Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Sep 9 2006 (IPS) – As the 21st century began, more women were dying during childbirth in Nepal than in almost any other country and it was estimated that half of maternal deaths in hospitals were caused by unsafe abortions.
Today, 59,000 Nepali women have had safe abortions, performed by 260 trained doctors at 133 approved centres, and if plans hold, trained nurses will soon be providing the service.
But for every positive number there are many more that reveal the challenges ahead for the Safe Abortion Programme.
Well over 50,000 women have received safe abortion services through this suction (MVA or manual vacuum aspiration) method, says Cherry Bird, director of the Support to the Safe Motherhood Programme. It s not scraping or cuttin…
Mel Frykberg
GAZA CITY, Jul 9 2008 (IPS) – Crowded into a tiny strip of territory of 360 square kilometres, plagued by poverty, malnutrition and unemployment, Gaza s 1.5 million people face a demographic time bomb as the fragile infrastructure struggles to cope with a soaring birth rate.
Sawsun Duba supports seven children and a disabled husband. Credit: Mel Frykberg
We are looking at a political and socio-economic breakdown as financial deprivation and desperation, combined with political instability continue to…
Rousbeh Legatis interviews ERAMITHE DELVA, co-founder of KOFAVIV
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 2012 (IPS) – In Haitian refugee camps, women are still crammed under plastic or cloth tarps that provide no security and quickly become overheated by the sun. Sexual abuse, harassment, assault and rape run rampant, even as political responses to these dangers have stalled. But KOFAVIV, a women s organisation founded by and for rape survivors, offers a glimmer of hope.
A group of women in Mogadishu, Somalia, after leaving Toro-Toro, 100 kilometres away, because of a lack of water and food. Credit: OCHA
ROME, Sep 11 2017 (IPS) – When officials and experts from all over the world started the first-ever environmental summit hosted by China, they were already aware that climate and weather-related disasters were already seriously beginning to set the international agenda – unprecedented floods in South Asia, strongest ever hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and catastrophic droughts striking the Horn of Africa, among the most impacting recent events.
In fact, Ordos, China has been the venue of the 13th summit of the (), whi…
Dec 17 2021 – COVID-19 has upended our world, threatening our health, destroying economies and livelihoods, and deepening poverty and inequalities. It also created the single largest disruption to education systems that the world has ever seen.
Schools also play a critical role in ensuring the delivery of essential health services and nutritious meals, protection, and psycho-social support, which means that their closure has imperiled children’s overall wellbeing and development, not just their learning. At the same time, conflicts continue to rage and the disastrous effects of a changing climate threaten our very existence and are driving record levels of displac…
LGBTIQ+ activists in Caracas protest outside the National Electoral Council, in charge of the civil…