Zimbabwe: We Don’t Need Food Aid . . . Oops, Hold On A Second, Yes We Do

In May of this year, Zimbabwe’s corrupt president Robert Mugabe made a grand show of refusing food aid. He told Sky News TV,

Why foist this food [aid] upon us? We don’t want to be choked, we have enough.

But in early July, Zimbabwe was making backdoor appeals tot he World Bank for millions in aid, especially to its agricultural sector. Zimbabwe’s agricultural output all but collapsed after Mugabe forcefully displaced the nation’s white farm owners.

The World Bank refused Zimbabwe’s request, saying that it would only consider aiding Zimbabwe when that country takes care of servicing its outstanding $280 million World Bank debt.

Source:

Government secretly pleads with World Bank. Savious Kwinika, Zimbabwe Standard (Harare), July 4, 2004.

Singapore Turns to Reality TV to Increase Birth Rates

Birth rates in Singapore have fallen so low that a television network in that country has turned to a reality show to try to help increase birth rates.

“Here’s Looking at You, Babe!” follows a couple from the beginnings of pregnancy to birth of the child. The father featured in the series, Allan Li, told Channel NewsAsia, “The government wants Singaporeans to have more kids and we are stepping in.”

Singapore’s total fertility rate currently stands at a record low of just 1.26 births per woman — far below the 2.1 rate need for a population to remain stable.

According to the Associated Press, the incoming Singaporean Prime Minister recently said that his top priority will be reversing the birth dearth in that country.

Source:

Singapore TV Show Encourages Baby-Making. Jake Lloyd-Smith, Associated Press, July 4, 2004.

Majority of AIDS Victims in Africa Are Women

Unlike the West, where most victims of AIDS are men, in Africa the pattern is exactly the opposite — the majority of those infected are women and young girls.

According to the latest figures in the UN’s 2004 Global Report on AIDS, 57 percent of adults infected with HIV are women, and 75 percent of young people infected with the disease are female.

In some countries the breakdown by sex is even starker. In Kenya and Mali, for example, 45 women are infected for every 10 men.

Source:

Women hardest hit by AIDS in Africa. Agence-France Presse, July 6, 2004.

Women Protest Houston Mall Over Breast Feeding Incident

Reuters reported this week that more than about 50 mothers gathered at a Houston shopping mall this week to protest an incident in which a woman breastfeeding her infant son was asked to either cover herself or move to a more private place, such as a restroom.

The women first breastfed their children in the middle of the mall before continuing their protest outside, complete with chants of “Got milk.”

Mall officials told Reuters that the incident was a mistake, and that the mall has no policy against public breast-feeding

Source:

Women stage breast-feeding protest at mall. Reuters, July 6, 2004.

Islamic Extremists Stop Female Wrestling in Bangladesh

After demonstrators took to the streets in the capitol of Bangladesh, authorities there cancelled that country’s first scheduled female wrestling tournament.

The state-run wrestling federation hoped to have women from across the country participate in the event, but gave in after protesters complained that wrestling was “indecent and vulgar for Muslim women.”

The BBC reported, however, that the protesters misunderstood the nature of the wrestling match — the women would wrestle fully clothed, rather than wearing WWF-style uniforms or, Allah forbid, shorts.

The BBC quoted wrestling federation director Tabiur Rhaman as saying,

There is a misunderstanding. They might have thought that it would be a tournament like WWF, but we can assure them there will be nothing like that because we are fully aware of our religious sentiments.

Perhaps it is Rhaman, however, who misunderstands the opposition to women wrestling. Take Islamic reactionary Moulana Mohiuddin Khan who the BBC quotes as saying,

We are even ready to sacrifice our lives, if necessary, to protect our country from any kind of indecent sports.

Please, Khan, feel free to make that sacrifice any time.

Source:

Women’s wrestling called off. The BBC, July 4, 2004.

Study Reports Rise in Number of Elective Cesarean Sections

A study by Health Grades Inc. reports that the number of elective cesarean sections increased by 25 percent from 2000 to 2002, and that as many as 1 in 50 live births in the United States are now performed by elective cesarian sections.

The study examined births at 1,684 hospitals and found that 2.21 percent of live births during the study period were performed by elective cesarian sections.

There are also preliminary indications that elective cesarean section births may be more cost effective and have fewer complications than vaginal births. The Health Grades Inc. study found that there were complications in 8.4 percent of elective cesareans as compared to complications in 12 percent of vaginal births.

That figure is in line with a University of Texas study that found elective cesarean births were more cost effective over the long term than vaginal births. Elective cesareans cost $920 compared to only $780 for vaginal births, but the costs of treating complications from vaginal births more than outweighed the slightly higher costs for the cesarean.

Sources:

Study finds Caesarean births more popular. Austin Business Journal, June 28, 2004.

Number of ‘Patient Choice’ C-Sections Rises by 25 Percent, HealthGrades Study Finds. Press Release, Health Grades Inc., June 29, 2004.