In Haiti, reconstruction grinds
Six months after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti relief and reconstruction efforts have stalled as overwhelmed Haitian authorities struggle to assert control and donors fail to deliver promised funding. More than 1.4 million peoples remain without adequate permanent housing. Children’s advocates worry available services are inadequate and the reality many families face will lead to an explosion in the numbers of “restaveks” — children sent to work in slavelike conditions in exchange for food and housing.
UN looks for more action on maternal health
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for increased efforts on maternal mortality rates and access to medical care for women around the world. A recent UN report shows hundreds of thousands of women continue to die every year from pregnancy or childbirth, and efforts to expand family-planning options have been hampered by poverty and lack of education. “If world leaders put women and children at the top of the global agenda, we can make real progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals,” said Kathy Calvin, chief executive officer of the UN Foundation.
Lead-poisoning epidemic explodes in Nigeria
In an incident that the World Health Organization describes as an “unprecedented environmental emergency,” some 2,000 Nigerians have been exposed to lead poisoning as a result of gold-extraction activities. More than 100 children in the state of Zamfara suffer from lead concentrations 12 times higher than the level considered dangerous enough to cause brain damage. Medecins Sans Frontieres established two units to coordinate chelation therapy to treat children suffering from toxin exposure.
Tuberculosis drugs may fight tropical diseases
Drug treatments being developed to fight tuberculosis may help treat sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and leshmaniasis, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and Drugs for Neglected Diseases say. The two have launched a combined effort with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to share information and streamline development of treatments.
General Assembly unanimously backs UN Women
The General Assembly voted unanimously Friday to create a UN agency devoted to issues of concern to women and girls. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women — to be known as UN Women — will work to promote equality and end discrimination against women around the world.
Haiti’s earthquake orphans find little help
Children orphaned as a result of the Jan. 12 earthquake face an uncertain future, living in orphanages struggling to maintain operations or adopted by relatives also struggling to recover from the disaster. Frades, a local grass-roots organization now caring for children, has battled unsuccessfully to obtain material and financial support to help care for orphans in a makeshift facility consisting of two tents.
Kurdish Iraq is a capital for genital mutilation
Some 90% of women living in the Sulaymaniyah district in Kurdish Iraq have experienced genital mutilation — likely a greater number than in any other place in the Middle East. In this region and in others where genital mutilation persists, the people doing the act could not be considered midwives or surgeons and work in environments lacking facilities for proper hygienic care. Kurdish identity, religion, pressure from peers and an effort to curb women’s sexuality are four factors driving the practice in Kurdistan, according to Human Rights Watch.
Women’s advocates battle rise of DR Congo rapes
Public health and women’s rights advocates warn the prevalence of sexual assault as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past decade is translating into higher occurrences of civilian rape. A recent study showed a 17-fold increase in the incidence of rapes between 2004 and 2008, prompting many observers to caution sexual assault has gained a disturbing level of social acceptance in DR Congo.
MSF questions WHO measles strategy in Africa
The resurgence of measles epidemics across Africa after 20 years of decreases raises questions about the effectiveness of the World Health Organization’s vaccination strategy, Médecins Sans Frontières says. WHO set a target of measles eradication by 2015, but a lack of coordination between agencies and government representatives, and drops in available funding, have allowed the disease to spread in 2009 and 2010, the group warns.
Actress Davis appeals for better gender representation
The American film and television industries need to do a better job portraying women and girls as American-generated content is the mode widely available around the world, actress Geena Davis urged at the United Nations as the Economic and Social Council opened a weeklong meeting. Media can be a powerful tool in helping empower women and girls and furthering Millennium Development Goals, Davis said, but current content continues to display significant gender disparity
