Weekly Round-Up - IRINWA-395: 28-Sep-07
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for West Africa
Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
e-mail: irin-wa@irin.ci
WEST AFRICA
IRIN-WA Weekly Round-Up 395
24 - 28 September 2007
CONTENTS
BURKINA FASO: Lack of medical specialists, equipment forces patients
abroad for care
BURKINA FASO: Girl's death prompts search for new strategies to fight
FGM
CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC-CHAD: France takes the lead on new UN-EU
peacekeeping mission
LIBERIA: Less cholera with better hygiene
NIGERIA: What has Yar'Adua done for basic services?
WEST AFRICA: Flood damage pushes back school term for millions
WEST AFRICA: Widespread flooding tests governments, aid community
BURKINA FASO: Lack of medical specialists, equipment forces patients
abroad for care
Five-year-old Salamata Compaore in Burkina Faso suffers from a
malformation of the heart that leads to shortness of breath, stunted
growth and sometimes heart failure. Last month, she appeared on national
TV in an appeal for help with an operation overseas. "Without surgery,
she will die," said Professor Patrice Zamsore, head of the cardiology
department at the Yalgado hospital, the largest in Burkina Faso. An
expensive trip abroad is the only hope for people like Compaore, in
Burkina Faso and other countries in the region where medical specialists
and equipment to treat many conditions are unavailable. Some of the most
common health problems in Burkina - cardiovascular disease and cervical
and breast cancer - cannot be treated inside the country. Advanced
surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy materials are not available.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74555
BURKINA FASO: Girl's death prompts search for new strategies to fight
FGM
The death of a 14-year-old girl from female genital mutilation/cutting
(FGM/C) has sparked shock and anger in Burkina Faso, which has been seen
as far ahead of other African countries in the fight against the
practice. "Sorrowful and shocking" is how Aina Ouedraogo, permanent
secretary of the National Committee for the Fight against Excision
(CNLPE), described the girl's death. The teenager was one of 15 girls -
aged 4 to 14 - who were circumcised the week of 17 September in the
rural town of Pabre, 15km from the capital, Ouagadougou, CNLPE's
Ouedraogo told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74529
CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC-CHAD: France takes the lead on new UN-EU
peacekeeping mission
France will be the largest single troop contributor to a new joint
UN-European Union "multi-dimensional" peacekeeping mission to Chad and
Central African Republic authorised by the UN Security Council on 25
September. The former colonial power of both countries already has a
military base in Chad and some troops in Central African Republic (CAR).
It is expected to contribute about half of the EU force of 3,000 to
4,000 troops to support the new UN Mission, MINURCAT. Deployment is
expected to start in November, preceding the arrival of the UN-African
Union hybrid force expected in the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan
early next year.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74506
LIBERIA: Less cholera with better hygiene
Faced with unsafe water and poor sanitation systems, aid groups in
Liberia are encouraging people to wash their hands, put bleach in
drinking water and find safe ways of disposing of human waste. "We're
trying to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases before they happen...
It's fairly clear that the Ministry of Health does not have the
transport and logistical facilities to improve the country's provision
for water sanitation," Kabuka Banba, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) project
officer in Liberia, told IRIN. Less than 25 percent of Monrovia's 1.5
million people have access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF.
"So the thrust of [our] intervention is to build capacity through
training and education," Banba said.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74485
NIGERIA: What has Yar'Adua done for basic services?
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua recently declared the energy crisis a
national emergency, but aid groups say he should also declare a state of
emergency in the health service. "So far there is no evidence the
government will act quickly to bring succour to the poor," said Osita
Ezechukwu, a volunteer at the anti-poverty group Social Rights
Initiative. In his inauguration speech on 29 May Yar'Adua included in
his seven-point agenda a goal to alleviate widespread poverty. Yet four
months on, details of how he will do this remain sketchy.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74503
WEST AFRICA: Flood damage pushes back school term for millions Some
three million primary and secondary school students in West Africa will
begin school several weeks late this year, while others hold their first
days of classes in warehouses, because of unprecedented flooding in the
region. After torrential rains, in many areas classrooms are still
filled with displaced families and roads and bridges are washed out,
prompting the governments of Togo and Mali to postpone the start of
school. In Togo, where the northeast has been hit hard by floods, the
government has postponed the date for the entire country, "to avoid an
education schedule proceeding on two tracks", the minister of primary
and secondary education said on state TV. Some 1.8 million students
across the country will begin school on 17 October, one month later than
the original start date.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74456
WEST AFRICA: Widespread flooding tests governments, aid community
When the residents of 680 households in the Burkinabe province of
Kouritenga found their homes flooded in early June, they could not have
known the significance the incident would hold for the rest of the
region and in fact the continent. It was one of the first instances of
flooding that would within three months affect 1.5 million people in
Africa -- more than 680,000 of them in West Africa. And some governments
and aid groups in the region say the relief effort has been slow off the
mark. While the Burkina flooding might have been unexpected for
residents, it likely was not surprising for meteorologists who had
forecast heavier rains - in more unusual places - in the Sahel this
season.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74461
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