Michael J. Carter
FREETOWN, Aug 8 2007 (IPS) – Female genital mutilation (FGM) can make sex painful, complicate childbirth, lead to urinary tract infections, enable the transmission of HIV and induce a host of other ills. So, promising to fight this practice should be a winning strategy for someone hoping to be elected to parliament this Saturday in Sierra Leone where about 90 percent of girls and women undergo FGM, according to rights watchdog Amnesty International.
David Vargas
ASUNCION, Mar 25 2008 (IPS) – Now that the panic that broke out after the reappearance of yellow fever in Paraguay for the first time in 34 years has died down, health authorities are facing the challenge of expanding vaccination against the disease.
At least 1.5 million people have been vaccinated against yellow fever since the government declared a state of national emergency in mid-February, out of a population of six million.
The intensity of the vaccination campaign has eased considerably since early February, when people stood in long lines outside health centres and voices were raised angrily to complain about the shortage of vaccines.
But now that vaccines are abundant, thanks to donations from other countries in the region, the authoritie…
Danstan Kaunda
LUSAKA, Sep 26 2008 (IPS) – Sometimes there is barely any food at home, so I only eat at school, at lunch, said Justin Banda, a 12 year old student, at Chikumboso school in Lusaka s Ngombe township.
The high price of food threatens a vital school feeding programme. Credit: Danstan Kaunda/IPS
The Chikumboso community school is an informal school run by the local community. It is also one of the 400 sites of a school feeding programme jointly run by th…
Helda Martínez
BOGOTÁ, Jul 13 2010 (IPS) – In Colombia, western medicine has nearly succeeded in pushing midwives parteras or comadronas, as they are known in Spanish out of existence. But some tenacious practitioners are pushing for a law to formalise the role of midwife as a health worker.
Rosmilda and Liceth Quiñones on a visit to Bogotá. Credit: Helda Martínez/IPS
Through 2009 and so far in 2010, there have been no deaths of women attended by a member of the United Midwives of the Pacific Association…
NAIROBI, Aug 4 2010 (IPS) – Precious Nabwire nearly died giving birth to her fourth child. If Kenyan gynaecologists have their way, a drug to control bleeding after childbirth will be licensed, offering greater protection to tens of thousands of women facing similar danger.
Her daughter named Chausiku, she of the night , in honour of her arrival just past midnight was born in Nabwire s home.
My labour began in the night and getting to Pumwani Maternity Hospital was out of question because I would have had to use a taxi and this would have cost a tidy sum of 1,000 Kenyan shillings ($12.50 U.S.), Nabwire recounts.
She sent for a traditional birth attendant who lived nearby. Nabwire was sure the delivery would be as smooth as her first three.
How wrong I was.…
Isaiah Esipisu
VIHIGA, Western Kenya, Oct 18 2010 (IPS) – Pastor Joseph Muhembeli and his wife, Beatrice, queue at the Vihiga health centre with their six-month-old daughter for their prevention of mother-to-child treatment (PMTCT). But before long, as per the clinic s policy, the couple are whisked to the front of the line all because Muhembeli has accompanied his wife for the treatment.
HIV-positive couple Joseph and Beatrice Muhembeli have bee…
Rousbeh Legatis interviews MISHKAT AL MOUMIN, founder of Women and the Environment Network (WATEO)
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2012 (IPS) – Empowering rural women in the Iraqi marshlands, who mostly remain off the radar of international support, must involve local languages and dialects as well as local women trainers, says Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the Iraqi group Women and the Environment Network (WATEO).
Mishkat Al Moumin, founder of the I…
“Is this fair?” one of the images of Brazil’s drug decriminalisation campaign. Credit: “Lei de drogas: É preciso mudar” campaign
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 12 2012 (IPS) – A host of academic, legal, health, political and social figures are joining together to back a campaign to decriminalise drug use in Brazil, as tens of thousands of consumers uninvolved in the drug trade are currently jailed.
The campaign is an initiative launched by the , which aims to gather one million signatures in support of a bill that will be introduced in congress during the second half of 2013.
Many movie and television celebrities, along with major political personalities, including …
Anna Shen interviews SIDDHARTH CHATTERJEE of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
NEW YORK, Sep 3 2013 (IPS) – Africa and Pakistan are now battling outbreaks of polio, threatening the extraordinary progress the world has made in fighting the almost-extinct disease. In the Horn of Africa, there are now 121 reported polio cases. Last year, there were 223 worldwide.
Siddharth Chatterjee has served as the chief diplomat, head of strategic partnerships and international relations at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the world’s largest humanitarian network, since June 2011.
