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Saturday, November 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
HEALTH-BOLIVIA: Tackling Medical Negligence
According to Hammurabi's Code of Laws, created in ancient Babylonia circa 1700 years B.C.E., when a noble was a victim of what today is known as medical negligence, the offending healthcare provider had his fingers or hands cut off.ROMANIA: How Bleak Is My Valley
Petrosani, a town of about 50,000, presents a stark picture today of what the abrupt replacement of state socialism by unbridled capitalism can do.ARGENTINA: Longing for the Poverty Indicators of the Past
Argentine President Néstor Kirchner has kept his popularity ratings high thanks at least in part to effective management of the economy and the reduction of poverty, although the country is still far from meeting the Millennium Development Goals.BOLIVIA: Women in Local Politics Face Special Challenges
Bertha Acarapi, who wears the traditional dress of an Aymara Indian woman, is a town councillor in El Alto, the sprawling slum city of one million people next to the Bolivian capital.CAMBODIA: Stalked by Hunger, HIV
As the month began the fate of an already vulnerable community in Cambodia grew bleaker. An estimated 740,000 people faced with acute food shortages could see no relief in sight.ENERGY-CHILE: Home-Grown Biofuels – Big-Time?
The government of President Michelle Bachelet seems determined to develop the biofuels industry in order to diversify Chile's energy sources, in spite of doubts that have arisen about their desirability.ARGENTINA: Madres de Plaza de Mayo Bring Housing Hope to Slums
Wearing blue coveralls with a picture of a white scarf, the symbol of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, some 300 men and women from a slum in the Argentine capital are building new homes - and new lives - for themselves.BRAZIL: Biodiversity Goes to Market
Biodiversity, like the proverbial prophet, is not without honour save in its own country: it tends to be valued more highly abroad than at home. Brazil is now trying to become an exception to the rule by commercialising its native species on a large scale.CAMBODIA: Poverty, Tourism – Bane of Floating Villages
Life ebbs and flows with hardships and vulnerability for the residents of this floating village at the northern end of Cambodia's great lake, the Tonle Sap.BRAZIL: Clean Water – Hold the Salt
Thousands of people in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast are slaking their thirst thanks to a technology that is little used in Latin America: the reverse-osmosis membrane, which desalinises and purifies water. A filter designed by Brazilian experts should be ready in two years.HUMAN RIGHTS-MALAWI: Violence Threatens Women’s Meagre Gains
Chanju Mwale is a true role model. Not only does the 28-year-old possess good academic credentials as a lawyer, landing her the job of the Malawi Defence Force’s legal officer, but she is also the only female officer in the force who holds the rank of captain.DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Thick Smog on the Caribbean Coast
Looking down from the hills of Paraíso de Dios, the smokestacks of more than 100 factories can be seen stretching out in a wide line, near the Dominican Republic's Caribbean coast.ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: Maize Production (Almost) a Success Story
Zambia is poised to have a maize surplus this season but it is still unlikely that the food will reach many of the 58 percent of Zambians that are classified as extremely poor.SWAZILAND: Keep School Doors Open to AIDS Orphans, Vulnerable Kids
AIDS orphans aren't the only children suffering in Swaziland. Those who have lost one or both parents to the epidemic have it rough, but so do tens of thousands of other Swazi children vulnerable to food shortages, scant medical care, and unsettled home life.HEALTH-THAILAND: Junta Defends Cheap Generic Drugs
Thailand's military-appointed government appears set to insist on the right of a developing country to save the lives of its people rather than protect the profits of Western pharmaceutical corporations.DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: UN Chief Will Help Humanise Slums
Kibera, Kenya's biggest slum, and reportedly one of Africa's largest, has been basking in world media attention recently.HEALTH-LAOS: Women Recruited Into War on Bird Flu
Women from ethnic communities in the hilly, northern part of Laos have, for over a decade, been drawn into poultry breeding as a means of combating poverty.DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Calls for Science and Self-Reliance at AU Summit
To tackle the great development challenges the African continent faces, leaders gathered in the Ethiopian capital for the two-day, bi-annual summit of the African Union (AU) pointed to science and self-reliance as important tools.HEALTH-INDIA: Anger Grows at Novartis’ Bid to Hog Cancer Drug
A public outcry has followed the challenge offered by Novartis AG in the Madras High Court to the Indian Patents Act as violating international trade laws and restricting the Swiss pharmaceutical giant's trade.HEALTH-INDIA: Patients Before Patents, Groups Urge
A quarter of a million people from over 150 countries don't think a multinational drug company should seek to overturn a provision of India's patent law that permits the manufacture of low-cost life-saving drugs for the world's poor.DEVELOPMENT-MALAWI: Do the MDGs Matter?
In a country such as Malawi, where the ramifications of HIV/AIDS, perennial hunger and illiteracy are all too clear, one would expect that the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would be familiar to many people.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
