HEALTH: Activists See CAFTA as Gift to Big Pharma

With the U.S. House of Representatives due to vote this week on the fate of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), international health activists are warning that the intellectual property provisions included in the pact could spell death for hundreds of thousands of poor people.

AIDS-KENYA: Needed – More Meds for Kids

For those Kenyans who have contracted HIV, getting access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) is seldom an easy matter. In the case of children, however, the situation is even more problematic.

HEALTH-BURMA: HIV Threat Overshadows Political Instability

While political reform in Burma is set to dominate next week's meeting of South-east Asian foreign ministers in Laos, a deadlier subject, HIV spread in the region, cries for attention.

HEALTH-CARIBBEAN: AIDS Could Kill Quarter Million by 2010

The Caribbean region has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world after sub-Saharan Africa, and a new report by a group of eminent Caribbean health and finance experts says things are only getting worse.

RIGHTS-CAMEROON: When Husbands Become Pimps

Business at the numerous money transfer agencies in Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, is typically a brisk affair. Of the many people who frequent the agencies, one group is of particular interest, however: the husbands of women who have gone abroad to earn money from prostitution.

/ARTS WEEKLY/INDIA: Bollywood Gets Serious About HIV/AIDS

Song and dance against a verdant valley. Good pitted against evil. Fantastical villains. Bright colours. Spectacle and turmoil. No more, no less, this is Bollywood as the Indian film industry has been known for decades.

HEALTH: HIV/AIDS Threatens Militaries Worldwide

The United Nations is urging stronger international cooperation and long-term strategies to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, which is causing devastation among peacekeepers and national militaries worldwide.

HEALTH-SWAZILAND: A Message to Teenagers – Take Charge!

A new advertising campaign aimed at curtailing teenage HIV rates by promoting abstinence is using a combination of traditional and modern values in its appeal to Swazi youth.

DEVELOPMENT: 50 Countries, 700 Million People, One Poverty Trap

A new U.N. report calls for urgent action to combat the dual crises of poverty and AIDS in Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Two High-Profile Campaigners Tackle AIDS

Former South African president Nelson Mandela and United States First Lady Laura Bush campaigned in two South African cities this week against the spread of AIDS.

WOMEN-CUBA: Nobel Peace Nominee Defends Diversity

Nearly 20 years ago, when Lizette Vila began to work in Cuba with the disabled, transvestites, people living with HIV and alcoholics, she avoided talking about minorities, because "the word in itself was a kind of discrimination."

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Keeping Mom Alive Is the Best Medicine

It is tempting to call it a "no brainer": the idea that attempts to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to children should be matched by initiatives to keep these mothers alive after they give birth.

/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM: Indian Cinema Examines Lesbian, Gay Themes

A city known for film literacy and great directors like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen this eastern metropolis witnessed something unique recently - a film award instituted on the theme of gay rights.

HEALTH-THAILAND: HIV/AIDs Stalks Burmese Migrant Workers

It was fear that drove Ma Ne from her home in Burma's Mon state to this port town famous for its seafood processing factories. She wanted to escape the forced labour policy of the Burmese military regime.

HEALTH-NAMIBIA: “Wanted by Many People” – Cared For by Few

"It's the wrong profession to be in," says Father Herman Klein-Hitpass, with a nervous chuckle.

G8 SUMMIT: Africa Is Offered a Little – At a Price

The G8 leaders offered Africa a little with one hand, but that offer cloaked intent to take back more - and with many more hands.

G8 SUMMIT: Debt Cancellation No Panacea for Benin – Analysts

Some may see it as a just reward for years of fiscal discipline. For others, it is a gesture that will ultimately do little to address poverty in Benin. What there is no disputing, is that the debt relief given to Benin last month by the Group of Eight (G8) is as much a source of controversy as satisfaction.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Sirte Looks to Gleneagles

The African Union ended its annual summit this week with an appeal for substantially more aid from the West and demands for two permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.

AIDS-CHILE: More Condoms, Less TV

This September the Chilean government will launch an AIDS prevention campaign that places greater emphasis on the use of condoms, but will take only limited advantage of television as a means of spreading its message, a decision that health care specialists fear will make it less effective.

HEALTH: Religion Lends Shelter, Activism to HIV/AIDS

Sneha Samaj, an HIV-positive woman from Nepal, attends a spiritual class once a month. There, she reads the Bible and discusses the importance of compassion together with others living with HIV/AIDS, under the gentle leadership of nuns.

HEALTH: Asian Homemakers Now at High-Risk for HIV/AIDS Infection

Pheng Pharozin, 25, a soft spoken Cambodian woman was happily married with an infant daughter when she tested positive for HIV two years ago.