HEALTH-NEPAL: Mobile Camps Treat Uterine Prolapse

While women in the capital Kathmandu fight for representation on the political bodies designing the 'new Nepal', in the remote western region Bhakti Oli has just claimed her right to health care after more than 35 years.

RIGHTS-KENYA: “He Dismissed Me to Return Home and Satisfy My Husband”

"I ran to the police station on two occasions after my husband had come home late at night...and started hitting me, chasing me around the house holding a knife. This happened many times, until one day he cut my palm and cheek," recounts Linda*.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Stoning for Adultery – More a Women&#39s Issue

Currently, in Iran, there are nine women sentenced to death by stoning on charges of adultery, compared to two men for the same offence - highlighting the fact that this barbaric mode of execution is primarily a women's issue.

RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: Marital Bliss Amidst Anti-Gay Prejudice

Bongani*, resplendent in a tailored suit in brilliant white, alighted from a white Mercedes Benz adorned with golden ribbons. By his side appeared Sipho* in a black suit and elegant yellow silk necktie. It was their wedding day.

THAILAND: Stigma Mars Gains Against HIV/AIDS

The approaching Christmas has brought a rare sparkle to the eyes of a 45-year-old Thai mother coping with the stigma of being infected with HIV. She smiles as she snips away with a pair of scissors, shaping paper for a decorative ball.

COTE D’IVOIRE: A New Approach to HIV/AIDS in the Blackboard Jungle

Education officials in Côte d'Ivoire are revising how children are taught about the dangers of HIV/AIDS in the West African country, this as statistics from June 2006 show prevalence in schools to be at four percent.

POPULATION: Maternal Mortality Goals Hit by Funds Crunch

A scarcity of funds and a failure to translate national laws into action are undermining hopes of the world meeting a key development goal in 2015 that aims to help women, says a ranking U.N. official.

EDUCATION-CAMEROON: Poverty and Culture Conspire to Deny Girls Schooling

Of the 71 pupils in Daouda Soulé's class, only 18 are girls. "Last year there were about 20 girls, but even some...who were promoted to the next grade dropped out and are at home, although primary school is free," the teacher at the Central Public School in Garoua, northern Cameroon, told IPS.

ARGENTINA: Flaws in Acclaimed Sexual Health Plan

Three years after it got under way, Argentina's sexual and reproductive health programme has spread from 124,000 beneficiaries to 2.3 million. But monitoring by non-governmental organisations has brought to light some problems in its implementation.

MEXICO: Civil Unions for Gays Soon a Reality in the Capital

Same-sex couples in Mexico's capital city are only a step away from receiving legal recognition, after the local legislature approved a law that conservative groups consider to be "sinful," and that they say they will challenge in the courts.

POPULATION: Go Forth and Multiply Ahmadinejad Tells Iranians

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again stirred up controversy by opposing the country's long-standing efforts at reducing the population growth rate and by his proposal to make female employees, with children, part-time workers on full salaries.

HAITI/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Early Sex Initiation and AIDS

Early sexual initiation and a lack of prevention policies are sowing the seeds of AIDS proliferation, warns a UNICEF study carried out at locations straddling the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

RIGHTS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Disability and Sex Can Share the Same Bed, Say Women

Marginalised by society because they have few legal or institutional forms of protection, disabled women in Cote d'Ivoire are now coming out of the shadows and demanding their rights - particularly those related to their sexual and reproductive lives.

DEATH PENALTY: Pregnant Woman Escapes Execution in Vietnam

A 39-year-old woman being held in solitary confinement for six months will not be executed because she has become pregnant, the woman's lawyers confirmed.

NICARAGUA: Therapeutic Abortion Banned in Pre-Election Frenzy

Latin America is not the most liberal region in the world when it comes to abortion. But the decision by Nicaraguan legislators to hand down eight-year prison sentences to those who terminate a pregnancy to save a mother's life has astounded doctors, feminists, activists, diplomats and government officials alike.

PORTUGAL: Voters to Decide on Legal Abortion in Referendum

With Thursday's approval of a motion by the governing Socialist Party to hold a referendum on the decriminalisation of abortion, the Portuguese parliament gave a green light to the battle to remove the country from the list of European nations with the strictest laws against abortion.

ARGENTINA: Stamping Out Mistreatment of Women in Hospitals

Cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of women in sexual and reproductive health services in Argentina, often accepted as normal by doctors, nurses and even patients, is being closely examined by a network of organisations determined to stamp out these practices.

GUATEMALA: Where Sexual Exploitation of Minors Is Not a Crime

Sexual exploitation of minors is not classified as a crime in Guatemala, where activists say child sex tourism is on the rise, and the toughest penalty for "corruption of minors" and "aggravated procuring" is a 400 dollar fine.

EDUCATION-ARGENTINA: Sex in the Classrooms – By Law

For the first time in Argentina, sex education will be on the curriculum at public and private schools all over the country. Women's organisations are celebrating the passage by Congress of a key law which complements the programme on "sexual health and responsible procreation" instituted in 2003.

RIGHTS-COTE D’IVOIRE: Impunity Lays the Ground for Sexual Abuse

Increasing sexual violence in Côte d'Ivoire has prompted rights organisations to call for an end to a culture of impunity which they claim has encouraged this trend - particularly as concerns the military.

CHILE: Therapeutic Abortion – A Distant but Not Impossible Prospect

Activists fighting for the decriminalisation of therapeutic abortion in Chile have long faced a depressing scenario: zero political will, stiff opposition from the Catholic Church and limited public support. Today, though, they are encouraged by positive signals on contraception from the government of Michelle Bachelet.