The Week with IPS 6/3/2016

2016/6/3	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Transgender in Pakistan: A "Forgotten People" Alec Forss and Humaira Israr At an open market in the district of Mehmoodabad in Karachi, Miss Bindiya Rana, 35, starts another day at work selling clothes. Living in one of the poorer parts of the city, like many others here she faces a daily struggle to make ends meet. Yet, of strong build with dyed hair and wearing heavy ... MORE > >
	LGBT Communities Silenced in HIV Reduction Efforts Tharanga Yakupitiyage Treatment for HIV and AIDS has increased, but key populations including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities continue to be left behind and even excluded altogether. In a new report, published ahead of the upcoming High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, the Joint UN ... MORE > >
	Closing the Gaps in Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking in Latin America Emilio Godoy Although it violates the international conventions that regulate the wildlife trade, it is possible to go online and find websites to buy, for example, axolotl salamanders (Ambystoma mexicanum) or spiny softshell turtles (Trionyx spiniferus). These websites reflect new trends in the trafficking ... MORE > >
	Battered by Storms, Sri Lanka Rethinks Food Security Amantha Perera The picture could be straight out of a tourist postcard – a sleepy green mountain with misty clouds floating above the canopy – if not for one fatal flaw: the ugly gash running right through the middle. This is the Egalpitiya mountain in Aranayake about 120 kms from the capital Colombo. Parts of ... MORE > >
	Young African Women More Vulnerable to HIV Lyndal Rowlands When Lebogang Brenda Motsumi was 16  years old she fell pregnant, terrified about what her life would look like, she went to a backdoor clinic for an abortion. The abortion failed, and she gave birth to a baby who later passed on. Motsumi knew that she needed to be more careful so she ... MORE > >
	Time to Change Expectations: Zero Retribution to Zero Tolerance Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka The drugging, abduction and violent gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil calls us all to turn the tide of sexual violence against women and girls in Brazil and in every country in the world. Her silence was broken by the men who boastfully posted their images of the ... MORE > >
	Can Poor Countries Combat Big Tobacco Too? Aruna Dutt This year for World No Tobacco Day on May 31 the World Health Organization has recommended that countries adopt plain packaging as a way to reduce tobacco use, however so far mostly only rich countries have been able to afford to implement the changes. Around the world, a number of effective ... MORE > >
	African Leaders Make an Economic Case for Increased Nutrition Investments Friday Phiri Africa’s contribution to global malnutrition statistics is miserably high, with 58 million children under the age of five said to be too short for their age, while 13.9 million weigh too little for their height. Former Ghanaian President John Kufor and Kenya's President Uhuru ... MORE > >
	Achieving Universal Access to Energy; Africa Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place Friday Phiri “It is unacceptable that 138 years after Thomas Edison developed the light bulb, hundreds of millions of people cannot have access to electricity to simply light up the bulb in Africa,” says Africa Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Akinwumi Adesina, mourning the gloomy statistics showing ... MORE > >
	Menstrual Hygiene Gaps Continue to Keep Girls from School Tharanga Yakupitiyage Around the world girls are struggling to stay in school when their menstrual hygiene needs are forgotten or ignored, yet the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and education sectors have remained reluctant to address the issue. Menstrual Hygiene Day, celebrated on May 28, aims to raise ... MORE > >