“Since 1990, Water.org has been working in partnership with women around the world, empowering them to take control of their own water and sanitation solutions,” Water.org’s Nicole Wickenhauser writes in a news update on the Women Deliver webpage. “At Water.org, our vision is universal access to safe water and sanitation…

Germany Grants $34M For HIV/AIDS Work In Central Africa The Organisation for the Coordination of the Struggle Against Epidemics in Central Africa (OCEAC) on Tuesday announced that the German government has granted $34 million to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in central Africa, Agence France-Presse reports. “The Germany-backed project…

Report Examines HIV/AIDS Grant Funding HIV/AIDS program grants made by U.S.-based foundations totaled $618 billion in 2008, an 11 percent increase from the previous year, according to a new report by Funders Concerned About AIDS, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation accounted for the majority…

In light of World Toilet Day Thursday, several news outlets examine the impact of poor sanitation on health. Reuters examines the challenges of poor sanitation in Mumbai, India, “where more than half its 18 million residents live in slums and where the average ratio of people to toilets is 81:1.”…

Cell Phone Program Reduces Maternal Mortality In Ghana IRIN looks at local programs in Ghana that “have cut dramatically the number of women dying during childbirth” by facilitating medical care through cell phone use. The publication writes that three years ago as part of the Millennium Villages project, “mobile handset producer Ericsson…

The decade 2000-2009 “is very likely to be the warmest since record-keeping began in 1850, and 2009 could rank among the top-five warmest years,” the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday at the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, the Associated Press reports.

A series of articles by Ottawa Citizen reporter Chris Cobb examines water and sanitation in East Africa. Cobb wrote the articles as part of a Kaiser Family Foundation Mini Fellowship.

“Southern Sudan is scheduled to start voting on January 9 on whether to become an independent country or remain part of Sudan, Africa’s largest nation which has been wracked by decades of conflict,” CNN reports (Wilkinson, 1/5). On Tuesday during a visit to the southern capital of Juba, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir “said he would celebrate the results of the referendum even if the south chooses to secede, and pledged last week to help build a secure, stable and ‘brotherly’ southern state if it votes for independence,” Agence France-Presse reports.

Though Haiti’s cholera “epidemic continues to spread, infecting more than 125,000 people and killing more than 3,200,” it seems to have “stabilized in” the town of Mirebalais, which is close to the “U.N. camp of Nepalese peacekeepers who are under investigation as a possible source” of the outbreak, the Seattle Times reports in a story outlining how aid groups and health workers are dealing with the situation.

Opinions include essays on global poverty, global fund corruption and the intersection of tackling poverty and environmental issues.