Liberian urban gardens: A new attempt to boost food security

Liberia, a country whose identity is bound tightly to a history of unrest and violence, is attempting a new project in Montserrado County (the region that includes the capital city of Monrovia) in an attempt to confront the increasing problem of food insecurity. In an area where only 1% of residents grow their own food, the project’s promotion of “market gardens” has already made a difference for thousands. Headed by…

Dr. Evan Lyon, HHR Executive Editor, to host webcast this evening [February 16]

This evening [February 16] at 8:00 pm EST, Dr. Evan Lyon, Executive Editor of Health and Human Rights and member of the OpenForum blog team, will host a webcast to discuss his recent work in Port-au-Prince post-earthquake. Click here shortly before 8:00 pm to participate. More information on the webcast from Stand With Haiti, the Partners In Health blog covering their work in Haiti, including earthquake relief efforts: Join PIH…

Dr. Paul Farmer Interviewed for PBS Newshour

Dr. Paul Farmer, PIH co-founder and the United Nations’ deputy special envoy to Haiti, shares his perspective on the Haitian earthquake disaster with PBS Newshour’s Ray Suarez during a televised interview. He discusses the challenges facing aid workers and the immediate and long-term needs of the Haitian community. Please watch the video or visit the PIH website here.

Democracy Now! interviews Dr. Lyon in Haiti

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! reported on the situation in Haiti yesterday. She spoke extensively with Dr. Evan Lyon at the general hospital campus in Port-au-Prince about the lack of supplies and the misconceptions about security in Haiti. A transcript of this segment can be found here. Dr. Lyon was also interviewed yesterday on Here and Now.

The view from Haiti: A personal account

Haiti was shaken yet again Wednesday, January 20, by a 5.9-magnitude aftershock that lasted approximately 7 seconds, cutting no break for the hundreds of thousands of already-devastated Haitians and the aid workers there to help them. There have been more than 40 aftershocks since the shattering quake on January 12. This latest shock, certainly the largest, centered about 35 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince and about 6 miles below the surface,…

Banning cluster munitions: What will it take?

[Editor’s note: This is a guest post written by Sujal Parikh.] On December 22, New Zealand and Belgium became the 25th and 26th nations to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). The convention needs only four more ratifications to achieve the 30-state minimum to enter into force. Once in force, it will enact a ban on the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of most cluster munitions, which include bombs,…

Major earthquake devastates Haiti, the Americas’ poorest nation

A major earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit Haiti yesterday just ten miles outside of Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. The quake centered on one of the most densely populated areas of one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, knocking out telephone communications, causing the collapse of buildings and homes, and potentially killing thousands of people and injuring tens of thousands more. The extent of the devastation is still unknown,…

Access to life-saving health information: Not a luxury, a necessity

In India, a woman enters a village health center and accesses a web page for information on how to better care for her baby. In Boston, a doctor at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), one of the world’s most elite hospitals, pulls up the UpToDate website — an online medical information resource used by many clinicians to stay current with the latest clinical advances and practices — for information…

Uganda’s draft HIV/AIDS bill alarms human rights community

Ugandan legislators recently released the latest version of a controversial HIV/AIDS bill that “promotes dangerous and discredited approaches to the AIDS epidemic,” according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). In a response report published by HRW and endorsed by more than 50 organizations and individuals, HRW criticizes Uganda’s proposed HIV Prevention and Control Bill for the repressive nature of several new clauses while pointing out some of its more agreeable aspects.…

South Africa revives commitment to combating AIDS

During his speech on World AIDS Day, South African President Jacob Zuma promised to ramp up HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs for children and high-risk groups. The new plan calls for treating all HIV-infected babies in a country whose child mortality rate has risen since 1990. “Our message is simple,” President Zuma said, “we have to stop the spread of HIV. We must reduce the rate of new infections. Prevention…