Women's Health

Legislators Seek Rightful Place at U.N. Talkfests

By Thalif Deen
When the United Nations hosts one of its mega conferences - whether on population, human rights, food security or sustainable development - there is always a demand for full and active participation of often-marginalised groups, including women, civil society, indigenous peoples and youth.

Pakistani Women Hit Hurdles in Medical Profession

By Beena Sarwar
On one of her many visits to Pakistan recently, Sarah Peck, director of the US-Pakistan Women’s Council, spent some time talking to young women medical students in Pakistan. She was struck by their passion and commitment -- and by the hurdles they face.

Dangerous Combo: Violence in Pregnancy and HIV in South Africa

By Alisa Hatfield
When Phumzile Khoza* came to the central Johannesburg antenatal clinic on a chilly day in August 2013, she was feeling on edge. Not about the medical procedures – she already had two children – but about talking to the nurse.

India Fights a Tougher TB

By Bijoyeta Das
For years Joba Hemron, 50, prayed that her cough would go away. She was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) in 2011. She was put on a Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS), provided free at a public health clinic in Bongaigaon district in Assam.

Q&A: The Face of the Future is an Adolescent Girl

By Nqabomzi Bikitsha
“The future is today aged 10 and it’s an adolescent girl,” Kate Gilmore, deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said in an interview with IPS in Johannesburg.

Growing Inequality Mars 20 Years of Women’s Progress

By Jonathan Rozen
As the world moves closer to the 2015 end mark of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new U.N. report illuminates how far global society has come, but also how far it still must travel to achieve its objectives.

Prosecution of Forced Sterilisations in Peru Still Possible

By Milagros Salazar
Shelving the case of the forced sterilisations of more than 2,000 women in Peru during the Alberto Fujimori regime was a surprise move by the prosecutor in charge. What happened? An IPS investigation found that legal avenues to pursue justice have not been exhausted.

HIV On a Dangerous Threshold in Sri Lanka

By Amantha Perera
Four thousand HIV infections in a population of 20 million should not be a difficult figure to manage. But experts in Sri Lanka say social customs and strict laws are hindering them from carrying out prevention and awareness campaigns among high-risk groups.

Kenya’s Journey Towards Zero New HIV Infections Falters

By Miriam Gathigah
In early January 2008, during the violence that rocked Kenya after disputed general elections, a man knocked at Lucia Wakonyo’s gate at Mathare Valley, in the sprawling Mathare slum. 

More Women Weigh Risks and Rewards of At-Home Birthing

By Lorraine Farquharson
It was a long and hard 10 hours of labour.

Impoverished Cambodians For Sale

By Michelle Tolson
Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse.

Seasonal Migration Frustrates Ethiopia’s Family Planning

By Miriam Gathigah
Yohamin Kesete, 32, and her six children live in Dollo Ado, a pastoralist community in Ethiopia’s drought-stricken Somali Region. But this is not where you will always find them.

The Virtual Doctor Will See You Now

By Amy Fallon
There are thousands of miles between Chanyanya Rural Health Clinic, a basic medical centre in Zambia's rural Kafue District with no resident doctors despite being the main centre for nearly 12,000 people, and the New York University (NYU) Teaching Hospital, one of the world's most prestigious medical schools.

Breast Is Best, But Not in Swaziland

By Mantoe Phakathi
Smiling as she breastfeeds her six-week-old baby boy, Lindiwe Dlamini, 38, is optimistic about his future.

Towards a Change of Culture Leading to a Gender-Balanced Approach

By Emma Bonino
The past three years have been very important to scale up the movement to protect the rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and, particularly, to eliminate female genital mutilation worldwide.

U.S. Urged to Change Policy on Support to Victims of Sexual Violence

By Ramy Srour
The U.S. government is being urged to roll back a longstanding policy that has banned foreign aid funding from being used for health care services for victims of sexual violence in conflict situations.

Saving Children From Loggers

By Catherine Wilson
Logging is the largest industry in the Solomon Islands, an archipelago located northwest of Fiji, where 80 percent of the islands are covered in tropical rainforest. But, although timber accounts for 60 percent of this South Pacific nation’s export earnings, most local communities have experienced no beneficial development.

Pros and Cons of Uganda’s New ARV Therapy for Pregnant Women

By Wambi Michael
Uganda has gotten plenty of kudos and some criticism over its roll out of the new antiretroviral therapy for pregnant women and their babies, known as Option B +.

Lebanon’s Splintered Law Wrecks Lives

By Rebecca Murray
Married women in Lebanon who suffer abuse at home remain at the mercy of the country’s multitude of religious courts, because the hard-fought civil law against domestic violence has been stalled for a vote in parliament since the summer.

Grappling to Give Uganda’s Fistula Patients Dignity

By Amy Fallon
Ever since giving birth to a stillborn baby 15 years ago, Mary*, a peasant farmer from Mubende District in central Uganda, has continuously leaked urine.

Bank Crash Hits Women Harder

By Lowana Veal
Women in Iceland have been more badly affected by the economic collapse in 2008 than their male counterparts, both in terms of physical and mental health, studies show.
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