MDG3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Some hope and cheer for the widows of Varanasi in India

May 24, 2013 02:04 PM For hundreds of widows in Varanasi, and towns like Vrindavan and Mathura, death seems to be the only way out of a lifetime of sorrow and crushing poverty.
[South Asia] [Widows India] [India] [Women]

Canada urges Pakistan for protection of polio workers

May 24, 2013 12:02 PM Pakistan is one of just three countries, including Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio remains endemic.
[South Asia] [Pakistan Polio]

Afghanistan urged to approve women's rights legislation

May 22, 2013 10:40 AM Senior United Nations officials in Afghanistan have urged the Government to fully implement legislation to protect women from child marriage and other forms of violence, in line with international commitments, after the Afghan Parliament failed to ratify the law over the weekend.
[Women's rights] [Afghanistan] [Legislation] [South Asia]

After fanfare, Nirbhaya fund going nowhere

May 20, 2013 11:35 AM The Rs-1000-crore fund for empowering women is languishing in a bureaucratic limbo, even as three ministries scrap over its control.
[Delhi women] [Delhi gangrape victim] [India]

Not numbers but people: Turning family planning around in India

May 16, 2013 03:10 PM The reality is that even though India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has declined to 2.5 and many states have achieved replacement level fertility, it has not meant a significant decline in maternal and infant mortality levels.
[South Asia] [Family planning] [India]

Kashmir on finger tips, thanks to Mehvish’s Android App

May 16, 2013 12:10 PM “I was always interested in technology and fortunately my family supported me in my decision to go into this field. In fact, no one in the family has ever forced me to do anything,” says Mehvish.
[South Asia] [Kashmir women] [India]

India announces low-cost rotavirus vaccine

May 14, 2013 07:00 PM “The clinical results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed, could save the lives of thousands of children each year in India,” said an Indian official.

Gender crime: India seeks views of Brazil, South Africa

May 14, 2013 05:55 PM India’s Minister for Women and Child Development, Krishna Tirath, said that there is need to increase women participation in panchayats and local bodies.
[Gender] [South Asia] [Gender Empowerment] [India]

Afghanistan signs $100 mn grant with WB for better health outcomes

May 09, 2013 11:35 AM The government of Afghanistan signed a $100 million grant with the World Bank on Monday to finance the Afghanistan System Enhancement for Health Action in Transition program.
[Health] [South Asia] [World Bank] [Afghanistan] [Grant]

Over 300,000 newborn deaths each year in India: report

May 07, 2013 01:35 PM Every year, over 309,300 children (29 per cent of global share) in India don't live beyond the first day because of pre-term birth, hygiene and maternal health complications, says the latest World Mothers Report authored by US-based organization, Save the Children. This is higher than for any of the other country 176 countries ranked in the report.
[South Asia] [India] [Child mortality] [Health]

Over 80% of healthy Indians are vitamin D deficient

May 07, 2013 11:10 AM Though there is no shortage of sunshine in the country, 80 per cent of healthy Indians suffer from deficiency of Vitamin D. Sunlight is the richest source of the vitamin, a pro-hormone substance that influences the expression of more than 200 genes in the human body.
[South Asia] [India] [Health]

World Bank approves $255 mn for AIDS project in India

May 06, 2013 02:34 PM The World Bank has approved the fourth of a series of credits aimed at supporting India’s AIDS control program which seeks to curb the spread of HIV by 2017. The $255 million credit to the National AIDS Control Support Project will help accelerate AIDS prevention programs by targeting vulnerable groups at high risk of infection.
[India] [World Bank] [South Asia] [AIDS]

Weaving the road to women empowerment

May 01, 2013 01:00 AM Sally Holkar, founder of Women Weave, an NGO working to empower women from the marginalised sections, says that the occupation of weaving not only provides financial security to women, it also gives them aesthetic pleasure. Excerpts from the interview.
[Textiles] [Handloom industry] [Social Business]

UN-backed Afghan vaccination drive to reach 8 mn kids

Apr 30, 2013 02:10 PM During a United Nations-backed global campaign to vaccinate children this week, Afghan Government officials are aiming to administer anti-measles and anti-polio vaccines along with additional doses of Vitamin A to about eight million children below five across the country.
[United Nations] [Afghanistan] [Health] [Children] [South Asia]

“Ensuring a safe workplace needs much more than laws and supervision”

Apr 29, 2013 03:25 PM Training and awareness regarding work related health & safety issues should find a place in schools and colleges where the nation’s future workforce is in making, writes Dileep Narayanrao Andhare, Professor (Occupational Health), Indian Institute of Public Health.
[South Asia] [India] [Occupational Health] [Health]

Environmental toxins threaten newborn babies

Apr 29, 2013 12:15 PM A study conducted by a Navi Mumbai Hospital involving around a 1,000 newborns indicates that genital abnormality caused by the rising levels of two strains of environmental toxins is emerging as a serious medical challenge. Boys are particularly at risk, the study states.
[Health] [India] [South Asia] [Environment]