Q&A: Teens Wrongly Excluded From Family Planning

Nafissatou Diop has worked for decades on issues of reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and development in West Africa, including designing and implementing many studies and programmes.

POPULATION: Poorest Countries to Bear Brunt of Growth

The world's population - already at least 6.7 billion people - will double in the next 40 years if current growth rates are left unchecked, warns the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

HEALTH: Gender Finally Moving to Forefront of AIDS Fight

With women now comprising 61 percent of all people infected with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, international donors, governments and advocacy organisations are looking more closely at the connections between HIV/AIDS and gender inequality.

RIGHTS-SOUTH KOREA: Prostitution Thrives with U.S. Military Presence

With the presence of U.S. soldiers, flesh trade is flourishing near the Camp Stanley Camptown close to Seoul.

RIGHTS-INDIA: India's Historic Gay Ruling

A day after the Delhi High Court's landmark judgment to overturn a colonial law that criminalised homosexuality, Indians expressed mixed reactions to the verdict.

RIGHTS-NAMIBIA: 'Cut, Cut Again and Now Tie Tightly'

Anna Shikongo* wanted many more children, but five-month old Johannes, perched on her lap, will forever be her lastborn. She was sterilised by doctors at a government hospital. Now she is ready to take the government to court.

DEVELOPMENT: Global Campaign to Salvage U.N.’s Health Goals

The global economic crisis, which has pushed millions more into extreme poverty, is threatening to have a devastating impact on the health of women and children.

HEALTH-MOZAMBIQUE: Scant Progress With Paediatric HIV

Christina M.* looks worried as she cradles one of her sick twin babies. The mother of five already lost twins and another baby to illness soon after childbirth a few years ago.

SWAZILAND: Donor Support For Health Sector Drying Up

As the global economic downturn begins to take its toll on developing countries, Swaziland's health system - already strained by the burden of HIV/AIDS - has come under severe threat. The third of the national health budget which comes directly from donor agencies is abruptly drying up.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘‘19th WEF on Africa Just About Elite Agendas’’

The 19th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, which kicks off tomorrow, is a space ‘‘for the rich and powerful elites who control the global economy and who seek to further open Africa’s economy in collaboration with a tiny minority of corrupt elites in Africa.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Mental Illness in HIV-Positive Patients Largely Ignored

Although mental disorders, such as depression and dementia, are a commonly associated with HIV, they remain largely undiagnosed in South Africa. Lack of human and financial resources for mental health are the main reason for this, researchers say.

LESOTHO: Cultural Beliefs Threaten Prevention of Mother-Child HIV Transmission

A health centre in one of Lesotho’s poorest districts has scored significant success in implementing a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programme, but health experts warn that a number of factors, including cultural beliefs and stigma, threaten to derail it.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Global Financial Crisis Leads to HIV Budget Cuts

International donors and African governments are likely to cut health budgets due to the global financial crisis. Health experts fear that increasing unemployment and poverty will lead to less food security and quality of nutrition, which will in turn put more stress on already weak health systems.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: New Effort To Control TB

Swaziland saw a 5.6 percent increase in tuberculosis cases between 2008 and 2007. Out of a population of one million, 10,000 are infected with TB, one of the highest rates of TB infection in the world.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Day of Protests for Jailed AIDS Doctors

A handful of motivated doctors, HIV/AIDS and human rights activists held rallies Tuesday in New York City and 20 countries to protest the imprisonment of Iranian doctors Arash and Kamiar Aleai.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Lethal Link Between Gender Violence and AIDS

When she went to the doctor, 25-year-old Francisca Barros received two pieces of earthbreaking news. The welcome news was that she was pregnant. The terrifying news: that she was HIV-positive.

U.S.: Obama's Global Health Plan Disappoints Activists

Global health activists expressed disappointment Tuesday over U.S. President Barack Obama's plans to spend 63 billion dollars over the next six years to fight diseases in poor countries overseas.

LESOTHO: Help At Hand for Orphans

The Lesotho government - battling against the challenges presented by an ever-growing population of orphans whose parents have succumbed to the AIDS pandemic - has embarked on an ambitious programme aimed at alleviating the suffering of these vulnerable children, in partnership with the European Union and UNICEF.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: 'Role Models in the Community'

She is popularly known as sitjifiri (beautiful and well-kempt woman in SiSwati). Sylvia Khuzwayo travels across the Shiselweni region in the southern part of the Kingdom of Swaziland, giving testimonials to communities on her experience of living with HIV.

HEALTH-CUBA: HIV-Positive Want Respect, Not Tolerance

Over 20 years after the diagnosis of the first cases of AIDS in Cuba, HIV-positive persons and those who work with them or are involved in the issue on the island are attempting to drop the use of terms like tolerance and acceptance, and speak instead of respect.

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Triples Allotment for Population

The 1994 landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, fixed a target of 20.5 billion dollars for investments in population programmes worldwide for the year 2010.