The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launched on 14 March in Geneva the Global Sanitation Fund, the first global financing
mechanism to increase expenditure on sanitation and hygiene. Forty percent of the world’s population - 2.6 billion people - do not have access to basic
sanitation. The Millennium Development Goal target of halving the number of people without access to sanitation is the furthest from being achieved. However, the estimated annual cost for attainin more...

Shupikai, a shy 11-year-old in Zimbabwe's impoverished Binga district, had no choice but to drop out of school when her mother fell sick with tuberculosis and persistent diarrhoea. Her father was already ill from an unknown disease. Her younger sisters were just one and three years old, and had to be fed and cared for. Because her family did not have a latrine or refuse pit, everyone was at risk of contracting the disease that was causing her mother's diarrhoea unless Shupikai swept up and burie more...

The Hygiene Improvement Framework is a holistic approach to water and sanitation efforts that combines increased access to facilities and the promotion of behaviour change with supportive policies and institutions. Sustainable improvements in hygiene behaviour patterns require more than promotion and education activities. Water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, while not sufficient on their own to improve health, are critical components in a comprehensive hygiene improvement programme. The dev more...

Few crises have affected human health and threatened social and economic development like HIV/AIDS. As infection rates continue to escalate around the world — particularly in countries with large rural populations and widespread small-scale agriculture — the pandemic is having a significant impact on food security and nutrition, creating a deadly cycle: HIV/AIDS typically strikes the household's most productive members first. When these people become ill, there is an immediate strain on the more...

FAO - Report no 50. This is a publication of the LinKS Project, Gender, biodiversity and local knowledge systems for food security. Drought caused by poor rains in the last four seasons and a high incidence of HIV/AIDS are both long-term crises that create vicious cycles of vulnerability, poverty and food insecurity. This study was conducted to determine the effects of HIV/AIDS and drought on the local knowledge systems for agro-biodiversity and food security in Swaziland, as recent years have s more...

Afghan women have much to celebrate on International Women's Day. Yet their precarious situation still warrants international attention and support. Although Afghan women have now regained most of the freedoms that they lost under the Taliban's gender apartheid, they still constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in Afghanistan. Worsening security and violence threaten the freedoms Afghan women have fought for over the past seven years. The Taliban have been able to regroup and expand their more...

La Junta Directiva de la YWCA Mundial se reunió entre el 19 y 23 de Noviembre de 2007 en Ginebra, Suiza, por primera vez después de las elecciones en el Consejo Mundial de la YWCA, realizado en Julio de 2007. Susan Brennan, Presidenta y Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, Secretaria General de la YWCA Mundial, dieron la bienvenida al Directorio. “Debemos mantener nuestro entusiasmo y compromiso con el liderazgo de las mujeres”, recordó Brennan a la Junta Directiva en su discurso de apertura.

Una d more...

The CIVICUS Youth Assembly will be held from 16-21 June 2008 in Glasgow, Scotland and will build on the fantastic success of the 2007 Youth Assembly, with a more extensive participation themed programme and even more delegate places. Delegates will again be fully supported to attend and places are free of charge.

Women living in poverty are the most threatened by the dangers that stem from global warming. They are also key actors in ensuring their communities' ability to cope with and adapt to climate change. When we approach climate change from the perspective of women, we see the ways that women are made vulnerable to threats associated with climate change, and that women's skills and leadership are crucial for people's survival and recovery. Therefore, defending the full range of women's human rights more...

NEW YORK, 21 November 2007 – The United Nations today officially launched the International Year of Sanitation to accelerate progress for 2.6 billion people world wide who are without proper sanitation facilities. Every year inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene contribute to the deaths of 1.5 million children.
Though more than 1.2 billion people worldwide have gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2004, an estimated 2.6 billion people - including 980 million children – more...