UN ambassadors and officials, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, took to the field to play a game of soccer for the charitable Play31 organization. Named after Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Play31 seeks to use soccer to facilitate international interaction and reconciliation.
Amnesty: China punishing wrong people over quake deaths
Chinese authorities have stonewalled efforts by parents of children killed in 2008’s devastating earthquake to get answers about possible shoddy construction of school buildings that collapsed, with harassment, intimidation and, in some cases, repeated spells in detention, Amnesty International says in a report.
Lack of safe roads more deadly than malaria
Failures in road safety account for more deaths in the developing world every year than malaria yet receive almost no attention from governments and the international-aid institutions, the Commission for Road Safety says in a report. Increased efforts including $300 million in road improvement worldwide, public-awareness campaigns and additional traffic police, could save 5 million lives between 2010 and 2020, the report concluded.
World faces deadly shortage of midwives
The world needs double the number of midwives if it hopes to meet the Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal and infant mortality by 2015, the World Health Organization and International Confederation of Midwives said. Increases in midwife training and better supply of those already qualified are needed on a major scale, especially in Africa, where more than half of the world’s maternal deaths occur.
Critics say Chinese under-reported child deaths in Sichuan earthquake
After refusing to release detailed figures regarding children’s deaths in last year’s earthquake, the Chinese government finally acknowledged 5,355 children died — a number critics say is far too low. Beijing artist Ai Weiwei and assistants have counted 5,000 children dead in Sichuan province, with many villages not yet surveyed. Parents remain frustrated by the government’s failure to acknowledge shoddy construction of schools contributed to student deaths.
New fighting in Sri Lanka called a “bloodbath”
A UN spokesman described renewed heavy fighting in Sri Lanka as a “bloodbath,” saying more than 100 children had been killed along the northern battle front. One doctor estimates more than 430 people had been killed after two days, and the government was using heavy artillery, though media are banned from the area and cannot confirm. Many civilians were buried where they fell.
Women’s health experts draft Mother’s Day wish list
Experts on women’s health contribute simple improvements and technologies to improve the lives of women in the developing world — from misoprostol, a pill that prevents postpartum hemorrhaging, to education and food-aid counseling pilot programs. Efforts to promote Caesarean deliveries are designed to diminish the dangers associated with childbirth, while a call to perform research about the underexamined effects of antiviral and antibiotic medications on pregnant women seeks to enhance gestational safety.