HEALTH-UGANDA: EU Supports Law Threatening Access to Medicines
By Wambi Michael
KAMPALA - The European Union (EU) is funding the drafting of Uganda’s controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill, a proposed law that has caused an outcry as it threatens access to life-saving generic medicines in this low income East African country. Some 90 percent of medicines used in Uganda’s health-care system are imported, of which about 93 percent are generics.
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MALAYSIA: Creation of Commercial Hospital Wings a Mistake -Critics
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian government scheme to create commercial ‘private wings’ in major government hospitals has come under fire from critics, who say it will add to the burden of people who need public healthcare the most.
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HEALTH: U.S. AIDS Fund Flat-Lining, Groups Complain
By Sananda Sahoo
WASHINGTON - The debate between those who favour investment in AIDS treatment and those who favour investment in its prevention came to the forefront Thursday at a U.S House of Representatives hearing on U.S. investments in HIV/AIDS in Africa.
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PHILIPPINES: Reproductive Health Tests Candidates’ Political Guts
By Kara Santos
MANILA - Filipino voters who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for their next president are being advised: look at each aspirant’s stance on reproductive health to help them gauge the candidate’s leadership mettle and political guts.
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CHINA: Binge-drinking Culture Turning from Fun to Lethal
By Mitch Moxley
BEIJING - After Chen Lusheng, a police sergeant from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, died in December after an off-duty night of heavy drinking with local officials, his superiors tried to have him designated a "martyr" who "died in the line of duty," so that his family would receive greater compensation.
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INDONESIA: Waste Composting Project Blazes Cleaner Path
By Kanis Dursin
JAKARTA - Battling the pain from a boil on his left thigh, 45-year-old Inggit Tukino pulled his two-wheeled cart through the overcrowded alleys of a slum in Rawabebek, Penjaringan hamlet in here North Jakarta.
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LATIN AMERICA: Abortion - Still Illegal, Still Killing, Despite Growing Awareness
By Estrella Gutiérrez
CARACAS - Although most of the governments in Latin America today are described as progressive, abortion is only legal in one country, while in five countries it is banned under all circumstances, even when the mother's life is at risk.
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ENVIRONMENT-UGANDA: Landslides - Experts Warn Worst is Yet to Come
By Joshua Kyalimpa
KAMPALA - Fourteen-year-old Isaac Wadyegere of Bundesi village in Bududa district woke up to a rainy and chilly Monday morning and went to school as usual. But Mar. 1 was not a usual day in eastern Uganda.
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HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: More Funds Needed for HIV Prevention and Treatment
By Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN - Decreasing or levelling HIV funding will destabilise developing countries’ health systems, a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned. They demand that governments worldwide own up to their promise of achieving universal access to HIV treatment.
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HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Five Years to Children Born Free of HIV
By Marshall Patsanza
JOHANNESBURG - A world where all children are born free of HIV infection is possible in only five years if donors continue to fund global efforts to combat the virus.
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