Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON, Nov 27 2007 (IPS) – Drug firms are missing potentially valuable business opportunities by failing to meet the needs of consumers in developing countries, an international charity said Tuesday.
The group Oxfam International, in a new report, said the 700-billion-dollar-a-year pharmaceuticals industry continues to price their products beyond the reach of the world #39s poor. Additionally, it said market opportunities also were being squandered by firms #39 failure to develop more medicines relevant to poor countries and their intransigence over trademark issues.
The industry is burying its head in the sand, said Jeremy Hobbs, the group #39s executive director. More than 85 percent of world consumers are underserved or have no access to its medici…
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Jan 9 2008 (IPS) – Thai environmentalists are banking on the country s courts to overturn a decision by the military-appointed government to allow field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops.
A court battle is the only way to keep the country free from being contaminated by GM crops say green groups aghast that the government of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has moved to secure cabinet approval to permit field trials just two days after the Dec. 23 parliamentary elections.
There also is anger at the military-backed government s failure to develop and pass a bio-safety law that would protect farmers and consumers before lifting the ban for field trials.
This has been a very sensitive public issue and any changes to the ban …
Interview with Jean-Bosco Ouedraogo
TORONTO, Feb 13 2008 (IPS) – Malaria continues to cut a swathe through Africa, which accounts for most cases of the disease and the majority of malaria-related deaths. Globally, more than a million people die from malaria each year. In the case of children, this translates into a death every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organisation.
Jean-Bosco Ouedraogo, director of research at the Health Scienc…
David Vargas
REPATRIACION, Paraguay, Mar 11 2008 (IPS) – The first red stains on Nicanor s white shirt reads the inscription on a memorial niche at the side of the road to Ypecuá, 230 kilometres from Asunción, where peasant farmers are fighting for their land and against the diseases caused by agrochemicals used on nearby soybean plantations.
The road to Juliana Fleitas. Credit: David Vargas/IPS
The rustic cemetery here is the final resting place of the remains of two farm workers from the settlement known as Juliana Fleitas, in the southern Paraguayan state …
Sarah McGregor
DAR ES SALAAM, Apr 25 2008 (IPS) – Tatu Shabani Tumbo #39s first born was diagnosed with strength-sapping anaemia, and died a toddler. Doctors had no medical explanation for the sudden death of her second child at age one. She then tried to get pregnant a third time, initially without success.
Tanzania's president, Jakaya Kikwete, who this week announced plans to…
Diego Cevallos* – Tierramérica
MEXICO CITY, Jun 4 2008 (IPS) – Government funds to fight tobacco use in Latin America, which kills one million people each year, pale in comparison to the health costs of this epidemic and receive only a small portion of the tax revenues from the tobacco industry.
Children are often second-hand smokers. Credit: Photo Stock
Most countries in the region violate their own commitments to ban tobacco advertising and to prohibit smoking in public places, including hospitals and schools.
Eliminating ci…
Mel Frykberg
GAZA CITY, Jul 2 2008 (IPS) – Gaza is being forced to pump 77 tonnes of untreated or partially treated sewage out to sea daily due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. The fear is that some of this is creeping back into drinking water.
The drought in the Palestinian territories has exacerbated Gaza s shortage of drinking water. Credit: Mel Frykberg
The health of Gaza s 1.5 million people is at risk, Mahmoud Daher, from the UN …
Interview with Luis Soto Ramírez, co-chair of AIDS 2008
MEXICO CITY, Aug 1 2008 (IPS) – Mexican virologist Dr. Luis Soto Ramírez, co-chair of the 17th International AIDS Conference, which opens Sunday in the Mexican capital, says that ramping up prevention efforts is the most urgent step to be taken in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Luis Soto Ramírez Credit: Daniela Estrada/IPS
While rushing from one commitment to another in the run-up to the event, also known as AIDS 2008, which will draw 25,000 participants from 188 countries, Soto Ramírez takes time to question the way the Uni…
Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Sep 23 2008 (IPS) – Producing baskets and mats in central Uganda has traditionally been women s work. Women made these items for use in homes. The National Association of Women Organisations in Uganda (NAWOU) has changed this practice into a powerful force fighting poverty.
Improving lives: Artisans Rose Sanyu (left) and Milly Kinene. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS
The organisation has a big crafts collection centre in the east African country s capital of Ka…
Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO, Nov 13 2008 (IPS) – Chilean Health Minister Álvaro Erazo reported Thursday that 512 people who tested positive for HIV were not notified by the public health system.
He acknowledged there were problems and announced several measures to confront the health emergency.
The measures will work as long as the necessary resources are available, Patricio Novoa, of Vivo Positivo (Living Positive), an umbrella group linking 30 non-governmental organisations, told IPS. What is needed here is training for many people, and the hiring of services.
On Thursday, Minister Erazo presented the national report on the state of the situation of confirmed HIV/AIDS cases 2004-2008 to the health committee of the lower house of Congress, which the committee…