David Mubita defied tradition to get circumcised for protection against HIV. Credit: Lewis Mwanangombe

LUSAKA, Mar 3 2014 (IPS) – David Mubita has long been known in the family as a fool for starting trouble. The latest was getting circumcised secretly and nearly cast out by Grandfather Ndumwa. But Mubita may turn out to be the wisest in the family.

The Lozi people of Western Zambia cherish their traditions. So, when Mubita decided to go for circumcision early in 2013, he not only broke tradition but brought shame on the family.”Our region, East and Southern Africa, needs more male circumcision because it is the epicentre of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.” -…

For HIV positive pregnant women, WHO recommends a course of the antibiotic Septrin, and for HIV negative women, the three tablet Fansidar.

Malaria in pregnant women is dangerous as it lowers their immunity. WHO calls it a major health problem, with adverse effects such as anaemia, low birth weight, prematurity, maternal death, stillbirth and miscarriage.

Zulu says it’s worth enduring side effects for a couple of days, considering this could save lives.

“I have seen too many mothers and babies die or suffer because this simple regimen was not adhered to,” she says.

For HIV positive women like Nalishupe, the situation is especially precarious. In a compromised immune system, acute malaria increases viral load and quickens progression to…

Female genital mutilation (FGM) traditional surgeon in Kapchorwa, Uganda speaking to a reporter. The women in this area are being trained by civil society organisation REACH in how to educate people to stop the practice. Credit: Joshua Kyalimpa/IPS

KAMPALA, Jun 20 2014 (IPS) – Could it be possible that if women in Africa had access to water, it could save them from undergoing the harmful practice of female genital mutilation (FGM)? It seems that according to yet-to-be released research by Ugandan-based Gwada Ogot Tao, FGM and other forms of circumcision in Africa could be linked to water.

Gwada, who conducted research among 20 ethnic groups across Africa, including Ke…

Sadhana Ghimire, 23, makes sure to give her 18-month-old daughter nutritious food, such as porridge containing grains and pulses, in order to prevent stunting. Credit: Mallika Aryal/IPS

RASUWA, Nepal, Jul 22 2014 (IPS) – Durga Ghimire had her first child at the age of 18 and the second at 21. As a young mother, Durga didn’t really understand the importance of taking care of her own health during pregnancy.

“I didn’t realise it would have an impact on my baby,” she says as she sits on the porch of her house in Laharepauwa, some 120 kilometers from Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, nursing her third newborn child.

It is late in the afternoon and she is …

This is the second of a two-part series on incorporating disaster risk reduction into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Local communities in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) have grown accustomed to modern water and sanitation infrastructure in the decade since the Asian Tsunami. Credit: Malini Shankar/IPS

CAR NICOBAR, India, Sep 5 2014 (IPS) – When the 2004 Asian Tsunami lashed the coasts and island territories of India, one of the hardest hit areas were the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI), which lie due east of mainland India, at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

Remote and isolated, the tribal communities that occupy …

Mallika Aryal contributed to this report from Kathmandu, Kanya D’Almeida from Colombo and Ashfaq Yusufzai from Peshawar, Pakistan.

A Pakistani child receives a dose of the oral polio vaccine (OPV). According to the WHO, Pakistan is responsible for 80 percent of polio cases worldwide. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

KATHMANDU/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 24 2014 (IPS) – The goal is an ambitious one – to deliver a polio-free world by 2018. Towards this end, the multi-sector Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is bringing out the big guns, sparing no expense to ensure that “every last child” is immunised against the crippling disease.

Home to 1.8 billion people,…

Soldiers patrol an oil field in Paloug, in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state. Credit: Jared Ferrie/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 2014 (IPS) – The sharp decline in world petroleum prices hailed as a bonanza to millions of motorists in the United States is threatening to undermine the fragile economies of several African countries dependent on oil for their sustained growth.

The most vulnerable in the world s poorest continent include Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sudan as well as developing nations such as Algeria, Libya and Egypt in North Africa.”In the long run, governments in these oil-exporting countries should use oil revenues to support productive secto…

Two workers engaged in the removal of asbestos on the roof of a building where a cinema used to operate in the centre of the southern Spanish city of Málaga, in May 2014. Credit: Courtesy Plataforma Málaga Amianto Cero

MÁLAGA, Spain , Feb 17 2015 (IPS) – “I would get asbestos in my mouth, spit it out and carry on working,” said 52-year-old Francisco Padilla. Exposure to this deadly mineral fibre over most of his working life has resulted in cancer and the removal of his left lung, the lung lining and part of his diaphragm.

Sitting on the sofa in his home in the southern Spanish city of Málaga, Padilla told Tierramérica with watering eyes that he has always l…

Jacqui Ashby is a senior gender adviser at CGIAR. Jennifer Twyman is a gender specialist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

With adequate extension support, women farmers can increase productivity and food security in Africa. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

PARIS, Mar 23 2015 (IPS) – We are lucky to live in a country that has long since abandoned the image of the damsel in distress. Even Disney princesses now save themselves and send unsuitable “saviours” packing. But despite the great strides being made in gender equality, we are st…

A caregiver assists her elderly employer on a residential street in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

BUENOS AIRES, May 19 2015 (IPS) – As in the rest of the world, the care of children, the elderly and the disabled in Latin America has traditionally fallen to women, who add it to their numerous domestic and workplace tasks. A debate is now emerging in the region on the public policies that governments should adopt to give them a hand, while also helping their countries grow.

The challenges women face are reflected by th…