President Ernest Bai Koroma – President of the Republic of Sierra Leone – By African Women are Free to Choose – The Term Female Genital Mutilation Violates the Rights of Bondo/Sande Women and Girls in Sierra Leone. Dear President Koroma, As a non-partisan and non-political group of women of Sierra Leonean descent based in The Republic of Sierra Leone and in the Diaspora, African Women are Free to Choose (AWA-FC), we wish to express our concerns regarding the Government’s ambivalent position with respect to traditional female genital surgeries, also referred to locally by many women as female circumcision or Bondo. ... Continue Reading
By Pride Nleya – The increase in marriage failures and abuse of women has been attributed to exorbitant amounts of money being charged as lobola, a cross section of Zimbabweans has said. In an interview with this reporter, many people said lobola had lost its cultural significance owing to its commercialization. Amai Mwale an elderly woman from Glenview 7 compared the old practice of lobola and what is being done nowadays saying, “In Zimbabwe lobola has gone through a radical transformation whereby it has changed from being a simple cultural practice into a high business venture and this has affected women both positively and negatively. “Bitter husbands... Continue Reading
….Says NSEC Executive Director Robert Dolo – The Executive Director of the New Sight Eye Center (NSEC) in the Duport Road Community, Paynesville, Robert Dolo, has disclosed that the main aim for the Center’s Medical and Surgical Outreach Program is to make eye treatment accessible and affordable for rural dwellers across the country. Currently, Mr. Dolo said the Center’s Outreach Program is targeting dwellers in four of Liberia’s fifteen counties which include Rural Montserrado, Lower Bong mainly in the Bong Mines community and adjacent, Grand Cape Mount and Margibi. “Many of the various eye problems in the country are concentrated... Continue Reading
Adcock Ingram, Scania, SWHAP and Shell One Stop Join Forces to Promote Road Safety and HIV Awareness Amongst Truck Drivers – January 2014: During the month of December 2013, two of South Africa’s key challenges – road safety and HIV awareness – united under a single initiative to improve the health of those tasked with driving long hours on the road and who typically have limited access to healthcare facilities and treatment. A road safety and wellness campaign – designed to help truck drivers improve their health – was initiated by a partnership between pharmaceutical manufacturer Adcock Ingram, Swedish truck manufacturer... Continue Reading
…down to a single pill a day – January 2014: Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for the treatment of AIDS has been the biggest medical success of all time and has prolonged more lives than any other intervention in medical history, including polio vaccinations, says Dr Eric Hefer, member of the adult treatment guideline committee for the SA HIV Clinicians Society.1 ART is initiated in patients with AIDS with the goals of improving quality of life, reducing HIV-related morbidity and mortality, to optimally suppress viral load restoration and/or preserving immune function.2 These goals are achieved by suppressing the replication of the virus... Continue Reading
