and condom use - they quickly close ranks to form a united front against the threat.

ARTS-ZIMBABWE: Secrets and Silence Around AIDS

By IPS Correspondents
As AIDS affects a growing number of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, a timely novel has been released by first time Zimbabwean author Lutanga Shaba which tackles the factors underpinning women’s vulnerability to HIV.

HEALTH-AFGHANISTAN: Many Still Seeking Medical Help Across Border

By IPS Correspondents
Despite the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan three years ago and subsequent international pledges made to help the war-ravaged country get back on its feet, Afghans are still crossing into neighbouring Pakistan to seek basic medical services.

BRAZIL: Major Obstacles on the Road to Safe, Legal Abortion

By Mario Osava
The legalisation of abortion appears to be a distant possibility in Brazil, given the slow pace of any progress in this direction and the controversy that continues to surround the few cases where the termination of a pregnancy is legally authorised.

HEALTH: Shame Cloaks This Suffering

By Sanjay Suri
The suffering of millions of these women, no one is sure even how many million, is cloaked with shame and silence. They suffer from a condition known as obstetric fistula.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-ARGENTINA: Exhausted Women

By Marcela Valente
Noemí gets up early, prepares breakfast, throws a load of laundry into the washing machine, and puts vegetables on to boil to get an early start on that evening's dinner.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-LATAM: At Least Half a Century Needed to Reach Goals

By IPS Correspondents
Although most countries of Latin America have made strides towards achieving gender equality, progress has been slow, and at this pace it will take at least 50 years to reach the targets agreed in 1995 at the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing.

RIGHTS: Under Fire, U.S. Retreats From Abortion Stance

By Haider Rizvi
Women's groups celebrated their victory here Friday after a United States envoy declared that her government would not press for any changes in an international document that reaffirms what world leaders had pledged at a major summit on women's rights 10 years ago.

HEALTH: "Just Say No" Called Deadly Advice by Drug Experts

By IPS Correspondents
More than 300 groups and individuals from 56 countries released an open letter Tuesday urging delegates of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) to resist U.S. pressure to withdraw support for syringe exchange programmes.

RIGHTS: U.S. Abortion Stance Angers Women at U.N. Meet

By Haider Rizvi
As the George W. Bush administration tries to influence other nations to endorse its antagonistic views on abortion, feminist scholars and activists from the Arab and Muslim world warn that the U.S. move could cause irreparable damage to their years-long struggle for equality.

HEALTH-MAURITANIA: Low HIV Prevalence, Widespread AIDS Stigma

By IPS Correspondents
In the wooden shanty town of Elmina on the outskirts of Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, AIDS educators do not let religious or cultural conservatism get in their way.

HEALTH: Breaking the Vicious Circle of Sexism, Poverty and AIDS

By IPS Correspondents
An ambitious plan to curb extreme poverty and promote gender equality in the next decade will not get off the ground unless governments in the world's least developed countries put the HIV/AIDS pandemic at the top of their agendas, said U.N. experts yesterday.

ARGENTINA: Maternal Mortality Claims Increasingly Younger Victims

By IPS Correspondents
Almost one-third of the maternal deaths reported in Argentina result from abortion, which is illegal in this South American nation, and a growing number of the fatalities correspond to women under the age of 20, including girls as young as 10.

HEALTH-KENYA: Do Safer Births Require a Break With Tradition?

By IPS Correspondents
"I use a razor, scissors and thread," says traditional midwife Peris Machanja, describing part of her work in delivering a baby. "Sometimes I use gloves, which I disinfect to use for another job – that is, if they are not torn. If they are, I try to get new ones."
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