ZAMBIA: Drugs Kit Helps Mothers Protect Babies

A thousand babies are infected with HIV every day - in pregnancy, during birth and through breastfeeding. Close to 400,000 African children are infected with HIV every year.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Watchful Eye on Deadly Stock Disease

Government spokesperson Dr Mohamed Bakari says Tanzania has contained an epidemic of viral disease that had affected the northern part of the country, mainly around Arusha, since the start of the year.

SIERRA LEONE: (Misused) Key to Malaria Prevention

Lucky for Osman Conteh that one of his aunts disagreed with the family consensus that he had been stricken by an evil spirit. She insisted the twitching, incoherently babbling child be taken to the hospital rather than a witch doctor.

Slowly Winning Fight Against FGM in Northern Senegal

The harm done by female genital mutilation is still enormous in Podor, a city in the north of Senegal, say officials at the local hospital. While the practice is declining slightly, some religious leaders in the region still support it.

Zambia Must Fulfill Promises to Children Living With AIDS

Less than one in four Zambian children who should be on life-saving anti-retroviral drugs is receiving them. The country planned to increase the number of children on ARVs from the present 20,000 to 120,000, but inadequate facilities pose a major stumbling block.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Don’t Look to South Africa for Leadership

South Africa is Africa’s largest economy and the continent's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. The country’s emissions per capita are on par with those of the United Kingdom, and more than twice as high as China’s emissions by the same measure.

Prenatal Care Key to Reducing Maternal Mortality

Despite successive awareness campaigns, many Malian women see no need to attend pre-natal check-ups. Health workers say this results in an elevated rate of maternal and infant mortality.

DEVELOPMENT: Africa’s Time Has Come

There is the image of Africa, worse than Africa is, and then there is Africa, so much of it better than its image. It's the continent whose time has come, African civil society leaders emphasised at a meeting in Madrid Thursday.

MADAGASCAR: New Livelihoods to Protect A River’s Life

The Nosivolo River has the greatest concentration of freshwater fish species in Madagascar. Strengthening protection of the river's biodiversity has involved transforming the livelihoods of local people.

Promise of Elbow Room for Malawi Students

The announcement that 5,000 new classrooms will be built thanks to a $140 million World Bank loan would come as welcome news at the Chitowo Primary School - if only the children sitting on the floors, perched on doors and in windows, even taking lessons in the dust beneath trees in the yard could hear it.

Colombia Tests Forage Crops Against Climate Change

Colombia, with 24 million head of cattle, is showcasing two advances towards reducing the 13 percent of climate-changing gas emissions attributed to livestock production around the world.

UGANDA: ICT Boom for Economy, A Bust for Some Women

The rapid growth of the ICT market in Uganda has been greeted with optimism over its potential to boost the country’s development. But less attention is being paid to the increase in gender based violence due to the use of information and communications technology.

/UPDATE*/: Bypass Under Way At Mozambique Smelter

Aluminium giant BHP Billiton’s Mozal smelter has begun bypassing its fume treatment centres, emitting potentially dangerous fumes into the air without treating them first - despite a pending court case on the matter.

LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to HIV Risk

"My mother used to beat me. She would lock me away, and then she started chaining me to the table," says Elizabeth. Teresa recounts how she was seven months pregnant when her husband grabbed her by the hair, threw her to the ground and kicked her.

U.S.: Going Hungry in the Richest Nation on Earth

While many U.S. residents prepare for their annual Thanksgiving feast Thursday, one in six are at risk of hunger – including a quarter of all children in the country.

Teaching Virtual Resistance to Violence

What if young boys were imbued with a sense of empathy and fair play to counteract a culture that victimises women? Could they grow up to become part of a generation that renounces gender violence once and for all?

MEXICO: Sexist Violence Invisible in War on Drugs

They were not looking for war, but it found them anyway: Yosmireli and Griselda, two and four years old, died by bullets to their heads from soldiers' guns. Their mother, aunt and seven-year-old brother Joniel were also killed, on a rural road in northwest Mexico.

CONGO: Beninois Fishing Community Evicted

The Autonomous Port of Pointe-Noire has evicted 8,000 residents of a fishing village to make way for expanded facilities. The move is a blow to the community's livelihoods, as well as closing down the market that supplied the city's poor with affordable protein.

ARGENTINA: Click Here to Escape Gender Violence

"Men are drunks and batterers," Lorena Maurin tells IPS before heading in to her computer class, an oasis for women in the 22 de Enero neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

MALAWI: Traditional Birthing House Rises From the Rubble


Cecilia Tomoka's birthing centre stood unused for three years before the 2009 earthquake flattened it. Now she's rebuilding the house - and her practice - as Malawi's government lifts a ban on traditional birth attendants.

Recycling for Hope and Dignity on Paraguay’s Streets

"I go out with my cart and collect plastic bottles, cardboard, paper, plastic bags; that is my work," said Laura Cardozo, proud member of a recycling group that works the Paraguayan capital's streets.