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Monday, June 29, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Women's Health
Q&A: "Sex Work Is Work"
Katrina Pacey is a lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver. Pivot is engaged in social justice work through legal reform in the inner city of Vancouver. Pacey is currently taking a case to the British Columbia Supreme Court, and eventually, the Supreme Court of Canada, arguing that the country's prostitution laws violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.AFRICA: Money, Media and Tradition Complicate Women's Political Aspirations
The challenges confronting women politicians in Africa were given an airing recently during a press conference in South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg.RIGHTS: UN Spotlights “Massive and Systematic” Abuse of Women
Millions of women across the world are beaten, killed, bought and sold by men, yet the gruesome violence and cruel treatment they face every day rarely makes headlines in the global media.RIGHTS-DRC: Civilians Face Horrific Sexual Violence
Humanitarian workers and U.N. experts say that extreme sexual violence is being used systematically as a weapon of war and terror in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the international community sits by and watches.HEALTH: Toilet Association Needs Women on Top Seats
It was a happy day for Sim Jae-Duck. "The World Toilet Association (WTA) history has begun,’’ said the president of the newly formed association at the close, Friday, of the four-day assembly in which it was formally established.RIGHTS-COTE D'IVOIRE: Fighting FGM From Mosque and Pulpit
In certain parts of Africa, female genital mutilation (FGM) has been linked to religion, with Muslim communities mistakenly believing that the practice is a religious requirement. But in Côte d'Ivoire, religion is also being put at the service of fighting FGM.
Q&A: 'We Need Partners, Not Masters'
Bolivian President Evo Morales visited Italy this week to receive a special award for his government's commitment to social and health issues. He has made these issues a "political priority."NICARAGUA: At-Risk Pregnancy Means Death or Prison
Nearly 90 women have died in Nicaragua as a direct or indirect result of the repeal, one year ago, of the legislation permitting abortion in cases of risk to the mother’s health, according to women’s and human rights groups.SOCIETY-BALKANS: Facing 'Extinction', Nations Seek Babies
A young woman lost her job in a small town in Serbia after she gave birth to a baby boy and was to be absent from work for a year. That sacking shook up a nation.
DRC: Hospital’s Tale Reveals Missing Children, Brutalised Women
Long after fighting in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has largely subsided, civilian populations there continue to face high levels of violence from all sides, according to the global humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Q&A: 'Women Need Help to Deliver'
The Women Deliver conference held in London last week has reminded a lot of people in the world of healthcare how much more they need to deliver to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for women.HEALTH: No Woman Should Die Giving Life, Says UNFPA
In this 21st century, when medical science and gender empowerment are rising progressively, "no woman should die giving life", declares Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).HEALTH: Maternal Mortality Shames Superpower U.S.
Despite its enormous wealth and highly advanced technology, the United States lags far behind other industrialised countries - and even some developing ones - in providing adequate health care to women during pregnancy and childbirth.EUROPE: 'Aid for Sexual Health Declining'
The European Union is "not delivering" on promises to increase aid for contraception and sex education in poor countries, family planning advocates have declared.HEALTH-PARAGUAY: Hopes of Meeting Millennium Goals Slipping Away
In spite of official claims to the contrary, it is becoming less and less likely that Paraguay will meet the health goals the United Nations member countries committed themselves to achieve by 2015, experts say.HEALTH: Picture a Hunger-Free World
The scene within and outside the United Nations last week was strikingly dissimilar: while more than 140 world leaders were arriving in New York to wine, dine and address the General Assembly, a group of activists was demonstrating outside the U.N. compound for a hunger-free world.CUBA: Citizen Action Transforming the Barrio
Two women set out nine years ago to help the barrio of Balcón Arimao, on the outskirts of the Cuban capital, tackle its numerous problems through community participation.HEALTH: The Quiet Scandal of 10 Million Deaths
A global coalition of governments and organisations has launched a new campaign to drastically improve pre- and post-natal healthcare in places like India, which alone accounts for a staggering 25 percent of the world's child deaths and 20 percent of maternal deaths.POPULATION-PHILIPPINES: Manila Women to Fight Ban on Contraceptives
Lourdes Esplana-Osil has seven children, all born within a space of 12 years. Warned by her doctor of complications from repeated pregnancies, she started using injectable contraceptives provided free at a local government health centre.DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: For Village Women an Indoor Latrine Is Heaven
For as long as Hatal Bibi, 50, can remember, women in her village, Ahmed Khaskheli, 250 km east of this port city, in Sindh province’s Sanghar district, spent hours fetching water from a canal four km away and used an enclosed communal patch to relieve themselves.
Q&A: “It’s a Brave Politician Who Will Talk About Toilets”
When it comes to discussing the critical health problem of inadequate sanitation, few politicians want to take the lead, despite the mountains of scientific evidence that poor hygiene and lack of proper toilet facilities are the cause of many deadly but preventable diseases.« 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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