Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 9 2008 (IPS) – The military government of Burma (Myanmar), in a dramatic turnaround, has offered to cooperate with the United Nations in its massive relief efforts in the cyclone-devastated country where the death toll could exceed 100,000.

The ambassador from Burma joins the U.N. Flash Appeal for cyclone victims on May 9, 2008. Credit: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

Our frustration levels ha…

Miriam Mannak

CAPE TOWN, Jun 12 2008 (IPS) – Children who live in communities with an HIV prevalence rate of 10 percent or more have half a year of schooling less than children in other communities.
In this way the negative consequences of HIV/AIDS are felt beyond the families that are directly affected.

These facts were presented at a World Bank conference in South Africa by Robert Greener, senior economic adviser at the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Greener was speaking at the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE), which ended in Cape Town yesterday (Jun 11). The theme for this year was People, Politics, and Globalisation . The conference was co-hosted by the South African government s treasury department.

Gre…

Nitin Jugran Bahuguna

NEW DELHI, Jul 17 2008 (IPS) – With unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions continuing to be a serious problem in India, some doctors have begun advocating use of the emergency contraceptive (EC) pill as a possible solution, though conditions in India are regarded far from conducive.

A doctor explains use of the morning after pill . Such services are inaccessible to most Indians. Credit: Nitin …

Interview with Lelio Mármora of the Global AIDS Fund

MEXICO CITY, Aug 8 2008 (IPS) – If the economic status of Latin America and the Caribbean continues to improve, the region s share of assistance from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is likely to drop to half the present level, under the current eligibility requirements, says Lelio Mármora, the Fund s portfolio manager for this region.

Credit: Daniela Estrada/IPS

The alternative is for the countries to improve their epidemiological statistics, design a regional agenda and present proposed modifications of the …

Bill Berkowitz*

OAKLAND, California, Oct 8 2008 (IPS) – As the U.S. presidential race winds down and attack ads against Sen. Barack Obama intensify, Raymond Ruddy, a multi-millionaire conservative Catholic who over the years has been more comfortable operating in the backrooms of conservative philanthropy, appears to be coming out of the closet.
Despite being a longtime contributor to a host of conservative culture war causes often relating to issues involving sexuality Ruddy hasn t made a lot of headlines.

However, his influence extends far beyond Google hits and press coverage. The president of the Boston-based Gerard Health Foundation and the vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Maximus, Inc. the giant services provider that pioneered welfare privatisation ha…

Zahira Kharsany interviews DAVID ALNWICK, UNICEF HIV Advisor

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 1 2008 (IPS) – According to the United Nations Children s Fund, early diagnosis and treatment greatly increase survival rates for HIV-positive newborns. but fewer than one in ten infants born to HIV-positive mothers in 2007 was tested for HIV within two months of birth.
Children and Aids: Third Stocktaking Report 2008 , released by the United Nations Children s Fund on World AIDS Day, warns that without the right treatment, half of children with HIV will die before their second birthday.

The UNICEF report focuses on what is known as the four Ps . These are the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, providing pediatric treatment and care, preventing infection among adolescents a…

Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Jan 23 2009 (IPS) – Days before families across China sit down for the Chinese New Year s feast, the country s leaders have moved to restore public confidence in the safety of their repast. A Chinese court has sentenced two men to death and awarded stiff sentences to others implicated in the country s worst food-tampering scam.
The nationwide scandal surrounding milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine that killed at least six infants and sickened nearly 300,000 others followed an initial cover up and prolonged investigation that only provoked more public anger.

Anticipation that the harshest sentences would be issued were running high and the sentences handed down, stiff as they are by international standards, left many col…

Natalia Ruiz Díaz

ASUNCIÓN, Mar 10 2009 (IPS) – Graciela Samaniego has her bags packed. Along with a number of fellow nurses, she is ready to leave her job at a public hospital in the Paraguayan capital and fly to a city in northern Italy, where she will work in a nursing home.
I m going because I want to build a house. With what I earn here, despite all the years I ve been working, it s simply impossible, she tells IPS.

The group of nurses recruited to work in Italy mention different reasons for going, from the dream of having a home of their own to ensuring financial stability for their children.

The preparations for their departure have been kept under close wraps since an attractive job offer began to make its way through the ranks of nurses in this lan…

Joshua Kyalimpa

KAMPALA and Gombe, UGANDA, Apr 6 2009 (IPS) – Primary health care in Uganda is hampered by a shortage of doctors and nurses, but trained volunteers from the community are stepping into the breach.

Village health team focal person Robert Kito giving guidelines to his team members at Gombe hospital compound. Credit: Joshua Kyalimpa/IPS

Robert Kito goes from door to do…

Jim Lobe*

WASHINGTON, May 8 2009 (IPS) – True to his promises to bolster Washington s soft power abroad, President Barack Obama released details of his fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget that included significant increases in development assistance and other civilian-oriented tools of U.S. foreign policy.
If approved, the 2010 budget, combined with a pending FY09 supplemental budget that Congress is likely to approve in the coming weeks, would also go a long way to paying U.S. arrears to the United Nations and its peacekeeping operations and, for the first time in some 25 years, would ensure that Washington pays its dues to the U.N. body in a timely fashion, rather than one year late.

We re very pleased with this budget. It s as good as could be expected, said Don Kraus, d…