Girls in Narok County will be made to reveal identities of babies’ fathers and tell police about female genital mutilation
Plans to subject schoolgirls in Kenya to mandatory tests for female genital mutilation and pregnancy are a violation of victims’ privacy, campaigners have warned.
All girls returning to school this week in Narok, Kenya, will be examined at local health facilities as part of a countywide crackdown.
Continue reading...Married off at 13, Maureen lost her education and her health. Her plight is common in a country racked by economic turmoil
The end of Maureen’s days at a primary school in north-eastern Zimbabwe marked the beginning of her life as a wife.
At 13, the brightest student in her class in Mudzi, Mashonaland, she was married to a man three times her age.
Continue reading...Amid Venezuela’s collapse, Nicolás Maduro has locked up those accused of criticizing his regime – often without due process
Geraldine Chacón, a 24-year-old lawyer from Caracas, went four months without seeing the sun while a prisoner in the Helicoide, the feared hillside prison complex administered by Venezuela’s secret police, where she was denied access to sunlight, water and food.
“The guards told me I was a political prisoner, and for that I don’t get anything,” said Chacón, speaking by phone from Caracas, where she is on conditional release. “Without seeing the sun, you lose a sense of time, you don’t know if it’s day or night – it’s horrible.”
Continue reading...Nicholas Haysom told to leave after urging inquiry into civilian casualties during protests over former al-Shabaab leader’s arrest
Somalia has asked the UN secretary general’s special envoy to leave the country “as soon as possible” after accusing him of “interfering with the country’s internal affairs”.
A statement from the ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday declared top UN official Nicholas Haysom persona non grata. The ministry said that Haysom “is not required and cannot work in this country”.
Continue reading...Medics say limiting families s not the answer for a country where a baby is born every 15 seconds
In the cramped office of New Cairo hospital’s family planning clinic, Safah Hosny sets a box overflowing with contraceptives next to the visitors’ ledger on a small desk.
There are eight condoms for one Egyptian pound, about 4p, or ampoules of injectable birth control, for just under 9p. A contraceptive implant lasting three years costs 22p, while copper IEDs – the most popular form of birth control on offer according to Dr Hosny – cost 17p.
Continue reading...Family of activist Amaya Eva Coppens, 24, appeal for help to ‘stop the repression’ of Nicaraguan government
The mother of a medical student facing more than 20 years in prison for protesting against the Nicaraguan government is appealing to the international community to put pressure on president Daniel Ortega’s regime.
Amaya Eva Coppens, a Belgian-Nicaraguan dual national, is due to stand trial in the capital Managua after being “abducted” in a raid by more than 30 riot police and paramilitaries on 10 September.
Continue reading...Questions over relief effort multiply as it emerges aid officials knew for months of armed groups diverting food
The theft of food aid in Yemen by Houthi rebels might be only the tip of the iceberg, officials believe, as questions multiply over international relief efforts in the famine-ravaged country.
It has emerged that aid officials have been aware for months that armed groups – most prominently Houthi rebels in the capital, Sana’a – have been diverting food aid into the key areas they control, including by manipulating data in malnutrition surveys used by the UN.
Continue reading...With sex outside marriage punishable by jail, migrant workers who become pregnant are often forced to keep their babies locked away
A sweltering, windowless room in an old district of Dubai, no more than 5 metres by 3 metres in size, is home to nine people from the Philippines. Eight are adults, working long hours in low-paid jobs so they can send money home to their families. The ninth is a six-year-old boy.
His name is Jerry and he shares a tiny bed with his mother, Neng. Jerry loves dancing, Peppa Pig and doughnuts. This small dark room is the only home he has known, as he’s spent his life in hiding as a stateless child. Growing up without a birth certificate or any other identification means he has no access to education and has never visited a doctor. Officially, this little boy does not exist.
Continue reading...Laila Haidari risks her life to run the country’s only private rehabilitation centre, helping hundreds of addicts a year
Laila Haidari is considered a criminal, despite never committing a crime. The 40-year-old works with drug addicts in Kabul. “The addicts I work with are considered criminal and dangerous and by extension I am considered criminal,” she says.
Despite opposition and death threats, eight years ago, Haidari opened the city’s only private drug rehabilitation centre, which so far has helped nearly 4,800 Afghans who would otherwise have ended up on the streets, or worse, dead.
Continue reading...Finalists for the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa prize reveal their designs, from gloves that translate sign language into speech to smart lockers that dispense medicines
The Royal Academy of Engineering Africa prize, now in its fifth year, has shortlisted 16 African inventors from six countries to receive funding, training and mentoring for projects intended to revolutionise sectors from agriculture and science to women’s health. The winner will be awarded £25,000 and the three runners up will receive £10,000 each.
From smart gloves that turn sign language into audio speech, to water harvesting systems that change air into drinking water, five inventors on course to transform the continent for the better spoke to the Guardian about their innovations.
Continue reading...The government has suspended 550 medical staff and ruled the ongoing strikes over pay and conditions unlawful
A month-long impasse between government and doctors over pay and conditions has left Zimbabwe’s health care system in a critical state, after the government suspended more than 500 medical staff last week.
The government refuses to give in to the doctors’ demands and has ordered striking doctors to return to their posts.
Continue reading...We cast a look back at the issues that dominated the headlines in the past year, from the devastation in Yemen to the trauma of Rohingya refugees
The year was dominated by allegations of sexual abuse and harassment in the aid sector, and anger at the failure of those in power to believe and support those making them.
Continue reading...The year began with the Oxfam scandal and ended with a withering verdict on the food we eat. What do you remember?
Allegations of harassment at aid agencies and charities were frequent in 2018. Which organisation was branded 'a boys' club' by one employee?
UN Women
UNAids
Oxfam GB
ActionAid
Students in Cape Town scored a world first by creating a bio-brick from which substance?
Human saliva
Cow's milk
Horse manure
Human urine
Which singer came out in support of a Brexit-beleaguered Theresa May, suggesting the PM's gender made her a target for unfair criticism?
Lady Gaga
Paloma Faith
Kate Bush
Rae Morris
In a report condemning the 'diabolical state' of our diets, nutritionists found that more than four in 10 children worldwide consume what daily?
Chocolate
Cake
Crisps
Sugary drinks
Researchers at Harvard University believe it may be possible to protect countries in the global south from climate change using what?
A gigantic sunshade in the sky
Blanket distribution of sunscreen
A gigantic heat-absorbing sponge
Tibetan prayer beads
Which of the following food staples is threatened by a virulent fungus that could wipe it out of existence?
Wheat
Potatoes
Bananas
Chocolate chip cookies
Scientists working in Tanzania have developed an innovative method of diagnosing tuberculosis – involving the use of what?
Giant pandas
Giant armadillos
Giant frogs
Giant rats
In a speech on equality at the UN, which actor said she was tired of 'being undervalued, undermined and disrespected, because of my gender'?
Sienna Miller
Nicole Kidman
Gal Gadot
Emma Watson
Ethiopian girl band Yegna made headlines after losing UK aid funding. To which British girl band have they been compared?
Girls Aloud
The Spice Girls
The Saturdays
Sugababes
To which of the following did the Trump administration NOT make aid funding cuts in 2018?
Abortion services
Palestinians
Polio
Pakistan
10 and above.
Take a bow, you're a bonafide newshound!
7 and above.
My, my, now that was impressive – you really didn't miss much in 2018, did you?
4 and above.
A solid effort. Let no one say you ignored the headlines in 2018
0 and above.
Oops. It would seem the world passed you by somewhat in 2018. Was it all that talk of Brexit and Trump?
Continue reading...Peter Bennett-Jones, who was criticised over tackling of sexual harassment, quits as UN sack aid worker in Uganda
The chairman of Save the Children UK has resigned after complaints by staff that he was not doing enough to address allegations of sexual harassment.
The charity said Peter Bennett-Jones was standing down following objections to remarks he made during recent discussions with staff about the organisation’s future.
Continue reading...