GAMCOTRAP, one of the NGOs leading the combat against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia, has now embarked on a constructive dialogue regarding the issue of female circumcision and other harmful traditional practices that are inimical to the health and well being of women and girl-children.

Following the Muslim World Conference held in Rabat, Morocco there has been a consensus to address the issue of female genital mutilation strategically. For GAMCOTRAP, the issue of FGM has been on the centre stage among some Muslim scholars, and women and children’s rights activists in the Gambia. The bone of contention was on the religious dimensions where some Muslim Scholars of National standing have been ambivalent about the stance of Islam regarding FGM.

The Organisation of Islamic conference (OIC) and the Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), both of which The Gambia is a member organised a meeting of Ministers, Politicians and religious leaders from 50 Muslim states in Rabat, Morocco for 2 days to reflect on the first Islamic Childhood Conference. The Gambia is well known for having some prominent scholars who learn on religious arguments to dismiss women’s rights issues. Even though The Gambia is a secular state, the personal status law of the Muslim women is governed by the Shariah because the majority of the population are Muslim.

Following the outcome of the Rabat meeting of OIC and ISESCO member states, today we are happy to inform the public that
GAMCOTRAP and other women’s rights organisations as well as the NGO Community including the contributions of the State
Department of Health and the International Community in the Gambia are vindicated.

The outcome of the Rabat meeting resulted to a ‘Rabat Declaration’ which places special emphasis on the issue of Female Genital Mutilation and other harmful traditional practices discriminating girls and justifying it with religious arguments to perpetuate those harmful practices. The outcome of the meeting is significant for activists and advocates on children and women rights. In the meeting reflections were made and several other related issues such as early child marriage and other related gender based violence are discussed.

The summary of the Rabat Declaration calls all Muslim states to:

• Take the necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and all harmful traditional or customary
practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.

• To protect children from all forms of exploitation, abuse, torture and violence.

These were high on the agenda of the meeting and the declaration urged all Muslim countries where female genital mutilation
is practiced to act strongly against the NON-ISLAMIC TRADITION.

Similarly, governments were asked to enact and implement proper legislations and formulate where appropriate, national plans,
programmes and strategies protecting girls with reference to the practice of female genital mutilation.

The above declaration resonates with what Women’s Rights activists have been doing for the past twenty years, GAMCOTRAP in
particular has engaged in the advocacy work in the Gambia since 1984. The debate started within the Women’s Bureau as a
specialised committee which emanated from the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (NFLS) in 1975 through to Dakar in 1984. The Women’s Movement has been calling attention to the effects of FGM on women’s and children sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The biggest stumbling block for the Gambia regarding the issue of FGM was the belief that it is a religious injunction and as a result many women were very steadfast in adhering to the practice. Those who are very stoical about this perspective are among highly recognised Muslim scholars.

The Supreme Islamic Council also has been sitting on the fence regarding the practice and this has created a situation where
women who are not convinced by the issues raised by activists engage in the practice. The reason for this is, men are associated with the knowledge of Islam and their voices carry more weight even if they are wrong or ignorant of the issues at
stake. We have also encountered subtle resistances from various quarters regarding the elimination of FGM. We are glad that
through constructive dialogue with the NAMS the reservations placed on the Maputo protocol has been removed.

At the same time the FGM advocates are not given access to some personalities in the UN system because they are advocating
women’s rights and gender based violence.

This has nothing to do with those personalities per se but the intermediaries between them and the women’s movement who see
themselves in such strategic positions to subterfuge the efforts being made to liberate women and children. A duty GAMCOTRAP
feels should be the responsibility of every citizen in responsible position of power is to facilitate a positive change for women.

For the latest information on the situation on FGM, The Commission on the Status of Women in its 52nd Session, 25 February to
March 7th have conclusions and resolutions regarding ending Female Genital Mutilation.

Please refer to the following article in the CSW address: E/CN.6/2008/L.3. Other relevant documentation on matters regarding
women and the rights of the child are also available.

Asthma and smoking is a topic that has been discussed much. This is because smoking is dangerous (even if you do not have asthma) especially when you suffer from asthma. When people suffer from asthma their airways become narrow constricted due to inflammation and mucus clogging. Smoking can be a trigger that brings on an asthma attack and it can also increase the frequency of the attacks. It can also cause extensive damage to the airways that can have lasting undesirable effects on the health of the person. This is why asthma and smoking is an undesirable combination.

Why Smoking Is Injurious To Health

Its amazing that despite the awareness that has been created and the many cautions that appear on the cigarette packets themselves, many people continue to smoke. Cigarette smoke is very harmful and has a very detrimental effect on the health of those who smoke as well as those around them. Lung damage is caused by the smoke as it can destroy the cilia present in the airway. The cilia are tiny hair-like structures that sweep the lungs clean of the dust and pollens each time a person coughs. When the cilia are destroyed, the lung are unable to clean out the irritants such as the pollen and the dust. That is why asthma and smoking can be a lethal combination.

People with asthma are advised not to smoke as smoking can impair their lung function and make them susceptible to lung infections. Asthma and smoking can make the patient seek a higher dose of medication and the patients may react to other irritants more readily than if they were non-smokers or were not exposed to secondhand smoke.

Parents of children who suffer from allergies should be extra careful around their children. The children must not be exposed to cigarette smoke as it can cause asthma in the children. The parents must not smoke when the children are around and they must keep their children away from public places where smoking is not prohibited. This is because second hand smoke can also easily trigger asthma attacks in adult and in children. If you have to spend some time in a public place where people may smoke be sure to take your reliever along with you. If you are a parent who smokes do so if you wish to increase the chances of respiratory illness and other chest infections in your children.

Keep your home and car smoke free and make sure you opt to enjoy a day out with your children in a place where smoking is prohibited. Asthma and smoking is dangerous as smoking can negate the effect of your medications to a certain extent as well as making you use your reliever more often than if you stop smoking.

It is recommended that you stop smoking unless you desire to make life-threatening trips to the emergency room. It is always better to have worked out an asthma management plan with your physician and make sure you do not smoke if you suffer from asthma. Asthma and smoking can get you into more trouble than is desirable and is definitely not worth the risk you put yourself or your loved ones in.

About the Author:

To discover many unusual and fascinating secrets about exactly what causes asthma and how to reduce your symptoms effectively, please go to: Online Asthma Help

“The harmful use of alcohol in the African region is rising and the situation will worsen, if appropriate action is not taken to address the problem,” a report transmitted by the WHO Country Office in Banjul warned.

This call was contained in a report by Dr Luis Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa, at the 57th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, in Brazzaville, Congo.

“Episodic or binge is a significant characteristic pattern of consumption in the region,” Dr Sambo said in the report.

According to a 2006 report by a WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Consumption, the estimated proportion of deaths attributable to alcohol consumption in Africa shows a burden of 2.1% in 2000 and 2.2% in 2002.

Dr Sambo said the estimate shows that several African countries have some of the highest levels of per capital consumption in the world, especially when traditional beverages are included.

Much of the alcohol consumed in the Africa, especially in rural areas and among the urban poor, includes home-made beverages using traditional methods of either fermenting or distilling matted grains, fruits, sugarcane and honey.

“Because these beverages are poorly monitored for quality and strength, consumption may lead to serious health consequences and deaths,” Dr Sambo warned.

Besides the direct effect of intoxication and dependence, harmful use of alcohol is linked with mental and behavioural disorders, gastrointestinal infections, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

The Regional Director added that studies in some African countries have linked alcohol consumption with high-risk sexual behaviour, HIV infection and other sexually-transmitted infections, and reduced adherence to antiretroviral and tuberculosis treatment.

The same studies have also shown that alcohol-related disorders carry a high degree of co-morbidity with other substances such as nicotine dependence and drug use.

“The enormous cost of th harmful use of alcohol in terms of health and social harms cannot be ignored and called for regulation of alcohol consumption,” Dr Sambo said.

He propounded that countries in the region should acknowledge the harmful use of alcohol as an important public health issue, forge a common position on the harmful use of alcohol, conduct national surveys using standardised tools, and make available resources to set up mechanisms to collect, analyse and disseminate data for evidence-based decision making.

While proposing that WHO should prepare a strategy to address the harmful use of alcohol in the Africa, Dr Sambo pledged the organisation’s cooperation with countries for a forthcoming Global Survey on Alcohol and Public Health.

Other proposals contained in the report are the establishment of an observatory for monitoring the harmful use of alcohol and the adoption of evidence based on alcohol policies and agreements on specific issues relevant to regional public health needs, by WHO and its partners.

If you’ve been noticing a decrease in your computer’s performance – if it’s running sluggishly or even crashing, it may very well be infected with either Spyware, a virus, worms or all of the above. You have to be really careful when downloading things off the internet as well as opening emails from people you don’t know because those are the main sources of these infiltrators. And in case you didn’t know, even an email attachment from someone you do know could contain a virus.

And even though each of these types of pests are harmful to your computer in their own ‘special’ way, there are differences among them. So to assist yourself in keeping your computer ‘healthy’, you should be aware of what they are and what they do so you can fix and/or prevent the malfunctions that result when they exist in your PC’s system.

Spyware
Spyware is most often times downloaded onto your computer along with other downloads that you actually intended on retrieving – mostly from Freeware sites. It is very sneaky and hides itself within your PC, running invisibly in the background of the operating system. Spyware tracks every action you make on your keyboard, follows you around the internet and records everything you do in order to send the information back to the program’s creator. Some Spyware even has the ability to scan documents saved on your computer as well. Advertisers are the guiltiest of Spyware generators which is one of the reasons bulk and junk emails are running amok. And the information gathered by the Spyware program can actually inhibit your life off the computer as well. Some of the originators of various Spyware use these programs to help them steal your personal information and identity.

Viruses
Viruses are also hidden entities in your computer’s operating system, but unlike Spyware, have to be executed in order to do their thing. Just like in humans, viruses are transferred from one computer to another. They are actually code that is written into programs that once clicked on and opened, spread like wildfire throughout your PC’s system. They are enormously dangerous and can actually destroy your entire operating system, wiping out all of your programs, erasing your files and infiltrating your address books.

Worms
Worms are software programs that work independently to annoy you and destroy your files, in addition to making your computer run abundantly slow. They spread themselves though network connections but unlike viruses, don’t need to be executed to launch. However, they are just as efficient at damaging your files and programs as a virus is.

Protection is Power
DO NOT EVER open emails that come from a name you do not recognize or have some ‘funky’ wording in the subject line, and furthermore, NEVER click on or download attachments from them either. Ensure the protection of your computer as well as your identity by utilizing Anti-Spyware in addition to Anti-Virus software. Just about every single operating system sold today comes equipped with some form of these programs already built in and they’re there for a reason. So make sure you keep your firewall up, run the protection software while you’re on the computer and scan your system regularly.

About the Author:

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for MySpywareGuide.com. If you want the best spyware protection avaialble, be sure to visit us and download XoftSpySe.