Death Stalks Pregnant Women in East Myanmar

From a wooden, weather-beaten building on the edge of this border town, Mahn Mahn charts dangerous missions deep Myanmar (also Burma) for the 2,000-odd health workers under his wing.

Poverty Drives Child Labour

In an informal settlement of 10,000 people on the outskirts of Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, Tembari Children’s Care – a new grassroots initiative – is providing protection, food and education to orphans and abandoned children who would otherwise join the high numbers of child labourers in this Melanesian country.

Archaic Laws Stymie HIV/AIDS Work in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has long enjoyed a low 0.1 percent HIV prevalence but, as the number of fresh infections rises steadily, experts are calling for a change in the country's archaic laws that make sex work illegal and criminalises homosexual activity. 

Teaching Madagascar’s Mothers to Combat Malnutrition

Every Friday, mothers and their children gather at the community nutrition centre in the little village of Rantolava, 450 kilometres north east of Antananarivo, the Malagasy capital, to learn more about a healthy diet.

Vietnamese Girls Grapple With Changing Sexual Climate

Conservative attitudes toward women die hard in Vietnam, as seen in the country’s worsening sex ratio at birth (SRB). Yet, social mores have relaxed sufficiently for women to tune in to late night TV talk shows to learn about the acceptability of one-night stands.

U.S.: Being Young and Homeless Could Get Even Worse

Amber, 24, who’s been living on the streets half her life, was sitting on a sunny sidewalk in downtown Berkeley last week, cuddling her three-month-old puppy and talking to a friend. But if voters approve a measure the city council placed on the November ballot, sitting on the sidewalk – after a warning – could cost her 75 dollars.

UNDP Predicts Rise of the Global South

When the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) unveils its annual flagship Human Development Report (HDR) in mid-October, the primary focus will be on a growing new phenomenon on the economic horizon: the rise of the global South and the significant progress in South-South cooperation over the last decade.

Women’s Inequality Linked to Soaring Population

The world’s population now stands at about seven billion, and by 2050, this figure will hit a whopping nine billion.

Paradise island fights poverty

“Every child born on this island has got a potential and we have to nourish it through education. This is the answer to poverty and exclusion,” says the Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam.   Audio Slide Show

DRC Warlord Sentence a Joke, Say NGOs

Non-governmental organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo province where Thomas Lubanga Dyilo used children as fighters in his militia in 2002 to 2003 have slammed his 14-year sentence as inadequate – and potentially dangerous.

Mozambique’s “People from Germany” Wait Decades for Salaries

Every Wednesday at 11.00am José Alfredo Cossa unfurls his East German flag and leads a march of around 150 men and women down the main streets of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital. In a struggle for justice that has been going on for more than 20 years this group, known as the “Magermans”, represent the 16,000 to 20,000 Mozambicans who were sent to the former East Germany in the early 1980s to work and serve their country.

Birth Control – Roping in Pakistan’s Men

“No scalpel, no stitch and no rest needed,” guarantees Dr. Ghulam Shabbir Sudhayao, referring to the surgical procedure called vasectomy - the least popular method of birth control around the world, including Pakistan.

U.N. Showcases South-South Successes

Knowledge-sharing has become a cornerstone of successful cooperation among developing countries, in areas ranging from agriculture to health and renewable energies.

Family Planning Summit Offers New Hope

The Summit on Family Planning that is taking place in London on Wednesday is a bid to get governments around the world to commit more resources to safeguarding women’s reproductive rights, according to the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The Guinean Women Who Earn a Little Coin From Gardening

Market gardening in the peri-urban areas of Conakry, the Guinean capital, is growing quickly, bringing in income for groups of women and giving them some autonomy.

Mauritania’s Emergency Food Programme Under Fire

The sun is beating down on Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, and Habi Amadou Tidjane Diop is a tired and frustrated woman. Seated on an empty upturned bucket, the mother of nine is waiting in a long queue to buy food.

New Afghanistan Aid Policy Turns Away from U.S. Model

For the first time, international donors gathered in Tokyo over the weekend explicitly tied ongoing financial aid for Afghanistan to progress made in the country’s economy and governance.

South Sudan Celebrates a Troubled First Birthday

The streets have been swept clean and lined with flags to mark the first anniversary of South Sudan’s independence. But cosmetic changes in the capital, Juba, mask deep concerns about the future of the world’s newest nation.

South Sudan’s Women Await Independence From Poverty

One year after the formation of South Sudan, the country’s women say that independence has not resulted in the positive political, economic and social changes that they had hoped for.

Growing ‘Entertainment’ Industry Traps Nepali Girls

Almost unnoticed, Nepal’s burgeoning adult entertainment industry has been drawing young girls away from being trafficked across the border to the fleshpots of India’s big cities.

Anxiety as Donors Chart Aid for Afghanistan Beyond 2014

A key United Nations official on Friday urged the international community to match security funding for Afghanistan with economic and development funding after 2014, when most international – particularly U.S. – forces will leave the country.