PHILIPPINES: Ban on Abortion Prevails

Sitting in an apartment in central Manila, 70-year-old Lydia (her second name has been withheld to protect her identity) speaks in hushed tones. A manghihilot, or traditional midwife, she is wary when talking about her experiences of abortion, an often-taboo subject in the Philippines.

LAOS: What People Cannot Eat is of Great Importance to Women – Part 2

"When I was born my mother could not eat anything but tiny fish and tea made from herbs for one whole year," says Dr Bhounsouane. "She was so weak that she could hardly walk. Post partum food taboos (phit kam) are a major problem in Laos for women," he said.

LAOS: Land Legislation Disempowers Women – Part 1

Ki is seven years old but looks more like three. His legs are bowed and skull misshapen. He looked at me with a blank stare. The health worker, Kheo, suggests rickets.

POPULATION: Where’s Family Planning on Climate Change Radar?

Are climate change and reproductive health two disparate subjects?

MOZAMBIQUE: Building Awareness to Reduce Maternal Mortality

In the Niassa province of northwest Mozambique, one doctor has been working with local communities to overcome the delays responsible for three-quarters of maternal deaths each year.

POPULATION: 'Time to Shelve the ICPD Plan of Action’

At least 1.5 billion people aged 10 to 25 — the largest generation of young people in history — will need sexual and reproductive health services, says the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

HEALTH-KENYA: A Glove To Save a Mother’s Life

The need for gloves for health workers assisting with childbirth may be obvious, but in Yala Sub-District Hospital in western Kenya, obvious does not mean available.

SOUTH AFRICA: Redouble Efforts to Reduce Maternal Mortality

For Katriena Anthony, being four months pregnant comes with hazards particular to her living conditions.

DEVELOPMENT: Dying at Childbirth Every Minute

Fifteen years after 179 nations agreed to implement a plan of action on sexual health, a woman still dies every minute because of inadequate pregnancy and birth services, according to the World Health Organisation.

CHILE: Activists Demand Humane Treatment for Women Who Abort

Some 30 members of the Chilean Health Ministry's Consultative Council on Gender and Women's Health have asked the government to enforce a directive ordering humane and compassionate treatment for women who have had an abortion.

INDONESIA: 'Safe' Abortion Could Put a Brake on Women's Mortality Rates

Women's rights groups who are campaigning for widening the scope of abortion in Indonesia are calling for an amendment to a colonial era law that puts poor women at risk.

VIETNAM: Sex Selection Skews Sex Ratio

Vietnam is something of a regional leader when it comes to gender equality. There are laws against domestic violence and discrimination, and very high female literacy.

MEXICO: States Tighten Already Restrictive Abortion Laws

Alejandra Gómez is facing prosecution in the southern Mexican state of Puebla for having an abortion. The 20-year-old's case is symptomatic of a wave of anti-abortion legal reforms adopted by a number of states in this country.

ARGENTINA: Safe Shortcut to Sidestep Illegal Abortion

Tired of calling for the decriminalisation of abortion - the leading cause of maternal death in Argentina - a network of women's rights activists launched a telephone hotline to inform women on a safe abortion method that requires no medical intervention: the use of a pill to terminate pregnancy.

HEALTH: Go Away With Your Spray

Zinaldina dos Reus, Zizi for her friends, is washing clothes by a stream near the airport in São Tomé. Her toddler plays nearby. Zizi, 21, can't remember the last time she or her husband had malaria, years ago. She credits the free bed nets and anti-mosquito home spraying regularly supplied countrywide since 2004.

NICARAGUA: Therapeutic Abortion Ban a "Disgrace" Says Rights Group

"What happened to me shattered my dreams, my hopes – I wanted to be someone who worked outside the home but I spend all day at home looking after the baby...I can’t even sleep and I feel very unsafe, many of my days are a nightmare, it’s very hard to carry on and I feel very sad and very tired," said "M", who was raped at age 17 by a relative.

AFRICA: Maternal Mortality, A Human Rights Catastrophe

The right to the highest attainable standard of health: not the most fashionable of human rights, but the limits on people's enjoyment of their right to health often coincide with continuing inequalities behind claims of economic growth or political reform.

HEALTH-SENEGAL: Fistula Sufferers Left To Their Fate

In Senegal's southern region, 58 percent of deliveries take place at home without any medical assistance, according to state reproductive health officials in Kolda, a town 425 km from the capital, Dakar. Women in the region suffer from exceptionally high rates of fistula.

CHILE: When Being a Woman is a “Health Risk”

As a woman of childbearing age, "I pay more than double what a man my age pays for the same health plan," 27-year-old Carolina Leyton told IPS.

HUMAN RIGHTS-SLOVAKIA: Barriers Go Up For Abortion

Rights groups in Slovakia have attacked new abortion legislation they say not only breaches women's rights to privacy and regulations on medical confidentiality but could force some women into undergoing risky, illegal abortions.

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.