Peace Corps pledges improvements on volunteer safety
The U.S. Peace Corps has not been “sufficiently responsive or sensitive” to young volunteers who are the victims of crimes, especially in instances of rape, the agency’s director on Wednesday conceded to U.S. lawmakers. Congress is expected to increase oversight of the Peace Corps after former volunteers and their families testified about missteps, and mistreatment, surrounding crime.
Brazil taps newfound wealth to battle poverty
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has embarked on a new program to lift some 16 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty by 2014. The effort will funnel increased development aid to the country’s north, where 75% of residents qualify as indigent, and expand health, education and cash-transfer programs nationwide.
Time for Nigeria to eradicate polio
Nigeria is on the verge of eradicating polio just two years after suffering one of the country’s worst outbreaks in history. Local politicians must remain committed to supporting vaccination programs to stamp out the disease, write Bill Gates and the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammed Sa’adu Abubakar. Federal authorities, the Gates Foundation and other partners are providing vaccines, training courses and funds to wage the battle.
Violence derails Ivorian polio vaccination campaign
The aftermath of the postelection violence in Cote d’Ivoire has disrupted the country’s campaign to vaccinate children against polio, resulting in recent infections of a type of the disease not seen in a decade. Reports of armed groups caused another vaccination drive to be postponed this week.
Family planning saves mothers
Millions of abortions, fistulas and preventable deaths from pregnancy complications could be addressed by the wider availability of family planning and care services in the developing world, writes Nicholas Kristof. Better access could save 94,000 women’s lives and result in 25 million fewer abortions a year, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute.
Experts link source of Haiti cholera to UN peacekeepers
The cholera epidemic in Haiti responsible for the deaths of more than 4,800 people likely was caused by fecal contamination along a river next to a camp being used by UN peacekeepers, according to UN experts. A report stops short of blaming the Nepalese peacekeepers, however, saying the spread of the South Asian type of the disease was due to a “confluence of circumstances.”
UN report raises alarm over boom in world’s population
A UN forecast estimates that the global population will increase from about 7 billion to 10.1 billion by 2100, making it more difficult to provide food, water, energy, education and jobs for the world’s poor. “We are raising the alarm that even though the population of the world has reduced its growth rate enormously, current growth rates are too high,” said the director of the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Mobile health initiatives attract broad support
The newly announced Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action brings together public and private sector entities in developing mHealth applications and is another example of the widespread support the use of ICT to promote public health goals enjoys across the stakeholder spectrum. The initiative aims to improve the health of mothers and newborns in Bangladesh, India and South Africa through the provisions of health reminders and alerts via cellphone.
Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action launches
The Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action, a public-private partnership involving the U.S., the UN Foundation, the mHealth Alliance and BabyCenter, will leverage mobile technology to deliver vital maternal health information to pregnant women and mothers. The program is kicking off as a $10 million pilot project in Bangladesh, South Africa and India. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the announcement Tuesday.
Initiative helps provide cheap malaria drugs Inexpensive front-line treatment for malaria infection for patients in the developing world is the focus of a new Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria initiative called Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria, or AMFm. The initiative secures significant discounts on artemisinin combination therapies that can be passed on to wholesalers, while governments in the eight countries piloting the program run public awareness campaigns for their populations.
Focused efforts are needed to maintain Africa’s malaria progress
The number of malaria-related deaths has dropped 50% in 11 African countries over the past decade with additional countries near to accomplishing similar results, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and World Bank President Robert Zoellick write. In order to maintain and build upon the progress, due in large part to the widespread distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, anti-malaria campaigners will need to maintain focus, target funding and continue building local capacity to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria.
WHO: Chronic diseases cause most deaths worldwide
Chronic illnesses such diabetes, heart disease and cancer cause more deaths worldwide than communicable conditions such as malaria and tuberculosis owing to modern lifestyle habits, according to a report from the World Health Organization. About 63% of deaths are the result of noncommunicable conditions, with almost 80% of them occurring in low- to middle-income countries.
Women’s rights activists keep an eye on Tunisia
Tunisian women’s rights campaigners are working to make sure the country’s uncertain future will not ultimately result in a different kind of repression than they faced under the recently ousted regime of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Secular administrations since the country gained independence in 1956 have given Tunisia some of the most advance women’s rights protections in the Arab world.
