¤ COTE D'IVOIRE: Government scraps free health care for all
 ABIDJAN 26 January 2012 (IRIN) - Côte d'Ivoire is abandoning free health care for all after a brief experiment because of skyrocketing costs. |
¤ COTE D'IVOIRE: Authorities move to curb illegal gold-mining
 TENGRELA 25 January 2012 (IRIN) - Local authorities across eight out of 81 districts in northern Côte d’Ivoire have announced they are banning artisanal gold-mining in a bid to try to regulate the informal industry, and stop the encroachment of gold-miners on precious farmland. |
¤ COTE D'IVOIRE: Public health risk as taps run dry
 ABIDJAN 19 January 2012 (IRIN) - A severe shortage of clean drinking water in parts of Côte d’Ivoire is reaching critical levels and threatening public health, say residents and officials. |
¤ COTE D'IVOIRE: Loss of relief aid could threaten fragile peace
 GUIGLO 19 January 2012 (IRIN) - Nine months after fighting ended in Côte d’Ivoire, at least 15,000 displaced people are still in camps, many of the half million returnees require food aid, the groundwork for reconciliation in many parts of the west has not yet been laid - and aid workers are worried funding will dry up, threatening the fragile peace. |
¤ HEALTH: Yaws treatment study prompts WHO review
 BANGKOK 11 January 2012 (IRIN) - Findings that a one-time oral treatment to cure yaws, a neglected tropical disease, is as effective as the currently recommended penicillin injection have prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to convene a meeting on how the disease may be wiped out. |
¤ WEST AFRICA: Call for more coordinated approach to child protection
 DAKAR 04 January 2012 (IRIN) - A new report on child migration in West Africa says thousands of children are being sold, exchanged or transported out of their communities each year in violation of internationally-recognized rights of the child, and calls on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to persuade governments to better protect these children. |
¤ COTE D'IVOIRE: Blood shortages causing deaths in west
 MAN 04 January 2012 (IRIN) - Blood shortages at hospitals and health centres in western Côte d’Ivoire are causing unnecessary deaths, especially among children, say local and international health officials. |
¤ COTE D'IVOIRE: Former pro-Ouattara rebels still need reining in
 ABIDJAN 30 December 2011 (IRIN) - Eight months after President Allassane Ouattara assumed office at the end of a prolonged civil conflict, peace remains fragile amid abuses and killings by former rebel fighters who once provided him support. |
¤ FILM: Our most-watched films of 2011
 NAIROBI 28 December 2011 (IRIN) - Launched in 2004, IRIN’s film unit has won numerous awards for its productions, several of which have been aired by prominent international broadcasters. Here is a list of the unit’s most-watched films in 2011. |
¤ Analysis: Côte d'Ivoire one year on
 ABIDJAN 01 December 2011 (IRIN) - One year on from the presidential elections that caused conflict across Côte d'Ivoire, ex-President Laurent Gbagbo has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, tensions have eased in most areas, the economy has improved, almost all schools have reopened and hospitals are functioning. But reconciliation has a long way to go. Many feel justice, by pursuing Gbagbo and not others, is one-sided; there are still rifts between communities, much of the west remains lawless, thousands of Ivoirians are too frightened to return home, and people who perpetrated war crimes still walk free. Many residents are not looking forward to parliamentary elections set for December 2011. |
