 |
Its your world. See it, read it, discuss it. |
World News - .geographical media - RSSSyndicated content powered by .geographical mediaRSS syndication makes it easy to receive content updates in My Yahoo!, Newsgator, Bloglines, and other news readers. |
Current Feed ContentTeens circumcise 4 boysTwo teenage boys have been arrested for running an illegal initiation schoolSOMALIA: "One message" on FGM/C in SomalilandHawa* is determined her young daughter will not undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), which is widespread in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland. An estimated 90 percent of girls still undergo the procedure. "I have suffered kidney problems, infections and miscarriages," said Hawa. "I dread the days when my period is close because of the pain I go through; it gets to the point where the pain makes it impossible to do anything. I don’t want my daughter subjected to this...WEST AFRICA: Cross-border FGM on the riseCross-border female genital mutilation / cutting (FGM/C) is on the rise in West Africa according to the UN, spurring the need to impose a region-wide law banning the practice, say experts. Experts from the region met this week to discuss how to eliminate FGM/C across West Africa, at a conference sponsored by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou. A study sponsored by UNIFEM to be released in late October 2008 said circumcisers or girls who undergo...KENYA: Rising demand for male circumcisionHealth facilities in Nyanza Province in western Kenya are struggling to meet the demand for medical male circumcisions since politicians threw their weight behind efforts to promote the procedure as a way of reducing HIV infections. The campaign initially faced opposition by community elders of the ethnic Luo community that makes up the bulk of the province's inhabitants and does not traditionally practice circumcision. But local leaders, swayed by calls from Kenya's Prime Minister, Raila...LIBERIA: FGM continues in rural secrecyThousands of young girls annually prepare for their initiation into a women’s secret association, Sande Society, which operates mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. As part of their initiation, young women take a vow of secrecy after weeks of training in the forest, promising not to not tell uninitiated girls or men what happens to them, to assume new names, and to have their clitorises cut off - known as female genital mutilation (FGM) - according to women in the secret society. About...ETHIOPIA: More parents saying no to FGMFewer Ethiopian parents are subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM), according to an NGO campaigning to eradicate the practice. "The knowledge [that FGM is harmful] is increasing," said Abate Gudunfa, head of the Ethiopian National Committee on Traditional Practices (commonly referred to as EGLDAM - its name in Amharic]. "Children born more recently are safer." A network of 40 NGOs, including EGLDAM, the government and international organisations, are...GLOBAL: Male circumcision - a gamble for women?While researchers and advocates at the International AIDS Conference this week urged donors and governments to rapidly scale up male circumcision programmes, others raised concerns about what this would mean for women. In March 2007, the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS issued recommendations that gave the green light to male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy, after studies in Kisumu, Kenya and the township of Orange Farm in South Africa showed that it could reduce the risk of...SOUTH AFRICA: How safe is traditional circumcision?When Steve Matlhabela, 16, left his home on a chilly June morning to visit some relatives in a village not far from his in the rolling hills outside the town of Tzaneen, in South Africa's Limpopo Province, he didn't expect that it would be a month before he returned. At his relative's village Steve met a boy he knew, who invited him to go see a movie. Steve agreed and they walked for some distance before reaching a remote camp where it soon became clear there would be no movies. "I wasn't...SWAZILAND: Circumcision gives men an excuse not to use condomsThere is a growing belief among men in Swaziland that circumcision provides complete protection against HIV, a perception that worries non-governmental organisations (NGOs) battling the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world. In recent years circumcision has been lauded by Swazi public health officials as a procedure that reduces the rate of HIV transmission by about 50 percent, but it is far from the silver bullet solution some men see it as. "The problem is not with the procedure, but the...RWANDA: Military to lead the way in male circumcisionThe soldiers in the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) will be the first men to benefit from a government policy to use male circumcision as a tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS, according to senior health officials. Early in 2008, the Rwandan Ministry of Health declared its intention to include circumcision – scientifically proven to reduce a man's risk of contracting the virus from an infected sexual partner by as much as 60 percent – in its HIV prevention programmes. The voluntary circumcision... |
