Metro

Gambian lawmaker seeks to overturn ban on female genital mutilation

Published

7 months ago

April 9, 2024

After the first fines were given to people in Gambia for female genital mutilation last year, lawmaker Almaneh Gibba has begun his effort to overturn a 2015 ban on the practice.

Anti-FGM activists were happy with the decision because it was a rare win against a culture of impunity that usually protects offenders in countries where these kinds of mutilations happen. In October, about 180 groups from the public and private sectors signed an open letter asking the Gambia government to honour the rule against female genital mutilation.

Even though some people were worried about how light the sentences were—a $220 fine for three women accused of cutting eight baby girls— the law also made religious leaders in the Gambia angry, which is what led Gibba to try to remove the 8-year ban on what it calls “circumcision” of women. A bill presented by Gibba is now being looked at by Parliament.

It is “not just a legal imperative but a moral obligation,” Gambia’s former Vice President, Isatou Touray, now Gambia’s highest-profile campaigner against the practice, said in February. With the world watching, history will judge us based on the actions we take,” she wrote in an op-ed.

Gibba, an independent MP and government critic, told Reuters the ban was not wanted by most people in Gambia, a predominantly Muslim country where some believe cutting a part of the clitoris is required by Islam, and key to a girl’s passage to womanhood.

“We will not be dictated by Western philosophy and their views on what we do,” he said. “Who are they to tell us our culture, our religion, our traditional beliefs?”

According to the government, 73% of Gambian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have had FGM. A lot of these women had their clitoris and other parts of their genitalia cut off completely. This month, there will be a public hearing on the practice, and the results will be given to parliament before the final vote.

In the 2019-20 government health poll, 46% of circumcised Gambian women between the ages of 15 and 49 said they thought the practice should end. About 40% of guys also thought the same thing.

No country has ever eased the ban on FGM. Some people are worried that Gambia’s bill could give new pro-FGM activists in Africa more power, based on the idea of self-determination and the right to choose.

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Metro

Morocco’s Mpox test gets African CDC endorsement

Published

3 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A major step forward in Africa’s response to the continuing epidemic was taken Thursday when the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) revealed that it had endorsed Morocco’s locally created mpox test.

A “major milestone” for African public health systems, the new real-time PCR test can identify mpox pathogen DNA in tissue, saliva, and blood samples, improving the continent’s capacity to address new health risks.

The Africa CDC announced the clearance on X (previously Twitter), highlighting the validity and effectiveness of Morocco’s mpox test.

The support is in line with the African Union’s overarching goal of enhancing public health self-sufficiency in order to anticipate and effectively address disease risks.

This development follows three months ago when the Africa CDC declared the mpox epidemic to be a public health emergency.

Previously known as monkeypox, mpox is a disease that infects animals and people by intimate personal contact. Symptoms include fever, muscular pains, and characteristic skin lesions.

Alongside the CDC’s work, Abbott Molecular Inc.’s Alinity m MPXV assay, the first mpox diagnostic test, was authorised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) last month.

This diagnostic tool provides an additional means of monitoring and managing the virus by identifying mpox from swab samples.

Approximately 1,100 people have died and over 50,000 instances of mpox have been recorded throughout Africa this year, with Central Africa experiencing the highest number of cases and fatalities.

Metro

Mpox immunisation scarcity slows Kinshasa’s epidemic fight

Published

5 hours ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A lack of mpox vaccine doses has prevented the Democratic Republic of the Congo from starting a campaign in the capital, Kinshasa, the response commander has confirmed. However, the number of cases nationwide is still rising, particularly among youngsters.

In mid-August, a new strain of pox started to spread from the Congo to neighbouring countries, prompting the WHO to declare a global health emergency. However, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, donors have been hesitant to turn their pledges into cash and vaccines.

The head of operations for Congo’s mpox control program, Cris Kacita, stated on Tuesday that the country needed more than 162,000 doses of vaccine to start a vaccination campaign in the capital, but that 53,921 doses were still available for use in prisons, where inmates are at greater risk because of unsanitary conditions.

The capital, which is home to about 20 million people, has so far been less impacted than other parts of the nation. In six other provinces, vaccination campaigns are now underway.

Along with additional shipments from Germany and the African Union, France has committed to providing 100,000 doses.

He added the arrival of vaccines was also delayed by the administrative process, which includes sending an official request, manufacturing, creating documentation and gaining import authorisations.

“As long as we don’t have the necessary quantity, it’s going to be complicated to launch (vaccination) in the 14 health zones,” Kacita told Reuters, referring to areas of Kinshasa.

According to a health ministry study, from October 28 to November 2, 1,017 new suspected cases were registered nationwide in Congo, including 45 confirmed cases and 16 fatalities.

Since children are almost four times more likely than adults to die from the new strain of mpox, the charity Save the Children warned on Wednesday that targeted vaccines were necessary to halt the virus from spreading quickly among children.

“Children are especially vulnerable to mpox – they explore by touch and taste, don’t always understand health guidance, and have weaker immune systems than adults,” Katia Vieira de Moraes LaCasse from Save the Children said.

According to Africa CDC data, there have been over 42,000 suspected cases of Mpox in the continent, with 1,100 deaths reported so far this year.

The Mpox virus can spread from person to person via intimate contact and also from place to person through objects and surfaces that a person infected with Mpox has touched.