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Flooding, landslides devastate Muhuta, Burundi
Burundi
MUHUTA, Burundi – “We are here homeless, without food because our fields were destroyed, no cover for the night, nothing… God has forgotten us,” said Vincent Hakizimana, a resident in Muhuta, a commune in western…
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One year after Chibok kidnapping, one girl recounts surviving Boko Haram
Niger, Nigeria
One year ago, 276 schoolgirls were seized by Boko Haram insurgents in Chibok, a town in north-eastern Nigeria. Since the kidnapping, 57 girls have escaped. The fate of the other 219 remains unknown.
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Responding to the needs of communities terrorized by Boko Haram
Niger, Nigeria
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the horrific kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from the north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok by Boko Haram insurgents.
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10 things you didn’t know about the world’s population
UNITED NATIONS, New York – These 10 little-known facts about the world population shine a light on the state of global development and human rights. Together, they show signs of enormous progress – but not enough. Too…
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Eliminating FGM one midwife at a time
Somalia
It was 9 p.m. when a little girl arrived in critical condition at the teaching hospital in Hargeisa. She had been bleeding all day after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM).
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Vanuatu’s Cyclone Pam highlights need for access to family planning
Vanuatu
PORT VILA, Vanuatu – “Life belongs to me,” said Katherine Silas, explaining why she was seeking family planning services at the Vanuatu Family Health Association in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam.…
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Religious leaders pledge to fight maternal mortality in Kenya
Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya – Cycling back to his church from the local health centre, Pastor James Ochiel wondered whether he should just ask his local member of parliament to construct a maternity ward inside his church compound.…
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Meeting reproductive health needs in the wake of Cyclone Pam
Vanuatu
PORT VILA, Vanuatu – “We lost everything. All the clothes – gone,” Anna Naual said at an aid post in Fresh Wind Ohlem, a settlement near Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila. The single mother, who works in a hotel in the city…
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As Syrian crisis drags into fifth year, pregnant women caught in the middle
Syrian Arab Republic
DAMASCUS, Syria – Sarab’s life changed forever when she was widowed in January. Her husband was killed in a mortar explosion at the schoolyard where he worked, leaving her alone and pregnant at age 23.
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Bringing family planning and maternal health services to rural Tajikistan
Tajikistan
GARM, Tajikistan – Life can be hard in the remote Rasht Valley of Tajikistan. Residents face high levels of unemployment and chronic power shortages. Many women have little access to information about their own…
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World records shattered for HIV testing
Botswana, Ethiopia, South Africa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia/GABORONE, Botswana – Record-breaking numbers of people have received HIV counselling and testing through two historic initiatives in Ethiopia, Botswana, South Africa and Tanzania. Condoms,…
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Cyclone Pam cripples sexual and reproductive health services in Vanuatu
Vanuatu
PORT VILA, Vanuatu/SUVA, Fiji – Sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning and antenatal care, urgently need to be restored in Vanuatu following the massive destruction caused by Cyclone Pam.
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