OP-ED: The Paradox of Losing Life While Giving Life in Africa

Three years ago, the African Union began a continent-wide campaign to reduce the number of women who die when pregnant or giving birth.

HAITI: Partners in Deforestation and “Slumification”

More than 100 Haitian families now have new housing, thanks to the support of two non-governmental organisations working on reconstruction following the country's devastating 2010 earthquake.

India’s Economic Growth Leaves Human Development in the Dust

Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of India, a coalition of NGOs denounced the gap between the country’s growth rate and the rate of poverty, malnutrition and lack of health and sanitation.

Vaccination – Pakistan’s Missing Shots

The deaths of 20 children in an outbreak of measles in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Agency (FATA) are raising concerns over the state of immunisation in the conflict-ridden areas along the Afghanistan border.

G8 Report Offers Worrying Look at Aid Accountability

Observers here on Tuesday lauded the newly released Group of Eight (G8) Camp David Accountability Report as a noteworthy step towards transparency and accountability, but warned that the data included suggest a looming shortfall in international agriculture-related foreign aid.

“Africa – a Place Where You Will Make Money, Not Lose Money”

Africa needs to reduce its dependency on foreign aid and get to the point of financing its own development, some of the continent’s key development experts say. Timing is optimal now that Africa is experiencing an economic boom with annual growth rates of up to eight percent.

Caribbean Courts Mexico as Ally in the G20

The Caribbean Community bloc (Caricom) is lobbying Mexico to use its influence as chair of the G20, which controls 90 percent of world trade, to promote the interests of the Caribbean and other small island developing states when it meets in June.

Nothing to Show for Hard Work but Burnt Fields of Maize

Gertrude Mkoloi earns a living harvesting maize on a small piece of land in rural Zimbabwe. Or at least she used to.

Health service works for truck drivers

While Men Go Drinking, Women Go Fishing

Climate change may have led to declining water levels in Genda Village in Zambia’s Eastern Province, but Mercy Mwanza and the women here discovered there was a positive side to it and found a new way to earn a living.

Bangladesh Set to Take the Reins at Rio+20

Experts believe that the upcoming United Nations Earth Summit, Rio+ 20, scheduled to take place in Brazil from Jun.20-22, could be a real opportunity for Bangladesh to negotiate a road to sustainable development.

Helping Victims of Post-Election Crisis Obtain Justice in Côte d’Ivoire

Thousands of people suffered rape, torture and other violence during the post- electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire beginning in December 2010. But many survivors of rights violations have been afraid to seek justice for fear of reprisals by the perpetrators. An initiative by the International Federation of Human Rights aims to support 75 such victims as they bring their cases to court.

Parliamentarians Track Progress on Reproductive Rights

Have women around the world become more empowered in their reproductive health and rights over the past 18 years? This is one of the questions that some 300 parliamentarians from around the world will be examining when they meet in Istanbul, Turkey, this week for the Fifth International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) programme of action.

Poverty Fuels Clashes in Lebanon

Age-old battlegrounds in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli have descended into violence once again. While the events are highly disturbing they are not necessarily surprising for Lebanon’s residents, who have grown accustomed to violent clashes along the impoverished sectarian divides in the city.

Jakarta Poaches on Farmland Waters

The 18,000 litres of clean water that Jakarta consumes per second are expected to hit 26,000 litres by 2015. The solution? A 54-km stretch of toll road cut through prime paddy land to access the water resources of this salubrious hill district.

G8 Turns to Private Sector for Food Crisis Solutions

On the eve of the Group of Eight (G8) summit near Washington, President Barack Obama on Friday unveiled a major new initiative aimed at shoring up food security and combating global hunger.

Funding Dries Up Even as Rains Worsen Cholera Deaths

As predicted, the beginning of the rainy season in Haiti brought exponential increases in the numbers of people sickened and killed by cholera.

Q&A: How Sex Education Programs Can Shape a Better Future

In Latin American countries and in the Caribbean, where income disparities are among the greatest in the world, too many people often lack access to comprehensive health services and information needed to live healthy lives.

Caught Between Diarrhoea Bugs and Arsenic

Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of providing access to safe drinking water for its 160 million people by 2015 is a tough call for Bangladesh, which is caught between arsenic contaminated groundwater and diarrhoea-causing microbes in its ponds and rivers.

From Mubarak To Worse

More than 15 months after Egypt's Tahrir Square uprising and four months after free parliamentary polls, many Egyptians say that daily living conditions are worse now than they were in the Mubarak era.

World Bank Accused of Ignoring Lessons on Mega Infrastructure

In a renewed funding focus on large-scale infrastructure, the World Bank, Group of 20 (G20) countries and other multilateral groups are wilfully overlooking lessons learned decades ago, a new report by International Rivers warns.