Tajikistan polio outbreak continues
An outbreak of polio in Tajikistan has undermined efforts to eradicate the disease worldwide and threatens to spread even further. This year alone, 452 cases of polio have been confirmed, with several more detected in neighboring Russia. Authorities have spent $7 billion since 1988 in a campaign to eliminate polio, which authorities believed would see its final stand in Asia or Africa. The World Health Organization says that the outbreak in Russia and Tajikistan — both considered polio-free since 2002 — threatens international efforts to eradicate the disease.
Anti-polio efforts progress in Africa
Countries in East Africa have gone for more than a year without reporting a single case of polio, but an outbreak that began in Tajikistan in Central Asia appears to be spreading, the World Health Organization and aid agencies report. Aid agencies are looking to contain and halt outbreaks more rapidly as part of an ongoing drive to eradicate polio worldwide.
Women’s shelters in Afghanistan are under fire
A popular Afghan TV host who is also a candidate for parliament sent shock waves through the Kabul NGO community with a series purporting to investigate unauthorized women’s shelters, depicting them as anti-Islamic. Women’s shelters in Afghanistan provide a refuge for women who could otherwise face violent retribution from family for fleeing abusive husbands or avoiding forced marriages.
More heavy rains for Pakistan after deadly floods
Even as Pakistan continues to reel from the effects of devastating floods as a result of the monsoon season, new rains have threatened to exacerbate one of the worst weather catastrophes in recent memory. The floods — the worst in 80 years — have claimed as many as 1,400 lives and threatened the welfare of 1 million children. As survivors struggle with a lack of aid, observers fear that more rains could greatly complicate the flooding problem if rising waters threaten the structural integrity of Pakistan’s third largest dam, Warsak.
Prostitution networks thrive in post-quake Haiti
Prostitution networks that provide women from the Dominican Republic to clients in Haiti have expanded in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake, a United Nations report finds. Many of the women — drawn by the prospects of foreign clients and an influx of international aid money — have their passports seized by brothel owners after arrival and are prevented from leaving.
