Dear HIFA (general health) and CHIFA (child health) colleagues,
A vital part of our current collaboration with WHO is to identify examples of how to maintain essential health services and protect people's health during the COVID pandemic. This is especially true of those who are vulnerable.
'From Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania in the east to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the west, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in reports of girls across Africa undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM), say women’s rights groups...'
Extracts below from a Reuters news item, with thanks to Global Health Now. Full text here: https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-fgm/feature-covid-cre...
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From Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania in the east to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the west, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in reports of girls across Africa undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM), say women’s rights groups...
For the pandemic has created a perfect storm for proponents of cutting: vulnerable girls stuck at home without teachers’ protection, anti-FGM groups grounded by lockdown and hard-pressed health services diverted to COVID-19.
Shutdown has also driven poverty higher, said campaigners, so families perform FGM hoping to marry their daughters off to ease the financial burden at home or gain a dowry...
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Best wishes, Neil
Coordinator, WHO-HIFA Collaboration: HIFA project on Essential Health Services and COVID-19
https://www.hifa.org/projects/essential-health-services-and-covid-19
Let's build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare information - Join HIFA: www.hifa.org
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of the HIFA global health campaign (Healthcare Information For All - www.hifa.org ), a global community with more than 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting on six global forums in four languages in collaboration with WHO. Twitter: @hifa_org FB: facebook.com/HIFAdotORG neil@hifa.org
