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Breaking the Silence about Maternal Death in Sierra Leone
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — When a mother dies in childbirth in Sierra Leone, the news spreads only in whispers: "The calabash broke." A woman, tradition says, is like a treasured calabash gourd, and her death,…
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Taking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Out of the Cultural Mosaic of Kenya
NAIROBI — When Lina Kilimo ran for the Kenya Parliament in 2002 on a platform of peace, development and ending female genital mutilation/cutting, her opponents claimed that as an uncircumcised woman, she was unfit to…
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De-Linking Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting from Islam in North East Kenya
MADOGO (near Garissa), North East Province, Kenya — In the scorching heat of the midday sun, shaded by the horizontal branches of a dende tree, village elders and women leaders from five communities listened intently as…
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American Idol’s David Cook Helps Brighten the Future for Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Last month, David Cook, season seven winner of the popular television competition, American Idol, learned first-hand about the challenges faced by vulnerable adolescent girls in the slums of…
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Development Challenges Facing Haiti in the Aftermath of the Earthquake
NEW YORK — When the subject of post-earthquake Haiti comes up, people often talk about getting back to normal. But for Haiti, where ‘normal’ was a series of crises, the goal must be to rebuild better. In a panel…
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Ending Harmful Practices through Community-led Social Change in Senegal
Many organizations are working to eliminate female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa. But the organization that has been most successful in this, Senegal’s Tostan, was not originally focused on this particular…
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Dignity Kits: Helping Displaced Yemeni Women Move About Freely
SA’ADA, Yemen --- “We suffered a lot before reaching this camp,” recalls Khadija, 25, who has been affected by years of conflict in northern Yemen.
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Rwanda Steps up to the Challenge of Universal Reproductive Health Care
RWAMAGANA, Rwanda — The health centre just on the outskirts of town seems to be a community hub: Near the main clinic men, women and children sit around the perimeter of a courtyard waiting to be seen by a health worker.
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Strengthening Business Practices in a Delivering as One Country
UNFPA DED (External Relations, UN Affairs and Management) Mari Simonen co-lead a high-level mission to Viet Nam with the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM) and the United Nations Development Group (UNDG).
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