CHAD: Prices hike, teachers strike
Teachers demanding more pay to face higher food prices entered the third day of a nationwide strike. Primary school teacher Aubin Golmbaye told IRIN his US$200 monthly salary was not enough to feed his family. Education Minister Khadidja Hassaballah said the government would not negotiate salaries with the teacher union when all public sector employees faced the same cost of living .Among primary school-age children, 30 percent of girls are enrolled and 40 percent of boys; by the time they reach secondary school, only five percent of girls and 13 percent of boys in that age group still attend school.
Displaced Rohingyas face new crisis in Bangladesh
Rohingya refugees, a Muslim minority, fleeing persecution in Myanmar have found little welcome in neighboring Bangladesh, where they face a growing humanitarian and rights crisis, aid and rights groups say. They are among about 250,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh, where they do not have citizenship and are subject to abuse and forced labor, and cannot travel, marry or practice their religion freely. Authorities have begun seizing Rohingya from squalid camps where starvation and disease are the norm, beating them and forcing them back across the border into Myanmar, according to Doctors Without Borders. “International standards would assume that a latrine is shared by 20 people,” Mr. Critchley said. “With the number of latrines in the camp, over 70 people share each latrine. I’ve seen small children using piles of human feces as toys.”
UN launches record appeal for Haiti aid
United Nations officials have put out the largest humanitarian appeal ever, calling for $1.44 billion in aid for earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Funds will be used to meet short-term housing, food supply and sanitation needs, and to promote development of health care systems, agriculture and infrastructure over the longer term.
Fridge-free preservation could revolutionize vaccine programs
Mixing vaccines with two kinds of sugar and allowing them to dry on filter paper helps create a supply that is not reliant on refrigeration, British scientists report in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Scientists hope the development will increase the efficacy of vaccination programs in developing countries where refrigerators, clinics and electrical supply may be unavailable.
Iranian women are concerned about proposed law
Women’s rights activists have launched a petition against a proposed Iranian law that has been approved by the Parliament’s legal committee and is expected to come up for a vote soon. Under the law, men would have the right to take additional wives without consulting the existing one if that wife has an incurable disease or is absent from home for six months. The law would also restrict the ability of women to collect alimony.
UN: Somali aid cuts hurt Somalis, not al-Shabaab
UN officials dispute that aid distributed in a region of Somalia controlled by al-Shabaab is being diverted by the Islamist organization, arguing that the U.S. decision to suspend the aid is putting hundreds of thousands of Somalians at risk. Though nearly half of Somalia’s 9.8 million people depend on humanitarian assistance, the U.S. has cut steeply its budget for international aid to the beleaguered country — from $270 million to $90 million.
In Haiti, food relief comes in cookie form
Disaster rations being distributed by the World Food Programme in Haiti include cookies loaded with vitamins, 450 calories and 15 grams of protein. Five packs per day are designed to serve one grown male. But distribution has been uneven, and some families have been seen sharing single rations.
