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BURKINA FASO: Child brides fight child marriage

It was not enough to argue that girls could not legally marry in Burkina Faso before age 17, or even that their lives might be put at risk. Tethered to tradition, some families and community leaders steadfastly resisted multimillion dollar efforts to wipe out child marriage, especially in the Muslim-dominant Sahel region in the north. UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has given US$7 million dollars to fight child marriage in Burkina Faso since 2002, but child rights organisations noted that in five...

BURKINA FASO: Fistula in Sahel region highlighted

OUAGADOUGOU Monday, July 28, 2008 (IRIN) - Doctors in Burkina Faso say fistula is being under-reported, and are launching a new project to offer free surgery to some of the affected women. According to the government’s statistics, there were just 54 cases of fistula in Burkina Faso in 2007. But Aboubakar Coulibaly, a doctor in the national health system, said “Cases are being under-reported.” The main causes of fistula are men raping and impregnating very young children, and prolonged...

BURKINA FASO: Six killed and thousands affected by heavy rains

OUAGADOUGOU Monday, September 01, 2008 (IRIN) - Heavy rains and violent winds in Burkina Faso have killed six people, wounded 18, and left 4,200 homeless according to the government’s National Council for Emergency Aid (CONASUR). Seven of the country’s 13 regions have been affected by the rains according to Amade Belem, the permanent secretary of CONASUR, and overall 500 houses have been destroyed. The highest homeless toll is in Batié in the southwest where 1,188 people are displaced and are...

BURKINA FASO: European Union pledges more aid to fight malnutrition

OUAGADOUGOU Monday, September 15, 2008 (IRIN) - The European Commission (EC) is ready to increase its aid to fight malnutrition in Burkina Faso if current EC nutrition projects prove to be "success stories," said its humanitarian chief Louis Michel. Michel announced the new commitment during the opening of a European Commission Development and Humanitarian Aid office (ECHO) in the capital, Ouagadougou, on 13 September. ECHO is currently funding some ten humanitarian projects in Burkina Faso...

BURKINA FASO: Finding new ways to feed HIV-positive people

OUAGADOUGOU Wednesday, November 19, 2008 (IRIN) - High food prices and cuts in food aid to HIV-positive people are forcing relief organisations in Burkina Faso to take another look at local foods to keep people healthy. "We are all working with sustainability in mind, and we cannot always continue to rely on external support," said Dr Joseph Aimé Bidiga, who runs the health division at the national AIDS control council, CNLS. "We must take action to allow us to do as much as possible with...

WEST AFRICA: Cross-border FGM on the rise

Cross-border female genital mutilation / cutting (FGM/C) is on the rise in West Africa according to the UN, spurring the need to impose a region-wide law banning the practice, say experts. Experts from the region met this week to discuss how to eliminate FGM/C across West Africa, at a conference sponsored by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou. A study sponsored by UNIFEM to be released in late October 2008 said  circumcisers or girls who undergo...

AFRICA: Cervical cancer vaults to WHO priority list

With cervical cancer cases rising across Sub-Saharan Africa, and 80 percent of women diagnosed too late to stop the cancer’s deadly spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending screening and vaccination programmes throughout the region. “WHO is going to strongly advocate with donors and decision-makers to list cervical cancer as a public health priority…because with a vaccine we can save lives by preventing cervical cancer.” said Jean Gabriel Wango, head of family health at WHO...

BURKINA FASO: Six killed and thousands affected by heavy rains

Heavy rains and violent winds in Burkina Faso have killed six people, wounded 18, and left 4,200 homeless according to the government’s National Council for Emergency Aid (CONASUR). Seven of the country’s 13 regions have been affected by the rains according to Amade Belem, the permanent secretary of CONASUR, and overall 500 houses have been destroyed. The highest homeless toll is in Batié in the southwest where 1,188 people are displaced and are currently sheltering in schools or government...

Planting Underway in Burkina Faso

FAO Initiative Focuses on Local Production to Offset High Prices FAO is moving into the final stages of an intensive month-long distribution of millet, sorghum, maize, cowpea and peanut seeds to 33 000 farmers in the regions of Burkina Faso that have been hardest-hit by a devastating combination of soaring food prices and severe weather that has vastly reduced the local food supply. Prices across the region have been increasing steadily over the past two years, mirroring the outside pressures...

BURKINA FASO: Fistula in Sahel region highlighted

Doctors in Burkina Faso say fistula is being under-reported, and are launching a new project to offer free surgery to some of the affected women. According to the government’s statistics, there were just 54 cases of fistula in Burkina Faso in 2007. But Aboubakar Coulibaly, a doctor in the national health system, said “Cases are being under-reported.” The main causes of fistula are men raping and impregnating very young children, and prolonged obstructed labour, usually because women and...