Displaced and Disturbed in Pakistan

Every night in his sleep, Rizwan Ahmed sees his sons being killed. “When he wakes up, he starts crying. He realises they are dead and it was the nightmare he has been having,” says Dr. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the psychiatrist treating him.

Russian Health Going Down With Vodka

Sitting in the dining room of a Moscow hotel, manager Yulia Golovanova explains why she always likes to see Russians, rather than foreigners, bring guests in.

Girls Take Charge in the Fight to End Female Genital Mutilation

Some girls among the Pokot community in western Kenya are bravely defying what is considered cultural and traditional by refusing to be circumcised. More and more mothers, fathers and the women whose job is to do the cutting are beginning to support these girls’ right to bodily integrity.

Africa Leads Fight Against HIV

With its youthful population, fast growing economies and an expanding middle class, Africa has much to celebrate on 25^th May, Africa Day.

Egyptian Pulse Running Weak

Hospitalised for impaired kidney function, Eman El-Behery needed three medicines to bring her diabetes under control. Her daughter, 16-year-old Reham, found two of the medications at a pharmacy across the road from the hospital, but after hours of searching was unable to find the third, a drug that dilates blood vessels in the kidneys to prevent damage.

Injured Struggle in the Sahara

Safia’s six-year-old body is riddled with scars from the rocket that hit her home in February. With her immediate family all killed in the violent attack, this sole survivor smiles shyly as she visits the medics that fought to save her life.

Progress in Reducing Hunger ‘Tragically Slow’

WASHINGTON, October 11, 2012 (IPS) – At least 20 countries are currently at either "alarming" or "extremely alarming" levels of hunger, according to new research released here on Thursday.

Maldives Talks Condoms

For an orthodox Islamic country, the Maldives has made remarkable progress in halting the spread of HIV in the Indian Ocean archipelago through bold awareness programmes and the distribution of condoms.

Uganda’s ‘Haunted’ Children Slow to Receive Medical Help

On a wet earth littered with fresh fruit from a large mango tree in Tumangu village in northern Uganda, Betty Olana (42) sits on a papyrus mat watching over four emaciated children infected by the mysterious nodding syndrome that leaves victims mentally challenged and nodding repeatedly when they see food or cold water.

Saving the Lives of Malawi’s Children

Three-month-old Simplicious Gift lives in Mafunga village in Malawi’s southern rural district of Chikhwawa, 48 kilometres from the commercial capital, Blantyre. His is a poor farming village of about 1,200 people who live off their harvests and the produce from their livestock of goats, pigs and cows.

‘Cambodia Can’t Afford New Dengue Vaccine’

Public health experts in Cambodia are unenthused by reports of trials for a dengue vaccine conducted in neighbouring Thailand, saying it will be too costly for those who need it most – children in the least developed and developing countries.

UNESCO Meet Boosts Traditional Medicine

Jean-Pierre Georges Foucault is a former scientist who is used to dealing with fact and evidence. But when a friend became ill and had excruciating pain, he accompanied her to a traditional healer who, with the placing of his hands, managed to effect a reduction in the pain.

Water in DRC More Often Cause of Death than Source of Life

Despite the desperate lack of access to water for domestic use in Mwene Ditu, in the central Democratic Republic of Congo, Dieudonné Ilunga spent a good part of July blocking up residents' wells.

Egyptian Hospitals Under Attack as Patients Lose Patience

The emergency room of Mansoura International Hospital is closed, a lock and chain securing its entrance. Ambulances carrying stroke and burn victims are ordered to go elsewhere.

Farming Among the Waste in Cameroon

Cameroonian urban famer Juliana Numfor has six plots of land where she grows maize, cassava, sweet potatoes and leafy vegetables, including cabbages, wild okra and greens.

Treating Doctors for Corruption

Slovak doctors have launched an unprecedented campaign to rid their own profession of what is widely perceived as endemic bribery.

Disputes Arise Over Cambodia’s Killer Illness

The deaths of dozens of Cambodian children in recent months from an initially undiagnosed disease has highlighted the difficult balancing act between informing the public and potentially provoking panic.

Pakistan’s Measles Deaths Hinder Global Goals

Measles outbreaks, which have killed at least 100 children in Pakistan’s militancy-hit border areas since May, have prompted calls by experts for better cooperation in territories adjacent to Afghanistan with international immunisation campaigns.

Pakistan Faces a ‘Youth Bomb’

“This is just a trailer of the horror that awaits us,” says noted demographer Farid Midhet, referring to Pakistan’s bulging population and the possibly corresponding  link to rising crime, including murders, robberies, rioting and extremist activity.

Investigation Exposes Cruelty at Foie Gras Farms

Roasted foie gras fillet, with fresh chestnuts and soymilk skin. This dish from Mugaritz, considered the third-best restaurant in the world, sounds exotic. But how this "delicacy" - foie gras means "fat liver" - is produced and at what cost have been unmasked in an investigation led by Animal Equality.

Laos’s Rural Women Await Midwives

A year after the Laotian government launched a safe pregnancy programme news of this initiative,  involving the dispatch of teams of midwives across the country, is yet to reach women in the remote  communities.