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7 March 2005
ABUJA, Nigeria, 7 March 2005—A total of 545 women were operated on during the “Fistula Fortnight,” an unprecedented surgical effort to treat women living with obstetric fistula and train doctors in repair techniques at four sites in northern Nigeria.
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Extending Help to Migrant Communities Hit by Tsunami
NAM KHEM, Phang-nga Province, Thailand, 2 March 2005—When the tsunami waters raged through this fishing town, home to thousands of migrant families from Myanmar, Nu Nu Aye raced to the office of World Vision, where she volunteered as a community health educator. The young woman found the key on a hook on the wall, somehow slogged through the chest-high water to the stairs and climbed to the roof. From there, she watched the flood smash fishing trawlers into houses and carry her neighbours away.
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MEDIA ADVISORY: UNFPA Events During 10-Year Review of Beijing Women's Conference
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 25 February 2005—Over the next two weeks, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will be involved in a number of events during the review and appraisal of the outcomes of the Beijing conference on women in New York from 28 February to 11 March. The events will emphasize the centrality of the Beijing outcomes to improving the status of women and highlight the need for the international community to follow-through with actions that it had agreed on in Beijing in 1995.
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UK Doctor at "Home" in Nigerian Fortnight Effort
KATSINA, Nigeria, 25 February 2005—For Dr. Gloria Esegbona, participating in the “Fistula Fortnight” is like coming home. The 30-year-old obstetric gynaecologist was born in Britain to Nigerian parents and is one of four international surgical volunteers taking part in the two-week pilot project in northern Nigeria. “It was something I wanted to do,” said Dr. Esegbona, whose family originates from the Delta State of Nigeria. “I feel I’m Nigerian. I’m coming home to help.”
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UNFPA Responds to Reproductive Health Needs in Rebuilt Communities and Among Migrants in Tsunami Region
PHUKET, Thailand, 24 February 2005—Responding to critical needs in Thailand’s tsunami-affected communities, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is expanding its support for maternal and child health and family planning services and HIV prevention.
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Population Projections Show World Must Act Faster to Help Women in Poor Countries, Says UNFPA Head
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 24 February 2005—New projections of the world’s population should spur more urgent action to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and help more women and men determine freely the size of their families, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, said today.
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"Fistula Fortnight" Opens in Nigeria: 46 Women Treated for Obstetric Fistula on First Day
Katsina, Nigeria, 22 February 2005—As "Fistula Fortnight", the largest surgical effort to treat women living with obstetric fistula over a two-week period, opened in Nigeria, 46 women were treated on the first day. A team of four volunteer doctors from the United Kingdom and the United States are partnering with a team of 24 Nigerian expert fistula surgeons and trainee doctors to treat hundreds of women living with fistula in the northern States of the country.
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Healing Wounds, Restoring Hope in Nigeria
KANO, Nigeria, 21 February 2005— A 15-year-old girl from Dutsan in Kano State is one of Dr. Waaldijk’s first patients of the day. She had been married for one year when she went into labour. After two days protracted labour she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. Despite having a Caesarean section, the damage was already done resulting in fistula. “I was disturbed because I was leaking, and I was embarrassed, but there was nothing I could do,” she said. After 42 days, her doctor referred her to the fistula centre in Kano where she was repaired in a 20-minute operation by Dr. Waaldijk.
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Viet Nam: Transforming Village Economies One Woman at a Time
DONG LOI, Viet Nam, 16 February 2005—Nestled in the forested uplands of northern Viet Nam, Dong Loi village sits at the end of a verdant valley. The village is surrounded by rice paddies that turn bottomland into a patchwork of emerald green. The hills are terraced with fruit trees, tea bushes and manioc. The Muong people who live in the region are mostly farmers. They grow rice, maize (corn) and tea and raise pigs and chickens. Though the Muong are an ethnic minority in Viet Nam, they comprise 60 per cent of the population in this district. Their houses, built of bamboo and thatch, rest on stilts. These “sky houses” keep out unwanted intruders, such as rats, mice and insects, and take advantage of cooling breezes.
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MEDIA ADVISORY: "Fistula Fortnight" to Treat Hundreds of Fistula Patients in Nigeria
15 February 2005—Volunteer doctors from the United Kingdom and the United States will join forces with a team of Nigerian surgeons this month to treat hundreds of women suffering from obstetric fistula and train in fistula surgery. During this "Fistula Fortnight" event, an unprecedented number of women will be treated over a two-week period in a country with one of the highest fistula prevalence rates in Africa. Studies indicate that between 400,000 and 800,000 Nigerian women are living with fistula, with an estimated 20,000 new cases each year. The problem is particularly severe in the country’s northern states.
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Winners of 2004 International Poster Contest Selected
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 9 February 2005—Winners of the 2004 International Poster Contest, organized by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, for young artists worldwide, have been selected. International winners from five age groups were chosen from more than 160 entries that had won national contests in 40 countries.
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Ms. Obaid Among 50 Most Powerful Arab Women, Forbes Says
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 7 February 2005—Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has been named one of the 50 most powerful women in the Arab world by Forbes magazine’s Arabic edition. The magazine has been famous for such authoritative lists as its annual America’s wealthiest 400.
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UNFPA-Trained Volunteers Lend Social Support to Grieving Sri Lankan Women
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka, 7 February 2005—Sitting in a tent in the stifling heat, Latha Wijesiri, a volunteer health worker, talks quietly with four women about their immediate emotional and physical needs. One of the women, the youngest, lost her husband to the tsunami which ravaged Sri Lanka’s southeast coast a month ago. The rest have lost relatives and friends. All have lost their homes and livelihoods.
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Number of Countries Contributing to UNFPA Reaches New High in 2004
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 26 January 2005—A total of 166 countries contributed to UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, in 2004 – a record high in the Fund’s 35-year history. The top six donors were the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Contributions to UNFPA regular resources in 2004 were $326 million (provisional), the highest total ever, passing for the first time the 1996 high of $300 million.
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Aceh Tsunami Survivors Need More Family Planning Supplies
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, 25 January 2005—Nearly four weeks after the tsunami, doctors and local social workers say there will be an increased demand for contraceptives among the displaced population, as couples seek to prevent pregnancies while they are living in camps. A medical doctor with the Indonesian National Family Planning Coordinating Board, Tri Tjahjadi, said that his office is experiencing an increase in demand for contraceptives from people in camps in various parts of Aceh province.
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Germany and Norway Support UNFPA Assistance to Tsunami Survivors
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 24 January 2005—UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, warmly welcomed new contributions by the Governments of Germany and Norway to its ongoing efforts to assist the survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The new amounts of $8.1 million from Germany and $2 million from Norway came in response to a $28 million tsunami-relief appeal issued by UNFPA earlier this month.
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Sri Lankan Maternity Hospital Staff Copes With Crisis
GALLE, Sri Lanka, 20 January 2005—Dr. Samarasinghe was in the middle of a Caesarean section when the first of three massive waves slammed into the Maternity Hospital in the south coast city of Galle. The electricity was knocked out immediately along with the emergency generator. “It sounded like a freight train coming straight through the ground floor,” he recalls.
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Survivors Give Birth Without Basic Necessities
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, 19 January 2005—Zakira was born last Saturday on a plastic tarp in an improvised camp for people who lost their homes in the Dec. 26 tsunami. She was born without the use of any medicines, sanitary supplies, even a piece of soap. The newborn’s aunt, who is a midwife, used a pair of paper scissors to cut the umbilical cord.
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UNFPA Welcomes Millennium Project's Emphasis on Critical Roles of Gender and Reproductive Health in Poverty Reduction; Urges Speedy Implementation of Recommendations
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 17 January 2005—Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has welcomed the recommendations of the report of the United Nations Millennium Project and urged all development actors to implement them rapidly to save lives, reduce poverty and promote development in poor countries. The Millennium Project is an independent group of development experts, led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, New York.
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Sri Lanka: Young People Pitch in to Assist Survivors of Tsunami Disaster
COLOMBO—In a quiet, leafy enclave in Sri Lanka’s capital, 35 young volunteers work in assembly line fashion putting together emergency hygienic supplies. These supplies are badly needed by women and girls affected by the devastating tsunami that claimed 30,000 lives in this island country and left over 800,000 homeless.
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UNFPA Ships Supplies to Ensure Safe Childbirth and Meet Women's Needs in Tsunami-Hit Countries
JAKARTA, 14 January 2005—To protect the lives of Indonesian women affected by last month’s earthquake and tsunami, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has sent 18 tons of equipment and supplies for maternity care to Aceh Province. Contents range from simple supplies for safe and sanitary home deliveries to hospital equipment needed to re-establish emergency obstetric care for those who experience life-threatening complications during childbirth.
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Japan and the Netherlands Support UNFPA Efforts to Assist Tsunami Survivors
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 13 January 2005—Two new contributions for a total of $6.5 million will help UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, redouble its efforts to meet the health and psycho-social needs of survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami, particularly women and youth. The contributions – $5.5 million by the Government of Japan and $1 million by the Government of the Netherlands – were announced this week.
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UNFPA Appeals to Donors for $28 Million for Women and Youth Affected by Tsunami
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 6 January—UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is requesting donors for approximately $28 million to help meet urgent health, hygiene and protection needs for women and youth in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Maldives, the three countries hardest hit by last week’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
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UNFPA Calls for Greater Security for Women Affected by Tsunami
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 5 January—Increased security and better design of humanitarian assistance are urgently needed to minimize attacks on women in areas affected by last week’s earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, warns UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
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