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Global goal to reduce maternal deaths threatened by lack of access to quality care: study

By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Unequal access to health services and poor quality care for pregnant women is hampering progress in meeting international goals for eradicating deaths during childbirth, researchers said on Thursday. U.N. member states agreed a year ago to reduce the rate of maternal mortality, defined as a woman’s death during pregnancy, childbirth or within 6 weeks after birth, to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births globally by 2030 as part of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Globally maternal deaths have nearly halved since 1990 – falling to 216 women dying of maternal causes per 100,000 live births in 2015 from 385 per 100,000 in 1990.

Congo doctor Denis Mukwege named among TIME 100 most influential people

By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Nobel-prize nominated Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, who treats war rape victims, was named by TIME magazine on Thursday as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The 61-year-old doctor founded the Panzi Hospital in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1999 to help women and girls who had been raped during the conflict then raging in the country. “The people on the list, each in their own way, have lessons to teach,” TIME editor Nancy Gibbs said in a statement accompanying the release of the 2016 TIME 100.

Kenya’s 2007/8 post-election violence still haunts journalists, study says

By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenyan journalists who reported on their country's worst outbreak of inter-ethnic violence, which killed more than 1,000 people following a disputed 2007 election, remain traumatized, researchers said on Friday. The Royal Society of Medicine said it was the first major study of the emotional well-being of journalists covering violent events in Africa, although half of the continent's countries are either at war or have recently experienced it. “Post election violence was experienced firsthand as neighbor turned on neighbor, communities were destroyed and the media in some cases became the focus of mob rage,” said the study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Open.

Maasai cricketers and England’s top bowler unite against HIV, FGM

By Joseph D'Urso LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When playing cricket, as when practising safe sex, it is best to wear protection, be faithful to one's partner, and duck away from anything that seems a bit risky, says Sonyanga Ole Ngais, captain of the Maasai Cricket Warriors, a Kenyan side. A group of young Maasai men are taught to play cricket, wearing white leg pads and gloves as well as traditional Maasai dress, their red shawls and bright jewels fluttering as they learn to bowl, bat and catch against stunning landscapes.

Investing in science can be ‘the game changer’ for development: experts

By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Investing up to 3.5 percent of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in science, technology and innovation can be “the game changer” for development, leading experts said on Thursday. Science, technology and innovation (STI) can help alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities, increase income and improve health, scientists advising U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on sustainable development said. “If countries wish to break the poverty cycle and achieve post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, they will have to set up ambitious national minimum target investments for STI,” the 26-member Scientific Advisory Board said.

British anti-slavery chief enlists Vatican in global pact to end slavery

By Chris Arsenault VATICAN CITY (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Britain’s anti-slavery commissioner received the backing of the Catholic Church on Saturday for a campaign to push for a global pact vowing to eradicate slavery in the next 15 years. Kevin Hyland, who took up the new role last year, is lobbying world leaders to support a commitment to end forced labor and slavery of all forms in a set of global development goals to be adopted at the United Nations in September. While slavery is illegal in every country on earth, an estimated 36 million people are trapped in modern slavery.

Tanzanian woman wins landmark case over childbirth operation

By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A woman left unable to have children after a defective caesarian section operation in Tanzania has won a landmark case against a local hospital whose surgeon left a piece of cloth inside her. Mwamini Adam and her husband filed a lawsuit at the high court in western Tabora region against Urambo District Council’s hospital four years ago, demanding 500 million Tanzanian Shillings ($265,000) for physical and emotional distress. Adam, 37, accused Jacob Kamanda, a gynecologist and obstetrician at the district hospital, of professional negligence and misconduct after he left a piece of cloth in her stomach after performing a caesarian section operation. She said the defective operation meant she can no longer give birth because doctors performing a life-saving corrective operation decided to remove her uterus.