Polio climbs in Nigeria, spreads to neighboring countries
Polio is spreading throughout Nigeria at a time when the success of polio eradication in Africa rests on Nigeria stopping the virus, according to the World Health Organization. Observers in the country’s Kano State, which has recorded 16 new polio cases and accounts for nearly half of a fourfold increase nationwide, blamed the rise there on a lack of funding and commitment by the state’s 44 local governments.
New lanterns, cookstoves for poor Indian women
More than 200,000 members of a trade union for poor, self-employed women in rural India will be provided with energy-efficient cookstoves and solar lanterns over the next three years in what is being billed as one of the world’s largest clean-energy projects. Lars Thunell, head of International Finance Corp., which will guarantee loans from local banks to the women, said the initiative will “help low-income households increase savings and cut expenses for firewood, kerosene and electricity.”
Unite for Girls tours California
Young girls are leading the Unite for Girls campaign across California this month in a bid to raise awareness on the challenges girls in developing countries face on issues related to education, health care and gender inequality. The program, part of the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign, aims to promote equal opportunities for girls in developing countries.
Fate of child brides goes prime time on Turkish TV
A two-minute trailer for a highly anticipated Turkish soap opera focuses on the fate of a 15-year-old girl from a poor family in the region of Anatolia who is married to a 70-year-old man. The soap opera, which is scheduled to debut Friday on Turkish television, coincides with the release next week of a documentary film, “Child Brides,” following a women’s rights group’s 18-month information and awareness campaign in a country where every second woman was married off as a teenager.
India faces scourge of bridal slavery
Women’s and children’s rights activists are sounding the alarm over the abuse of young girls as part of a growing trend for bridal slavery. Young girls are sold into marriage for as little as $120, then forced to work as day laborers and sex slaves to the men who purchase them.
UNICEF expresses concern for Somali children
Drought-affected Somali children are facing additional risk from intensifying armed conflict and sexual violence, UNICEF warns. The number of children killed due to fighting doubled in October and will probably rise even further, UNICEF officials said.
Women in Cameroon protest rapes, assault in land dispute
Ongoing attacks by herdsmen on farmers in a dispute over grazing rights in northwest Cameroon have led to protests by thousands of women, who are refusing to return to the fields until they are protected from rapes and assaults. An 11-year-old girl talked to a reporter about narrowly escaping a sexual assault by two herdsman.
UNICEF seeks additional help for East Africa famine
UNICEF has issued an appeal for $30 million in additional donations before the end of November to maintain aid to hundreds of thousands of children affected by famine in East Africa. Kenyan and Somali officials have reported increased violence in the region and clashes with al-Shabab militants that further complicates aid efforts.
Afghan child bride is denied a divorce despite abuse, beatings
In an interview, a rural Afghan woman who was given, as a 6-year-old girl, to a man and his extended family — along with eight of her sisters and female cousins — talks about the beatings and abuse she sustained after she was married to a considerably older man at the age of 12. She ran away while still a teenager after several suicide attempts.
Women can lead Pakistan’s pneumonia fight
Pakistan’s 90,000 “Lady Health Workers” may hold the key to the country’s battle against pneumonia, the world’s largest killer of children under five, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal. The study found that children are more likely to recover if treated at home rather than a health facility.
Raids are rescuing girls trafficked to brothels in Cambodia
A raid on a brothel in northern Cambodia has unmasked the underlying rape and child abuse against young girls as young are trafficked and forced into prostitution. The raid was carried out with the participation of Cambodian author and anti-trafficking advocate, Somaly Mam, whose memoir, “The Road of Lost Innocence,” recounts being sold into prostitution in Cambodia, then escaping.
Groups struggle to combat Somali gender violence
Women’s rights advocates are raising the alarm over a sharp increase in gender-based attacks on internally displaced Somali females in the Mudug region as a result of a deteriorating security situation and a lack of accountability. Women’s groups are reaching out to religious leaders and community elders as part of campaigns to raise awareness about the issues.
