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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 119
9 - 15 April 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Aid reaches most flood victims
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban blocks polio vaccination
KYRGYZSTAN: Malaria persists despite eradication efforts
NEPAL: Tension in south could lead to war, analysts warn
NEPAL: More than 600,000 women suffer uterine prolapses
PAKISTAN: UN refugee agency faces deficit in Afghan repatriation funds
PAKISTAN: Quake-displaced people start returning home from camps


AFGHANISTAN: Aid reaches most flood victims

About two weeks after flash floods and avalanches caused extensive 
damage across one third of Afghanistan, relief has reached almost all 
affected areas, say government and United Nations officials.

"Excluding Daykondi and Nooristan provinces, where we face severe 
logistical constrains, aid has been distributed to all flood and 
avalanches-hit provinces," Abdul Matin Adrak, director of the 
Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), told IRIN in 
the capital Kabul on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71239


AFGHANISTAN: Taliban blocks polio vaccination

Gulalai, 45, has always viewed the health of her children as a top 
priority and is not afraid to speak up about it. "It's been two years 
and still no one has come to vaccinate my children against polio," the 
mother-of-five told IRIN.

But living in the heartland of Afghanistan's Uruzgan province - where a 
growing anti-government insurgency has made vaccinations all but 
impossible - Gulalai has no illusions as to why.

"The vaccinators don't feel safe. They won't come and our children will 
suffer," she said from the town of Madabot, a dust-ridden community of 
15,000 people just 15km from the provincial capital of Tarinkot.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70721


KYRGYZSTAN: Malaria persists despite eradication efforts

Health officials are keen to stem rising rates of malaria in Kyrgyzstan 
and prevent a serious outbreak, the likes of which the country 
experienced in 2002. In March, the government launched a campaign ahead 
of the May-October malaria season to improve awareness of symptoms of 
the disease.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71268


NEPAL: Tension in south could lead to war, analysts warn

As Nepal continues its transition from a decade-long armed conflict 
towards a peaceful democratic nation, analysts say a serious hurdle 
stands in its way - violence and unrest in the country's southern Terai 
region.

For the past three months, ethnic Madhesi groups have been demanding 
regional autonomy and greater political rights for their community in 
the Terai - home to almost half of Nepal's 27 million inhabitants, the 
majority of whom are Madhesis.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71235


NEPAL: More than 600,000 women suffer uterine prolapses

Nuche Maya Maharjan suffered a discomforting medical condition for 35 
years before she built up the courage to seek medical assistance. For 
years she had no idea what the condition was and whether it could be 
treated.

"I had just given birth to my first child and was working in the fields 
near my village. Suddenly I felt as if my insides were dropping out of 
me," the 66-year-old recalled.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71244


PAKISTAN: UN refugee agency faces deficit in Afghan repatriation funds

After recently announcing that it was tripling its cash assistance for 
repatriating Afghans, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it 
may need to raise funds to live up to its promise in the last five days 
of the offer.

"UNHCR will need to do fund raising if the figures [of repatriating 
Afghans] go beyond the 200,000 mark," Babar Baloch, a spokesman for 
UNHCR in Pakistan, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71256


PAKISTAN: Quake-displaced people start returning home from camps

About 1,500 people displaced by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in October 
2005 have returned to their areas of origin from makeshift tented 
settlements in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, aid officials said on 
Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71578


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