People News

9:50 AM EST
2/10/2012 Drought response slowed by election feverWhile it is clear that Senegal was one of the eight Sahelian countries to be hit by poor rains in 2011, unlike most of its neighbours, the government has not yet declared that parts of certain regions are suffering drought conditions. This low-profile approach is slowing down donor and aid agencies' preparations and responses to help pastoralists and farmers get through the lean season.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Disaster And Accident, Drought, Politics, Election

10:47 AM EST
2/9/2012 "Gold mining beats school any day"At a waterlogged gold mine in western Kenya's Migori District,--year-old Jacob*, one of 15,000 children toiling in the region's pits, scours the water for glistering flakes, a job he says beats going to school on an empty stomach.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Economy, Business And Finance, Metal And Mineral, Mining, Education, School

12:32 PM EST
2/3/2012 Malaria mortality 'underestimated'A new attempt to quantify malaria deaths over the past 30 years suggests the death toll, especially among adults, has been greatly underestimated. The figures also show the fragility of the gains made in fighting the disease.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Health, Disease, Communicable Diseases, Healthcare Policy

10:29 AM EST
2/2/2012 Meningitis spreads as people scramble for vaccineEleven people have died from meningitis out of 40 reported cases in four departments across Côte d'Ivoire as of 31 January, leaving people scrambling to access the vaccine for their families.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Health, Disease, Communicable Diseases

8:13 AM EST
2/1/2012 Why polio is so hard to eliminatePoor-quality emergency immunization campaigns and low routine polio immunization coverage are helping the polio virus to spread in Chad, with 132 cases reported in 2011 - five times the number in 2010. More commitment is needed across the board, especially from local health authorities, to try to get immunizations right, say aid agencies.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Health, Preventative Medicine

12:04 PM EST
1/31/2012 Refugee children miss out on schoolIn the inner-city Johannesburg neighbourhood of Berea, where a large proportion of residents are refugees and asylum-seekers, it is not uncommon to see children playing football in the street or killing time at one of the local parks on a weekday. Judith Manjoro, an out-of-work teacher from Zimbabwe, teamed up with some other community workers two years ago to quiz the children about why they were not in school.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Education, School

8:05 AM EST
1/26/2012 Government scraps free health care for allCôte d'Ivoire is abandoning free health care for all after a brief experiment because of skyrocketing costs.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Health, Government Health Care

9:28 AM EST
1/25/2012 High cost of child traffickingForced child labor remains rampant in Central Africa, where poverty fuels the trafficking of children from poorer countries to oil-rich states such as Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo, according to experts. But a “near total absence of data” on the scope of the problem prevents media coverage of the issue, which is essential in influencing public opinion.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Slavery

8:18 AM EST
1/23/2012 Nyaluak Deng Awuol: 'This child, who will look after him now?'Nyaluak Deng Awuol is caring for her orphaned nephew, five-year-old Ajai Mawut Garang, who is recovering from a gunshot wound in a Juba hospital. He was injured along with dozens more in the latest revenge attack in South Sudan's Jonglei state, which the government said killed more than 80 people in the town of Duk Padiet, Duk County. Government and UN forces have failed to quell the ethnic violence that has reached a dramatic peak in recent weeks.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children

7:36 AM EST
1/20/2012 Tea rich but nutrient poorTea in Sri Lanka is one of the country's biggest cash crops, but families working on tea estates are among the nation's poorest in terms of earnings as well as nutrition, say experts who back regional approaches to tackle nutrition disparity. But the situation is worse for children of tea estate workers, with one in three classified as underweight and 40 percent of babies born with too-low weight.

Source:IRIN Topics:Social Issue, People, Children, Health, Medical Conditions