Slowly changing, but unmoving: The plight of FGM in The Gambia, Africa A Stop FGM – Female Genital Mutilation sign in Bakau New Town, Gambia gives a phone number to reach for those women who want talk with someone about FGM. Image: Nichol Brummer/Flickr London, UNITED KINGDOM, WESTERN EUROPE: Rainy season in upcountry rural Gambia, is green. It is a warm, inviting blend of a thousand greens; a mixture of beautiful, calm, peaceful mingling greens. As I look around and soak in the reality … [Read more...]
Ann Lesley Cotton – WOMAN of ACTION™
A Celebration of Women™ is elated to Celebrate the Life of this woman, one female soul that sold bake goods to make her dream into a reality. After visiting a part of our world where she experienced a reality whereby girls were commonplace only in lower school, and once secondary education became a requirement, more than half of the girls vanished. Her investigations told her that this fact was not due to her first thought, that girls stayed home to work the fields, care for the … [Read more...]
How ending violence against women and girls became my passion
A remarkable young man from Tanzania, 24-year-old Mwasapi Kihongosi won the global UNiTE T-shirt design competition in 2011, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in March 2012 and led a Caravan for Change against violence and harmful traditional practices in November 2012. Mwasapi tells us how the plight to end such forms of violence became his passion. “I did not really know just how widespread violence against women and girls is in my country until one morning, approximately one year ago the UN … [Read more...]
United Republic of Tanzania tackles mother-to-child transmission of HIV
NJOMBE REGION, United Republic of Tanzania, – A group of HIV-infected mothers and their partners have formed a mothers’ support group attached to their local health clinic in Kitulo Ward, Makete District, United Republic of Tanzania. Members of the group give psychosocial support to one another and assist HIV-positive women to follow up with their medical check-ups and treatment. The group also provides information to the community about preventing mother-to-child transmission … [Read more...]
Women help lead the way in Rwanda’s transformation
Women help lead the way in Rwanda’s transformation Rwandans have been working tirelessly to rebuild their country since the 1994 genocide. Since then, the country has become one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent. Furthermore, women have now come to the forefront of national politics, making Rwanda the world's leader in the number of women parliamentarians. The advancement of women in Rwandan society is told in a documentary-style video launched by the UN … [Read more...]
Ethiopia by Task-Shifting Procedures, Saving Women’s Lives
Finding ways to deliver for women where doctors are in short supply TIGRAY REGION, Ethiopia — “We are all looking to you to be a window of hope to reduce the unnecessary death of mothers and newborns during pregnancy and delivery in rural Ethiopia,” said Dr.Tedros Adhanom, the Minister of Health, as he handed over degrees to the first graduates at Ayder Hospital of his country’s programme in Integrated Emergency Surgery and Obstetrics. The first graduating class of the new … [Read more...]