Five days – that is how long it took Dah, a 14-year-old prospective mother from Côte d’Ivoire, to give birth. The child was stillborn and she developed obstetric fistula. 16 years – that is how long Dah had to live with the agonising condition, undergoing eight different surgical procedures before finally getting the fistula repaired. […]
Nairobi, Kenya, May 20, 2025: Equality Now is urging the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to call upon African Union (AU) member states to urgently address rising sexual violence and exploitation of women and girls across the continent. In its statement to the 83rd Ordinary Session of the Commission this month, the human […]
Women and girls living through humanitarian crises are at risk of being overlooked – just as they are at their most vulnerable. The UN’s reproductive health agency, UNFPA, has been working to assess the impact of recent steep funding cuts, warning that from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Haiti, Sudan and beyond, a lack of […]
Women’s organisations operating in crisis settings are being pushed to the brink by widespread funding cuts. In a report published on Tuesday May 13, 2025, UN Women – the UN agency for gender equality – warned that 47 per cent of these groups may be forced to close within the next six months. Across 73 […]
The United States’ decision to halt future funding to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, will slash critical health services for women and girls worldwide, the agency warned on Friday May 9, 2025. In a statement, UNFPA said the move – which invokes a 1985 legal provision known as the Kemp-Kasten Amendment – is based on […]
Where you’re born could be the difference between living over three decades longer than someone else from a poorer country lacking safe housing, good educational opportunities and access to decent jobs, a new UN report revealed on Tuesday may 6, 2025. The study by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that they can be responsible […]
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is becoming less common worldwide, but when it does occur, it is increasingly performed by professional healthcare workers, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday. While the health sector worldwide plays a key role in stopping the abusive practice of FGM and supporting survivors, in several regions, evidence suggests […]
As transformative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence continue to reshape the global economy, millions of women and girls remain excluded from the digital world – denied not only access to opportunity, but also the chance to shape their own futures. Closing this gap is not optional. There were 189 million fewer women than men online […]
The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to have devastating consequences, particularly for women and children, who face an increased risk of conflict-related sexual violence. Senior UN officials warned on Wednesday april 23, 2025 that all parties involved in the conflict are systematically using sexual violence as a tactic of […]
Teenage pregnancy remains the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 to 19, which countries could help prevent by allowing them to remain in school and ending child marriage, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. Each year, more than 21 million adolescent girls in low and middle-income countries […]
