Metro

Legislation to outlaw female genital mutilation rejected by Gambian parliament

Published

4 months ago

July 16, 2024

Gambian Parliament Speaker, Fabakary Tombong Jatta, has announced that the parliament voted down every provision of a bill that would have repealed the country’s ban on female genital mutilation on Monday.

For the first time in the history of the West African nation, a bill to repeal the ban divided villages, families, and the parliament over female genital mutilation.

Almaneh Gibba, the legislator who brought the idea to parliament, claimed he was defending religious and cultural rights in the nation with a majority of Muslims, where female genital mutilation is common and deeply ingrained. Numerous Islamic academics contest his claims.

According to the World Health Organization, female genital mutilation has no health benefits and can result in severe bleeding, shock, mental health issues, and even death.

With just five of the 53 MPs voting against the bill, it passed a second reading in March. This raised concerns among advocates for human rights that the Gambia would be the first country to remove a ban on the practice.

However, the health and gender affairs committees of the parliament released a joint report on July 8 suggesting that Gambia keep the ban in place following weeks of public hearings.

The report was approved by lawmakers by a vote of 35 to 17 with 2 abstentions. Political experts claimed they might have been persuaded by medical professionals’ and survivors’ statements regarding the negative effects of FGM.

Before the third and final reading of the measure, which is set for July 24, Parliament again voted on Monday on each of the bill’s sections.

Each clause received about thirty votes against it, which forced Jatta to halt the bill’s advancement to the final reading.

“The (National) Assembly cannot be engaged in such a futile exercise as to allow the bill to proceed to a third reading,” Jatta said after the votes. “The bill is rejected and the legislative process exhausted.”
Gibba said he could not immediately comment because the parliamentary session was ongoing.

Anti-FGM activist Fatou Baldeh, who was cut when she was 8, said she was relieved but also disappointed the bill had been considered in the first place.

“I am not celebrating for the fact that our women and girls’ lives were put on the line, that made me sad,” Baldeh said.

According to Gambian legal professor Satang Nabaneh, the bill’s rejection demonstrated Gambia’s adherence to its international and human rights commitments.

The government disputes the claims made by anti-FGM activists that the 2015 law outlawing the practice has not been adequately implemented.

Gibba introduced the repeal bill in response to the first and only conviction of three mothers found guilty of slashing eight baby girls in 2023.

Related Topics:Featured Gambia inflation Nigeria

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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

4 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.