Fabíola Ortiz

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 21 2011 (IPS) – Economic status, education, access to clean water and sanitation, nutrition and the environment determine the level of health of persons, communities or countries, and so does the extent to which rights are enjoyed or denied.

Native Guaraní woman cooking in the village of Cantagalo in southern Brazil. Credit: Alejandro Arigón/IPS

The , held Oct. 19-21 in Brazil, defined 15 commitments that should be …

The proposed law banning same-sex marriages and civil unions is just the tip of the iceberg, activists say. Credit: Elizabeth Whitman/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 7 2011 (IPS) – The prospect of arriving home being arrested at the airport that s kind of scary, said Osazeme O., a dual citizen of Nigeria and the UK, in a wry understatement.
She was standing outside the Nigerian mission to the United Nations, on the sidewalk beside busy Second Avenue, where a small group gathered Monday to demonstrate.

Osazeme was referring to the Nov. 29 passage …

SRINAGAR, Feb 7 2012 (IPS) – Maheen was nine years old when she witnessed the death of her elder brother. At the age of 10 she saw the dead body of her neighbour, killed in the crossfire between Kashmiri rebels and Indian security forces, his guts spilled out on the road.

The unprecedented growth of psychiatric disorders in Kashmir has left many patients completely isolated. Credit: Sana Altaf/IPS

The incidents left Mahee…

Rousbeh Legatis interviews MISHKAT AL MOUMIN, founder of Women and the Environment Network (WATEO)

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2012 (IPS) – Empowering rural women in the Iraqi marshlands, who mostly remain off the radar of international support, must involve local languages and dialects as well as local women trainers, says Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the Iraqi group Women and the Environment Network (WATEO).

Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the I…

ABALA, Niger, Apr 25 2012 (IPS) – It was the middle of the day when Tabisou, 72, suddenly saw people from her town of Amderamboukane in Mali fleeing for their lives. Her family had no time to pack their things; the fighting had already begun.

Several of the children in Abala camp are visibly malnourished, and NGO workers are concerned about potential epidemics. Credit: Willi…

A basket of condoms passed around during International Women’s Day in Manila. Credit: Kara Santos/IPS

ISTANBUL, May 25 2012 (IPS) – While much of the world is facing a global financial crisis, made worse by government cuts in social spending, members of parliament meeting here Wednesday agreed the economic crunch is no reason for governments to relax their commitment to women’s reproductive rights and health, made 18 years ago.

Speaking at the opening session of the fifth International Parliamentarians Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said 250 milli…

“Is this fair?” one of the images of Brazil’s drug decriminalisation campaign. Credit: “Lei de drogas: É preciso mudar” campaign

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 12 2012 (IPS) – A host of academic, legal, health, political and social figures are joining together to back a campaign to decriminalise drug use in Brazil, as tens of thousands of consumers uninvolved in the drug trade are currently jailed.

The campaign is an initiative launched by the , which aims to gather one million signatures in support of a bill that will be introduced in congress during the second half of 2013.

Many movie and television celebrities, along with major political personalities, including …

Patients attending Opiate Substitution Therapy at a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. Credit: International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine.

KIEV, Sep 3 2012 (IPS) – Despite pledges from governments across Eastern Europe and Central Asia to fight HIV/AIDS – one of the eight Millennium Development Goals – the region has the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic.

Punitive drug policies, discrimination and problems with access to medicines and important therapy are all driving an epidemic which is unlikely to be contained, world experts say, until governments in countries with the worst problems change key policies and approaches to the…

“The law has many gaps, and satisfies no one,” says activist Martha Aguñín. Credit: Hacelosvaler.org

MONTEVIDEO, Oct 18 2012 (IPS) – The Uruguayan Congress passed a law Wednesday decriminalising abortion, making it one of the few countries in the region where abortion is allowed in cases other than rape, incest, malformation of the fetus or danger to the mother’s life. But activists who backed the bill are not pleased with modifications introduced in the final version.

“We see this law as minimal; it is not what we were hoping for,” Martha Aguñín, spokeswoman for Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (MYSU – Women and Health in Uruguay), told IPS.

“It has ma…

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 2012 (IPS) – When the United Nations commemorates World Toilet Day next week, there will be a lingering question in the minds of activists: how best can water and sanitation be given high priority in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the U.N. s post-2015 economic agenda?

Water and sanitation are basic human rights that underpin health, education and livelihoods. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS.

Dr. Jennifer Platt, sustainability director at WASH Advocates in Washington, told IPS that World Toilet Day on Nov. 1…