Family planning efforts in Pakistan
Efforts to promote family planning in Pakistan are struggling against the reality that many women are simply not in a position to make such decisions. Pakistan has the regions highest fertility rate with an average of four children per woman.
Korean “comfort women” in landmark protest against Japan
Korean women seized by Japanese military during World War II, then forced into sexual slavery, staged their 1,000th successive weekly protest outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday. “I want President Lee [Myung Bak] to urge Japan to apologize for the past sins and make compensation. The Japanese ambassador should make a formal apology as quickly as possible before we all die,” said Kim Bok-dong, 88, one of five former “comfort women” in attendance, and one of only 63 still alive today from among the more than 200,000 girls taken to military brothels.
UN asks donors for $7.7 billion to meet humanitarian emergencies in 2012
The United Nations projects it will need $7.7 billion from international donors in 2012 to cope with humanitarian emergencies affecting some 51 million people in 16 countries, chiefly Somalia, Sudan and Kenya. The appeal, made today by Valerie Amos, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, is less than the $8.9 billion the world body sought for 2011.
Bensouda to take on gender violence at ICC
Holding perpetrators of gender-based crimes accountable for their actions will receive increased focus moving forward, newly elected International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says. Bensouda, who is the first woman to hold the ICC’s top prosecution position, believes the court’s efforts can help end the impunity that surrounds sexual assault and gender-based crime in many parts of the world.
Global malaria death toll falling
The number of people dying from malaria has dropped significantly over the past decade thanks to concentrated prevention and treatment efforts, according to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report. “It is remarkable progress. When I began working in the malaria field in Africa, we were fighting a losing battle. Now all that has changed, and the risk of dying from malaria has fallen by a third in a decade,” said Dr. Richard Cibulskis, the report’s chief author. Still, WHO warns that insufficient funding may limit progress. Funding hit $2 billion in 2011, the highest level ever but still short of the $5 – $6 billion needed annually to achieve WHO’s target of zero malaria deaths by 2015.
USAID chief makes case for investment in global health
The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development recounted the story of a woman at the world’s largest refugee complex in Dadaab, Kenya, as an example of why investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars is needed in global health. “There was a woman who had traveled for 80 kilometers, carrying her remaining belongings to a place of shelter, and along the way had been attacked and robbed. She reached a point where she had to make an unimaginable decision. She could no longer carry both of her children. She had to choose because she couldn’t physically carry both of her children into that camp. I have three kids. I just couldn’t forget that story,” Rajiv Shah said Thursday at a dinner hosted by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.
Photojournalist exposes secret world of child brides
In an interview, photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair — who shot the feature “Too Young To Wed” for National Geographic magazine — discusses nearly a decade of work investigating child marriage throughout the world. Despite international agreements that outlaw the practice in many countries, millions of young girls, some as young as five, are forced into marriage annually.
UN Population Fund Executive Director on HIV/AIDS, Maternal Health, and Leadership
In a far-ranging interview, Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UN Population Fund, discusses approaches to sexual, reproductive and maternal health, as well as hot-button issues such as population growth. “The unmet need for voluntary family planning remains appallingly high, considering that 215 million women in developing countries still lacking access,” he said. “The gap between this unmet need and the amount of money available for family planning must be bridged, starting with those in most need — the rural and urban poor, and also young people, upon whom our future rests.”
Five girls who resisted child marriage hailed as ‘icons’ by President
Economic progress is not the only indicator of a country’s development, a nation requires its people to show courage against social pressures and overcome social evils, said President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday after meeting five teenagers from West Bengal who fought social and family pressure and resisted child marriage.
The girls, with little education and almost no support, turned down marriage proposals and faced the anger of their families and the community. They earned praise from the President, who described them as “icons” and asked them to share their stories and encourage girls to say no to under-age marriages.
