Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Oct 27 2008 (IPS) – A draft protocol to eliminate all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products, such as contraband, illegal manufacturing and counterfeit cigarettes, has been outlined at the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The second meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body in charge of drafting the protocol, which ended on Saturday, debated the possibility of creating a group of experts to review certain initiatives, including the feasibility of an international system for monitoring and tracking tobacco products.

The system must have international standards and be appropriate for low- and middle-income countries, said Eduardo Bianco, a Uruguayan doctor and the Latin American head of the Framework Convention Alliance on Tobacco C…

Prime Sarmiento

MANILA, Dec 22 2008 (IPS) – Cecilia Moran never thought that she would one day have to give up farming owing to poor health. She grew up helping her father tend a family-owned plot in Davao province. The sale of such produce as rice, corn, coconut and durian in the local market took care of family needs.
A few months ago, after being weakened by tuberculosis, Moran retired from farming. Her illness, Moran said, was brought on by constant exposure to aerial spraying with toxic pesticides.

Big agribusiness corporations in Davao employ aerial spraying to kill Sigatoka , a fungus that attacks the leaves of banana plants and causes premature aging of fruits. Bananas, primarily grown in Davao, are a valued export crop and earns for the Philippines over 400 m…

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Mar 23 2009 (IPS) – The colourful new magazine of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) in Latin America and the Caribbean has a modern look and provides not only information but articles on fashion and entertainment. It is also the perfect size to carry in a purse.
Magazines in doctors offices often show HIV-positive women in the role of victims, leading tragic lives. But the ones I know are happy, full of energy, and living healthy smoking-free lives, keeping close track of their immune systems, María Mansilla, the editor in charge of content for the publication No estás sola (You Are not Alone) told IPS.

The name of the magazine emerged from the slogan of an ICW Latina campaign targeting pregnant women livi…

Kester Kenn Klomegah interviews ALEXANDER ANTONENKO, Russian businessperson

MOSCOW, Apr 22 2009 (IPS) – At a glance, trade between Russia and African states is still at low levels, which experts attribute to an inadequate flow of information and lack of interaction.

Alexander Antonenko: Keen to collaborate with African enterprises Credit: Kester Klenn Klomegah/IPS

While Russia is undergoing an economic transformation and is predicted to become one of the …

Mel Frykberg

GAZA CITY, May 21 2009 (IPS) – The lives of hundreds of critically ill Gazans continue to be jeopardised by the power struggle between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, and political blackmail by Israel.
Mohammed Zibdeh, 12, who has cancer of the brain is waiting in Gaza city for a permit to travel to Israel for advanced treatment. He is dependent on a ventilator connected to his throat for survival.

Last year Mohammed was able to secure a permit to travel to an Israeli hospital where he received chemotherapy for his brain tumour, causing the tumour to shrink significantly.

However, a power struggle between Fatah and Hamas over the issuance of exit permits for patients, and Israel s reluctance to issue visas for Gazans on the basis of al…

Kristin Palitza

CAPE TOWN, Jul 22 2009 (IPS) – Failure to sustain funding for HIV/AIDS treatment programmes could lead to a rising number of deaths, particularly in Africa.

Shortfalls in funding for sites like this Senegalese health clinic will directly affect HIV disease and mortality rates. Credit: Dima Gavrysh/UNFPA

We need 17 to 18 billion dollars per yea…

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Aug 15 2009 (IPS) – While the swine flu pandemic has not hit India too hard, it has sorely tested the country s ailing health delivery system and its plans to remedy the situation through private-public partnerships.
Much of the drama is playing out in the western Indian city of Pune where the death of a 14-year-old schoolgirl, on Aug. 3, following misdiagnosis at a private hospital where she was being treated, has led to charges in the media that the government was not doing enough contain the spread of the A(H1N1) virus.

Health authorities reacted to the death of the schoolgirl, Reeda Shaikh, by asking people who develop flu-like symptoms to report to designated government facilities for testing. That quickly resulted in panic and chaos wit…

VIENTIANE, Sep 21 2009 (IPS) – Ki is seven years old but looks more like three. His legs are bowed and skull misshapen. He looked at me with a blank stare. The health worker, Kheo, suggests rickets.

50 percent of Lao children are undersized Credit: Donna Kelly/IPS

Rickets and beri beri or thiamine (B1) deficiency are still far too common 19th century diseases in 21st century Laos.

The boy gets enough sun. It s the other nutrients, calcium, phosphorus and dietary oils that are lacking. He is the worst effected of 93 other kids in his v…

Wambi Michael

KAMPALA, Nov 6 2009 (IPS) – Uganda is considering an anti-counterfeit bill which analysts say will impair the country s ability to import and export cheap but effective generic medicines. Activists fear that the bill, once enacted, will deny Ugandans access to safe, effective, quality and affordable generic medication which currently forms the bulk of Uganda s medicine imports.
The Counterfeit Goods Bill seeks to prohibit trade in goods that ostensibly infringe intellectual property rights. The bill, which was tabled by Uganda s trade ministry, will empower the commissioner of customs to seize suspected counterfeit goods.

The bill defines counterfeiting as manufacturing, producing, packaging, re-packaging, labelling or making, whether in Uganda or outsid…

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Dec 1 2009 (IPS) – Cuban biotechnology and pharmaceutical products are already among the country s major exports, and the industry is on course to continue developing while maintaining a firm focus on making a real difference to the health of all Cubans and of people in the numerous countries where Cuba provides medical assistance.
The existence of market forces is a reality that has to be reckoned with because of production costs, but health decisions cannot be governed by business considerations alone, said Agustín Lage, head of the Centre for Molecular Immunology (CIM), whose anti-cancer product Nimotuzumab is currently undergoing clinical trials in the United States.

Lage and other Cuban scientists presented the strategy and results obtaine…