May 17, 2013

An estimated 14,000 villagers from 20 communities in Niger participated in a public vow to end Female Genital Mutilation and forced underage marriage. From Reuters:

Though Niger outlawed the practice in 2003, FGM and other violent treatment of young women remain prevalent among some ethnic groups in the impoverished Sahel nation, which ranks bottom of the United Nations’ world development index.

At a ceremony in Makalondi, about 85 km (53 miles) west of the capital Niamey, villagers threw scissors, knives and blades into a pit in the village square which was then filled in.

Participants in the ceremony, sponsored by Niger’s government and non-governmental groups including U.N. child agency UNICEF, also vowed to end forced early marriages and the removal of young girls from schools.

About 38 percent of girls in Niger are married off before the age of 15, according to official statistics.

Niger’s minister for population, women and child protection, said the government was determined to end such practices.

“The government is aware of its responsibilities,” Maikibi Kadidiatou Dan Dobi said during the ceremony on Wednesday.

FGM is the partial or total removal of external female genitalia and leads to physical and psychological problems including painful sex and childbirth, infections, infertility and incontinence.

It is done for religious and cultural reasons and is prevalent in 28 African nations and parts of the Middle East and Asia, notably Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and Indonesia.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in December urging countries to ban the practice, calling it an “irreparable, irreversible abuse” that threatens about three million girls annually.

The World Health Organization estimates 140 million girls and women have undergone FGM.

In Niger, the practice is still common among certain ethnic groups such as the Gourmantche where about 65 percent of girls have undergone FGM. The rate is around 13 percent among the Peuls and about 3 percent among Nigerien Arab girls.

May 16, 2013

Phase III trials of the Rotavac Rotavirus Vaccine show that it has the potential to save thousands of lives, say scientists. From the BBC:

Rotavirus causes dehydration and severe diarrhoea and spreads through contaminated hands and surfaces and is rampant in Asia and Africa.

India says clinical trials show the new vaccine, Rotavac, can save the lives of thousands of children annually.

An Indian manufacturer said the vaccine would cost 54 rupees ($1; £0.65).

International pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Merck produce similar vaccines but each dose costs around 1,000 rupees.

“This is an important scientific breakthrough against rotavirus infections, the most severe and lethal cause of childhood diarrhoea, responsible for approximately 100,000 deaths of small children in India each year,” India’s Department of Biotechnology official K Vijay Raghavan said.

“The clinical results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed, could save the lives of thousands of children each year in India,” he added.

Rotavac will be made by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. The company said it could mass-produce tens of millions of doses after clearance is given, expected in eight or nine months.

May 15, 2013

The cyclone already hit Sri Lanka where at least seven people died. It is predicted to hit Myanmar and Bangladesh soon. From Reuters:

Cyclone Mahasen, which brought heavy rains and landslides to Sri Lanka, was expected to hit Bangladesh and Myanmar later this week.

“Seven people have died and 10 people have got injured. There are 7,399 people from 1,947 families affected,” Lal Sarath Kumara, the spokesman at Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Center, told Reuters.

The Center said 3,881 people had been displaced due to the cyclone. Three people were missing due to heavy rains and landslides.

Officials at Sri Lanka’s Department of Meteorology have said the center of Cyclone Mahasen is located 900 km off the island nation’s eastern coastal town of Pottuvil.

On Tuesday, a boat carrying about 100 Rohingya Muslims capsized off western Myanmar and many were feared drowned at the beginning of a mass evacuation from low-lying regions ahead of a powerful storm.

The tropical depression threatens areas of Myanmar where about 140,000 victims of ethnic and religious unrest are living in camps. The United Nations warned last week there could be a humanitarian catastrophe if people were not evacuated.

May 14, 2013

The Taliban issued a statement on Monday in support of polio vaccine efforts. From the Telegraph:

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the three remaining countries in the world where polio remains a serious threat, but efforts to eradicate the disease have been sabotaged by the Taliban and other Islamic militants who have assassinated immunisation volunteers in all three countries.

(snip)

But in a sudden U-turn the Taliban leadership issued a statement offering its support for polio eradication campaigns as long as foreigners were not involved and that all volunteers respected local Islamic culture.

“According to the latest international medicine science, the polio disease can only be cured by preventive measures ie the anti-polio drops and the vaccination of children against this disease.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan supports and lends a hand to all those programs which works for the health care of the helpless people of our country,” said a stament issued by the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’.

But it warned the World Health Organisation and Unicef to employ only “unbiased people” in a campaign “harmonised with the regional conditions, Islamic values and local cultural traditions.”

It also ordered its fighters to give polio workers “all necessary support”.

Mohammad Younas Fakor, an independent political analyst, said the move was aimed at boosting its popularity among Afghans as the withdrawal of foreign troops draws closer.

“I think the Taliban looks towards 2014, and they know that they will not have any other option rather than coming to the political process,” he said.

Meanwhile, 13 civilians were killed in a bomb attack on mourners on their way to the funeral of two other victims of terrorism in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan today.