Individuals who find themselves in natural disasters, crimes and other types of catastrophes re now just a
click away from safety, thanks to a recently invented software that was used in the devastating earthquake
in Haiti.
The website of the software is “Ushahidi” which, when translated to Swahili, means “testimony”. The
software has already been used during the 2008 Kenya elections, to report violent crimes and other events.
According to an Ushahidi volunteer, the 2008 elections motivated Kenyan civilians to look for a way
through which they can stay connected to share events that they witnessed.
The main function of the software is to allow participants to send text messages to each other so they can
all stay updated about the violent incidents occurring in the country.
The Ushahidi has actually been used in other parts of the world. For instance, in 2008, it was used in South
Africa in order to map attacks. The software has also been used in order to supervise elections in countries
such as India, Sudan and Mexico. During a strong blizzard in Washington, the software was also utilized as
a warning system for drivers who were heading toward snow-covered roads. Perhaps the most recent use of
the software is in the oil spill in Mexico.

The US State Department recently added several Southeast Asian countries in its list of human trafficking watch list. The governments of these added countries are advised to boost their efforts when it comes to tracking down and punishing perpetrators.

Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are countries that have made plenty of effort over the past year to battle its human trafficking problem. However, according to the recent report of Trafficking in Persons of the US State Department, these efforts are not merely enough. The three countries still ended up in the second their of the watch list along with fellow Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

According to Phil Robertson of the Human Rights Watch, including these countries in the watch list is a good move to push their governments in the right direction. He expects that the governments will be consulting the report to discover problem areas that need to be addressed in order to remove their countries from the list.

According to ECPAT, a group of organizations that battle children human trafficking, even though many countries have made some progress in the area of human trafficking, there is still a long way to go.

In a country like Somalia where the population is predominantly Muslim, it’s very rare for HIV victims to speak about their condition. What’s even more rare is if the HIV victim is a woman. Despite this, a 50-year-old woman who is a Somali refugee is speaking out about her disease.

The mother of four shared how she discovered that she had HIV about a year ago. Primarily, she only wanted to get tested for tuberculosis but doctors told her to seek voluntary counseling and testing as well. She was shocked and devastated when the results of the tests came back positive. She suspects that the HIV was passed on to her by her ex-husband who remains in Somalia and whom she heard was also sick. Fortunately, all her children tested negative.

She also talks about how the virus made her see who her friends really are. People whom she thought were her friends quickly turned against her upon finding out that she had HIV. In fact, she and her children have had to move around four times because her neighbors discriminate against her and her family. Some neighbors even assume that just by talking to her, they could contract the disease.

She shares how ignorance is the biggest problem for HIV victims in the country today and how this ignorance prohibits patients like her from speaking up.

The responsibility of feeding children used to lie solely on the women of Mali. Now, however, nutrition experts are reporting that men are participating more and more in the activity. This is considered to be an important progress especially in a country that is devastated by under-nutrition in its children.

According to an NGO on nutrition, a lot of men in the country are now realizing how significant nutrition is, and that it is an issue for which the entire family is responsible, not just women.

The NGO also attributes this awareness to extensive nutrition campaigns. Economic reasons are also behind this awareness. When children receive proper nutrition, they also prevent illnesses and malnutrition. Sick and malnourished children call for treatments that can prove to be expensive.

According to Mali’s Health Ministry, it’s extremely important for men to get involved in children’s nutrition since men are the heads of the families who make important decisions.

Fathers of the region are now opting for fortified flour and making sure that the daily meals of the family include plenty of eggs, fish, fruits and other healthy foods.

Aside from the men, local leaders are also stepping up to the plate when it comes to children’s nutrition. For instance, women in the region used to think that the milk of an early mother is toxic. Leaders are now correcting this false idea and encouraging women to feed this milk to babies.

It has merely been months since the nation of Haiti was devastated by powerful earthquake and citizens have barely recovered from the disaster. Unfortunately, it seems that the Haitian people are about to face a new challenge as the country’s storm season draws near. Strong wind and rains are currently sweeping through the country, destroying the makeshift tents that evacuees have built for their living quarters.

According to an officer who is overlooking the shelters, more displaced people are opting for tarpaulin instead of ordinary tents because tarpaulin is made of stronger material and is able to hold up better. However, the officer also says that even the best tarpaulin is no match for a hurricane. Flood is also another problem that they face.

An estimated million and a half people are living in Haitian camps. Aid providers and humanitarian agencies are currently working to build sturdier houses that are raised from the ground but the entire project could take up about a year.

Even though materials and project funding are not a problem anymore, clearing the site of rubble and settling land issues could be time-consuming.

To help the displaced families in the meantime, aid organizations are distributing building materials such as rope, wood, nails as well as instructions on how evacuees can improve their shelters.

NGOs and other humanitarian groups in Indonesia are expressing concern over the vulnerable position of children in the country, given the fact that children’s rights are still not part of the government’s top priorities.

The National NGO Coalition for Child Rights Monitoring recently released a report that showed how child protection in Indonesia can be improved, focusing on the study of the implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.

Some of the group’s recommendations involved fighting selling of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

According to the studies of the National Commission for Child Protection, almost 90% of the children that was tried in court in the year 2009 were sent to jail. Surprisingly, more than half of them were sent to prisons with adults. Indonesia’s law also states that even a child by the age of eight could be held criminally responsible.

Humanitarians also continue to push for other basic children’s rights such as right to education and good health care. The report was created after studying almost 400 children across the archipelago of Indonesia. Some of the children were school dropouts, street beggars and victims of sexual crimes.

Humanitarians stated how this report gives the much-needed voice to children who are generally ignored by the country’s laws.

Health organizations in the Philippines are currently considering providing training to midwives in order to minimize the amount of maternal deaths in the country. According to Rosalie Paje of the Family Health Office division of the Department of Health, training midwives can cut out as much as 80% of the total maternal deaths in the country.

Paje says that midwifery plays a huge role in maternal health in the Philippines. She states how midwives are still in practice in remote provinces of the country as well as areas that are surrounded with political tension and have no access to medical care.

Currently, there are about 17, 500 registered midwives in the Philippines, according to Patricia Gomez. Gomez heads the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines. These midwives earn about $300 per month, on average, with many earning even less. This number of midwives, however, is still not enough to provide care for the more than 40,000 towns of the Philippine islands.

According to studies, more than half of childbirth deliveries still occur at home. This goes to show that highly-trained midwives are necessary in order to carry out safer deliveries.

In the Philippines, midwives are authorized to supervise births, provided that they have a license and that the delivery is normal.

The link between pregnancy and HIV has been a target of many studies in the past several years. Some of these studies have showed that pregnant women have a higher chance of contracting HIV. However, recent studies are now also showing that men are also at risk of contracting the virus from a pregnant sexual partner.

These research results were discussed in the latest International Microbicides Conference which was recently held in Pittsburgh. The studies were presented by the Partners in Prevention HSV/HIV Transmission Study Team. The team conducted its research by following more than 3,000 couples wherein one partner was positive for HIV while the other is negative. After two years, the team found out that over 20% of the females contracted the virus while they were pregnant and almost the same percentage was found among men who contracted the virus when their partners were pregnant.

According to Dr. Nelly Mugo who was part of the research team, it is possible that the biological changes that occur in a pregnant woman’s body are responsible for the faster transmission of HIV. Even though more studies are needed for this area, Dr. Mugo believes that the findings are enough reason for men to receive HIV testing along with their partners before, during and after pregnancy.