News stories by Christi van der Westhuizen

The resurgence in religious fundamentalism and the inordinate influence of certain church leaders over public health policy present major obstacles to the prevention of needless deaths and injuries of women from unsafe abortion on the African continent.

Kenya and Tanzania have recently passed anti-counterfeit laws and regulations that risk blocking legitimate generic medicines instead of fake products, which is the purported purpose of these laws. Uganda is now considering a similar bill.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill under consideration in Uganda was sparked by a conference in Kampala earlier this year at which fundamentalist Christians from the U.S. identified homosexuality as a threat to 'family values'.

Africans 'should dare to imagine an African world not defined by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund but one that comes out of Africa'. This is necessary for Africans to grow out of dependence and become the agents of their own development.

Civil society should call African parliaments to account on international trade negotiations as parliamentarians have in the past not been 'robust' enough in ensuring that such talks deliver on developmental priorities.

In a rare meeting of minds, a parliamentarian, a civil servant and a trade unionist, all three from Africa, agreed that the current course of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Round of trade talks is detrimental to the interests of African countries.

A study on men having sex with men (MSM) in Malawi shows that, as elsewhere in the developing world, this vulnerable group at greater risk of contracting HIV and AIDS than the general population. Moreover, their risk status is exacerbated as governments fail to target them for health services or information to stem HIV transmission.

The second World Outgames, held in the Danish capital, offered up a veritable smorgasbord of sport, politics and arts while celebrating sexual and gender diversity. But it also reminded participants that bigotry against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, sometimes culminating in violence, remains a scourge across the world.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is attempting to reinvent itself with the global financial crisis, in the process using the opportunity to promote policies that exacerbate the recession by shrinking rather than growing economies.

The economist and author Prof Patrick Bond warns that the optimism about the dawn of a post-neoliberal era is premature and that ‘‘a more dangerous and painful’’ period may be ahead before any real change to the current global economic regime will be possible.