Blogs

Children in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia suffer from chronic zinc deficiency, says Dr. Fernando Sempértegui, leader of several landmark studies on the effects of zinc deficiency. He tells IPS that the deficiency “is related to chronic infections like…

One hundred and forty million women around the world are presently living with the effects of female genital mutilation, a practice that has proven difficult to abolish. In Senegal, however, intervention strategies are in place that are proving…

In an August 4 article, Trustlaw’s Lisa Anderson exposes the “silent health emergency” faced by child brides around the globe. According to Plan UK, a children’s rights organization, the marriage of a girl under 18 occurs every three seconds. This means…

Over at Global Pulse, Human Rights Watch researcher Katherine Todrys guest blogs on the HIV epidemic in Uganda’s penitentiaries. Uganda, she explains, has often been presented as a success story in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, and has…

Lily Boisson of CBC News writes that Somali women fleeing drought and famine in their home country face sexual and gender-based violence as they journey to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Women traveling to the camps with only their children and few…

Counting the Dead: The Culture and Politics of Human Rights Activism in Colombia Winifred Tate University of California Press, 2007 ISBN 978-0-520-25283-7 (paperback) 400 pages $24.95. Reviewed by HHR editorial assistant Judith Fitzpatrick  In this…

Africa Media Network reporter Ouma Wanzala writes that 7,000 new cases of obstetric fistula occur each year in Kenya alone. Dr. Hillary Mabeya, one of the country’s few specialists in obstetric fistula, explains that only 400 of these women receive…

Villagers in the East Indian coastal state of Orissa are giving advocates of the human right to health something to think about. On July 19, the state high court upheld the Indian government’s decision to reject a massive expansion of the Lanjigarh…

In his June 20 article, Foreign Policy‘s Charles Kenny writes, “Citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo believe there’s hope for their war-torn country even if no one else does — and their optimism is starting to get…

A child born in sub-Saharan Africa is twenty-five times more likely to die in the first five years of life than one born in the United States. If she lives to child-bearing age, she is a two hundred times more likely to die in labor. Overall, she will…