UN names Haiti cholera panel, criticizes world response
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has selected four experts to head a special panel to determine the source of the cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed more than 3,400 and sickened tens of thousands more. A UN official on Thursday characterized as “shameful” the international response to the deadly epidemic, saying it has received only one-fourth of the funding it needs to combat the virus.
Africa looks to become food secure
The agriculture development plans of 18 African countries underwent a review and overhaul in 2010 as part of the African Union’s bid to make the continent more food self-sufficient. More than 60% of the continent’s population live in rural areas and rely on farming for their food and income.
BURUNDI: Fortified rice for 15,000 school-children
Burundi is set to benefit from a rice fortification technology that will not only be the first in Africa but will also help check malnutrition in children through school-feeding programs. International organizations PATH and World Vision will introduce Ultra Rice, made from rice flour and enriched with micronutrients, including iron, zinc and folic acid, to about 15,000 children from April.
Poor leadership is hampering Haitian quake recovery
A lack of leadership from the Haitian government, as well as the international community, is at the root of the country’s laggardly rate of recovery a year after the devastating earthquake that killed some 250,000 people and made a million more homeless, according to a report from Oxfam. The report charges that just 5% of the rubble has been cleared, and only 15% of the necessary shelter has been built.
Education for Afghan children remains a challenge
An estimated 5 million Afghan children were prevented from attending school thanks to a combination of security concerns and society’s traditional dictates in 2010, according to the Ministry of Education. One deterrent, ministry officials said, was the lack of female teachers combined with the unwillingness on the part of families to permit male instructors.
KENYA: HIV-positive kids get by with a little help from their friends
There are currently 20 paediatric psychosocial support groups in Vihiga, catering for 600 HIV-positive children; about 80 percent of these children are not only HIV-positive but also total orphans. They meet independently every weekend and once a month with a healthcare provider who gives them health talks. The programme is helping fill a large gap in the care of children living with HIV nationally. The Kenya National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Programme says there are just 1,800 health workers trained to care for the estimated 170,000 Kenyan children living with HIV. Frederick Nyumba, officer-in-charge of the Mulele health centre, a government health facility in Vihiga, says the benefits of the groups extend beyond the psychological. “When children are in such support groups, drug adherence is extremely good because the children act as guardians to each other by reminding their fellow children to take their medicine or remind their old grandmothers to give them drugs,” he said. “This networking amongst them means it is not only easy to trace defaulters but also to keep tabs on one another’s wellbeing.”
