A general lack of awareness of legal provisions within the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) remains one of the key challenges in implementing the Act almost six years after it came into force in July 2006. A report on the implementation of the Act further mentions withdrawal of cases from the formal justice system due to [...]

Lessons learnt from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide period has pushed the country to adopt a holistic approach in the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV), making it a model country in addressing GBV in conflict and post conflict settings. A two-day workshop convened in Kigali, in November 2011 brought together participants from 13 countries in the [...]

The Kenya Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Drought and Refugee Influx June-December 2011 indicates that children and women are at the greatest risk of severe malnutrition during prolonged periods of drought. The report further indicates that high rates of anaemia amongst women and children lead to an increase in pregnancy complications and miscarriages affecting [...]

A conference on Female Genital Mutilation/Circumcision (FGM/C) has recommended the set-up of an African Coordinating Centre on Research and Training for ending FGM/C.  The rationale for The African Centre for Research and Leadership Training for the Abandonment of FGM/C would be to support strengthening of leadership and research capacity of FGM/C issues in Africa by [...]

It is now illegal to practice female circumcision, procure the services of a circumciser, or send somebody out of the country to undergo the illegal ‘cut’. The recent Presidential accent of the “Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Bill, 2010” has made the 1999 ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) into law. Offenders of this law [...]

Enhancing skills of  policy actors in the health sector in applying Human Rights Based Approaches to Health Sector Reform, and targeting those working in development fields at the national level with state actors or non-state institutions, as well as bilateral and multi-lateral donor agencies are prime concerns of the Ireland training programme.  Individuals and organizations [...]

Evidence from emergency situations across the world show that incidences of Gender-Based Violence, in particular violence against women and girls substantially increase during emergency situations.  Disasters like the ongoing severe drought in Kenya do not affect women, men, boys and girls equally.

Sexual minorities, especially men who have sex with men (MSM) have often held the view that “MSM Health Competence” did not merely speak to the attitudinal disposition of the health care providers but also on skills relating to the various modes of epidemiological, presentation and management of diseases unique to the MSM sexual practice. Worth [...]

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights holds that every person has the right to health, including healthcare. This is enshrined into the World Health Organization (WHO) Constitution which states that, “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being…”Governments in various parts of the world [...]

A report on palliative care in the country released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) last year titled Needless Pain: Government Failure to Provide Palliative Care for Children in Kenya  indicates that Kenyan children in acute and chronic pain suffer needlessly because of government policies that restrict access to inexpensive pain medicines – like morphine, a [...]