G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists

In the final hours before this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation - key items on the meeting's agenda - for there to be real improvement in Africa's living conditions.

HEALTH-RUSSIA: More Funding, But HIV/AIDS on the Rise

Russia's HIV infection rate continues to rise - most notably in the heterosexual and non-drug-using populations - despite steady increases in funds to fight the disease. Experts and medical researchers say dramatic changes in sexual attitudes and behaviour are essential if the trend is to be reversed.

HEALTH: Bush Urges Doubling of Anti-AIDS Funding

U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday called for Congress to double spending on his global AIDS programme to 30 billion dollars from fiscal 2009 through 2013.

HEALTH-SOUTHERN AFRICA: One Million People Need AIDS Treatment

About one million people in need of anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment are yet to receive it in four southern African states, according to Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a global nongovernmental organisation specialising in medical services.

HEALTH-MALAYSIA: Condom Taboo Hampers Fight Against HIV

Lorong Haji Taib is a garbage-filled, rat-infested lane in the heart of the capital famous for its cheap sex, drugs and brawls.

AFGHANISTAN: Poppy Fields Offer Jobs as Fighting Rages

While intense fighting rages around Afghanistan's famed poppy fields in the south, thousands of poor, jobless youths have poured in to embattled Helmand province to lance the lush-green poppy bulbs that promise massive yields of opium this year.

Q&A: “Abstinence Is Not the Only Way to Go”

Few aid programmes have been as controversial among activists and public health experts as the George W. Bush administration's abstinence-based HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention initiative, called the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

LATIN AMERICA: For a Day Against Homophobia

"We don't want more or less rights than anyone else; we want exactly the same rights," says Mexican transsexual Sofía Valero, one of millions of Latin Americans who suffer discrimination and are at risk of gay bashings and murder because of their sexual orientation.

DEVELOPMENT: Winners and Losers in Globalisation Struggle

Globalisation, widely perceived as the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide, is a mixed blessing to the world's three billion poverty-stricken people living on less than two dollars a day.

HEALTH-THAILAND: Holding Big Pharma’s Feet to the Fire

For nearly a week the advertising pages of Thai and English-language dailies have been the stage for debates on Thailand's decision to break patents on anti-AIDS drugs in the interest of public health.

HEALTH-AFRICA: 28 Stories, 28 Million Victims

"Humans are predisposed to respond to individual suffering; they are overwhelmed by huge numbers," Henry-Paul Normandin, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, told diplomats, U.N. officials and journalists gathered at the Canadian Mission here Monday.

TRADE: Deal Rekindles Hopes and Fears over U.S. Policy

A new U.S. policy to include internationally recognised labour and environmental standards in future trade deals with foreign countries has received mixed reactions in the United States.

HEALTH: HIV-Positive Women Activists in Latin America Stand Tall

Patricia Pérez, an activist from Argentina who was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1986, has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism on behalf of women living with the AIDS virus. But her case is an exception to the rule.

ENVIRONMENT: U.N. Debates Wider Leadership Role on Climate

As climate change and global warming continue to dominate the headlines, there is a concerted move once again to revive the longstanding proposal for an expansion in the role of the United Nations in fighting environmental degradation.

HEALTH: Thailand Turns Giant Pharma Killer

By standing up to pressure from ‘big pharma' over cheap anti-AIDS drugs, Thailand may have created an opening in global trade rules that will permit developing countries to more readily break patents in times of public health emergencies.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Pulling Stunts To End AIDS Ignorance

For six weeks, Andre van Zijl has been pumping petrol around the clock at a gas station in the picturesque seaside town Knysna on South Africa's south coast. Why? To raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: “Many Men Fear Losing Their Power”

One in four women in an abusive relationship, a woman killed approximately every week by her close male partner: these figures, from People Opposing Women Abuse, a Johannesburg-based non-profit, indicate the extent of the problem posed by gender-related violence in South Africa.

TRADE-AFRICA: Microfinance Tackles AIDS Head On

With two-thirds of the world's HIV/AIDS victims living in sub-Saharan Africa, sickness and death is too often a part of doing business in the region. But now microfinance institutions have found ways to reduce financial risk while attacking new infections.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: MDGs a ”Bright Idea” or Scam of the Rich?

While the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a ‘‘bright idea'', the ‘‘hidden agenda'' of western countries makes it impossible for African states like Tanzania to achieve the goals, expounds actor Rashid Mkwinda.

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Girls Living with HIV Break the Silence

"I feel happy when I'm with my friends; at those times, I don't even remember that I have the infection," Keren, an 11-year-old Honduran girl living with HIV, told IPS.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: The Arrival of ”Homo Urbanus”

The year 2007 marks the birth of a new ''species'': Homo Urbanus. For the first time in history there will be as many city dwellers as rural inhabitants in the world.