Apart from the physical, psychological and emotional pain that comes with being raped, survivors still deal with being stigmatised and cast out of their families and communities. A report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reveals that sexual abuse victims, especially in countries facing humanitarian crises, do not receive emergency medical attention.
MOMBASA:(PlusNews) - A shortage of free female condoms in public hospitals in Kenya's Coast Province is compromising the ability of women to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
NAIROBI:(PlusNews) - Exactly one year ago, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki and his erstwhile rival for the presidency, Raila Odinga, signed an agreement that created a government of national unity, ending two months of election-related violence during which more than 1,000 people were killed. The effects of that violence are still being felt.
At the first ever African Sex Workers' Conference held in Johannesburg recently, sex workers called on governments to recognise their needs in their plans to respond to the AIDS epidemic.
Candidate microbicide PRO 2000 cuts HIV transmission by 30 percent, falling just short of the one-third required to be deemed a success. But scientists say this trial offers proof that the concept of a vaginal gel to block HIV is possible.
MOZAMBIQUE:(PlusNews) - A narrow hallway leads to a makeshift wooden counter where a shelf displays a few empty beer cans and soft drink bottles; a side door opens to a corridor with a series of bedrooms, almost all of them occupied. This is the 25 de Setembro Social Centre, one of the largest brothels in Chimoio, capital of Mozambique's central province of Manica.
Across the human lifespan, we are most vulnerable to death during birth and in the first 28 days of life. This is even more so for children born in developing nations including South Africa.
The sexual rights and health needs of lesbian women have been largely overlooked both in public and scholarly discourses as well as at the level of health care service delivery. Opinion piece by Melanie Judge and Delene van Dyk
Hope is at hand for South African women unable to afford a new vaccine to combat cervical cancer as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI Alliance) has announced it plans to get the vaccine to high burden populations.
Hope is at hand for South African women unable to afford a new vaccine to combat cervical cancer as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI Alliance) has announced it plans to get the vaccine to high burden populations.
International health experts and government representatives converge in Cape Town today for a three-day conference looking at improving maternal and child health care. But is Africa doing enough to save mothers and children from the risk of death?
The achievement of Millenium Development Goal 4 - that is, to prevent babies and children from dying ' is not possible if the other seven goals in the Millenium Declaration are not adequately addressed. Dr Phetsile Dlamini is the co-ordinator of the African Union programme in the national Department of Health.
Leading global health experts, policy makers and parliamentarians meet in Cape Town today for the Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn & Child Survival conference. Daisy Mafubelu, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organisation's Family and Community Health Division, reports on the state of the world's maternal and child mortality.
South Africa is one of the 10 worst performing countries in reducing child deaths thus making progress towards reaching the fourth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which aims to reduce by two-thirds the death rate of children by 2015.
HIV/AIDS accounts for many child deaths in South Africa - about two thirds of children in public health facilities. It's also a leading cause of death among new mothers. This is according to a report published recently, called 'Every Death Counts'.
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