Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Jun 15 2011 (IPS) – Cooperation between India and Brazil in pharmaceuticals and medical biotechnology has begun to falter, because Indian authorities would rather collaborate with western counterparts than those in developing countries, new research shows.
As a result, cooperation between the two countries, once touted as capable of solving public health problems in the developing world, has failed to come up with marketable products.
The study by the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a publicly funded think tank based in New Delhi, cited as a reason for product failure the lingering perception in concerned Indian ministries and departments that collaboration with the North (referring to developed countries) is mu…
Matthew Cardinale
ATLANTA, Georgia, U.S., Jun 27 2011 (IPS) – Iran is drawing international criticism for its continued mass executions of people convicted of violating its drug laws. The Islamic Republic s judiciary reported that 300 people were on death row as of May 30.
For 300 drug-related convicts, including those who were in possession of at least 30 grammes of heroin, execution verdicts have been issued, said Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran s prosecutor- general, according to the Sharq daily newspaper.
The Iranian government has already hanged 126 people for drug offences so far this year, as of May 30, according to , a death penalty abolition organisation.
Iran executed 650 people in 2010, 590 of whom were convicted for drug offences, according to the…
DOHA, Aug 2 2011 – Record levels of radiation have been recorded at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant reactor, just months after the nuclear accident resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in March.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported that Geiger counters a hand-held device used to measure radiation registered their highest possible reading at the site on Monday.
TEPCO said that radiation exceeding 10 sieverts [10,000 millisieverts] per hour was found at the bottom of a ventilation stack standing between two reactors.
Al Jazeera s Aela Callan, reporting from Japan s Ibaraki prefecture, said the level recorded was fatal to humans but that it was contained just to the plant s site. However, scientists are planning to carry out more tests on Tuesday.…
Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Sep 8 2011 (IPS) – Having to contend with U.S. army drones and the crossfire between the Taliban and the Pakistani army, the residents of Pakistan s tribal areas find access to treatment for HIV/AIDS harder than in most other parts of the world.
AIDS awareness seminar for medical students and HIV infected people in Peshawar. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS
Currently, people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the Federally Administered…
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…