KENYA: Medical Smart Card Extended to Maternal Care

Kenyans can now save towards the cost of childbirth at the country's largest maternal hospital thanks to a medical smart card system.

AFRICA: Shortage of Skills for Reproductive Health

Dr Geoffrey Kasembeli says he worked almost seven years without a day off: that's how severe the shortage of obstetricians and gynaecologists in Kenya is. A similar situation prevails across the continent, a symptom of the weakness of reproductive health care in Africa.

PAKISTAN: Controversial Drug Welcomed by Some, Worries Others

With its latest hotline a surefire hit, the non-government group Aware Girls could not be any happier.

KENYA: Resounding Yes to New Constitution

Jubilant supporters say it is a new dawn for Kenya. Sixty-seven percent of votes cast endorsed a new constitution more than two decades after reform was first raised.

URUGUAY: Millennium Goal on Maternal Health in Sight

Uruguay is on the point of reaching the Millennium Development Goal for reducing the maternal mortality ratio, but it is still behind in other aspects of maternal health, like providing integrated sexual and reproductive health care, fighting syphilis and checking on mothers and babies during the postpartum period.

LATIN AMERICA: Prevention Is Weakest Link in AIDS Fight

Many Latin American countries have made strides in legislation and policies that promote sex education and health services for young people, which are essential for fighting AIDS. But implementation has been slow and often faces opposition, warn experts.

MALAYSIA: Debate on Sex Education Rises with Teen Pregnancies

The prospect of motherhood filled 17-year-old Fatimah’s heart with dread.

ARGENTINA: Being Gay No Longer a Bar to Marriage

Argentina is officially the first Latin American country to allow same-sex couples to marry, with the passage of a law Thursday that also permits gay couples to adopt children and to use assisted fertilisation to conceive a baby, rights that were hitherto restricted to heterosexual couples.

LIBERIA: Men in Testing New Role as Midwives

Henry Teh gently slides down a blue hospital sheet to expose the bare belly of a pregnant woman. As he pokes around to feel the position of the foetus, the midwife-in-training knows he is breaking tradition and changing the face of obstetric care in Liberia.

THAILAND: For Transgenders, Identity Papers Are No Simple Matter

In New Zealand, where Sujinrat Prachathai enjoys resident status, she is a woman able to append ‘Mrs’ to her name to signify that she is married. Here in Thailand, however, she has to be addressed as ‘Mr’ since she is still considered male even though she underwent a sex-change operation years ago.

Football Leaves Legacy of Hope in Namibia

Throughout the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, organisers have insisted that the legacy of the event goes far beyond the sporting spectacle. In the dusty streets of a Windhoek township, Deon Namiseb believes this is true.

LATIN AMERICA: Time to Value Women’s Unpaid Work

The time has come for Latin American countries to put an economic value on the work that women do as they take care of households, children and the elderly, says ECLAC, the United Nations regional economic agency.

EDUCATION: EnGendering Awareness in Trainee Teachers

The teacher seats the most attentive girls in the front row and the troublesome boys at the back of the classroom. He punishes the liveliest pupil and lets the withdrawn one be. Dark-skinned boys sit with dark-skinned girls, boys play with boys and girls with girls.

LATIN AMERICA: Majority Favours Legalising Abortion – But Not for All Cases

The majority of people surveyed in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Nicaragua are in favour of legalising therapeutic abortion, but not all forms of elective abortion, according to a study by the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO).

MEXICO: Extending the Reach of Safe Abortion

By 5:00 AM, dozens of women are already lined up outside of this clinic in the Mexican capital. Most come with their mothers, sisters, husbands, friends or boyfriends. A few show up alone.

DR CONGO: Pursuing Rebels at What Price

Operation Amani Leo, launched jointly by MONUC (the United Nations Mission in Congo) and FARDC (the Congolese army) in January to regain control of mining territories in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu from rebels, while ensuring security for the local population has been extended to September. But Congolese women are arguing for changes in the conduct of military operations.

Q&A: China Pays a Price for the ‘Lost’ Girls

In a country like China, that regularly exorcises the ghosts of the past, few understand the importance of oral history better than Chinese writer Xinran.

SOUTH AFRICA: Lack of Quality Health Care Causes Rise in Orphans

Two small boys play quietly on a jungle gym, some distance away from other children. The six-year-old twins, who live at the Masigcine children's centre in Mfuleni township, 35 kilometres out of Cape Town, are severely traumatised from being orphaned at the age of one and have difficulty relating to their peers.

URUGUAY: Job Training Moves “Trans” Off Streets to Better Future

Ruler in hand, Fabiana draws lines with a pencil on orange cardboard, occasionally pushing her curly hair away from her eyes. Next to her, Fernanda fashions a colourful cardboard box, a prototype for what their cooperative will ultimately produce in large quantities.

CUBA: Struggle Against Homophobia Takes to the Streets

"Governments cannot wait for a social consensus in order to guarantee respect for people's rights," Mariela Castro, head of Cuba's National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), told IPS on the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia in Cuba Monday.

Success of “The Pill” Overshadowed by Family Planning Gaps

The birth control pill, currently used by an estimated 100 million women worldwide, commemorated its 50th anniversary last week - but remains controversial in some quarters.