HRW condemns Rwanda’s draft law on HIV tests and sterilisation

17 July 2009 in Africa, HIV/AIDS, Health, Violence Against Women

Rwanda’s draft law that would make compulsory HIV testing and require the sterilisation of all people with intellectual disabilities, has been contested by the Human Rights Watch.
The organisation, one of the world’s leading independent ones in defending and protecting human rights, says provisions of the draft are deeply flawed and should be expunged.
The draft’s provisions [...]

AIDS number one cause of maternal deaths in Zimbabwe

14 July 2009 in Africa, Childbirth Pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, Health

A new maternal mortality study names HIV and AIDS as the cause of one in four maternal deaths in Zimbabwe.
The first comprehensive assessment of deaths resulting from pregnancy or childbirth revealed that 725 Zimbabwean women out of every 100,000 who deliver, die due to complications.
“The study findings have confirmed our worst fears: that indeed the [...]

Uganda to Ban Female Genital Mutilation

14 July 2009 in Africa, Government, Health, Violence Against Women

A law will be passed banning female genital mutilation (FGM) in Uganda, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced Friday. In his announcement, Museveni referenced a resolution passed last year by the United Nations that declared FGM a violation of women’s rights.
President Museveni said in his announcement, “The way God made it, there is no part of [...]

African women with HIV ‘coerced into sterilisation’

3 July 2009 in Africa, HIV/AIDS, Health

• Communities often reject those with Aids, says campaigner
• Consent allegedly gained just before giving birth
Women in Africa are being sterilised without their consent after being told the procedure is a routine treatment for Aids, a lawsuit will claim.
Forty HIV-positive women in Namibia have been made infertile against their will, according to the International Community [...]

President launches bid to reduce FGM/C in Burkina Faso

3 July 2009 in Africa, Children Parenting, Government, Health, Violence Against Women

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré has launched a campaign to reduce female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) by 30 percent by 2013.
Burkina Faso has made more progress on reducing FGM/C than its neighbours, lowering the percentage of girls undergoing the procedure to 50 percent in 2005 from 77 percent in the 1990s.
But following a government outlaw of [...]

Honour Pledges on Reproductive Health

16 June 2009 in Childbirth Pregnancy, Global, Government, Health, Opinion Comment

In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) proposed a groundbreaking shift in the approach to reproductive health: women’s reproductive capacity was to be transformed from an object of population control to a matter of women’s empowerment to exercise personal autonomy.
The ICPD’s Plan of Action set out several key action areas: education and [...]

Pregnant women at serious risk among Pakistan’s displaced population

16 June 2009 in Asia, Childbirth Pregnancy, Health, War Conflict

Pregnant women and new mothers displaced by fighting in North West Pakistan are facing a potential health crisis, warn Islamic Relief’s medical teams in the region. A lack of appropriate healthcare, poor diet and the stress of the conflict and displacement are putting the lives of pregnant women and their babies at risk.
“Many of the [...]

Lack of midwives increases maternal deaths in Zimbabwe

16 June 2009 in Africa, Childbirth Pregnancy, Health

Zimbabwe records about 2,000 maternal deaths annually, UN agencies said in a statement last month.
Apart from the 2,000 women who die as a result of giving birth, “Several thousands more suffer severe or long lasting illness or disabilities. Zimbabwe needs midwives now more than ever,” said the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s [...]

Forced abortions shake up China surrogacy industry

4 May 2009 in Abortion Contraception, Asia, Childbirth Pregnancy, Government, Health

With China’s rising affluence, increasing numbers of infertile couples have been seeking surrogate mothers to bear them babies.
In recent years, officials have largely turned a blind eye to this underground womb-for-rent industry that defies the country’s strict childbirth laws. Now, there are signs the authorities are starting to crack down by forcing some surrogate mothers [...]

Maternal health in Nepal goal way off, say experts

4 May 2009 in Asia, Childbirth Pregnancy, Health

With only six years left to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), [see: http://www.mdgmonitor.org/factsheets_00.cfm?c=NPL] Nepal, like many other Asian countries, is lagging behind and must make further efforts, say local and international health experts.
A top priority is the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), which Nepal’s government hopes to reduce to 134 women per 100,000 live births [...]

In Liberia, more children surviving, more women dying in childbirth

4 May 2009 in Africa, Childbirth Pregnancy, Health

The number of women dying in childbirth in Liberia has nearly doubled since the 1980s, according to a recent UN report that has policymakers calling for urgent attention to reproductive healthcare.
While the report shows encouraging trends in infant and child survival, it puts maternal mortality at 994 women per 100,000 live births in 2007 compared [...]

Fistulas : two-hour operation corrects decades-long affliction in Cote D’Ivoire

4 May 2009 in Africa, Childbirth Pregnancy, Health

Women ages 17 to 70 sit on vinyl mattresses, drainage bags on the floor next to their hospital beds, catheter tubes stretching from under colourful skirts. Each one has a serene, triumphant look.
The women are recovering from an operation that lasted some two hours and repaired tissue damage that made their urine flow uncontrollably – [...]

Pregnant women at greater risk in conflict in Sri Lanka

4 May 2009 in Asia, Childbirth Pregnancy, Health, War Conflict

Thousands of pregnant women caught up in the fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are in urgent need of healthcare, according to aid workers. “I was scared. I didn’t know if we were going to make it,” 23-year-old Thanusiya told IRIN. At eight months pregnant and after [...]

Extreme Risk for Pregnant Women and Newborn Babies in Developing Countries – UNICEF Report

24 February 2009 in Childbirth Pregnancy, Global, Government, Health, Research

Each year, more than half a million women die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and nearly 4 million newborns die within twenty-eight days of birth. Millions more suffer from disability, disease, infections and injury. Cost-effective solutions are available that could bring rapid improvements, but urgency and commitment are required to implement them and [...]

UNICEF appeals for just over $1 billion to help children and women suffering in emergencies

4 February 2009 in Childbirth Pregnancy, Children Parenting, Climate Environment, Global, Health, Poverty, Violence Against Women, War Conflict

UNICEF’s 2009 Humanitarian Action Report (HAR) highlights the plight of children and women around the globe in humanitarian emergencies.
The Humanitarian Action Report is UNICEF’s annual funding appeal for protracted emergencies and is seeking just over $1 billion to assist children and women in 36 countries. The amount sought is some 17 per cent [...]

Women refuse to be silenced by Robert Mugabe

10 December 2008 in Africa, Health, Human Rights, Women's Group

It happened in the blink of an eye and with military precision. At precisely 1pm a handful of women walked to the middle of a busy junction in central Harare and began chanting antigovernment slogans.
Scores of other women lurking on the nearby pavements streamed in to join them, hoisting placards demanding action to end [...]

Helping health providers treat trafficking victims globally

24 November 2008 in Global, Health, Prostitution, Trafficking

Health providers – frequently the first professional a trafficking victim consults for help – are often thrust into the fight against organised crime without adequate preparation, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The agency says there is an urgent need to ensure care for trafficking victims and hopes to fill the gap with [...]

Widows and orphans in Myanmar face dangers six months after Nargis

24 November 2008 in Asia, Children Parenting, Climate Environment, Health, Housing

Six months after the deadly Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta region, the UN refugee agency remains concerned about the welfare of many widows and orphans.
“UNHCR is a protection agency and our monitoring in the villages affected by Cyclone Nargis has found a number of vulnerable people, such as women who lost their husbands and [...]

Women and children worst affected by quake in Pakistan

24 November 2008 in Asia, Children Parenting, Climate Environment, Health, Housing

Initial needs assessments of survivors of the 29 October earthquake in northwest Balochistan warn that women and children are most at risk.
Over 70,000 people, including 30,000 children, were left homeless by a quake that measured 6.4 on the Richter scale and caused at least 270 deaths. Nawab Aslam Raisani, chief minister of Balochistan, has warned [...]

US voters sign up for rainbow coalition

10 November 2008 in Abortion Contraception, Domestic Violence, Equality, Family Marriage Partnership, Government, Health, Lesbian Gay, North America, Prostitution, Violence Against Women

Obama’s broad support from under-45s, blacks and women leaves only white males and rightwing bedrock to McCain
Barack Obama won the US presidential election by building a broad rainbow coalition of voters embracing younger people under 45, blacks, Hispanics, independents, moderates, people from most income groups, and women. But the Democrat’s race had a measurable effect, [...]