Misoprostol. It’s not exactly a household name as far as drugs are concerned; however, it has the potential to improve — and even save — thousands of women’s lives in Kenya. This medication is one of a number of drugs that can be used to induce abortion, in a procedure that has come to be known as ”medical abortion”, or ”abortion by pill”.
Calls for abortion laws across Africa to be revised have dominated the first days of a meeting in Ethiopia — the Regional Consultation on Unsafe Abortion in Africa. More than 140 researchers, key government officials and health practitioners from 16 African countries have gathered in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
As famine continues to ravage parts of Kenya, a non-governmental organisation is urging authorities to reduce the cost of basic food stuffs, particularly maize flour — the staple food. A survey by the group, Bunge la Mwananchi, has indicated that while food is for sale in affected areas, it is too expensive for the people living there.
Groups in Kenya that include politicians and activists say they will present plans to complete a review process aimed at providing a new Constitution for the East African country. This follows their dismissal of the February 24 appointment of a presidential committee to jump-start the constitutional review.
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/ 7 February 2006
”Why didn’t you prevent this?” is a question Kenyans may start asking legislators soon, concerning a report about the government’s purchase of luxury vehicles in 2003 and 2004. Entitled Living Large: Counting the Cost of Official Extravagance in Kenya, the 23-page document was issued last week by the local chapter of Transparency International.
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/ 27 January 2006
As the chances of finding more survivors in the building that collapsed earlier this week in Nairobi moved from slim to remote, poor oversight and corruption were being blamed for the disaster. Concrete used for the collapsed building, still under construction at the time that it went down, had apparently not been allowed to set properly.
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/ 12 January 2006
An alleged ex-convict known only as ”Maranda” may have been responsible for the rape of five-year-old Peris Akoth at the beginning of this year, in Kenya. Then again, he may not. However, the case has already become a rallying point for anti-rape campaigners who claim that abuses such as these would be less likely to occur if Kenya had adequate legislation on the books.
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/ 30 December 2005
Micro-credit facilities for men could emerge as a powerful tool to check the alarming increase in cases of violence against women in Kenya. Experts say that with easy access to small loans for income generating activities, men would have less time on their hands to be abusive.
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/ 1 December 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/257998/special_rep_icon_template.jpg" align=left>With only a quarter of Kenyans who need anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) receiving them from the government, the race is on to ensure that many more people get treatment to fend off Aids-related diseases. But ARV recipients also need enough, good food, without which ARVs cannot work properly.
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/ 15 November 2005
The power of microcredit to pull people out of destitution has been celebrated around the world during 2005, designated the ”International Year of Microcredit” by the United Nations. In Kenya, however, the concept of microcredit risks losing its bloom.