HEALTH: Warmer Climate Gives Malaria New Hunting Grounds

Climate change is bringing malaria to regions of Africa where the disease was previously unknown, researchers report from the conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago this week.

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Seeks a Green Revolution in Food

The food crisis that spilled over from last year could take a turn for the worse in the next decade if there are no explicit answers to a rash of growing new problems, including declining agricultural production, a faltering distribution network and a deteriorating environment worldwide.

PHILIPPINES: Media Has Key Role in Fighting Corruption

When administrative officer Bryan Baylon discovered irregularities in the state-run hospital that employed him he first tried resolving them by informing his supervisors and proposing measures to curb corrupt practices.

HEALTH-BRAZIL: Older Women at Higher Risk from AIDS

The HIV infection rate in women over 50 in Brazil has more than tripled since 1996, making this population group the prime target of the government's HIV/AIDS prevention campaign during the carnival festivities.

Q&A: 'Move Beyond Goodwill To Action'

Efforts to free fiscal resources for social spending over the past few years have started to pay off in Zambia, where government is reporting a positive trend of poverty alleviation and social development. But progress is uneven.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: Peaceful Pink Panties to Tame Right-Wing Goons

Outraged by an attack by right-wing Hindu militants on women emerging from a pub in Mangalore, Karnataka state, activists in India have initiated a ‘Pink Chaddi’ (underwear) campaign in which they are sending pink panties to members of the Sri Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) on Valentines’ Day.

Q&A: Development Cooperation Needs Greater Equity

As the economic meltdown spreads to the far corners of the world, developing nations are increasingly strengthening their social and economic ties, bolstering the growing new concept of South-South cooperation - in trade, investment, transport, health care, education, climate change, communications and disaster reduction.

VENEZUELA: Social Issues Played Down in Referendum Campaign

A mob seized a man suspected of rape in El Valle, a populous district in the southwest of the Venezuelan capital, beat him to death, and then burned his corpse - twice over, so that the press could film and photograph the scene. In spite of the horrifying images, few public figures mentioned the case.

DEVELOPMENT: Swiss Aid Growing Despite Depression

The global economic and financial crisis has raised questions about whether the level of official development aid from the rich world will be maintained in future, at a time when the needs of the developing and emerging countries are growing as a result of the crisis.

HEALTH: Privatised Care More Placebo than Panacea

Rich countries and the World Bank should stop pushing privatised health care in poor countries, Oxfam International said Wednesday.

ECONOMY-SOUTH AFRICA: 'We Need Interventions'

The markets will be hanging on Trevor Manuel's every word when South Africa's minister of finance delivers his thirteenth Budget Speech on February 11. Expectation is even greater among poor communities, the unemployed and workers as the world's longest serving finance minister signals his government's economic plans in the face of the global economic crisis.


HEALTH-ARGENTINA: No End to Chagas Disease

After two years of the government health programme "Argentina justa, Argentina sin Chagas" (Fair Argentina, Chagas-Free Argentina) the fight against the endemic disease of that name is weakening, according to experts.

POVERTY: Cash Transfers Transform Lives of Malawi’s Poor

Malawi has taken major strides towards reducing poverty and hunger in the country. Government’s cash transfer scheme has managed to reach many of those usually unable to access grants due to lengthy and complicated bureaucratic processes and assessments.

Q&A: "Sanitation Is Becoming a Social Movement"

While 2008 - declared by the U.N. as the "International Year of Sanitation" - came and went with 2.6 billion people, including almost one billion children, still living without basic facilities, UNICEF's sanitation and hygiene senior advisor, Therese Dooley, says there is reason for hope.

Q&A: ‘Development Must Adapt to Water Resources We Have’

Environmental experts warn that one of the first effects of climate change will be scarcity of water, especially throughout the African continent. Already depleted water resources will become even more scarce.

EDUCATION-ZAMBIA: Communities Doing it For Themselves

"My mother has no job and she cannot afford the cost of educating me and my sister at the government school," says 12-year-old Muyunda Nyamba. But the little boy is one of 37,000 children from Zambia's poorest neighbourhoods beginning the new school year calendar at community-run schools.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Formal Economy Returns to the North

Mamadou Dembélé has removed all the contraband products he has sold for the past in six years at his shop in Bouaké in central Ivory Coast. This is due to the gradual return of government control in the area - occupied by the rebellion launched in the country in September 2002.

ZIMBABWE: Teachers' Strike Infringes Children’s Right to Education

The crisis of Zimbabwe’s education sector is deepening by the day, as the country’s schools remain closed due to the unremitting teachers strike.

ECONOMY-JAPAN: Meltdown Prompts ODA Boost To Asia

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the Swiss mountain resort of Davos on Saturday that Japan will provide 17 billion US dollars worth of aid to stimulate Asia’s economies.

EAST AFRICA: Increasing Women's Participation in Government

Kenya’s poor record of improving percentage of women in decision making positions has come under scrutiny, but its neighbours are doing significantly better.

BURKINA FASO: Grain Shortage Despite Record Harvest

Looking worried, Hadja Mamounata Belegda, commercial grain farmer, rubs the beads of her rosary between her fingers and ponders the consequences of grain shortages on the market in Burkina Faso.