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Wednesday, July 1, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Women's Health
HEALTH-US: Govt Watchdog Criticises Bush’s AIDS Plan
The priority given to abstinence-only strategies in U.S. Pres. George W. Bush's global HIV/ AIDS programme may be undermining the overall effectiveness of his administration's multi- billion-dollar AIDS-prevention efforts, according to a study released here Tuesday by Congress' Governmental Accountability Office (GAO).HEALTH-KENYA: The Little Pill That Could
Misoprostol. It's not exactly a household name as far as drugs are concerned; however, it has the potential to improve - and even save - thousands of women's lives in Kenya.HEALTH-AFRICA: Anti-Abortion Laws a “Silent War Waged Against Women”
Calls for abortion laws across Africa to be revised have dominated the first days of a meeting in Ethiopia – the ‘Regional Consultation on Unsafe Abortion in Africa’.RIGHTS: Dying for Firewood
Just collecting the cooking fuel essential for survival, millions of refugee and so-called internally displaced women are daily forced to put their lives at risk, says a new report by the New York-based Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.RIGHTS: U.N. Women’s Meet Targets AIDS, Armed Conflict
The United Nations is calling for international institutions and governments worldwide to ensure equal participation of women in decision-making and to take actions to enhance their role in development.TRINIDAD: Gender Plan Stymied Over Abortion, Gay Rights
Ever since Prime Minister Patrick Manning all but scuttled a draft national gender policy nearly six months ago, a debate has been raging here as to whether such a plan is necessary for the future socio-economic development of Trinidad and Tobago.WOMEN-CHILE: Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Now!
The first annual report by the Chilean Observatory of Gender Equity in Health calls for legislation on sexual and reproductive rights for women, making therapeutic abortion legal once again, and making emergency contraception available to all women.HEALTH: Shame and Pain Torment Fistula Sufferers
Obstetric fistula is a preventable and treatable injury caused by several days of obstructed labour, without timely medical intervention. But the consequences of the pervasive disability are life shattering - the baby usually dies, and the woman is left with chronic incontinence.HEALTH-ANGOLA: The Dangerous Profession of Motherhood
Walking into the Angolan capital's main maternity hospital, the first thing that hits any visitor is the stench: a nauseating combination of blood and excrement. After a short while, the stomach settles and the eyes adjust to the poor light in the Maternidade Lucrecia Paim; then, the true wretchedness of the grey walls and broken windows begins to sink in.RIGHTS: First-Ever Treaty for People with Disabilities Gains Ground
After a three-week marathon session, a United Nations committee has expressed confidence in finalising a new international treaty to protect the disabled by the end of the year.RIGHTS-MALAWI: “Have Men in Our Land Chosen to Become Worse Than Beasts?”
When police announced recently that they had detained a man in the northern town of Karonga for allegedly killing his wife after she refused him sex, there were hopes that the arrest would send a stern warning to other husbands with violent inclinations.TSUNAMI IMPACT: For Thousands, Life Is “Unbelievably Grim”
A survey of more than 50,000 tsunami survivors in five Asian countries has revealed that most of them have been doubly devastated: losing their loved ones in the December 2004 natural disaster, and subsequently having their human rights abused by their own governments.HEALTH-INDIA: Laws Fail to Remedy Skewed Sex Ratio
Damning evidence in the British medical journal ‘The Lancet', that illegal sex selective abortions in India were responsible for 10 million ''missing'' girls over the last two decades, has goaded health authorities and campaigners into renewed action.POLITICS: UN Bodies Survive US Funding Threats
The United States, a major funder of the United Nations and its myriad agencies, has a longstanding notoriety for exercising its financial clout to threaten U.N. bodies refusing to play ball with Washington.PAKISTAN: Quake Survivors Need Doctors, Nurses
Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel are urgently needed to help prevent outbreaks of epidemics in quake-hit areas of Pakistan, warns the World Health Organisation (WHO).HEALTH-BRAZIL: NGOs Push to Avoid Preventable Maternal Deaths
The death of a woman in childbirth is a horrific blow to a family preparing for what is meant to be a joyous event, the arrival of a new life. In Brazil, the loss is made even more painful by the fact that over 90 percent of these deaths are preventable.HEALTH: That Special Winner in a Contest of One
Svetlana Izambayeva won a beauty contest in Moscow last week. She was the only one who had turned up to participate, but it is not this that made her a winner like no other.HEALTH-CHILE: Poison Victims Demand Pesticide Restrictions
Sixty women and 13 men working as seasonal farm labourers were intoxicated by pesticides this month as they picked apples in an orchard in southern Chile - calling into question the effectiveness of agro-chemical regulation in this country.WORLD AIDS DAY: How Many Millions More Will Die?
Millions of people living with HIV/AIDS in poor parts of the world could lose their lives in the next few years if governments fail to keep their promises to fight the deadly pandemic, warn U.N. officials and health advocacy groups.HEALTH-BRAZIL: Well on the Way to Eliminating Maternal Transmission of HIV
Brazil is pushing ahead with its widely-praised anti-AIDS programme by setting itself the goal of reducing vertical transmission of HIV, the AIDS virus, to less than one percent within three years.IVORY COAST: The Kindest Cut of All – Severing a Harmful Tradition
Thirty practitioners of female circumcision in the Ivorian financial capital, Abidjan, have publicly laid aside their blades, knives and scissors. This is the result of an ongoing campaign in the West African country to eradicate the practice, estimated by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to affect 40 percent of women living there.« 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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