WORLD AIDS DAY-CUBA: Volunteers on the Front Line of Prevention

While scientists devote their best efforts to developing an AIDS vaccine, prevention continues to be the most effective way of containing the pandemic which has already caused the deaths of 2.1 million people this year, and new infections in another 2.5 million people.

INDONESIA: Providing Clean Water or Dirty Business?

Water vendor Annur Sukarya makes a 500 percent profit on his investments each month, the envy of any businessman. "I’m just trying to help my neighbours," he argues.

HEALTH: Drug Firms Lose by Shutting Out Poor, Oxfam Says

Drug firms are missing potentially valuable business opportunities by failing to meet the needs of consumers in developing countries, an international charity said Tuesday.

HELSINKI PROCESS: Globalisation in the Dock

The latest conference to be held under the Helsinki Process opened in Tanzania's commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, Tuesday, with calls for the gains of globalisation to be shared fairly amongst nations.

ENVIRONMENT: Palm Oil Not Green For Asia – UN Report

European Union (EU) demand for supposedly green-friendly fuels, such as palm oil, is coming at a high social and environmental cost in Asia, warns a new report released Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

DEVELOPMENT: U.S. Key to Balanced Carbon Budget, UN Says

Calls for profound change in the environmental behaviour of the United States are on the rise as world leaders prepare to attend a major summit on climate change in Bali, Indonesia next month.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Today, the Poor – Tomorrow, the Next Generation

Although climate change threatens the international community as a whole, the heaviest human costs are borne by the poor, who have contributed least to the problem, according to the United Nations.

HEALTH: 100-Million-Dollar Polio Grant Targets Final Four

An international campaign to eradicate polio received a major boost Monday with the announcement that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would give 100 million dollars to support intensified immunisation in the handful of countries where the virus remains active.

COMMONWEALTH: Waiting on Pakistan, Acting on Climate Change

The latest Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) came to a close Sunday with leaders and government representatives reiterating the need for restoration of democratic rule in Pakistan, while calling on Islamabad to maintain lines of communication with the 53 member organisation.

HEALTH: Developing World Bears Brunt of "Lifestyle Diseases"

Chronic, non-infectious diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes kill more than twice as many people than HIV/AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis, experts warn.

Q&A: "A Threat to One Is a Threat to All"

The past year has marked the half-way point for realisation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight goals were agreed on by global leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, with 2015 set as the deadline for achieving the MDGs.

ENVIRONMENT: &#39Flush Out the Toilet From the Water-Cycle&#39

The one message that came across at the just concluded general assembly of the World Toilet Association (WTA) was that conventional flush toilets are not only environment unfriendly but are also a serious public health hazard.

DEVELOPMENT: Helsinki Follow-Up to Stress Inclusive Governance

Government and civil society representatives from Africa, Europe, and other regions of the world are meeting here beginning Nov. 27 to examine issues of globalisation - from peace and security, environment and energy policy, to respect for human rights, and financing for development.

COMMONWEALTH: Poverty and Climate Change in the Spotlight

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has opened with calls for the gap between rich and poor countries in the 53-member grouping to be addressed.

RIGHTS: Spain at Forefront of Fight Against Gender Violence

Spain is among the most progressive countries in terms of its policies and actions against gender violence, Francisca Sauquillo, a member of the European Parliament and head of the Movement for Peace, Disarmament and Freedom (MPDL), told IPS.

HEALTH: Toilet Association Needs Women on Top Seats

It was a happy day for Sim Jae-Duck. "The World Toilet Association (WTA) history has begun,’’ said the president of the newly formed association at the close, Friday, of the four-day assembly in which it was formally established.

MOZAMBIQUE: Committees for Water – But Sometimes in Name Only

Impoverished residents in the suburb of Carrupeia in Nampula, Mozambique's third largest city, do not have access to potable water because their water committee has effectively ceased to function.

COMMONWEALTH: "Get Rid of Your Agricultural Subsidies" – McKinnon

The political crisis in Pakistan and global trade negotiations are amongst issues set to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that starts Friday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

BRAZIL: Sanitation a Reality on Paper Only

The main sanitation plan for the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul is 12 years old, has survived four state governments and carries a price tag of 220 million dollars - but has yet to be implemented.

VENEZUELA: Wretchedly Poor on the Banks of Lake Maracaibo

"My father was a fisherman, and so was my grandfather. I fished for as long as I could. We live here because it is very beautiful, but we suffer great hardship," said 72-year-old Antonio Navarro, sitting in his six-by-eight-metre house on stilts in the Venezuelan village of Congo Mirador.

DEVELOPMENT: GDP Poor Gauge of Well-Being

Conventional measures of economic success do not take sufficient account of the social and environmental challenges of the twenty-first century, according to senior European Union economists.