Global

 If you needed some tips and information on how to deal with HIV and sex and sexualities, then this publication will be useful to you. The online publication includes information on safer sex, disclosure, birth control and HIV as well as resources. Use it yourself, print it out and pass it on to women you know, or use it as a reference guide for your work with HIV positive women. 

In early 2009, a number of civil society organizations (CSOs) reported substantial reductions in their funding in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis, and they were concerned that this threatened their ability to deliver the services and activities that are required. The NGO Committee on Social Development has been part of the Steering Committee to guide a UN sponsored project to assess the impact of the Economic Crisis on CSOs and the people they serve. This webpage provides links to the final report, a shorter executive summary, some case studies and a PowerPoint presentation. The final report outlines the main study which examines the current situation of CSOs as indicated by responses from 640 civil society organizations worldwide. The survey finds that although some CSOs have seen increased funding, overall there is a worsening financial situation for CSOs in the period 2008-2010. As main reasons, CSOs explained that owing to the world economic crisis grants from existing sources decreased. Many humanitarian and development CSOs, especially in Europe, are intensifying their fundraising efforts, as several have seen the need to cut back their aid programmes. The revenue decline comes at the same time as demand for services is increasing, requiring more, not less, funding. The web page links to a case study file which contains various examples from the field to back up the final report. These include an AIDS project in Namibia whose funding has been cut by 12%. As yet they have not had to make cutbacks in staff or decrease in services but have had to totally eliminate training and updates this year for staff and volunteers. This is a major problem in a country where apartheid has meant a real lack of human resource capacity. Another AIDS project in Cambodia stressed that they are very concerned about what may happen in 2011 because of some of their regular donors being hit by the financial crisis either in Europe or Australia

How can distance learning become more student-centred? Dr Mpine Elizabeth Makoe, University of South Africa (UNISA), has been preoccupied with this question for several years. In a long-term study she conducted, she found that isolated students have a need for informal support that is often neglected in distance education. This has led her to investigate on how MXit, a popular South African instant messaging system, can help to fill the gap and drive collaborative eLearning in an attractive, age appropriate manner.

The WWG on FfD is an alliance of women's organizations and networks that advocates for the advancement of gender equality, women's empowerment and human rights in UN processes related to FfD and the global financial and economic crises.

As a man in a patriarchal society, an outspoken advocate of women's rights and a harsh critic of the way Palestinian women are treated, Mashoor Basissy, MOWA's director in the West Bank, brings a fresh male perspective to the growing problem of domestic violence against Palestinian women.

A new study released by Ohio State University shows that college students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grades than students who don't use the popular social networking site. But don't count on the Facebook users admitting the problem.

Google's not perfect, analysts say, and hooking up with Twitter could prove to be beneficial for the search leader.

This report examines issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It helps the reader to understand mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heath care initiatives.

Mounting interest in the field of mHealth—the provision of health-related services via mobile communications— can be traced to the evolution of several interrelated trends. In many parts of the world, epidemics and a shortage of healthcare workers continue to present grave challenges for governments and health providers. Yet in these same places, the explosive growth of mobile communications over the past decade offers a new hope for the promotion of quality healthcare. Among those who had previously been left behind by the ‘digital divide,’ billions now have access to reliable technology.

This monograph is an introduction to participation in the context of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. A companion volume to Accountability and the right to the highest attainable standard of health (sometimes referred to as the "accountability monograph"), the monograph is intended to assist government health policy makers to understand the content and role of participation in the context of policy making and the right to health. The active and informed participation of people and groups in all health-related decisionmaking is a component of the right to the highest attainable standard of health.

The right to health places the well-being of people, groups, communities and populations at the centre of a health system. By doing so, implementation of the right can help to ensure that a health system is neither dominated by experts nor removed from the people it is meant to serve. In the context of health systems, this includes active and informed participation in the identification and development of health policy, as well as implementation and accountability. Clearly, participation has wide application in the context of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. In this preliminary monograph, the principal focus is placed on participation in the development of health policy, as a means of illustrating how active and informed participation can take place.

The spreading global financial crisis - which has taken a heavy toll of international bankers, investors and speculators - is also having a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society, including women and children.