BREAKING NEWS: PIWDW is please to announce the launch of IMETI -- The International Media Ethics Training Center -- the U.S. based training arm of The Press Institute. IMETI specializes in ethics-based journalism trainings for students and media professionals on a variety of challenging reporting topics, including HIV/AIDS, environmental reporting, reproductive rights, immigration and terrorism, poverty issues, gender-based violence and international development and aid issues. Visit our new website to learn about our new training opportunities!
Note:The PIWDW Newswire is currently under construction. Please check back soon for updated information.
Feature
An Open Secret
By Tara Bhattarai
Enabled by a booming sex trade, an open border with India, and weak enforcement from government, more than 200,000 Nepali women are trafficked and sold into sex work every year. But even in the face of a new anti-trafficking law, trafficking networks have become more sophisticated and much of the population here views the problem as commonplace.
PIWDW Around the World
Chiapas, Mexico
Poor Health Care for the Poor
By Juana de Jesús Pérez Méndez, Senior Reporter
The program Oportunidades, sponsored by the Mexican government, provides much needed aid to families in extreme poverty. It gives money for food and energy bills, and requires that participants obtain free health care services in public clinics. But patients at one such clinic in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, say the treatment they receive is substandard, and sometimes dangerous. Still, they must continue with regular visits to the clinics because missed appointments could mean losing the monetary support.
Caught in the Middle
By Juana de Jesús Pérez Méndez
In a small neighborhood just outside of San Cristóbal de las Casas, the construction of a new conservation park has sparked a land dispute. City officials say families are living on the land near the park illegally. But the families insist they have done nothing wrong. They say the purchased the land legally and undergo hardships to make their payments. The only problem is, they may have purchased the land from a man who never owned it in the first place.
Ending Gender Violence
By Marissa Revilla
A new law seeks to end violence against women in Mexico by improving services for victims and eradicating gender inequity. Lawmakers and activists are hopeful, but the law faces funding challenges and criticism from the Catholic Church.
Women in Prison
By Rosario Adriana Alcázar González
As Adela Pérez, convicted of killing her infant son, raises her new baby in a prison outside of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, her cellmates struggle with isolation, overcrowding, and competition for basic necesstities.
Bringing Down Blood
By Marissa Revilla
In Chiapas abortion is legal in some circumstances, but social and bureaucratic barriers put up by government workers often delay and prevent women from obtaining what would be legal abortions. Women who are raped or whose lives are in danger often seek clandestine services rather than tangle with government obstacles.
For more coverage from Chiapas visit the PIWDW Newswire: Mexico Archive.
Nepal
Ancient Labor Tradition Still Affects Women of Nepal's "Untouchable" Caste
By Kalpana Bhusal
As politicans and law makers insist Nepal is now a "discrimination free zone," some members of Nepal's "untouchable" caste still work under an ancient labor tradition that pays in grain as opposed to cash wages.
Ignorance about HIV Still Prevalent in Nepal; Disease Becoming More Common Among Housewives
By Kamala Gautam
It is well documented that many Nepali men are forced to cross the border into India to find work. But new data reveals that as many as 10 percent of those migrant workers are returning home with HIV. As a result, housewives are among the growing populations of HIV positive people in Nepal.
Prolapse Is Leading Cause of Poor Health in Women
By Kalpana Bhusal
Social stigma and a blatant lack of medical facilities prevent thousands of women from seeking treatment for uterine prolapse, now among the most prevelent medical conditions among women in Nepal.
In the Cabin: How Desperation and Few Regulations Enable Restaurants to Run Sex Businesses in Kathmandu
By Anju Gautam
There are more than 700 "cabin" restaurants in Kathmandu. In many of them, the partitioned dining areas are used for waitresses to perform sex acts with their clients. But in Nepal there are no laws and few regulations that aim to shut down the restaurants or protect the thousands of women who are employed in them.
In Nepal, Uterine and Cervical Cancers Increase; Awareness Remains Scarce
By Tara Bhattarai
International organizations and informal statistics show that uterine and cervical cancers are on the rise in Nepal. But women, especially in rural areas, have no knowledge of the disease. More often than not, by the time they seek treatment it's too late.
Despite Legalization, Clandestine Abortion Remains Common, Dangerous in Nepal
By Sunny Shrestha
Abortion was legalized here nearly five years ago, but new data shows that as many as 80 percent of people in rural areas are aware of the available services. As a result, many women continue to risk their lives in seeking clandestine or self-induced abortion. At least 50 percent of in hospitals for reproductive complications here, are seen for conditions related to unsafe abortion.
For more coverage from Nepal, visit the PIWDW Newswire: Nepal Archive.
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