Stories about Health from August, 2008
China: Pick your truth on He Kexin's age
People are calling for bone testing to find the truth regarding He Kexin‘s age, Life 2.0 blogger Isaac Mao writes: ‘Forget that, we've already won and lost all the face there is to win or lose. The IOC is playing stupid, so let them have it.’ So just what is...
China: Fake news plagues Chinese sports reports
So much speculation these past few days on the ages of some of the girls on China's Olympic gymnastics team, specifically He Kexin and a fair amount of references to keep it going. Famous Chinese sports writer and Bullog blogger Wang Xiaoshan has posted a dramatically-titled piece, ‘Fake news kills’,...
Guyana: Hospital Fire
The entire psychiatric ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital was gutted by fire early yesterday morning. Bloggers have been chronicling the story...
Jamaica: Decriminalizing Homosexuality
From Jamaica, YardFlex.com reports on “a proposed legislation…recommending the decriminalization of homosexuality and commercial sex workers” in order to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.
China: How old is He Kexin?
While authorities state she is of Olympic regulation age, China Digital Times‘ Xiao Qiang looks at one of several sources that put He Kexin‘s age at around fourteen.
Barbados: Pure Rubbish
“The image building that has been part of Barbados’ development has not had enough honest ‘look in the mirror and tell me what you see’ efforts. If it had, then Bajans would perhaps be appalled to see how dirty their country is”: Living in Barbados blogs about garbage creation and...
African MSM & Sex Workers Voice Concerns and Hopes at AIDS 2008
The AIDS 2008 conference (IAC) in Mexico City drew to a close on August, 8th, 2008. The theme of the conference was “universal action now” and judging by the heavy international attendance, the focus on marginalized communities and the daily newsletter aptly called “Global Voice”, it delivered on the promise....
Philippines: Charcoal factory
Filipino jounalist and blogger Iris Cecilia Gonzales posts an article and several pictures about a make-shift charcoal factory in Manila.
Arabeyes: Mourning for Mahmoud Darwish
Bloggers around the Arab world mourned the death of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish yesterday. Scores of posts appeared online in Arabic and English even before news of his death was officially confirmed.
Costa Rica: Cancer Patient Shares His Ups and Downs
A 45 year-old Costa Rican recently started a blog to share his thoughts on recently being diagnosed with lung cancer. The anonymous blogger discusses the difficulties in telling his family and a reflection on the possibility of not seeing his children grow up. His surgery will determine the severity of the cancer, as well as the course of treatment.
Palestine: The children who forgot how to have fun
The situation in the Gaza Strip has affected every aspect of life, and every age group. Blogger Samaher Al Khazandar describes the difficulties a kindergarten had when trying to hold a party at the end of the school year. But can children living in war zones enjoy their childhood?
Ukraine: Scary orphan statistics
The Gaws reported some really scary statistics on what happens to “post-institutional orphans” in Ukraine.
AIDS 2008: Battling AIDS By Battling Homophobia
As the XVII International AIDS Conference wraps up in Mexico City, one of the many issues participants have been discussing is the international failure to adequately address HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with other men, often referred to as MSM. SciDev.Net’s blog points out that: “In the 1980s, when...
Eastern Europe: Trafficking with no end in sight
Natalia Antonova reflects upon a problem “that won't go away” – human trafficking, and comments on an article about the issue from The New Yorker.
China: Pollution levels around Olympic venues
Off the Map blogger Sean Gorman and friends have taken Chinese government pollution data and made a mashup map of pollution levels in the areas surrounding Olympic venues in Beijing. Code to embed the map here.
India: Abortion, Parents and the Indian Law
A recent court case has brought focus on the abortion laws in India. According to the current laws in India, abortions are not permitted after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless the pregnancy is determined to be dangerous to the woman's health. In this particular case, a couple, whose foetus was...
Cuba: Hunger Strike
“It is a small action…it has not made the international press”: Ninety miles away…in another country reports on a hunger strike undertaken by four political prisoners in Cuba.
Philippines: Tobacco promotion through concerts
Fans of a popular disbanded local rock band in the Philippines have set-up a protest blog to dissuade tobacco companies from sponsoring a reunion concert.
Iran: International Campaign to Support Jailed Physicians
As the XVIII International Aids Conference started on August 3 in Mexico, two internationally recognized Iranian HIV/AIDS specialists who were supposed to attend the meeting, are being held in prison accused of planning to overthrow the Iranian state. The two physicians, Kamira and Arash Alaie, are brothers, and have pioneered...
Mozambique: Breast-feeding should not be the only choice
Paulo Granjo [pt] criticizes a redundant local campaign in Mozambique to motivate woman to breast-feed, already a popular habit, which can have disastrous consequences in a country plaged by AIDS. “The most basic common sense is to detect HIV in pregnant women as early as possible, to provide them with...
China: Healing through Olympic participation
Susan Brownell at The China Beat recounts a moving story of how she and a few colleagues took a re-enactment of the Olympic Torch relay to one of the hardest-hit parts of the Sichuan earthquake zone, and what positive effect seeing that had on the children there.
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