Zofeen Ebrahim
SEOUL, Nov 22 2007 (IPS) – The rhythmic beat at the inaugural conference of the World Toilet Association seemed to roll away cultural taboos surrounding the act of defecation.
Drumming up support for the 'toilet revolution' Credit:
With a percussionist drumming on toilets, Thursday s opening ceremony witnessed some 1,300 participants from 60 countries, a large number of them officials, nodding acknowledgement that the issue of insufficient toilets can no longer be ignored.
The Nov. 21-25 event is seen as a coup for le…
Abra Pollock
WASHINGTON, Jan 3 2008 (IPS) – When Maria, who asked that her full name not be used, began working as a New York City-area hair stylist almost 26 years ago, she had a client named Betty who would often show up to her appointments with serious-looking injuries.
A broken rib, a gash, a burn on her hand for each of these, Betty would provide Maria with a lengthy story about how clumsy she had been. And because she had good excuses, and maybe because I just wasn #39t too aware, Maria didn #39t suspect anything.
It was not until Betty and Maria had built a decade-long relationship of hair stylist and client that one day Betty broke down and revealed to Maria that her husband was abusing her. Maria was not only upset and saddened, she felt moved to do something…
Sarah McGregor
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 6 2008 (IPS) – U.S. President George W. Bush will spend most of his time during a five-nation tour of Africa later this month in Tanzania, to spotlight development gains in the East African nation.
This is a success story, said U.S. embassy public affairs officer Jeffery Salaiz of Tanzania, during a press conference held in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam Tuesday.
In what will be his second presidential visit to Africa, Bush is to travel to Tanzania, Rwanda, Benin, Ghana and Liberia from Feb. 15-21 for talks with their heads of state and to visit projects funded by the U.S. government. Most of the trip Feb. 16-19 is to be spent in and around Dar es Salaam and Arusha, a town in northern Tanzania. It will be an opportunity to s…
Mohammed Omer
JABALYIA, Gaza, Mar 5 2008 (IPS) – An ambulance races through Jabalyia refugee camp to pick up the critically injured and the body parts strewn across the street. A normal day #39s job these days.
Another funeral procession in Gaza Credit: Mohammed Omer
Families crouch in makeshift shelters around handheld radios, listening out for some word that their agony will end. There is no electricity, clean water is at a premium.
No sign yet of an end to the #39hot winter #39 that Israel has determined for Gaza residents. Israel is determined to f…
Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 17 2008 (IPS) – Brazilians, especially women, are among the global leaders in taking meticulous care of their bodies and exhibiting them to advantage. This is a significant factor in climbing social and economic ladders, establishing identities and competing successfully in markets, from employment to romance.
The result is explosive growth in the beauty industry, frenzied consumption of cosmetics and slimming products, enthusiasm for exercise programmes and widespread use of plastic surgery, even among teenagers.
This cult of physical perfection is a central research theme for anthropologist Mirian Goldenberg, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who has just launched a book, O corpo como capital (The Body as a Capi…
Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN, May 29 2008 (IPS) – A planned lodge development at the settlement of Molapo in Botswana s Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) has become a source of controversy.
Tourists who frequent the 40-room lodge will enjoy the sights of the Kalahari from the vantage of luxury accommodation. The outlook for indigenous Bushmen from the reserve is less positive, however.
Botswana s government is denying the Bushmen also referred to as the San or Basarwa the right to re-open a borehole in the vicinity of the development, a move rights activists allege is part of a sustained campaign to keep Bushmen out of their ancestral land in the CKGR to allow for mining. Large-scale relocations of the Bushmen took place in 1997, 2002 and 2005 according to Surviva…
Nergui Manalsuren
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 2008 (IPS) – Although the global percentage of people living with HIV has stabilised since 2000, the overall number of people living with HIV has increased due to new infections each year and wider access to antiretroviral therapy, says the new UNAIDS report on the epidemic.
Peter Piot, the head of UNAIDS, said Tuesday that in overall terms, there has been enormous progress with real results.
The 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic estimates 33 million people were living with HIV worldwide in 2007, including 2.7 million new infections, down from 3.0 million, and 2.0 million deaths that are down from 2.2 million in 2005.
However, the total number of HIV-infected children is up from 1.6 million in 2001 to 2.0 million …
Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Sep 9 2008 (IPS) – Even before the ravages caused by Hurricane Gustav in the western part of Cuba have been fully assessed, Hurricane Ike made landfall on the northeastern shore of the island on Sunday, swept westwards out to sea on Monday, and is showing signs of powering up before slamming Cuban territory again.
Water temperatures (in the Caribbean) have reached 31 or 32 degrees, and they are fuelling this cyclone. Its intensity has diminished in the last few hours, but it will get stronger again. As it goes farther out to sea, it may become more organised and more intense, said Cuban meteorologist José Rubiera.
The head of the Meteorology Institute s National Weather Forecast Centre, Rubiera confirmed that the eye of the cyclone had moved bac…
Mirela Xanthaki
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 3 2008 (IPS) – With a million people dying by suicide every year and two suicide deaths per minute, it remains a major preventable cause of death worldwide, mental health experts say.
It is tragic that in a world where more people kill themselves each year than die in all wars, terrorist attacks and homicides, there is so little attention paid to suicide prevention and only a dozen countries have a national strategy for suicide prevention, Brian Mishara, president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), told IPS.
Former Soviet States such as Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus and the Russian Federation have the highest suicide rates per capita. However, countries in Asia account for 60 percent of suicides worldwide…
Diego Cevallos* – Tierramérica
MEXICO CITY, Dec 26 2008 (IPS) – The Mexican mining company Autlán maintains that there is no evidence that manganese causes any harm to human health. But in the central state of Hidalgo, where the metal is mined, adults shake as if they suffered from Parkinson s disease and children s mental development lags behind normal.
Autlán mining operations in the mountains of Hidalgo. Credit: Courtesy of INSP
The company takes a sceptical position (about studies that show the effe…