HEALTH-ANGOLA: The Dangerous Profession of Motherhood

Walking into the Angolan capital's main maternity hospital, the first thing that hits any visitor is the stench: a nauseating combination of blood and excrement. After a short while, the stomach settles and the eyes adjust to the poor light in the Maternidade Lucrecia Paim; then, the true wretchedness of the grey walls and broken windows begins to sink in.

HEALTH: AIDS Stigma, a Major Hurdle in the Caribbean

The discrimination that people living with HIV face on a day-to-day level in the Caribbean results in frequent violations of their basic rights and is a major hurdle to the implementation of anti-AIDS programmes, say U.N. officials..

MEXICO: Writer Who Exposed Child Sex Ring Fears Worst Is Yet to Come

When Mexican freelance journalist and human rights activist Lydia Cacho published a book last year exposing a paedophile ring, she was warned by friends and colleagues that she would run into trouble.

RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: “Anything Can Happen to Us, Anytime”

As a community relations officer for the Johannesburg-based Forum for the Empowerment of Women, a non-governmental organisation, Zanele Muholi has become all too familiar with the prejudice against lesbians that exists in South Africa.

PAKISTAN: Veiled but Women More Visible After Quake

On a bitter cold afternoon, late January, about 600 women, quite a few with eyes barely showing through veils, trooped into a huge marquee to make their feelings known about the poor progress of rehabilitation after the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake.

RIGHTS: New Pressure Needed to Scrap Gender-Biased Laws

The United Nations is studying the feasibility of appointing a special rapporteur - a human rights expert - who will focus specifically on national laws that discriminate against women in their home countries.

MEDIA-WOMEN: Half the Population, A Fifth of the News

More and more women are now reporting the news, but still only about a fifth of the subjects are women, a new survey shows.

WOMEN-CHILE: Steps in the Right Direction

The election of Chile's first woman president, and her choice of a cabinet with equal numbers of male and female ministers, are a positive sign for the political aspirations of women in this country, but more concrete action is still needed, both activists and authorities agree.

RIGHTS-MALAWI: “Have Men in Our Land Chosen to Become Worse Than Beasts?”

When police announced recently that they had detained a man in the northern town of Karonga for allegedly killing his wife after she refused him sex, there were hopes that the arrest would send a stern warning to other husbands with violent inclinations.

AFGHANISTAN: Women Pass a European Milestone

Between a conference on Afghanistan in Bonn four years back and the one in London this week, a good deal has changed for women in Afghanistan - for Afghan women around capital Kabul anyway.

RIGHTS-CHILE: Gay Community Guardedly Optimistic About Future

Despite an increase in the number of homophobic incidents reported, a newly released study on sexual minority rights in Chile concludes that 2005 was above all a year of significant advances, and many are optimistic that the future will bring even greater progress under the new government taking office in March.

CULTURE: Mexico’s First International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

Nearly a dozen full-length films, more than 50 shorts, five plays and several discussion panels are among the fare offered this week at the First International Gay and Lesbian Film and Theatre Festival in Mexico, a groundbreaking event that has taken 10 years to come to fruition.

MEDIA: By the Women, On the Women

A new survey report next month will show some of what is already known, that there is a disproportionately high profile of males both by way of the subject of news, and by way of newsroom staff. But this time action will follow the survey.

RIGHTS: Many Charts of Women’s Progress Remain Blank

The lack of vital gender-related statistics - on population, health, education and labour - is distorting the social and economic position of women worldwide, according to a new U.N. report released Wednesday.

HEALTH-INDIA: Laws Fail to Remedy Skewed Sex Ratio

Damning evidence in the British medical journal ‘The Lancet', that illegal sex selective abortions in India were responsible for 10 million ''missing'' girls over the last two decades, has goaded health authorities and campaigners into renewed action.

RIGHTS-KENYA: “Here, Rapists Can Get as Low a Sentence as a Fine…”

An alleged ex-convict known only as "Maranda" may have been responsible for the rape of five-year-old Peris Akoth at the beginning of this year, in Kenya. Then again, he may not.

JAPAN: Wooing Women as Birth Rates Drop

Gender equality has been a distant dream in Japan but a drastic national population decline is forcing the government to take steps to help women - if only to encourage them to have more children.

HEALTH-ALGERIA: Low HIV Prevalence Not a Problem? Think Again

Coverage of AIDS in Africa typically focuses on the dire situation in countries south of the Sahara, which are home to almost two thirds of people infected with HIV globally, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

GERMANY: World Cup – a Magnet for Forced Prostitution?

Football players, fans and journalists from all over the world are getting ready to head to the World Cup in Germany. And among those packing their bags are about 40,000 sex workers who will be there to satisfy the high demand for their services.

HEALTH-NAMIBIA: In Prisons, a Little Latex Could Go a Long Way

A piece of legislation nearly 30 years old that outlaws male-to-male sodomy may, at first glance, appear more a target for gay rights activists than AIDS campaigners. Seen in the context of Namibia's prisons however, the 1977 Criminal Procedures Act raises questions that relate to both health and rights.

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: Free HIV Therapy Also Lessens Stigma

Raheela is relieved that she can finally avail of free anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in Pakistan, where people living with HIV/AIDS are viewed with suspicion rather than sympathy.