WORLD AIDS DAY: Growing Up with HIV

Sixteen-year-old Andela Milambo* wants a husband. She is not looking for love, but for someone to share the burden of living with HIV. She wants to be able to take her medicine without having to hide, to discuss the recurring herpes with someone who understands.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Children Still Falling Through the Cracks

While most HIV-positive people in the Western world can gain decades of good health thanks to increasingly effective drug regimens, in the developing world, nearly a third of children born with HIV are still dying before their first birthday.

MIDEAST: The Man Who Would Move a Hill

In this city of fraternal faiths and conflicting political aspirations, dreams need to be made of sterner stuff.

RIGHTS: Nigeria Failing To End Discrimination Against Women

Nigeria ratified the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985 without reservations. But few of its citizens have ever heard of the document. Day-to-day life for women in Nigeria is shaped less by international conventions than it is by the diverse cultures, traditions and religions found in the country.

Q&A: CEDAW – Signed, Sealed and Largely Left on the Shelf

Mauritania formally adopted the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2001, but in the eight years since, it has had limited effect on the status of women.

GUATEMALA: Sex Education, Family Planning Finally Available

Social organisations in Guatemala are celebrating the entry into effect of a family planning law that will usher sex education into the country's classrooms and facilitate access to birth control methods, as a victory in the fight against the country's high birth and maternal and infant mortality rates.

BOLIVIA: The Credibility of Campaign Promises

If two candidates offer funds for the poor, but one of them is known for living up to his promises, who will the citizens vote for? That would seem to broadly describe the choice Bolivian voters are facing in the Dec. 6 general elections.

WATER: Poor Sanitation Killing Liberia’s Young

Nineteen-year-old Beauty Phillips clutches her emaciated baby tightly to her chest. At seven months, Inga suffers from malnutrition.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Children Face Daily Settler Attacks Getting to School

Being able to travel to school in relative safety is something children all over the world take for granted. But, for Palestinian children living in the shadow of the ubiquitous and illegal Israeli settlements dotting the West Bank, simply walking to school can be a terrifying experience.

BRAZIL: Crack Epidemic – Yet another Tough Nut to Crack in War on Drugs

J. ran away from home - a shack in a "favela" or shantytown in Brazil - when he was just eight years old, after he realised that the money he begged for in the streets was spent by his violent father on alcohol and drugs. He became a street urchin, as his two older brothers - with whom he lost contact long ago - had already done.

DEVELOPMENT: Child Rights Make Headway, But Millions Still Suffering

The international community, which has been hit by a financial meltdown and a global food crisis, claims it is doing its best to protect and safeguard the rights of children worldwide.

HEALTH: Strategy to Cut Vaccine Price Paying Off

The price of a major combination vaccine called the 'pentavalent' has fallen considerably over the past year, bringing the cost per dose below three dollars - a decrease of almost 50 cents, according to data released Wednesday by an alliance of public and private partners who have worked to bring down vaccine prices in the developing world.

Q&A: “If You Find Yourself in a Minefield, Shout for Help”

Putting on a white t-shirt or wearing olive-green pants can be life-or-death decisions in the conflict zone in the steep Andes mountains in western Colombia where 14-year-old Andrés lives and attends eighth grade.

HEALTH-EGYPT: Over the Top With Anti-Swine Flu Steps

As authorities consider suspending a whole academic year to check the spread of swine flu among school children there is a feeling that measures to contain the H1N1 virus - known to be less dangerous than the one responsible for seasonal flu - are going over the top.

CUBA: Fewer Storks Visiting Shiny Maternity Clinics

Women in Cuba cite a variety of reasons to explain their decision to have only one child, ranging from the housing shortage to the rising cost of living and the many work responsibilities they have to shoulder. But many say that if things were different they would have a bigger family.

MIDEAST: Gazans Brace for Cold, Bleak and Miserable Winter

Tens of thousands of Gazans living in tents and damaged homes face a wet, cold and miserable winter as Israel’s blockade of the coastal territory continues to prevent the importation of building and reconstruction material.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: On ART Since Birth

Seven-year-old Ntombi* frowns after swallowing the tablets her grandmother has given her. The HIV-positive child has contracted multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

CENTRAL AMERICA: Gender-based Violence, the Hidden Face of Insecurity

Gender-based violence and sexual abuse are serious public security problems in Central America, and Nicaragua is no exception, according to reports by United Nations agencies and women’s organisations.

RIGHTS: U.S., Somalia Still Opt Out of Children’s Treaty

When the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) commemorates the 20th anniversary of its landmark international treaty protecting the rights of children next week, there will be two countries skipping the celebrations: the United States and Somalia.

MEXICO: DNA Tool to Trace Missing Kids

Andrea C. was eight years old when two unidentified women took her from her home in a neighbourhood on the north side of the Mexican capital, in September 2005. Four years later, she is still missing.

ARGENTINA: ‘Grandma, Will You Read to Me?’

"Moving," "rewarding," "therapeutic" are some of the terms used to describe their volunteer work by some of the women taking part in the Storytelling Grandmothers Programme aimed at awakening a love of reading among youngsters from poor families in Argentina.