According to federal health officials this week, the prevalence of dangerous strains of the human papillomavirus has dropped by half among American...
According to federal health officials this week, the prevalence of dangerous strains of the human papillomavirus has dropped by half among American teenage girls in recent years, a remarkable measure of success for a vaccine that was introduced in 2006. This is also encouraging news for the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon team at the Bush Institute, which works to expand the availability of vital cervical cancer screening and treatment—especially for high-risk HIV-positive women – to women in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. An important component of the work is vaccination of girls with the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage girl who was shot by the Taliban last October for defying their ban on girls attending school, is the first to sign a new worldwide petition launched this week after terrorists murdered 14 students at an all girls' college in Pakistan last weekend. The petition, which will be submitted to the U.N. in July, demands that global leaders ensure 57 million out-of-school girls and boys are given the chance of education by December 2015. It calls for all concerned individuals to stand with Malala in demanding world leaders provide the schools and teachers needed to ensure every child is in school and safe.
We’re also reading about a series of tumultuous events in Afghan/U.S. relations as a result of the opening of negotiations with the Taliban in Doha. This article in The Economist argues that peace processes might still be feasible if the United States signals clear support for an enduring force in Afghanistan and the country of Afghanistan is able to run a credible presidential election next year.
The Freedom Collection team passes along two recent articles on North Korea. The Washington Post tells the powerful and inspiring story of a young defector and details the brutal conditions faced by the population through the story of Joseph Kim. Sokeel Park in The Atlantic describes six trends that are changing the face of North Korea and ultimately may spell trouble for Kim Jong Un and his regime. As more and more cracks appear in the walls isolating North Korea, change is inevitable. What form that change takes and how the regime reacts are open questions.
