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As African countries impose measures to prevent the spread of highly contagious Covid-19, sexual and reproductive health workers are finding their work increasingly difficult, from transportation bans to rules that could put a pregnant woman’s life in jeopardy, according to an international sexual health group. “The Covid-19 pandemic is a health crisis across every setting,...Read More

“You were born yesterday, and you are the one who wants to talk to us about female genital mutilation? This is what parents say when we try to talk to them about it,” says 25-year-old Coulibaly who is youth activist working with Plan International to end the practice of FGM in his community in Mali....Read More

A new story book that aims to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19 has been produced by a collaboration of more than 50 organizations working in the humanitarian sector, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Federation of Red Cross...Read More

Calls to helplines have soared in many countries as lockdowns leave women trapped with abusive partners. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has called on governments to take urgent measures to tackle a “horrifying global surge” in domestic violence fuelled by worldwide lockdowns to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. Calls to helplines have doubled or...Read More

Introduction First detected in China’s Hubei Province in late December 2019, novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has since spread to 141 countries or regions, and health actors had confirmed more than 156,000 cases as of March 14. Numbers are expected to continue rising exponentially in the coming days, weeks, and months. Initial research indicates that older...Read More

Amina J. Mohammed was speaking in the capital, Port Moresby, where she participated in the national launch of the Spotlight Initiative, a European Union-UN partnership to eliminate violence against women and girls by the SDG deadline of 2030. The UN estimates that while one in three women worldwide is affected by violence in their lifetime, the number could...Read More