Nigeria classifies abortion as illegal except under certain medical circumstances. A recent investigation by Reuters news agency has alleged that, since 2013, the Nigerian military has run a secret mass abortion programme in the north-east of the country, where it is at war with the militant Islamic organisation Boko Haram. Ten thousand women were allegedly […]
Tag: Women and Gender
Amid rising humanitarian needs worldwide, the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, on Tuesday launched a $1.2 billion appeal to support 66 million women, girls and young people in 65 countries affected by crisis. The 2023 Humanitarian Action Overview is UNFPA‘s largest appeal ever and includes $289 million in Afghanistan, $70 million in Ukraine, […]
“Women are told to pray and fast, but men are not told to stop beating their wives” Church leaders should take a stand against domestic violence instead of covering up for violent husbands, speakers said at a workshop in Cape Town at the weekend. The workshop, held by Africa Unite Tusimame Wanawake women’s movement, was […]
Botro, Cote d’Ivoire — It is vaccination day, baby cries fill the courtyard of the Botro General Hospital, about 400 kilometres north of Abidjan. Henriette Ouattara, who gave birth a few months ago at the maternity hospital in Botro, has come to have her baby vaccinated. From prenatal consultation to delivery, Ouattara recalls, a dedicated […]
Sexual and reproductive ill-health accounts for one third of the global disease burden among women and adolescent girls of reproductive age. Despite many advances in access to healthcare, thousands of women and girls who live in remote, resource-constrained communities still struggle to access the care they need. But Edmund Wessels, a University of Cape Town […]
The Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET) has urged parliament to fast- track gender bills that were recently returned to the 11th Parliament to help tackle the issue of is violence against women and girls. The Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET) has urged parliament to fast- track gender bills that were recently returned to the 11th Parliament to […]
An overwhelming majority of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Nigeria are women and children. Even though there are varying statistics about the exact figure of internally displaced persons in Northern Nigeria, all sources examined indicated that women and children constitute more than 50 per cent of the internally displaced camps’ formation. IDPs are people who […]
Women account for six of the nine MPs that were elected by the Parliament to represent Rwanda in the east African Legislative Assembly (EALA). This implies a 22.2 percentage point increase from over 44.4 per cent in the concluding Assembly, where they were four. The MPs were elected on Monday, December 12 by the electorate […]
Washington — Former Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has said the world would be a safe place if women were in positions of leadership. Her comment was based on what she described as the passion women bring to leadership, a quality that is incomparable to that of men. “Women bring to every position the same courage, […]
“Low level of inclusion in Nigeria incapacitates not just the excluded groups but the country itself,” states Agora Policy The continued and systematic exclusion of women, youths and other marginalised groups from social, economic and political opportunities in Nigeria severely limits the capacity of the country to achieve its full potential, a new report by […]
The continued and systematic exclusion of women, youths and other marginalised groups from social, economic, and political opportunities in Nigeria severely limits the capacity of the country to achieve its full potential, a new report by an Abuja-based think tank, Agora Policy, has said. The report noted the low level of inclusion in Nigeria incapacitates […]
Rwanda is hosting the 2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA), where experts and stakeholders will discuss improving health care on the continent. The outcomes from the event are key to building Africa’s public health resilience, pandemic preparedness, and national and regional capacity to address existing gaps. The New Times caught up with […]
Tunis/Tunisia — It is necessary to overcome all obstacles that prevent women from accessing prestigious positions in many sectors, said Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) Vice-President Hichem Loumi at a ceremony of awarding certificates to participants in the 2nd session of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED) Programme, calling for the consecration of […]
Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s human rights commission said Friday it will probe a report that the Nigerian military has secretly run an abortion program that terminated thousands of pregnancies among women and girls who were rescued from Boko Haram militants. The report said most of the abortions involved tricking or forcing women to take pills […]
A hospital trust has apologised to a woman for failing to admit a surgeon had been responsible for a massive haemorrhage that almost killed her after a Caesarean section. For seven years, East Kent Hospitals Trust maintained the size of Louise Dempster’s baby was to blame. “It was just continuous lies,” the 34-year-old told BBC […]
Bill to decriminalise sex work released About 200 sex workers gathered at the East London International Centre on Thursday for a dialogue with Deputy Minister for Social Development Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu about government’s plans to decriminalise sex work. Bogopane-Zulu encouraged all sex workers to read the The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill […]
The United Kingdom-based African Leadership Magazine (ALM) has named the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as “African Female Leader of the Year”. According to a statement by ALM, the category was part of the “11th African leadership persons of the year award – 2022”. Also, the President of Sierra Leone, […]
Tunis — Five Years After Landmark Vote, Poor Enforcement, Few Resources Tunisian authorities are failing to protect women from domestic violence despite enacting a strong law in 2017, Human Rights Watch said in a report published today. The 94-page report, “So What If He Hit You?: Addressing Domestic Violence in Tunisia,” found that despite the […]