YAOUNDE, Aug 3 2012 (IPS) – For nearly two years, not a single child with HIV has been born at the public hospital in the Cité-Verte district of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. Dr Emilien Fouda, the hospital s director, says this proud record is the result of combined effort by his staff and community support groups.

Philomène Manga had an HIV test in 2005. She was four months pregnant. When I told my husband that the test result came back positive, he asked me to have an abortion rather than give birth to a sick child, Manga told IPS.

But thanks to advice from a community group called the No Limit for Women Project (NOLFOWOP), she decided to keep the baby.

I got medical treatment so that my child didn t get HIV. Today I have two healthy children, one aged …

Nouma Camara stands near the Akouedo open-air dumpsite in Abidjan. Camara says the effects of a 2006 toxic waste dumping here still prevent him from working full-time. Credit: Robbie Corey-Boulet/IPS

ABIDJAN, Sep 26 2012 (IPS) – Nouma Camara, a 40-year-old tailor, remembers waking up on Aug. 20, 2006 to a smell he described as “something catastrophic.” His home in Akouedo village, in Côte d’Ivoire’s commercial capital city of Abidjan, lies adjacent to a large, open-air dumpsite where toxic waste had been dumped the night before.

Almost immediately, the symptoms began to set in: nausea, headaches, eye irritation, blisters forming on his exposed skin. …

Among adult women in low and middle-income countries, the rate of new HIV infections fell by more than 50 percent over the past decade. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2012 (IPS) – Global efforts to reach the “three zeros” for women and girls zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths are gaining momentum. Much of the progress we have seen is underpinned by the work of women living with HIV.

Among adult women in low and middle-income countries, the rate of new HIV infections fell by more than 50 percent over the past decade. AIDS-related deaths among women fell by 27 percent between 2005 and 2011 versus a 23 percent d…

Joan Erakit interviews LESEDI MOGOATLHE on the importance of youth journalism in South Africa.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 2013 (IPS) – Lesedi Mogoatlhe has dedicated her life to empowering African youth by helping them to find their voices through radio journalism.

In a time of economic, cultural and political challenges, young South Africans face extraordinarily difficult issues. As teens, they worry about their friends, families, education and social standing, but must as South Africans also deal with the harsh realities of poverty, disease and violence.

Lesedi Mogoatlhe, a youth trainer with Children s Radio Foundation, emphasises the need for…

The David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia, northern Malawi. There are only 177 specialists in the country and the doctor-to-patient ratio remains alarmingly high. Credit: Katie Lin/IPS

BLANTYRE, Malawi , Apr 23 2013 (IPS) – In Malawi, where the healthcare system frequently makes headlines for its shortages of drugs and medical workers, a fact that is often overlooked is that two out of four central hospitals do not have a specialist physician in attendance.

“A lot of conditions are not appropriately diagnosed because they are seen by clinicians who are not aware of the greater spectrum of diagnoses that are possible,” explains Dr. Theresa Allain, assoc…

The Supreme Court overturned a mandate that certain organisations receiving HIV/AIDS funding state their opposition to prostitution. Credit: Bigstock

WASHINGTON, Jun 20 2013 (IPS) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a decade-long practise under which the government linked global HIV/AIDS funding to a controversial requirement that organisations explicitly state their opposition to prostitution.

The court s decision to overturn the mandate surprised many observers, with the 6-2 ruling now being lauded as a major victory by a broad coalition of global health, women s rights and free speech advocacy groups.

We are surprised but very happy to he…

(l – r) Josiah Kavuma, Simon Lubambo, Joshua Businge and Brian Gitta, otherwise known as team Code 8, have developed a mobile phone app to diagnose malaria. Courtesy: Microsoft.

KAMPALA
, Aug 13 2013 (IPS) – In his 21 years Brian Gitta has had malaria too many times to count. And over the years, because of the numerous times he has had to have his blood drawn to test for the disease, he has developed a fear of needles. It is little wonder then that he and three of his fellow computer science students worked hard to develop a mobile phone app that detects malaria – without the use of needles.

“I was two or three years old when I first contracted it,�…

Homeless people in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington DC, waiting for shuttles that will take them to food shelters. Credit: Ramy Srour/IPS

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 2013 (IPS) – Near the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in downtown Washington, just a few blocks away from the federal district, dozens of homeless men and women wait for the evening shuttles that will take them to their dinners at one of many food shelters around the city.

They can get by during the day with the few dimes and quarters spared by passersby, but the only daily meal they can really count on is the one they will get at the local food shelter, and so for them, hung…

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 31 2014 (IPS) – The refugee camp of Yarmouk represents one of the most severe examples of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, with foreign aid agencies unable to enter the opposition-controlled area that been effectively besieged since December 2012.

UNRWA food distribution Jan. 31, 2014 in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, Damascus. Credit: UNRWA

Responsibility for the plight of the primarily Palestinian Yarmouk population has been almost exclusively directed toward the Syrian government, whose forces control the periphery of the camp.

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BERKELEY, Apr 2 2014 (IPS) – Mexico is fighting obesity and accompanying diseases with a one-peso per litre tax on sugar-sweetened beverages that kicked in Jan. 1. France implemented its “cola tax” in 2012. Several U.S. states tax sugar-sweetened beverages, including Vermont, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia. Illinois legislators are considering such a tax.

To date, no U.S. city has approved a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Advocates of the tax in San Francisco and Berkeley, California hope they will be the first. But they’ll have to fight the “big soda” industry lobby to do it.”We don’t want to start a precedent – every time a corporation threatens to put a bunch of money in, we back down.” — San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener