MALAWI: Painkillers Prescribed for Malaria Amid Drug Shortage

Malawi is experiencing a drug shortage as the country's international donors remain reluctant to release aid meant for the health sector.

PERU: In Prison, a Little Health Care Goes a Long Way

"I caught tuberculosis, but I'm lucky because it's been cured," says Hernán Arévalo from his bed in the new hospital at the Peruvian prison of Lurigancho, one of the most crowded and dangerous in Latin America. "Before, whoever came in here was unlikely to get out alive."

PAKISTAN: Treatment Centre Begins to Break AIDS Stigma

"Today is the best day of my life," Gul Hamid, 40, told IPS. "Finally my family members are convinced that HIV/AIDS can’t be transmitted through handshakes or shared meals and utensils."

SOMALIA: Rape – The Hidden Side of the Famine Crisis

When Aisha Diis* and her five children fled their home in Somalia seeking aid from the famine devastating the region, she could not have known the dangers of the journey, or even fathom that she would be raped along the way.

NEPAL: No Brakes on Sex Trafficking

While a Nepalese campaign to stop human trafficking gains recognition by the White House and Hollywood, Nepal continues to be a prime source for sex trafficking, thanks to unsettled conditions created by a protracted political crisis.

PAKISTAN: Dodging Drones and Bullets to Beat HIV

Having to contend with U.S. army drones and the crossfire between the Taliban and the Pakistani army, the residents of Pakistan’s tribal areas find access to treatment for HIV/AIDS harder than in most other parts of the world.

Neglected Diseases Group Seeking Child-Friendly AIDS Drugs

A scientific alliance in which developing countries are playing a key role has taken on the challenge of producing paediatric AIDS drugs, an area that is no longer a priority for pharmaceutical companies because mother-to-child transmission of HIV has virtually been eliminated in the industrialised world.

SWAZILAND: Economic Crisis Means Short Supply of ARVs

Swaziland’s economic crisis has affected its ability to provide healthcare as the country’s buffer stock of antiretrovirals (ARVs) has fallen below the prescribed three-month supply.

KENYA: Providing ARVs to HIV-Negative People Will Strain Resources

When Lucy Omollo found out that her husband was HIV-positive six years ago, the couple thought the best way to prevent her from becoming infected with the virus was not to have sex.

Navigating Challenges, Brazil Steps Up AIDS Response

Long heralded as a model for the global response to HIV/AIDS, Brazil is intensifying its actions, at home and abroad, in the face of potential setbacks including an arising need for new treatment regimens, the resultant increase in drug prices and the debate over intellectual property rights.

Building Vaccines for the “Bottom Billion”

As the world marks 30 years since HIV/AIDS was first identified, vaccine researcher Dr. Peter Hotez hopes intervention programmes can begin to incorporate treatment for some lesser-known ailments called neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs.

Another Push for Reproductive Rights

By 2015, women demanding family planning products and services in the developing world will likely reach 933 million, a terrific increase from the current 818 million women demanding access to these basic reproductive commodities.

U.N. Political Body Digresses into “Non-Security” Issues

When the U.N. Security Council, the only political body empowered to declare war and peace, decided to include climate change on its agenda back in 2007, the 131-member Group of 77 (G77) launched a vociferous protest.

JAPAN: HIV Cases Rise as Awareness Wanes

Slackening awareness and deep-rooted social discrimination are behind the latest figures that show Japan with a record number of HIV-positive and AIDS patients, officials and experts say.

AIDS Funding Gap Threatens Treatment Targets

A staggering nine million people are still awaiting HIV treatment, yet the 22 billion dollars the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) says is needed to give them access to medicine and care has far from materialised.

Thirty Years On, AIDS Epidemic a Women’s Battle

As world leaders gather in New York for a high-level conference on HIV/AIDS, United Nations agency heads, goodwill ambassadors and activists alike hope they will remember the virus's most vulnerable victims: women and girls.

MALAWI: Fears of Sustainability of New ART Regime

As government prepares to roll out the expensive new antiretroviral treatment regime recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) this month, there are fears about the programme’s sustainability after two recent proposals for funding were rejected by the Global Fund.

HEALTH: A Phone Call Could Provide HIV/AIDS Treatment

Soon chatting to ones friends or family over a mobile phone could mean that an HIV positive person will receive sustainable antiretroviral treatment (ART) that could prolong their life. That is if civil society in Kenya has its way.

Rich Nations Wage Assault on Generic AIDS Drugs

Moves by developed nations such as the United States to tighten intellectual property laws are threatening to limit production and distribution of generic drugs, which experts say have been and will remain key in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and currently account for 80 percent of HIV/AIDS treatment.

HIV Infections Down, but Treatment Access Still Uneven

Officials underscored the importance of stepped-up action Friday to combat HIV/AIDS, the worst epidemic the world has seen since it began 30 years ago, ahead of a high-level meeting on the disease at the United Nations next week.

HEALTH: Poor States Should Start Campaign to Extend Patent Rights

Pharmaceutical industries in emerging markets are shifting their focus away from poor to developed countries, which will affect access to cheap generic medicines. Poor states should tackle this development by capitalising on the international trade exemptions they still enjoy regarding medicines as "intellectual property".