African roundup - December

BURKINA FASO
Victims of female circumcision (also know as ‘female genital mutilation’) are looking forward to the opening of ‘Pleasure Hospital’, West Africa’s first clinic for reconstructing clitorises damaged as a result of the ritual. Called ‘Pleasure Hospital’ the clinic is being built with a US$ 50,000 grant donated by US non-profit agency Clitoraid. It will offer free surgery to circumcised girls and women in West Africa, a region where FGM is widely practised.  Demand for the service is so high that Clitoraid has placed a limit on the waiting list at 100. 

UGANDA
A group of parliamentarians has come up with a solution to the problem of parents taking their daughters to secret locations so they can get circumcised. In a report submitted to the education minister, the MPs asked the government to build boarding schools within practising communities to accommodate girls who are at risk of being circumcised during the school vacation. The girls can stay at these safe havens until it is time to report to their respective schools. That way, they can stay out of the reach of parents.

KENYA
Two university students have invented a new and cheaper means of charging mobile phones, in what could put an end to the need for electricity. Pascal Katana and Jeremiah Murimi collected old electronic equipment from a dump site – including radios, TV sets and computers – and then built them into a charger that is connected to a bicycle. Peddling the cycle charges the mobile phone. The final year electrical and IT students of the University of Nairobi said plans were underway to put their gadget on the mass market.

SOUTH AFRICA
To breastfeed or not to breastfeed: That has always been the dilemma for HIV-infected mothers. It is well known that HIV can be passed on to the baby during pregnancy, at birth of through breastfeeding. The typical advice given to HIV positive mothers has always been to not breastfeed their baby, in order to cut the risk of passing the virus on through breast milk.  Now, researchers in Botswana say breastfeeding may not be as risky as widely thought – as long as it is done ‘exclusively’ (that is, breastfeeding only, without also using formula milk). Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the benefits of breastfeeding in developing countries have made them change their thinking about the breast milk of HIV positive mothers.

ZIMBABWE
Farmers have been told they can pledge their crops in exchange for loans from a government fund. The US$210 million was set up for farmers who want to buy agricultural materials such as fertilisers, seeds and farming implements. However, not all farmers have benefited because they cannot provide the guarantee needed for the loan (such as a house, tractors or trucks). Now, the government has said farmers can deliver their crops to collecting depots, and then take receipts to the local commercial bank to get the loan. Zimbabwe has experienced severe food shortages in recent years; it is widely expected that greater access to the loan scheme will lead to increased production.

Posted On: 18 December 2009 at 12:52PM
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