News…
The number of cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis around the world is higher than ever, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday. Eastern Europe, China and India have been hit particularly hard, the agency notes in its report, driving concerns that some health care systems may soon be overwhelmed by the potentially lethal disease.
10 UN agencies urge end to female genital mutilation, a painful and dangerous ritual still imposed on many girls in Africa, Indonesia and the Middle East. The initiative to change this tradition best comes from the inside, as evidenced by several West African villages that have abandoned the practice, the UN says.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urges General Assembly to hold special session on suicide bombings, considering them a growing threat against humanity and political stability, a UN spokeswoman said Wednesday. Ban will personally urge General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim to hold the session, the UN chief told leaders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish rights group that has pushed for the initiative.
U.S. lawmakers, agree to triple AIDS funds, the U.S. House of Representatives have reached an agreement with the Bush administration on new legislation that would authorize $50 billion over five years to fight HIV/AIDS in poor countries and help children orphaned by the disease. The amount, if approved, would more than triple the funds for the White House’s global anti-AIDS program, which already is the largest commitment ever by a government to fight a disease in foreign countries.
World’s food price crisis expected to worsen, as food staples have risen 75%worldwide since 2005 due to a combination of growing demand, rising oil prices and global warming, and the troublesome trend shows little sign of abating. As a result, more governments are forced to struggle with hostile protests, food riots and widespread dissatisfaction, in addition to trying to counteract the growing threat of malnutrition.
WHO warns Paraguay’s yellow fever going urban, for the first time in six decades in Latin America. WHO officials said improvements to the hygiene and sanitation situation in and around the capital Asuncion, accompanied by a widespread vaccination campaign, are key to helping to prevent the spread of the disease.
China mulls end to one-child policy Chinese officials said Thursday the government is considering an end to its controversial one-child policy in light of an aging population and widening gender gap due to cultural preferences for male children.
Child abuse spreading in Zimbabwe, UNICEF warns, largely because of increased family tensions related to the country’s economic collapse, UNICEF said Wednesday. The agency rolled out a new campaign in the southern African country called “Stand Up and Speak Out,” urging people to battle the “staggering statistics on the unspeakable evils of child abuse.”
UNICEF and the Gulf charity Dubai Cares have launched a new education initiative to help bolster access to education for children and promote gender equality in the small East African nation of Djibouti. Although 126,000 children in Djibouti are old enough to go to primary school, tens of thousands of them are not enrolled, and more than half of these are girls. Under the new partnership, UNICEF will use almost USD 1.9 million in funds donated by Dubai Cares to build new schools and rehabilitate existing ones, as well as to spur school enrollment through awareness-raising.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I’m afraid the story “China mulls end to one-child policy” is spin by Western journalists based on Chinese Communist disinformation - see http://www.spuc.org.uk/news/releases/2008/february28a