INDIA: Return of Traditional Birth Attendants Urged to Meet MDG 5

As India struggles to lower one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates, activists and experts are calling for a revision of polices aimed at "institutionalising" deliveries in resource-poor rural settings and phasing out the 'dai' or traditional birth attendant (TBA).

RIGHTS: Unsafe Abortions Killing 70,000 a Year

Unsafe abortions kill about 70,000 women a year, says a report by the U.S.- based Guttmacher Institute. An additional five million women are treated annually for complications arising from unsafe abortion, adds the report, based on a global survey.

GUATEMALA: Only 10 Agents to Fight Human Trafficking Nationwide

In spite of a new law against human trafficking in effect since March, little has been done in Guatemala to fight the trafficking of children, and child sex tourism has begun to flourish, experts warn.

VENEZUELA: Land for Yukpa Indians, But No ‘Territory’

The Venezuelan government handed land titles to 41,600 hectares to three communities of around 500 Yukpa Indians on the western border with Colombia. However, the question of the demarcation of the broader ancestral territory of the entire ethnic group, made up of around 10,000 people, is still pending.

DEVELOPMENT: Meeting MDGs “Not Rocket Science”

Achieving an ambitious set of anti-poverty benchmarks will take much more financing from rich countries, Jeffrey Sachs, the special advisor to the U.N. secretary-general on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), warned Monday.

UGANDA: Wanted: New Messengers on Women’s Rights

Activists have spent decades trying to get new laws passed to secure the rights of Ugandan women in the private sphere. As a fresh set of gender-related laws comes before parliament, activists are this time seeking to enlist male legislators as partners in advocating their passage.

Q&A: Women’s Empowerment: ‘Men Are Interested’

A trident of gender legislation will be debated in Uganda's parliament in November: the Marriage and Divorce Bill, the Domestic Violence Bill and the Female Genital Mutilation Bill.

LATIN AMERICA: Big Gender, Ethnic Gaps in Wages Found

Indigenous people, descendants of Africans, and women in Latin America earn significantly less money than their predominantly white male peers of similar age and education levels, according to a new study released here Monday by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Q&A: Invest in Young People in Latin America

To fight inequality, Latin American countries must double the financial commitment they made at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Marcela Suazo, the regional director for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), told IPS.

CAMBODIA: Alarming Maternal Deaths Require a Mix of Solutions

Early this year, heavily pregnant Vorn Yoeub, 37, arrived at a hospital in the western Cambodian border town of Pailin. The mother of seven other children died later that evening along with her unborn child after suffering complications from bleeding.

ARGENTINA: Through the Lens of Young Slum Dwellers

Two dozen young slum dwellers in Buenos Aires began filming a documentary about themselves this month, in an attempt to break down the negative stereotypes with which they are portrayed in the media.

PHILIPPINES: Like Men, Women Aim to Put Food on the Table

Despite experiencing an unsuccessful first foray into the world of commerce, the members of the Canduman Women's Co-operative (CWC) remain focused on producing a profit to aid their families' day-to-day living expenses.

EDUCATION-ZIMBABWE: Students Quit Classes – and Country – As Crisis Deepens

Schooling is increasingly becoming a privilege of the rich, , Zimbabwean parents and teachers' unions complain.

HEALTH: Criminalisation of Abortion 'The Wrong Concept'

One hundred African women and girls die unnecessarily from unsafe abortions every day because they have to rely on unqualified medical practitioners or self-induce abortion by ingesting poisonous substances or inserting tools into their uterus.

NIGERIA: Fish Could Play Greater Role In Food Security

The smell of roasting fish fills the air as one approaches the bungalow a few metres from the shore of the lagoon. Like most families in the village schoolteacher John Sewanu and his family of seven depend on the sea for food and income.

HEALTH-NAMIBIA: Illegal Abortions Common Despite Risks

Ten years ago, a move to legalise abortion in Namibia failed. The number of unwanted pregnancies remains high, with many people unwilling or unable to use contraception. Despite the risks, illegal abortions remain common.

HEALTH: Africa Leads World in Premature Infant Deaths

An estimated 13 million babies worldwide are born prematurely and more than one million die each year, say health experts.

DEVELOPMENT: Resource Crunch Signals Larger Ecological Crisis

How would development programmes look if viewed from the position of scarcity, especially the scarcity of food, water, and energy?

RIGHTS-INDIA: Kerala Women Are Battered Wives

Kerala, the south Indian state which has the highest literacy levels and excellent social development indicators, has an unsavoury side - a land of violent husbands.

HEALTH-AFRICA: If Men Were Dying En Masse…

Maternal mortality rates in Africa constitute a "monumental tragedy" that requires urgent attention by African governments, health experts say.

CUBA: There Are No Tough Guys; It’s Tough To Be a Guy

It has been three years since he separated from his second wife and realised he did not have a home to return to. Although he has always been able to count on a helping hand from one friend or another, and his children help him out now and then, Humberto Martínez spends most nights sleeping on a park bench in the Cuban capital.