Population pressure in Pakistan. Credit: M. Fahim Siddiqi/IPS
KARACHI, Pakistan, Jul 11 2012 (IPS) – “No scalpel, no stitch and no rest needed,” guarantees Dr. Ghulam Shabbir Sudhayao, referring to the surgical procedure called vasectomy the least popular method of birth control around the world, including Pakistan.
“People confuse vasectomy with castration (surgical removal of the testicles) and that scares them away,” Sudhayao, who works for the government’s population welfare department, tells IPS.
Vasectomy involves a minor procedure to snip the sperm ducts. Sudhayao himself resorted to the method when he decided that his family was compl…
Charles Kayongo, a Ugandan bar owner, and his wife Eunice, have defied traditional beliefs and refuse to have more than two children. Credit: Dennis Kasirye/IPS
KAMPALA, Nov 15 2012 (IPS) – Charles Kayongo of Uganda is a father of two girls aged five and three. And even though age-old traditions among his ethnic group, the Baganda, say a man should have an unlimited number of children and a son as an heir, Kayongo refuses to have more children.
Like a growing number of cash-strapped young parents in this landlocked East African nation who yearn for a modern lifestyle, he says that he and his wife, Eunice Kayongo, want a small family.
“Enough is enough. I do not…
Loyce Maturu, a Zimbabwean living with AIDS since the age of 12 and an advocate for people living with HIV/AIDS, addresses the General Assembly High-level Meeting on HIV/AIDS.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 10 2016 (IPS) – Young people are disproportionately affected by HIV, yet their concerns about sexual education, and discrimination of key populations were ignored at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on ending AIDS.
Although the overall number of AIDS-related deaths is down 35 percent since 2005, estimates suggest that AIDS-related deaths among adolescents are .
In fact, AIDS is a leading cause of deaths among adolescents in Afri…