South Africa to provide vaccinations against child-killing diseases
South Africa will provide children with vaccinations for pneumococcal disease, the major vaccine-preventable cause of death among young children, and rotavirus, a diarrhea that affects almost every child before the age of 3.

Iraqi students exempted from school fees
Jordan has waived annual fees in state-owned schools for Iraqi students to help them cope with rising living costs, a Ministry of Education official said on 26 August.

Northern desert conflict disrupts maternal health care
Since violence broke out again last year, Mahaman Hanissou Ouedraogo, director of the UNFPA Agadez office, says it is hard to reach expecting mothers who live beyond town limits, which is roughly where paved roads end. Access to the mountains, which has been the centre of much of the fighting, is strictly cut off. The most recent information on maternal mortality in Niger was gathered before the latest surge in violence. According to the Niger government, in 2006 about 14,000 women died from pregnancy complications.

WHO: World needs to strengthen life expectancy rates
Social factors have an immense impact on lifespan and health. While life expectancy rates have increased across the globe in the last decade, the world community needs to do more to even the gains, the World Health Organization said in a report released Thursday. WHO officials are looking to identify ways to address causes of disparities, such as education, access and environment, as a step towards erasing them.

Child malnutrition is an old stain on a new India
Although India has staved off the specter of famine successfully in its bid over recent years to become a greater world power, it is still home to 40% of all the world's severely malnourished young children. Only Bangladesh and Nepal have higher percentages of underweight children than India, where nearly half (60 million) are malnourished. Experts warn that malnutrition — which has never been treated as a serious concern for policy by India — could threaten to undermine the economic boom that India is currently enjoying.

In India, New Opportunities for Women Draw Anger and Abuse From Men
Harassment of women has increased among the upper middle class in India, where a backlash from men has answered the gains made by progressive women. The shift toward new retail and technology sectors and social mobility has eroded the centrality of the traditional, joint-family structure, freeing young women from the power of the husband and husband's mother.

Measles Returns
An uptick in measles cases in the U.S., owing to misplaced fears among parents about vaccinations, has led to 15 hospitalizations. As in previous years, most incidents of the disease began when the virus was contracted abroad, but this year it spread more easily — resulting in 131 reported cases among home-schooled children and others who were refused vaccinations due to debunked fears that these vaccinations increase the possibility for autism.