UNICEF: Rural outreach on health and human rights in Senegal

THIÈS, Senegal, 20 May 2010 UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake is in Senegal for a global conference on girls education and gender equality. In Dakar earlier this week, he also had the chance to visit rural health centres that are beyond the reach of urban services. Health-care disparities between urban and rural areas in Senegal remain high.

It confirmed for me that we cant wait for health systems to work their way out from the centre, said Mr. Lake. We have to be working in the communities as well. There are strong communities. They just need the services to deliver vaccines.

The UNICEF-supported non-governmental organization Tostan has established a Community Empowerment Programme in Senegal to teach villagers about womens health and human rights in local languages. The programme works to educate local populations so that they can then choose whether to abandon practices such as early forced marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting, or FGM/C.

The UNICEF-supported non-governmental organization Tostan has established a Community Empowerment Programme in Senegal to teach villagers about womens health and human rights in local languages. The programme works to educate local populations so that they can then choose whether to abandon practices such as early forced marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting, or FGM/C.

To date, 4,295 villages in Senegal have declared that they will no longer practice FGM/C. Keur Simbara, which has zero-tolerance for cutting, is one of the most active communities participating in Tostans empowerment programme.

As the village women and children danced in celebration of health and human rights, the UNICEF Executive Director joined in, then warmly said goodbye. You are proof, he said, that the world can be changed by one community.

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• UNICEF
• Senegal
• Thies
• Anthony
• Lake
• Tostan
• children
• women
• health
• protection
• rights
• FGM/C