Mallika Aryal
KATHMANDU, Jan 12 2009 (IPS) – Impoverished Nepal has dramatically reduced maternal mortality cases from 540 per 100,000 live births in 2001 to the present 280 a feat experts attribute chiefly to the legalisation of abortion.
The number of deaths related to unsafe abortion was very high, says Indira Basnett, a leading reproductive health expert. When abortion was legalised, the number of women dying due to pregnancy-related causes dramatically decreased.
Since 2002, abortion has been legal upon request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, when the woman s life or health is in danger, and in cases of rape, incest and foetal impairment. This decision came about in the form of an amendment to Nepal s Civil Code.
From early 2004, the Nepali gove…
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Feb 4 2019 (IPS) – Is there a connection between sex education, gender equality and promiscuity? On this website, Fabiana Fraysinnet recently denounced a Brazilian crusade against sex education conducted by conservative and religious sectors. Such initiatives are common in several other countries, where politicians and religious leaders accuse sexual education of blurring boundaries between male and female and thus foment homosexuality and transsexualism, as well as a moral relativism undermining family structures and adherence to religious guidance and dogma.
An opposite position is reflected by the personal motto of the Norwegian-Swedish journalist and sociali…
NEW YORK, May 4 2020 (IPS) – How many COVID-19 deaths will occur before a vaccine becomes available worldwide? As with many seemingly simple questions about an uncertain future, the proper answer to that important query is: “it depends”.
The total worldwide number of deaths from COVID-19 before a vaccine, reported to be nearly at the end of April and amounting to a since the start of April, is . It depends on a host of critical factors, many of which are not well understood and are changing rapi…
People walking in public space with medical masks on to protect themselves from coronavirus infection. Credit: iStock / DragonImages
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan 7 2021 (IPS) – As the people of Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga gear up as the first nations to welcome 2021, communities around the Asia-Pacific region and beyond look forward to bidding farewell to the most tumultuous year in recent decades.
2020 brought unparalleled human suffering that continued to devastatingly impact on the daily lives of people across all corners of the region. With the emergency authorization and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, people are hoping for a ‘new normal’ r…