African Woman and Child Feature Service

HIV positive women irked by decision to stop free milk

Poor women living with HIV are outraged over World Health Organisation guidelines that have made several governments reconsider providing free formula milk, instead asking them to exclusively breastfeed. The women argue that they are too poor to afford food to gain the requisite nutrition a woman needs to generate enough breast milk for the baby.

“The moment the doctors told me there was no formula milk, I broke down. I knew I could not sustain exclusive breastfeeding with the poverty situation I was in,” says Everlyne Atieno from Mathare North slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

Women unhappy with HIV/AIDS resolution

As the review process starts its final leg this week, women from Africa are concerned with the weak language in the Resolution 52/2 on women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS.

“There is no specific action which can be said to be coming out of this conference directing governments on how take forward the fight against HIV/AIDS and how this has affected the realisation of the Beijing Platform for Action,” said Naisola Likimani from FEMNET. Read more...

Kenya calls for change of date to CSW conferences: The meetings should not to coincide with the International Women’s Day

Today marks 100 years since the world conceived the idea to be celebrating the International Women’s Day. It also marks 15 years since the world came together in a clarion call that women’s issues are global and universal. The call was punctuated by the Platform for Action, a powerful agenda which had carefully developed strategies for the empowerment of women.

Today, however, goes down the annals of the United Nations history as the day when Ms Esther Murugi Mathenge, Minister for Gender and head of the Kenyan delegations to the Beijing +15 review conference in New York called for a change to the dates when the Commission on the Status of Women meeting is held, to allow member states mark the day in their home countries.

Taps for gender funds may run dry

Even as women at this Beijing+15 Review forum push their governments to adopt actions to advance the cause of gender empowerment, one can easily read on global faces the massive apprehension about the future of funding for gender programmes.

Recent developments in countries that have traditionally supported gender programmes in Africa and Asia is sending a strong signal of a troubled future. In the Netherlands, a country known for providing funding to its NGOs that in turn support gender related programmes in Africa and Asia, the situation is worrying.

Gender money misses the target

One of the key components of the Beijing Platform for Action, which is crucial for the achievement of other action points is the mobilisation of sufficient resources for gender equality programmes.

The crafters of the of Platform for Action who emphasised on the need for increased funding, were aware that without governments, donors, civil society and financial institutions mainstreaming gender in their budgetary process and allocating or redirecting resources in a gender sensitive manner, the plan would come to nought.

Daily Links

The CSW Beijing Plus Fifteen review conference is being held from 1-8 March 2010 in New York.

African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC), Gender Links, the Gender and Media Diversity Centre (GMDC), and the Gender, Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network aim to bring the voices of women not able to attend the CSW, especially from Africa, to the conference.

The partners will produce a a daily newspaper distributed in hard copy at the conference as well as online. The paper will be debated through daily cyberdialogues from 2-5 and 8 March. Excerpts from the chat will feature on the website and in the newspaper.