Danielle Kurtzleben
WASHINGTON, Jun 1 2009 (IPS) – Drug trafficking was once thought to be a largely Latin American problem, but the international community increasingly finds itself fighting this phenomenon in Africa.
Africa, and, most notably, West Africa, has become a major centre of the international drug trade in recent years, leaving U.S. and international organisations scrambling to deal with the problem, said a panel of experts on the subject at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
Conservative estimates say that 40 to 50 metric tonnes of cocaine pass through Africa each year. However, such figures are by nature uncertain and based on drug seizure rates, which are themselves also imprecise.
The worldwide cocaine seizure rate is around…
Erin Cunningham
GAZA CITY, Jun 29 2009 (IPS) – They are little white, yellow or green pills and are available almost anywhere. At the pharmacies or in the market, they are accessible, addictive and cheap.
I take them because it makes me forget, at least for a little while, that I m in Gaza, says Abu Ala a, a resident of the strip and father of four. There is no alternative.
Looking to escape years of war, searing poverty and an unrelenting economic blockade, medical officials in the Gaza Strip say residents have developed a serious addiction to the narcotic painkiller Tramadol.
The embattled enclave s borders have been hermetically sealed by both Israel and Egypt for two years, and an Israeli military assault last winter killed some 1,500 Gazans.
Gaz…
Lal Aqa Sherin
KABUL, Aug 5 2009 (IPS) – Forty five-year-old Rahima thought she was going to die. Her family had checked her into Shenuzada, a private hospital in Makroyan in the Afghan capital, for an operation on her abdomen.
Patients say private hospitals and clinics charge exorbitant fees for sub-standard services Credit: Najibullah Musafer/Killid Media
Our mother was in a coma when we brought her there, says her s…
Mel Frykberg
RAMALLAH, Aug 26 2009 (IPS) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that unless the siege of Gaza is lifted and a political solution implemented, Gaza s badly damaged health system will go from very bad to worse.
The WHO released a report in July stating that since the end of the war in January, most of Gaza s health services have begun to function again. But it says the health system is struggling to deliver advanced and comprehensive medical care to Gaza s 1.5 million people.
There are a number of factors contributing to the continuing degradation of Gaza s health system, says Gaza and West Bank WHO head Tony Laurence.
The isolation of Gaza s health system by the siege; the inability of people and equipment to get in and out of the te…
Pavol Stracansky
BRATISLAVA, Oct 2 2009 (IPS) – New legislation in Poland introducing compulsory castration of paedophiles has angered human rights groups, who claim its introduction is little more than populist posturing.
They say the new law is open to abuse and is likely to be ineffective in tackling sex crimes. The law was passed by Poland s lower house of parliament last week, and is expected to be rubber-stamped within weeks by the upper house and right-wing President Lech Kaczynski.
Human rights campaigners warn that the law, which has also angered EU politicians who have said it could be challenged in human rights courts, has been brought in as a measure to improve the government s image rather than to help stop sexual abuse.
Andrzej Jaroszkiewicz, spo…
Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 2009 (IPS) – On Sep. 24, a beachgoer near Swansea, Wales reported a piece of military equipment washed up on the shore. Three days later, the two members of the team that had showed up to dispose of the shell developed symptoms compatible with mustard gas a chemical warfare agent used in the two world wars and other conflicts.
Concern over sea-dumped chemical weapons such as the mustards that washed up in Wales is growing, particularly in the Baltic Sea the site of the dumping of 40,000 tonnes of surplus and seized chemical weapons in the years following World War II and the proposed site of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany.
Following presentations at the U.N. last week and meetings on Capitol Hill la…
Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Nov 17 2009 (IPS) – Kinshasa s population needs an estimated 700,000 cubic metres of water per day. The Régie de distribution des eaux (REGIDESO) produces only 425,000 cubic metres vast neighbourhoods like Kitokimosi and Mpasa receive almost none of this water.
Just 22 percent of Congolese have access to safe drinking water. Credit: Julien Harneis/Creatve Commons
The situation in other parts of the country is similar if not wors…
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 2010 (IPS) – The United Nations, which has come under heavy fire for its relatively slow relief efforts in earthquake-devastated Haiti, hit back at the international news media for sensational reporting.
Haitians displaced by the powerful earthquake receive water out of a truck in the Canapé-Vert area of Hai…