Media

WINDHOEK, Mar 16 (IPS) - "At home we have a bar," says grade seven learner David Bravo* (14). "When my mother puts on the music I cannot concentrate on (my) schoolwork anymore. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I just sit there and watch the people."

MBABANE , Mar 16 (IPS) - Her swollen feet are a constant reminder to Sanele Matsebula that she needs to take her medication.

WASHINGTON, Mar 16 (IPS) - Poverty is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and various forms of corruption threaten to undermine the impact of investments made to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the continent, said the World Bank in a report released Monday on Africa's development.

WASHINGTON, Mar 16 (IPS) - Representatives from seven North African and Sahelian states convened in Algiers on Tuesday to discuss the growing threat of al Qaeda's North African affiliate in the region.

JERUSALEM, Mar 17 (IPS) - Less than a hundred days to go, and the world looks on, often more with scepticism than anticipation.

LILONGWE, Mar 15 (IPS) - At the age of 66, village headman Kamwala of Dedza district in central Malawi is starting to feel the effects of ageing. He gets tired easily and needs frequent naps but says he cannot afford this luxury. He and his wife are caregivers to a one-year-old orphan.

NAIROBI, Mar 15 (IPS) - Margaret Atieno, a 38-year-old mother of six, says she wanted to avoid her last pregnancy. But consistent stock-outs of contraceptive devices at her health care centre in rural Siaya, western Kenya, gave her no choice but to fall pregnant once again, albeit the fact that she did not want another child.

KAMPALA, Mar 15 (IPS) - The European Union (EU) is funding the drafting of Uganda’s controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill, a proposed law that has caused an outcry as it threatens access to life-saving generic medicines in this low income East African country. Some 90 percent of medicines used in Uganda’s health-care system are imported, of which about 93 percent are generics.

LILONGWE, Mar. 13 (IPS) - Malawi is quickly becoming unsafe for homosexuals as the country’s police service recently launched a campaign to hunt down and arrest prominent people who are suspected of being gay.

YAOUNDE, Mar. 12 (IPS) - A support network for women's political participation, are challenging head-on what it calls "electoral apathy", after noting a growing trend in electoral abstention.