MEXICO CITY, Apr 16 (Tierramérica) - Mexican manufacturers of "junk food" are exerting heavy pressure through the governing National Action Party so that parliament will throw out any bills intended to regulate advertising of foods with little or no nutritional value, say activists.

"The government (of President Felipe Calderón) and his party have ties with the junk food companies," Alejandro Calvillo, director of El Poder del Consumidor (The Power of the Consumer), a non-governmental organization, told Tierramérica.

An initiative for regulating such advertising has been in circulation for several weeks, but has yet to get much response from lawmakers.

Although a number of factors can lead to obesity, the activists say fast food and junk food play an important role. According to official figures, between 1999 and 2006, the number of overweight Mexican children increased 40 percent, and the average waist size of women of child-bearing age increased 10 centimeters.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 16 (Tierramérica) - Hepatitis and malaria are killing the indigenous peoples of the Javari River basin, bordering Peru, and the Brazilian government faces charges of failing to provide health care for five tribes whose populations total some 3,000 people.

"The report is nearly ready" for presentation in June to the United Nations, the Organization of American States and Amnesty International, says Jecinaldo Cabral, president of an Amazonian indigenous umbrella group, and coauthor of the claim, with the Javari Valley Indigenous Council.

The combination of two diseases that attack the liver "is decreasing the life expectancy" of the Indians, said Hilton Nascimento, ecologist and local educator with the Indigenist Work Center.

"There is a lack of organization" and dedication to vaccinate them, he told Tierramérica by phone.

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 16 (Tierramérica) - A self-evaluation tool for the behavior of non-governmental organizations was presented Apr. 11 in Buenos Aires by the Help Argentina association.

"It's a grid that offers three possible answers for each item. Entities are to evaluate their own performance in different areas, such as their relationship with the government, accounting, fund raising or communications," Alejandra Gerosa, of Help Argentina, told Tierramérica. Her group works to strengthen civil society organizations.

The assessment was put together with contributions from experts from a variety of civil society groups.

"It will help people recognize which areas need improvement and which are better organized, and it offers suggestions," said Gerosa.