The News Review:
- Ghana: Unicef Stresses Importance of Investing in Maternal Health
- US Fish and Wildlife meets with big health care
- Uganda: Museveni’s Speech at Women’s Day Celebrations
- Rett Syndrome Research Reveals High Fracture Risk
- South Africa: Over 40,000 Deaths Could Be Prevented By Better Health…
Ghana: Unicef Stresses Importance of Investing in Maternal Health
AllAfrica.com – Mar 10, 2008
Better access to maternal health care will reduce the estimated half a million pregnancy related deaths that occur each year and also help reduce child mortality rates. GA_googleFillSlot(“AllAfrica_Story_Inset”);"Evidence from the World Health Organization shows that a motherless child is more likely to die before the age of two than an infant whose mother survives," said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. "Improvements in the health of pregnant women and new mothers are critical to ensuring children survive their first years. "The causes of maternal death vary markedly across regions and countries, but maternal mortality is far higher in the developing world than in developed countries.
US Fish and Wildlife meets with big health care
ESPN – Mar 10, 2008
Fish and Wildlife Service meets with health care industry to discuss getting kids active outdoorsU. Fish and Wildlife ServiceUpdated: March 10, 2008, 2:24 PM ET… The motto for the Service’s initiative is Let’s Go Outside!”There may be no greater legacy that the Service can leave for future generations,” said Hall. “By providing support and encouragement for parents, educators and children to spend time outdoors, we are joining the nationwide movement to invite families to turn off their digital music and video games and spend some quality family time outside. ” The Let’s Go Outside! initiative stems from a summit with Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods — Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. ” Information shows the American people, especially children, are spending less time involved in outdoor recreational activities than any previous generation. Nature is important to children’s development — intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and physically; and research indicates as children’s connection to and time spent with nature has diminished, childhood ailments and medical problems have vastly increased. Even the simple activity of playing outside helps children develop better motor skills, physical fitness and general health, and can create a life-long appreciation of the for healthy, outdoor activities and the environment. The Service already provides many public use opportunities.
Uganda: Museveni’s Speech at Women’s Day Celebrations
AllAfrica.com – Mar 10, 2008
Before the National Resistance Movement (NRM) came into power, the majority of women had struggled, with immense difficulty, to transition from being second class citizens to becoming empowered and attaining gender equality. The NRM government has endeavoured to reverse this trend. Women emancipation by the NRM GovernmentNot only is the African woman the child bearer; she cooks, farms, grinds grain, fetches water and firewood, teaches her children, nurses the sick, provides quality companionship to the husband, etc. It is only in a few African societies where this formula of burden sharing is reversed – men doing more work than women. In order to enhance their role in the transformation process, the NRM government has liberated women through the following:Providing safe water, with coverage increasing from 10% to 63% in rural areas and from 17% to 65% in urban areas between 1986 and 2006;Introducing Universal Secondary Education; andImproving literacy from 50% to 70% between 1986 to-date. Additionally, 80% of learners in the government-led Functional Adult Literacy Programmes are women. Intervention in reducing HIV prevalence from 18% to 6%;Ensuring that all children are fully immunised, and;Increasing access to health units within the radius of 5 kilometres from 30% to 70%… In order to enhance their role in the transformation process, the NRM government has liberated women through the following:Providing safe water, with coverage increasing from 10% to 63% in rural areas and from 17% to 65% in urban areas between 1986 and 2006;Introducing Universal Secondary Education; andImproving literacy from 50% to 70% between 1986 to-date. Additionally, 80% of learners in the government-led Functional Adult Literacy Programmes are women. Intervention in reducing HIV prevalence from 18% to 6%;Ensuring that all children are fully immunised, and;Increasing access to health units within the radius of 5 kilometres from 30% to 70%. Women play a central role in society, right from the domestic to the international scene. Collectively and individually, they have the highest concentrations of human, economic and cultural resources necessary to occupy an enviable position in the global economy. However, the challenge is that only a few women are empowered; the majority still continues to be trapped in the low income category with unacceptable levels of political, economic, social and human development. Gender based violenceThe liberation and empowering of women, therefore, is a means of solving many socio-economic and political problems; especially for Africa.
Rett Syndrome Research Reveals High Fracture Risk
Science Daily – Science Daily (press release) – Mar 10, 2008
10, 2008) — Researchers at Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research have found that girls and young women with Rett syndrome are nearly four times more likely to suffer a fracture. See also: Health & MedicineChildren’s HealthChronic IllnessDown’s SyndromeBirth DefectsGastrointestinal ProblemsDiseases and Conditions Reference.
South Africa: Over 40,000 Deaths Could Be Prevented By Better Health…
AllAfrica.com – Mar 10, 2008
GA_googleFillSlot(“AllAfrica_Story_Inset”);This is according to a report, "Every death counts", that was presented to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang today (Tuesday 11 March) at the conference "Priorities in Perinatal Care". Every year at least 20 000 babies are stillborn, another 22 000 die within the first month of their lives and 1 600 mothers die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Some 75 000 children die before their fifth birthday, according to the report. "The report makes for hard reading," says Dr Mark Patrick, a paediatrician at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg and one of the report’s authors. "We are talking about a lot of deaths… HIV infection amongst pregnant women appears to be increasing," says Patrick. "The fact that 260 mothers, babies and children die every day in South Africa should make people stop and think and ask why this is happening. "A very high percentage of maternal deaths, stillbirths and child deaths are caused by inadequate care on the part of healthcare providers, described as "modifiable factors". "Modifiable factors" were identified in over half the cases of women who died in childbirth at clinics as well as over half the child deaths. Over two-thirds of stillbirths had "avoidable factors", including the failure of healthworkers to attend to some of the pregnant women’s high blood pressure. Proper monitoring during labour could save most of the 7 300 babies dying each year either during childbirth or shortly afterwards, according to the report. Little babies under the age four months of age are falling through a gap between maternal and child care programmes, with only about a quarter of these babies going to the clinic for a check-up.
