BLADE

Norway and US to build hospital for rape victims in DR Congo

Norway and the United States plan to build a hospital for rape victims in eastern DR Congo.

This is a follow-up on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Goma in eastern DR Congo earlier this week. Norway has previously financed a 100-bed fistula clinic at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, along with the Department for International Development in Britain, and supports various outreach programs for women in the region.

More than 200.000 Congolese women have been raped during the last three years by armed groups, including soldiers in the national army. More than half of the women living in the eastern provinces do not have easy access to health clinics.

The Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre says that he and Clinton agreed on increased cooperation in the fight against sexual violence when they met in Washington in March.

“The hospital in the Congo is a tangible result of this cooperation. Secretary Clinton and I also agree on the need for concrete measures to bring the rapists to justice. At present the chances of being arrested for these crimes is negligible, says Støre.

During her five hour visit to Goma, Clinton promised $ 17 million new funds to help victims of sexual violence.

The new hospital will probably be located in Goma and run by an organization in conjunction with a local network. At present there are only two small hospitals in the town that are able to treat severely damaged rape victims: Kyeshero hospital run by the church network CEPAC and Hope in Action, and the privately run Heal Africa, supported by US funders. The government hospital on the town’s main road is in state of disrepair.

 by Jan Speed

Video: New technology improves maternal health

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre discusses improvements in maternal and child health and how new technologies can be used to improve global.

In Focus: a Nordic Blog on Asia

In Focus is the blog of Asiaportal, the Nordic information portal for researchers, students, government officers and journalists with an interest in Asia. Its content is primarily based in the Social Sciences and Humanities. 

This week’s blog entry is on the war crimes tribunal in Cambodia that got under way in February.

In Focus welcomes researchers, students, experts and others to comment on the article or to contact them on bib@nias.ku.dk if you are interested in participating with a blog article in future.

Guyana offers a model for forest preservation for development

(Poul Engberg-Pedersen, Director, NORAD (left) greets President Jagdeo of Guyana (right))

Amila de Saram Larssen

President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana is currently in Norway promoting a national forest initiative to mitigate the ill effects of climate change.

President Jagdeo presented Guyana as a national-scale pilot and put forward a strong economic case for preserving the world’s forests. 

President Jagdeo sees the preservation of the world’s forests as an opportunity for low-carbon sustainable development for his country, and countries like his.  He intends to use money generated from a proposed carbon trading mechanism to finance hydro power initiatives, education, healthcare and income generating activities for the poor and in particular the indigenous, forest dwelling communities of Guyana.

Aid to fight corruption in developing countries not effective

In the mid-nineties, donors started to place more emphasis on anti-corruption efforts in aid. Norad’s Evaluation Department, in cooperation with five other evaluation offices, commissioned a literature review that looks at how effective this effort has been. 

 

The review indicates limited success in  aid funded anti-corruption efforts.  Major findings include:

• There are few evident successes, and the results of specific anti-corruption efforts have been limited.

• Fight against corruption requires political support, good laws and a functioning court system - all of which are often lacking in poor countries.

Kofi Annan hopeful about Obama administration's engagement with the world

Jan Speed

Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations,  was in Oslo for the 50th anniversary conference of NUPI (Norwegian Institute for International Affairs) and shared his thoughts on Barack Obama's leadership style and the ways in which the new administration is likely to engage with the world.

Interview with Sharon Camp, President and CEO of Guttmacher Institute

Jan Speed and Amila de Saram Larssen

Sharon L. Camp, President and CEO of  the Guttmacher Institute, was in Oslo today and shared her thoughts on the upcoming Obama presidency and its implications for sexual and reproductive health in the developing world.

Founded 40 years ago, The Guttmacher Institute aims to advocate for sexual and reproductive health in the United States and worldwide though social science research , policy analysis and public education.

Climate change: what’s all the fuss about?

 

(Photo credit: G.M.B. Akash)

Alex Kirby, of Panos London provides a good introduction to the issue of climate change.  He looks at the causes of climate change, the likely effects, and various mitigation strategies.  

According to Kirby,  "a serious response to the threat of climate change will need policy choices by and between governments, on both mitigation and adaptation. Preventing climate change is impossible, because the amount of long-lasting greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere means it would continue warming for 30 years or more even if emissions stopped overnight."

Click here to read the full article.

70% of AIDS funds don't reach intended population in Zambia

Newton Sibanda, Lusaka, Zambia

About 70 percent of the resources meant for scaling up the fight against HIV/AIDS do not get to the intended population but instead end up being used on costly administrative and bureaucratic management systems, according to a report by the National AIDS Council  (NAC) and the Ministry of Health.

According to the National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA) technical report, a public expenditure tracking system, significant portions of resources being deployed are not getting to the intended targets.
 

Treating severely affected children in West Africa

(Photo credit: Amila de Saram Larssen)

Amila de Saram Larssen

This is Part 2 of a series of blog posts dealing with psychosocial support interventions for vulnerable children in West Africa.  Click here to read Part 1.

In the following audio clip, Dr. Alice Behrendt (in the photo above), a project manager for psychosocial support interventions for affected children in West Africa for Plan, talks about some of the innovative methods used to treat severely affected children, particular in post-conflict situations. 

The interventions Behrendt describes include both indigenous methods and Western strategies adapted to the West African context.

The short film mentioned by Alice in the interview above on girl child soldiers in Liberia can be accessed here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW0O38fh03U