Latest Women's rights Stories

To: NATIONAL EDITORS Contact: Shannon Egan (NY), +1-212-297-4975, egan@unfpa.org, or Trygve Olfarnes (Panama City), +507-301-7362, olfarnes@unfpa.org UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 800,000 people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Haiti in the wake of hurricanes Fay and Gustav and tropical storm Hanna. Houses, medical facilities, main roads and bridges have been destroyed, and an estimated 100,000 people have sought refuge in temporary...

A U.S. study suggests exclusive breastfeeding promotes greater weight loss than mixed feeding among mothers, even during the early postpartum period. University of Georgia researchers Irene Hatsu, Dawn McDougald and Alex Anderson investigated the effect of infant feeding mode on maternal body composition. They measured the weight and changes in body fat among 24 mothers who were 19-42 years old. Results showed that mothers who exclusively breastfed lost the most weight, most likely due to...

Health bosses have appointed a new adviser to encourage mothers to breast feed their babies. Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has appointed a infant feeding adviser, Katy Thompson, who has worked as a midwife at Stafford Hospital for the past five years. She said: "My role is to provide care, support and up-to-date advice to women, their families and colleagues about infant feeding. "There is clear evidence that breastfeeding has health benefits for both mum and baby. "We need to...

MOTHERS and babies held a special picnic to raise awareness about breast feeding. The event was held in the grounds of Liverpool Women's hospital to mark National Breastfeeding Week. Members of the hospital's infant feeding team said only 50% of women in the city choose to breastfeed, even though it is better for baby and mother. Breast-fed babies are less likely to become overweight children and have fewer infections, while their mothers have lower rates of breast and ovarian cancer...

KUALA LUMPUR: Sex education will soon be part of the curriculum of the National Service Training Programme. Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen said emphasis would be given to reproductive healthcare and youth sexuality. She said the move was also to ensure better health for women, mothers and babies. She added that life-long quality reproductive health services, especially during pregnancies, could reduce fatalities during deliveries. "Maternity,...

By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A major U.N. meeting on AIDS strategy on Friday fell short of concrete financial commitments but recognized the growing spread of the disease among women and their right to protect themselves. Friday's session, the last day of a three-day meeting, brought together heads of state, prime ministers and health officials from 151 countries on how to care for 40 million infected people over the next decade. Some 25 million people have died of AIDS...

By Lorraine Orlandi MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - When Sandra Rodriguez, a mentally handicapped live-in maid, was raped by her boss and left pregnant in 2002, Mexican courts stopped her from having an abortion although it was her legal right. Rodriguez, 30, had the mental capacity of a 10-year-old, court-ordered evaluations showed, but Guanajuato state prosecutors questioned whether she had been raped or consented to sex. She gave birth to a girl who was put up for adoption. Prosecutors...

By Gideon Long LONDON (Reuters) - Rukhsana Naz was 19 when her mother pinned her to the floor of their family house and her brother strangled her with a length of plastic cable. Sahjda Bibi, 21, was preparing to celebrate her wedding when her cousin stabbed her 22 times with a kitchen knife. The father of 16-year-old Heshu Yones slit her throat because he disapproved of her Western habits and non-Muslim boyfriend. All were victims of "honor killings," murdered by relatives who believed...

By Anthony J. Brown, MDNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A number of factors influence whether a women will give up breastfeeding before the baby can derive any health benefits from it, new research suggests -- but with more encouragement and help many more women might persevere.Numerous studies have documented the health benefits of breastfeeding for the infant, such as a decreased risk of upper respiratory infections and possibly even a reduced risk of dying. Still, many women forgo breastfeeding...

By Graciela Flores NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who breastfeed longer have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research shows. "Various studies suggest that breastfeeding affects women's metabolism, and that prompted us to look at whether lactation does something in terms of diabetes risk," Dr. Alison M. Stuebe of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston told Reuters Health. "Those studies show that metabolism, lactation, and reproduction are...