HEALTH-AFRICA: Facing AIDS, Malaria Amidst Brain Drain

As though the decimating effects of HIV/AIDS and malaria were not enough to deal with, African countries also have to battle with the continuing exodus of health professionals leaving the continent for greener pastures.

AFRICA-EUROPE: Goodbye Rhetoric, Hello Political Dialogue

In recent years the ties between the European Union and Africa have produced good results in terms of aid, but there has been a serious lack of political dialogue. Now Portugal, with its extensive experience in Africa and the support of the 27 EU leaders, is planning to change this.

RIGHTS-CHINA: Property Law Denies Farmers the Good Earth

China’s national parliament passed a pioneering property law on Friday which, despite lofty sounding clauses and media hype, fails to safeguard the ownership rights of more than half of the population.

SPAIN: No Turning Back from Path to Gender Equality

The approval of a gender equality law by the Spanish parliament Thursday and the signing of a United Nations convention to fight gender violence has set Spain firmly on the path to gender equality, despite the opposition of conservatives.

Q&A: “You Clearly Saw the Horrors of Desertification”

Seven years of working in some of the poorest parts of Benin put Euloge Vidégla in the front lines of the battle against desertification. An agricultural economist by training, he managed the Local Development Support Project (Projet d’appui au développement local, PADEL), mostly in the northern Atacora region, from 1997 to 2004.

BOLIVIA: Living Outside of the Dike

"If you haven't seen what has happened to our houses, get in the canoe; it's safe, you won't fall in. Go and visit the barrio," says a woman in this north-central Bolivian city, and four teenagers invite this IPS reporter to climb on board for a tour.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Brazil Proposes Additional Millennium Goals

Global abolition of the death penalty and other human rights aspirations could be achieved through mechanisms similar to the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations, according to a proposal by the government of Brazil.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: MDGs Depend on Power Relations Changing

‘‘The people of Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta are poor not because they do not have resources but because they do not have political power. Those who wield power in Nigeria are building skyscrapers in Lagos and Abuja while there is nothing in the Niger Delta. It is the same at the global level.''

POPULATION: Aging Nations Need Shift in Resources

The world's population continues to age and is on track to surpass nine billion people by 2050, according to the United Nations' latest statistical projections released Tuesday.

FINANCE: Internal Audit Questions IMF’s Role in Africa

An independent review of the International Monetary Fund's operations in Africa says the lender's work is confused, vague, lacks transparency and suffers from a large gap between rhetoric and practice.

BRAZIL-US: Social Activist Declined Invitation to Meet Bush

Rodrigo Baggio, founder of one of the best social inclusion projects in Brazil, which has spread to eight other countries, turned down an invitation to meet President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Sao Paulo.

POLITICS: Proposed U.N. Women’s Agency Gains Key Ally

A coalition of over 140 international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and women's groups is gratified that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expressing public support for the creation of a new U.N. agency for women.

TRADE: Poor Infrastructure Undermines Food Safety in West Africa

A container ship is docked at Ghana's Tema port, stuffed to the brim with frozen food products, including thousands of metric tonnes of poultry parts recently arrived from Brazil. These are unloaded into cold storage facilities until they can be transported to the capital of Accra or elsewhere in the country.

FINANCE: Europeans Asked to Pull Strings at World Bank

Campaigners across Europe have called on their governments to withhold funds from the World Bank unless specific changes are made to policy and practice at the Washington-based public lender. But analysts say that if the past is any indication, a positive response is unlikely.

TRADE: Europe Grapples With the Future of ACP Sugar Imports

The European Union (EU) has imported sugar at preferential prices from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries since the 1970s; but, failed sugar reform within the union and the prospect of unlimited imports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the near future have put a question mark over this arrangement.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-EU: Some More Unequal Than Others

In spite of their conquests in the 20th century, and so far in the 21st, women in the European Union (EU) are still a long way from achieving equality with men - a goal unequivocally laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-SOUTH AFRICA: A Fight Against Cultural Norms on Violence

International Women's Day, commemorated Thursday, is this year focused on bringing those who abuse women and girls to book. The theme is a pertinent one for South Africa, where the twin challenges of tackling domestic violence and ending impunity have topped the agenda of women's groups for years.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Major Lenders Urged to Enforce Gender Rights

Dozens of international civil society groups have endorsed a call to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to require enforceable gender protections and equality for women as conditions for project financing in developing nations.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-INDIA: Two Steps Forward, One Backward

A government report released as part of an extensive national family health survey has come as a rude shock for a state long regarded as progressive. It placed Tamil Nadu high on a list of states where wife-beating is common.

BURMA: Women Take Brunt of Ethnic Minorities’ Struggles

At 17 she was in Geneva, not as a tourist but as an invitee speaker at the annual sessions of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In 2005, aged 24, she had a celebrated hour-long meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush

LABOUR-THAILAND/BURMA: Education May Limit Abuse of Migrant Children

Troubled by the exploitation of migrant child on the Thai-Burma border, a labour rights group is seeking an unusual pact with the Thai government. The Migrant Action Programme (MAP) wants support to help educate the victims.