SOUTH SUDAN: Women Hope Independence Means Less Maternal Deaths

Mother of eight, Jessicah Foni, 36, hopes that independence will mean a hospital will soon be built in her village. Foni, who has travelled from a remote village in South Sudan to the state’s capital to celebrate independence, lost two babies at birth because of the lack of medical facilities in her area.

SUDAN: Close to War As the South Prepares to Celebrate Independence

Sudan is closest to civil war since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005.

UGANDA: Maternal Deaths Against Constitutional Rights

When Valente Inziku’s wife, Jennifer Anguko, went into labour they had decided she would go to the local referral hospital just to ensure a safe delivery.

SOUTH SUDAN: Q&A: Spirits High in South Sudan Despite Unresolved Issues

As South Sudan prepares to cede from the North, it faces tremendous challenges towards building a nation and a sense of nationhood.

Research Grant Aims to Meet Critical Maize Shortfalls

As the world's largest international agricultural research coalition celebrated its 40th anniversary here this week, it also announced the launch of a programme to help provide enough maize to meet the annual food demands of over 600 million consumers by 2030.

World Population to Hit Seven Billion by October

The United Nations commemorates World Population Day next week against the backdrop of an upcoming landmark event: global population hitting the seven billion mark by late October this year.

ZAMBIA: Millions Meant for the Poor Stolen or Missing

Every year the Zambia government allocates billions of Kwacha for poverty reduction, but much of the money has been stolen or misappropriated.

SOUTH SUDAN: Equitable Oil Deal Needed For Peace

The sharing of oil between North and South Sudan needs to be urgently addressed otherwise conflict between the two regions will escalate and could possibly lead to civil war, according to government officials and rights organisations.

Sisters in the Struggle for Justice

As UN Women, the new United Nations agency dedicated to enhancing gender equality, releases its first major report following the organisation's launch early this year, its most significant finding may be the shared challenges faced by women across the globe.

Minority Women Fight Back Against Mistreatment

Women in minority and indigenous communities are especially vulnerable to wide-ranging forms of violence, abuse and discrimination, according to a new report released Wednesday by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), a human rights group that works on behalf of minorities and indigenous peoples.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Progress for Women’s Rights More Impressive on Paper

After protracted battles, women in Central America and southern Mexico have made headway in winning respect for their rights over the past decade, but the progress has been more formal than real, say women academics and activists.

Rising Temperatures Melting Away Global Food Security

Heat waves clearly can destroy crop harvests. The world saw high heat decimate Russian wheat in 2010. Crop ecologists have found that each one-degree Celsius rise in temperature above the optimum can reduce grain harvests by 10 percent. But the indirect effects of higher temperatures on our food supply are no less serious.

BRAZIL: The ‘Happiest’ Emerging Nation

The reputation of Brazilians as cheerful, happy-go-lucky people is starting to be reflected in the cold reality of statistics. A study has put numbers to that state of well-being by quantifying the significant reduction in social inequality in the last few years, an area in which South America's giant has outdone other emerging nations.

SOUTH AFRICA: Scientists Find Green Method to Purify Toxic Water

South African scientists have developed an environmentally friendly method to clean highly toxic water and convert it into drinkable water. Once available commercially, the method could drastically reduce the negative impact industry has on water pollution worldwide.

Selling Nature to Save Nature, and Ourselves

Avoiding the coming catastrophic nexus of climate change, food, water and energy shortages, along with worsening poverty, requires a global technological overhaul involving investments of 1.9 trillion dollars each year for the next 40 years, said experts from the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) in Geneva Tuesday.

KENYA: Budget Cushions Agricultural Sector Amidst Staggering Inflation

As the country’s inflation rate hits a staggering 14.5 percent – compared to 4.5 percent in December 2010 - Kenyans are struggling to afford basic commodities like maize, amid a shortage of the staple food.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Dream of a Camel, Get a Goat, and Be Happy With It

Sometimes you have to dream of a camel to get only a goat, South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said last weekend to delegates from 35 countries gathered in Berlin to discuss ways to avoid the collapse of international climate change negotiations.

KENYA: People Dying Because of Lack of Anaesthetics

One person dies weekly in Kenya due to a shortage of anaesthetics and the situation is worse in slums and rural areas across the country.

ZIMBABWE: The Impossible Search for a Hangman

For over four years now, Tendai Dzingirai * has lived each day afraid that it may be his last. Dzingirai is one of almost 60 inmates on death row in Zimbabwe’s prisons. But like the other prisoners, Dzingirai does not know when he will finally meet his fate – especially since the country has not had an executioner for the last six years.

BRAZIL: Rainbow of Colours and Gender Equality at Innovative School

In the last three years there have been no teen pregnancies among the youngsters at Casa do Zezinho, an extracurricular educational and cultural facility in Brazil attended by 1,500 children and young people from favelas or shantytowns on the south side of São Paulo.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Trying to Access Funding for Climate Change

Leaving out non-governmental organisations in climate finance strategies will result in little impact on the ground in the southern Africa region.