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Putting an End to Female Genital Mutilation
Today marks the annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Each year February 6th is spent by leading NGOs and international aids organizations spreading awareness about the devastating cutting practice that puts three million girls in both east and west Africa as well as Arab countries at risk of undergoing FGM. An…
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Under Five Child Survival Under Microscope at Summit
This week child survival is under critical review in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the African Leadership for Child Survival – A Promise Renewed summit. This meeting, held at the African Union headquarters and convened by the Ethiopian government along with UNICEF and USAID brought together African Ministers of Health to enter into discussions about markedly…
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Former Somali Child Soldiers Turned Over to UNICEF
There are over 300,000 children who are engaged in warfare and combat around the world according to UNICEF. This is despite 2002’s Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which outlaws children under the age of 18 (it was formerly 15 years of age) from being a part of armed conflict.…
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One Simple Way to Teach Your Kids to Give This Halloween
Halloween, like many holidays, is a day of getting for kids – getting candy, small toys, sweets, cupcakes, you name it. Anything with sugar in it is fair game. Don’t get me wrong. I love Halloween as much as the next person. I have fond memories of Halloween as a child and have always wanted…
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Ghana Set to Roll Out Two Vaccines Next Week
Starting on April 21 through April 28 the world will celebrate World Immunization Month. It’s a pivotal time for global health to celebrate milestones in the advancement of vaccine awareness and implementation. On Thursday, April 26 Ghana will roll out two vaccines – pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines – in order to drastically reduce the number…
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Can You Imagine Not Being Able to Feed Your Children?
Can you imagine not being able to feed your children? I can’t either. I have never been in this situation, but mothers all across the Sahel are facing this dire dilemma even as I write this. In Mali in particular where one president stepped down on Sunday, another takes office on Thursday and rebels are…
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Interviewing Peg Willingham, Shot at Life’s Executive Director
In many developing nations children are born with a distinct disadvantage: the risk of dying from pneumonia or diarrhea, the two leading causes of death for children in the third world. If these children are fortunate enough to escape the grip of those two infectious diseases they may come down with malaria or measles, or…