Challenges to improving health care in Pakistan

LAHORE/DUBAI, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Asia) - Hamza Mazhar, a 35-year-old teacher from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, says he never wants to see the inside of a government hospital again. full report

Briefing: Restive northern Kenya sees shifting power, risks

GARISSA-NAIROBI, 17 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - The presence of foreign militias in parts of northeastern Kenya, and their collusion with security officials and business people there, may be to blame for a rise in insecurity in the region, where multiple gun and grenade attacks have been reported over the past two years. full report

Cape Town's asylum seekers struggle to get documented

CAPE TOWN, 16 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - When Jean Baptiste*, a medical student from Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived in South Africa in September 2012, he headed straight for Cape Town, where he knew he would be able to stay with his brother. No one at the border told him that it was no longer possible to apply for asylum in Cape Town. full report

Pastoralism’s economic contributions are significant but overlooked

NAIROBI, 16 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Pastoralism is often regarded as an antiquated practice ill-suited to the modern economy, yet trade between pastoral communities in Africa - much of it informal and illegal - generates an estimated US$1 billion each year, according to a new book published by the Futures Agriculture Consortium. full report

Call for oil revenues to improve living standards in Congo

BRAZZAVILLE, 15 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Congo, which is heavily dependent on revenue from the oil industry, has been declared as “conforming to” a global standard that aims to ensure transparency of payments for natural resources; NGOs hope the announcement will improve the lives of the poor. full report

Tracking vaccine scares

LONDON, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Global) - Vaccine scares have emerged as a major challenge to global efforts to eliminate preventable diseases, with rumours and conspiracy theories proliferating faster than health authorities can respond to them. Now researchers, led by Heidi Larson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, are developing a tool to identify the first signs of these negative reports. full report

Briefing: Egypt rethinks its subsidy system for the poor

CAIRO, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Middle East) - The Egyptian government has taken tentative steps towards reducing the roughly US$20 billion subsidy system that supporters say provides vital aid to the one-in-four Egyptians in poverty, and critics say is unsustainable and enriches the corrupt. full report

Boko Haram attacks hit school attendance in Borno State

KANO, NIGERIA, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - Around 15,000 children in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, have stopped attending classes since February 2013, according to a Borno State Ministry of Education official who preferred anonymity, as Boko Haram extremists continue a wave of attacks on state schools. full report

Briefing: Towards internal solutions to the DRC crisis

KAMPALA, 14 May 2013 (IRIN Africa) - A UN intervention brigade will soon be deployed to the troubled eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a bid to neutralize militia groups operating there. full report