Cholera still plagues Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe will soon see more than 100,000 people infected with cholera even though the epidemic appears to be subsiding, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned in a report released Tuesday. A collapse of water, health and sanitation infrastructure has helped drive the epidemic and has yet to be addressed.
Maternal mortality tied to basic services, access
A pervasive lack of access to basic obstetric care across the developing world contributes to deaths of half a million women every year from mostly preventable causes. In places such as Tanzania, poor infrastructure combined with shortages of medical staff, equipment and drugs help perpetuate the problem.
Ireland reels, rages over church-run school abuse report
Revelations in a state-commissioned report that sexual, physical and emotional abuse were heaped upon tens of thousands of children for six decades in church-run residential schools have unleashed a tidal wave of anger in Ireland. Victims’ advocates are complaining the report contains no names of abusers on which prosecution cases could be based.
Young Chinese have less drive to protest
Twenty years after the students of Peking University squared off against China’s military might at Tiananmen Square, few students appear prepared to challenge the status quo. Much of the economic frustration behind the protests 20 years ago has evaporated alongside China’s rapid development to be replaced, for many, by pride in the country’s advances.
Report: World failing to prevent HIV/AIDS infant transmissions
Nine-hundred babies a day are born with HIV/AIDS despite efforts to address mother-to-infant transfers, according to a report from a coalition of international HIV/AIDS experts and activists. Only 8% of pregnant women in the developing world are receiving the kind of treatment necessary to prevent such transfers, the report said.
South Asia, Africa polio eradication efforts falter
Ongoing combat, poor overall security and the displacement of local populations is helping to drive the spread of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while low immunization rates have helped the disease regain a foothold in Nigeria and eight neighboring countries, the Global Polio Eradication Campaign said.
Gene sequencing a vital polio battlefield tool
Efforts to uncover the route by which polio outbreaks spread through gene sequencing provide a critical surveillance system for combating the disease and is critical to fighting it. The technique can help countries cope with outbreaks, identify immunization gaps and identify possible new strains.
Pakistani youth see garbage as a means to social change
A group of Pakistani students is using online social networks along with old-fashioned elbow grease in an attempt to drive positive change through volunteer garbage-collection efforts in the eastern city of Lahore. The group, frustrated by the government’s persistent inability to provide basic services, believes the only way to force change is to galvanize public action.
World failing on preventable diseases
Millions of children younger than 5 years old die every year from preventable conditions such as diarrhea because the international community is failing to prioritize these problems and their causes, two reports this week from humanitarian groups Water Aid and PATH contend.
Girls targeted in ‘Taliban gas attack’
The third attack in three weeks on a girls school in Afghanistan has seen 90 girls rushed to the hospital, the apparent victims of gas poisoning. Though the Taliban denied any involvement, Afghan officials believe it is a sign of the increasing violence to which militants are resorting to suppress education for women.
UN expanding humanitarian relief in beleaguered Pakistan
The UN intends to expand humanitarian-aid efforts in Pakistan, work to safeguard the humanitarian workers there and provide relief to the 1 million people displaced by the swelling conflict between Pakistani forces and Taliban in Swat Valley. The UN World Food Program announced it will double the emergency rations it currently provides, which at present serves an estimated 650,000 people. Some 500,000 Pakistanis have been displaced by violence since August.
U.S. wins seat on UN Human Rights Council
The U.S. joined Cuba, China, Saudi Arabia and Cameroon in winning seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council in the hopes of plotting a new course for the oft-criticized body. “While we recognize that the Human Rights Council has been a flawed body that has not lived up to its potential, we are looking forward to working from within with a broad cross section of member states to strengthen and reform the council,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said after the vote.
