In The News

Africa: Gender Inequality Fuels AIDS Crisis

December 3, 2003
Agencies trying to curb the AIDS crisis in Africa need to expand their approach, argues Human Rights Watch. There is a crucial link between gender inequality and the spread of AIDS. Sexual assault, the use of rape as a mechanism of war, the cultural acceptance of domestic violence, and women's lack of voice have kept women at the mercy of the disease in Africa. On that continent, women are...

WHO Unveils Plan to Fight HIV and AIDS

David Brown December 1, 2003
A program that was deemed "too ambitious" two years ago is set to be implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO). By providing instruction, expertise, and written documents, as well as calling for the training of 100,000 workers for 10,000 clinics, the WHO hopes to provide 3 million people with AIDS treatment by 2005. The WHO will not pay for the treatment itself, but it hopes...

India Plans Free AIDS Therapy

Amy Waldman December 1, 2003
On the eve of an election day in India, the government announced plans to provide free antiretroviral therapy to H.I.V.-positive new parents and H.I.V.-positive children in the six states most affected by the disease. This is part of a larger initiative spearheaded domestically by Sushma Swaraj, India's Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and internationally by organizations like...

US Eating Habits Spreading

Lizette Albarez October 31, 2003
After making sure that every American has the opportunity to consume high calorie doughnuts, Krispy Kreme has expanded its market to include Europe. And it are not alone. With fast food chains opening and sugary food commercials all over television screens, Europe is adapting to the American diet – and scales show the result. An estimated 21 percent of men and 23.5 percent of women are now...

The World's Poor and Sick Have Not Been Forgotten

Krishna Ravi Srinivas October 20, 2003
If you're sick, it's definitely better to live in a rich country than a poor one. Pharmaceuticals produced in developed countries are prohibitively expensive for people in the world's poorest areas, but there are signs of improvement, says legal scholar Krishna Ravi Srinivas. In August 2003 trade ministers concluded negotiations on an agreement that will allow companies to profit...

Monsanto to Quit Europe

Mark Oliver October 16, 2003
In the wake of hundreds of public meetings at which a majority of UK citizens said 'No' to genetically modified crops, the American pioneer of GM foods announced it is pulling out of the European cereal business. Monsanto, the largest GM seed company in the world, said it no longer sees "a good strategic fit" for the company’s hybrid seed research in Europe. Anti-GM...

SARS Proved Health is Global Public Good

Michael Merson September 24, 2003
When SARS was first reported by China to the World Health Organization last February, the world was little prepared for the consequences that were to follow from that pneumonia-like disease. We are only now beginning to understand the toll the disease took on individuals as well as entire economies and societies. Dr. Michael Merson, dean of Yale University's School of Public Health, says...