Fears rise of food shortages in West Africa
Azad Essa
Millions of people in up to five West African countries will face a food crisis in early 2012 if early warning systems are ignored, the United Nations and aid officials say.
The charitable face of data use
Tanzeel Akhtar
A new group of innovative non-governmental organisations are springing up in the wake of disasters around the world, driven by complex data analysis and backed by telecom brands
Map study finds vivax malaria has firm grip in Asia
Kate Kelland
(Reuters) - Progress is being made in the fight against the most common form of malaria in Africa, but a long-lasting type of the mosquito-borne parasitic disease has a tight grip on swathes of South Asia and parts of Latin America, scientists said Monday.
Q&A with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
BRYAN WALSH
BANGLADESH: Selling the toilet idea
BANGKOK, 14 October 2011 (IRIN) - By some measures, Bangladesh is modernizing rapidly - one in two residents now owns a cell phone. However, when it comes to basic sanitation, progress is clogged.
Pakistan May Be Standing in Way of Polio's Eradication
Uri Friedman
Several Pakistani news outlets today are dissecting a troubling finding from the U.N.
Afghanistan worst place in the world for women, but India in top five
Owen Bowcott
Targeted violence against female public officials, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world's most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.
More vaccines for poor could save 6.4 million lives
Kate Kelland
(Reuters) - Millions of children's lives and billions of dollars could be saved if vaccines were more widely available in 72 of the world's poorest countries, according to a series of studies published on Thursday.
Global switch needed on severe malaria drug: MSF
Kate Kelland
(Reuters) - Up to 200,000 deaths from severe malaria could be averted each year if malarial countries were to switch to a more expensive but more effective drug, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Tuesday.
Stillbirth:A silent tragedy haunts the world's poor
Julie Steenhuyse
CHICAGO, April 13 (Reuters) - More than 2.6 million pregnancies a year end in stillbirth, a tragedy which mostly hits women in poor countries and accounts for more deaths than AIDS and malaria combined, researchers said on Wednesday.