UGANDA: Teen Pregnancy Rates High in Kabarole District
New Vision reported on 27 June that spreading information about contraceptives and the dangers of teenage pregnancy is a priority area that needs to be addressed, experts say. As such, Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) has joined the health centres in Kabarole to sensitise young people about teenage pregnancy. RHU spokesperson Martha Songa noted that the organization hoped to benefit from the $30 million (sh72b) loan that the government secured from the World Bank for reproductive health supplies that usually run out in many parts of the country. “Of this money, $18,949,654 (63 per cent) is meant for procuring reproductive health supplies. Combined with funding from UNFPA and the government, $24,784,624 (about sh60b) is now available for procuring reproductive health commodities including family planning supplies for the next five years.” In Kabarole, injectables (Depo Provera) usually run out of stock. Read: New Vision
TANZANIA: Minister Launches National Life Skills Manual for Youth
The Citizen reported on 27 June that the Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Emmanuel Nchimbi, during his keynote address at the launch of the national life skills manual for youth has challenged them to become zealous in their endeavours to achieve their goals. Representing UNFPA, Chilanga Asmani said, "UNFPA is determined to spearhead emphasis on the issues pertaining to the youth in the country.” Read: The Citizen
TANZANIA: UNFPA Hails Humanitarian Workers
The Guardian reported on 27 June that UNFPA Country Representative Julitta Onabanjo has commended humanitarian workers in the country for their support during emergencies. "At the best of times and in the best of situations, issues related to sexual and reproductive health rights including HIV/AIDS and gender dynamics can be challenging. In times of crises these challenges are escalated," Dr. Onabanjo pointed out.
SOUTH AFRICA: Midwife Shortage Impacts Maternal Health
IRIN reported on 27 June that in the past, midwives helped women give birth at home, but there are no longer enough of them for this to be possible. “It makes more sense for the few trained midwives to be stationed at facilities so that they can see more women than for them to be scattered across areas,” said Meisie Lerutla, National Programme Officer for Sexual and Reproductive Rights at the United Nations Population Fund in South Africa. Read: IRIN
ASIA: Where Have All the Girls Gone?
Foreign Policy published a blog by Mara Hvistendahl on 27 June arguing that sex selection hit China the same year the AIIMS experiments began. The country accepted Western aid belatedly, in 1979. But after years of being kept out of the Middle Kingdom, UNFPA and IPPF jumped at the opportunity to play a role in the world's most populous country, with UNFPA chipping in $50 million for computers, training, and publicity on the eve of the one-child policy's unveiling. Publicly, officers at both UNFPA and IPPF claimed China's new policy relied on the Chinese people's exceptional knack for communalism. But, according to Columbia University historian Matthew Connelly's account of the population control movement, Fatal Misconception, in January 1980 IPPF information officer Penny Kane privately fretted about local officials' evident interest in meeting the new birth quotas through forced abortions. Accounts of those eventually leaked out, as did reports of sex-selective abortions. In 1982, Associated Press correspondent Victoria Graham warned that those augured a spreading trend. "These are not isolated cases," she wrote, adding: "Demographers are warning that if the balance between the sexes is altered by abortion and infanticide, it could have dire consequences." Today, some of those dire consequences have become alarmingly apparent. Part of that is the extent to which organizations like UNFPA have found themselves unable to perform legitimate services in the developing world because of their historic connection to population control. Read: Foreign Policy