2007

'Education Saves Lives:' Girls' Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention
Compelling new evidence highlights the link between girls' education and HIV/AIDS prevention. Quoting South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, Dr. Pauline Muchina, a Senior Officer at UNAIDS, said education is the most powerful weapon to change the world. "Education is a weapon that the world cannot do without in the fight against AIDS." (UN Chronicle , March 2007)

2006

One woman's journey from a Kenyan village to a Pitt doctorate
Kakenya Ntaiya's path from a dusty Maasai village in Kenya to a Ph.D. program has been long and arduous, something she has vowed to make easier for the next generation of girls. (Pittsburg Post-Gazette, Nov. 2006)

HIV/AIDS and the Women Left Behind
If HIV/AIDS policies are to be effective, they must address the realities of women's lives. In many parts of southern Africa, married women are at a greater risk of contracting HIV than sexually active, single women. (Toronto Star, July 2006)

Genital Cutting Raises by 50% Likelihood Mothers or Their Newborns Will Die
The first large medical study of female genital cutting has found that the procedure has deadly consequences when the women give birth, raising by more than 50 percent the likelihood that the woman or her baby will die. (New York Times, June 2006)

Maasai Sell Daughters For Cattle Wealth
In return for his ten-year-old daughter, Naipa’s father was promised a dowry of five cows to replenish his herd. (The Times (UK), April 2006)

Child Wives Are A Byproduct of Severe Drought
Soitanae Ole Kyoiogo watched helplessly as his treasured cows dropped dead in the drought, one after another, until only two survived from a herd of 50. Desperate to feed his family, he turned to the only source of wealth he had left: his daughters, ages 8 & 9.(Los Angeles Times, March 2006)

World Vision Ireland Calls for Increased Funding for Education to Reduce Incidence of HIV/AIDS
In an appeal to the Irish Government, World Vision Ireland presented findings that 700,000 new cases of the killer virus could be prevented each year if all children completed primary education. The charity insisted the longer girls stayed in school the less likely they are to become infected with HIV/AIDS. (Daily Ireland, February 2006)

Heartbreak on the Serengetti
To the Maasai, it's the place where the land runs on forever, but beyond the protected core of this iconic landscape, the land is running out. (National Geographic, February 2006)