PHILIPPINES: ‘Church Ban on Contraceptives Adding to Poverty’

A growing and heated debate in this predominantly Catholic country revolves around the church’s uncompromising stance against the use of contraceptive devices that is said to be contributing to poverty and affecting the quality of life for many Filipinos.

HEALTH: People Living with HIV Lead the Fight for Life

Anuar Luna was diagnosed with HIV 17 years ago. "I had to overcome feelings of guilt, fear and shame before I became a leader in the HIV-positive community," she said Thursday at the opening of Living 2008: The Positive Leadership Summit, in the Mexican capital.

BRAZIL: Biodiesel to Bring Electricity to Amazon Villages

Oil from native tucuma, ouricurí and murumurú palm trees will be used to provide electricity to isolated communities in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon, which are too remote to supply with power by conventional means.

GHANA: ‘‘You Have to Speak Up When Competition Destroys You’’

Business has been slow for many Ghanaian traders. They blame the situation on not only the influx of cheap Chinese products but also insufficient legal protection and corruption.

DEVELOPMENT: Crucial Role for EU at Accra Meet on Aid

As the world's largest provider of development assistance, the European Union is bound to play a prominent role at a Sep. 2-4 international conference on boosting the effectiveness of aid in Accra, Ghana.

DEVELOPMENT-PAKISTAN: Major MDG Initiative Winds Down

On Thursday, Mohammad Ibrahim loses his job at the United Nations-partnered National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) as part of ‘downsizing’ that will see 22,404 employees (including literacy coordinators and healthcare programme staff) sacked.

HEALTH-US: AIDS Plan Stronger But Still Flawed, Groups Say

HIV/AIDS activists Wednesday hailed President George W. Bush's reauthorisation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to 48 billion dollars for fiscal years 2009 to 2013 as a major step in the global fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: Little Progress on Maternal Mortality

Over half a million women die in childbirth annually around the world, according to the World Health Organisation. Nigeria alone accounts for 10 percent of these deaths.

Q&A: "Political Power Is Still Very Masculine"

For women's rights and women's empowerment groups, the 3rd High Level Conference on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, in September, and the U.N. Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, in December, are opportunities to advance financing for gender equality issues.

AGRICULTURE-CUBA: Fresh Produce for City-Dwellers

Urban farming has taken off in Cuba over the last two decades, based on low-cost agro-ecological practices and a stable labour force, and could serve as a model for the rest of the agriculture sector in this period of reforms.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Record Gain in Antiretroviral Coverage

They may be known in South-east Asia for their poverty, but that has not stopped Cambodia and Laos from caring for people living with HIV/AIDS. Both countries have increased the supply of the life-prolonging anti-AIDS drugs at home.

COLOMBIA: Women Working Abroad Keep Provincial Economy Alive

The so-called Coffee Belt region accounts for 60 percent of Colombians who leave the country, and the majority of those leaving are female. Once they are abroad, these women become the breadwinners of their families, with the resulting impact on household income extending to the provincial economy.

TRADE: Doha Round Crumbles to Dust

The Doha Round of multilateral trade talks was brought crashing down late Tuesday by the same discrepancies between rich and poor countries that have marked the nearly seven years of negotiations from the start.

DEVELOPMENT: Think Tank Urges Major Changes in U.S. Food Aid

The United States should urgently implement major changes in its emergency food aid and overseas trade and development policies to deal with the record rise in global grain prices that is threatening recent gains in poverty reduction in many developing countries, according to a report by a bipartisan task force sponsored by a major foreign policy think tank here.

HEALTH: U.N. Claims Major Progress in AIDS Fight

Although the global percentage of people living with HIV has stabilised since 2000, the overall number of people living with HIV has increased due to new infections each year and wider access to antiretroviral therapy, says the new UNAIDS report on the epidemic.

EDUCATION-ZAMBIA: Will Teachers Come To the Party?

"Life in the rural areas is unbearable, and teachers are not to blame for their refusal to take up rural posting. It is unfair for government to post young teachers to hard-to-reach rural areas," said Freddie Chongo (25), a primary school teacher in Mumbwa District, some 170 kilometres west of Zambia’s capital Lusaka.

LABOUR-EL SALVADOR: Near Universal Poverty Wages

Eighty-one percent of the economically active population of El Salvador do not earn decent wages, and two out of three young people are under- or unemployed, according to the 2007-2008 Human Development Report on this Central American country.

BRAZIL: Market Access – Key to Autonomy for Rural Black Community

From the 16th century onward, the densely forested, mountainous terrain of the Ribeira River Valley made it an ideal area for runaway slaves to establish settlements of their own, known in Brazil as "quilombos". But the geographical isolation that once offered refuge has now become an obstacle to the development of these Afro-Brazilian communities.

GHANA: Relations With China – Into The Claws of Another Predator?

More and more, China seems to be taking up any commodity that can be had from Ghana. From copper waste and scrap, timber and natural rubber to aluminium waste and scrap and vegetable products are being exported to the upcoming Asian superpower.

TRADE: Zimbabwe Overshadowed Development Issues at EU-SA Summit

The friendly atmosphere at the first ever European Union-South Africa in Bordeaux, France, at the end of last week may largely be attributed to how South African President Thabo Mbeki had helped convince Robert Mugabe, his Zimbabwean counterpart, to negotiate directly with Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, a few days earlier.

TRADE: EU ''Rushing'' EPAs Lest African States Change Their Minds

Brussels is tempted to skip the translation of the interim economic partnership agreements (EPAs) into the 23 official European languages because of concerns that some African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries may change their minds about signing the final agreements.