In Jordan camp, Syrian refugees choose school over child marriage
Mafraq, Jordan Thomson Reuters Foundation Chatting enthusiastically in a classroom at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, a group of Syrian teenage girls share stories about married friends – some with babies already, and of their own lucky escapes. Fatima was 14 when she got engaged, but had second thoughts and broke it off. Sixteen-year-old […]
Call for more midwives as millions die in childbirth
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Midwives are routinely “overlooked and ignored” despite saving millions of lives a year, the United Nations said on Wednesday, urging the world to hire more women and safeguard new life. In a joint report compiled with medics, the UN said urgent investment was needed to plug a global shortfall of some […]
Teen pregnancy costs Latin America billions of dollars a year – UN
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation High rates of teenage pregnancy in Latin America cost governments in the region billions of dollars of year while worsening poverty and inequality, according to research published by the United Nations on Wednesday. Per nation, teenage pregnancy costs on average $US1.2 billion a year in lost of earnings by mothers, tax […]
Coronavirus puts millions more at risk of child marriage and FGM – UN
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus pandemic is reversing progress on ending child marriage and female genital mutilation, jeopardising the futures of millions of girls, a senior UN official said on Tuesday. “The pandemic both makes our job harder and more urgent as so many more girls are now at risk,” said Natalia Kanem, head […]
Coronavirus to have “catastrophic” impact on women with domestic abuse up 20 per cent
London, UK/New York City, USThomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus lockdown could lead to a 20 per cent surge in domestic violence as victims remain trapped at home with their abusers, the United Nations predicted on Tuesday, warning the pandemic will have a “catastrophic impact” on women. Tens of millions of women may be unable to […]
US raps global health summit over abortion, sex education
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation Ten countries – including the United States, Brazil and Egypt – criticised a global conference on sexual and reproductive health on Thursday, saying it promoted abortion and sex education. Heads of state, financial institutions and donors were among the 9,500 delegates in Nairobi this week to address maternal mortality, violence against […]
The cost to stop women dying in childbirth by 2030? 46 military aircraft
Nairobi, KenyaThomson Reuters Foundation Countries need about $US264 billion – the equivalent cost of 110 military aircraft – to end maternal deaths, gender based violence, child marriage, and provide family planning to all women by 2030, said a United Nations study. An investment of $US115.5 billion – which is equivalent to the cost of 46 […]
Anti-FGM campaigner Nimco Ali launches global bid to protect girls
New York, USThomson Reuters Foundation Every country must ban female genital mutilation to protect girls and help end poverty, Somali-born British campaigner Nimco Ali said as she launched a global project to end the practice by 2030. About 3.9 million girls have their external genitalia partially or totally removed every year despite health risks, according […]
UN says women and babies at risk in Yemen as funds crunch forces clinics to shut
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation The United Nations warned on Thursday that more than half its reproductive health facilities in war-hit Yemen would close by the end of this month, putting the lives of women and babies at risk, unless it got more funding. The UN Population Fund said it had closed 100 facilities at the end […]
Sahel must tackle child marriage for peace, says population expert
Dakar, SenegalThomson Reuters Foundation West Africa’s Sahel region must reduce rates of child marriage to end spiralling ethnic and jihadist conflict, the regional head of the United Nations Population Fund said this week. Marrying girls off as teenagers leads to them having more children, and explosive population growth is one of the main reasons Sahel […]