Statement by Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women Michelle Bachelet on the Famine in Somalia

Posted on August 11 2011 | Executive Director Michelle Bachelet | Statements

The most severe drought in decades is threatening the lives of more than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa, with the people of Somalia facing the greatest risks resulting from armed conflict and lack of sustainable security and governance. This confluence of famine and conflict is particularly devastating for women and children. While attempting to save their children from starvation, malnutrition and disease, women in Somalia are subject to conflict-related security threats including sexual violence. As they make the long journey from what was once their home to the refugee complexes either in Kenya or Ethiopia, women and children’s vulnerability is exacerbated.
Adding to the efforts of others, I call on the international community and world leaders to rise up to the challenge of protecting women and children and responding to their urgent survival needs.
Despite all the efforts made to date, less than half of the funding needed to respond to the famine has been committed while the disaster deepens by the day. Out of the requested approximately USD 1 billion, only 40 percent — USD 408 million — has been provided, and an additional USD 49 million has been pledged.
UN Women urgently calls donor countries and all political and military factions in Somalia to ensure that special attention be given to the critical needs of women and children and ensure that this assistance reaches those most acutely in need.

My prayers and thoughts go to all women and children of Somalia. God preserve them !

If you wish to donate charity for women and children of Somalia, you can donate through Zakat House which is independent govermental authority of the State of Kuwait.
You can call: hotline  22241994
                      call center 175
or donate in their centers or deposit to bank account in any local bank. Alternatively you can donate via local telecom companies by sending messages to certain numbers.

During the holy month of Ramadan, all moslims are encouraged to feed poor and provide charity. Zakat, which is one of the pilars of islam encorage moslims to pay 2,5% of their savings to poor ( for every 1000KD is 25 KD due to zakat). 

Jessica Alba: I Recommend "Hypnobirthing Classes"

Source: U.S. Magazine

The 30-year-old actress recommends "hypnobirthing classes" -- which are increasingly popular among pregnant women. Hypnobirthing involves the use of hypnosis during childbirth.

"It's different for everyone, although I do recommend the hypnobirthing classes," Alba told Us Weekly on Monday at the RIMOWA store opening in Beverly Hills. "I highly recommend it. It just makes you chill

The actress wasn't quite so "chill" before the birth of daughter Honor Marie, 2: "I was freaked out going into it my first time going into labor. Like what if I panic? What if I just freak out and I don't know what to do?"

So is the second pregnancy easier for Alba? "Oh yeah! But a little bit harder on the body because my daughter still wants to be picked up. Ever since my belly popped, she really is on me!"

You can check more about hypnobirthing in Kuwait here. 

Global Facebook milksharing network launches WORLD MILKSHARING WEEK 2011

Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network is ecstatic to announce the launch of the inaugural World Milksharing Week, to be held September 24 – 30, 2011, at hundreds of locations around the globe.

The incredible sense of community that is created among donor and recipient families who partake in milksharing is to be celebrated. Dani Arnold-McKenney, who has been an administrator of the milksharing Facebook page in southwestern Ontario, Canada, since the global network started last October, says, "it's a myth that we are all about anonymous milk drops in parking lots. Our donors and recipients support each other and learn from each other. We've had milk recipients rebuild their own milk supplies and turn around and become donors. I have seen milksharing friendships grow watched bonds of motherhood bloom between mothers who didn't know each other a mere few weeks before."

Emma Kwasnica, founder of Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network, says "Breast milk is not a scarce commodity, it's a free-flowing resource. With the advance of social media, women who are willing to share their breastmilk can now easily connect with families who need milk for their children. We at HM4HB are thrilled to see women and families asserting their autonomy to do what is healthy, normal and ecological. Families are making informed choices to share breastmilk and babies everywhere are thriving as a result."

World Milksharing Week is to be held annually during the last week of September. There are a vast number of events your community can organise: hosting online discussions, a picnic in the park, an informational gathering at your work place, or a celebration at a favourite milksharing-supportive locale. 

Individuals and groups who wish to host an event this year can register at www.worldmilksharingweek.org. All who encourage milksharing and who support donor and recipient families are invited to participate.

HM4HB has a presence in 54 countries around the world. There are 130 Facebook community pages and over 20,000 community page members. These virtual communities are run by 300 hardworking, multicultural administrators who lovingly and graciously volunteer their time to keep HM4HB continually focused on its mission, vision and values. 

Media Contact:

Emma Kwasnica

emma.kwasnica@gmail.com

(514) 656-1560

Ed. Note: Individual HM4HB community admins can be reached through the community listings. http://www.hm4hb.net/communities.html

You can find more about Human Milk for Human Babies`s activities in Kuwait  : HM4HB- Kuwait  and HM4HB Facebook group

New Moms Who Express Milk by Hand Breastfeed Longer, UCSF Study Finds

Source:
Juliana Bunim
juliana.bunim@ucsf.edu
415-502-6397

July 19, 2011

Dawn Reidy, coordinator of Lactation Services, right, visits with parents Anders and Aimee Persson and their newborn son Leonard at UCSF Medical Center.

New mothers who practice expressing their breast milk by hand during the first days following their child’s birth are more likely to still be nursing two months later than mothers who use an electric breast pump, according to findings from a new study led by researchers at UCSF.

The randomized trial, which focused on healthy, full-term newborns having trouble nursing, is the first to compare how the two methods of milk collection affect future breastfeeding.

“Until now, we didn’t know which technique was preferable in the early postpartum period. This study provides the first evidence in favor of hand expression,” said lead author Valerie Flaherman, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF and pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “Based on our findings, clinicians should consider recommending hand expression to new moms whose babies are feeding poorly.”

Study findings are published online by the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, and will appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal.

Breastfeeding is known to offer wide-ranging preventive health benefits for babies, reducing their risk for infections and chronic diseases including diabetes, asthma and obesity, and providing the perfect balance of nutrients to help infants grow into strong and healthy toddlers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of life to give maximum benefits to their child.

Hypnobirthing in Kuwait ( by Katherine Graves)

Here is a sneak peak of Katharine Graves`s ( who is hypnobirthing practitioner and teacher) piece about her experience in Kuwait: 

" I am a mother.  I have spent my life searching for recalcitrant football boots and making sure that teenagers with hollow legs have enough food.

Then hypnobirthing came into my life and everything changed.  Last month everything changed again.  Out of the blue I got an email from a mother in Kuwait asking if Hypnobirthing would work for someone giving birth in hospital.  Of course Hypnobirthing can work well in any situation.  In fact I had an email recently from a couple who had attended one of my Hypnobirthing classes who said;  “We had a wonderful birth, because we made it so.”  Her husband was wonderful as a birth companion, but the hospital was very busy and the environment was not ideal, but even so Hypnobirthing made a huge difference.

I then exchanged emails with the mother in Kuwait and it transpired that her mother was in London and the suggestion was that she should come to a Hypnobirthing Course, or even possibly a Hypnobirthing Teacher Training Course, and take the information back with her for her daughter.  After a few more emails the plan moved on, as plans do, and it was agreed that I would go to Kuwait to teach a Hypnobirthing Course.  Then the plan evolved again so that I found myself invited to teach not only a Hypnobirthing Course but a Hypnobirthing Teacher Training Course as well."


Read the rest of the article here. 

Water births come to UAE (Khaleej Times)

Source: Khaleej Times

Olivia Olarte

26 July 2011, 10:46 PM

An age-old birthing practice that is proven to reduce pain but a novel concept in the Arab 
world is coming to the UAE and is aining interest from women across the emirates.

The water birth method will be operational in the region for the first time in the Al Ain 
Cromwell Women and Children Hospital in Al Ain next month when the hospital opens
up its in-patient services.

According to Sandi Blankenship, head midwife at the hospital, water birth is very
popular in the UK and the US, and it is common for hospitals with the facility to offer
it for women to labour into if not to deliver.

“Typically between 50-70 per cent of women in the US would choose to at least
labour in the water,” said Blankenship, who have attended around 700 water births.

Citing its advantages, Blankenship said labouring in water can shorten the length of 

labour and reduces the pain between 60–70 per cent, due to the warm water 

temperature (between 35 degree Celsius and 37.5 degree Celsius) which has a

soothing  effect.

“Because they are in a warm safe environment, they have less fear, and when you have

less fear you have less pain,” she explained. In the water birth tub, the woman also has 

the opportunity to float and she can be in any position she’s comfortable in to labour

and deliver.

“It’s really about the woman’s comfort level. You want the baby to come out in an

 environment he/she used to be in, by coming out into water,” said Blankenship.

World Breastfeeding Week (WHO)

1-7 August 2011

As every year, WHO and partners will celebrate World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) from 1-7 August in more than 170 countries. The theme for WBW 2011 endeavours to engage and mobilize youth in particular, with the slogan: "Talk to me! Breastfeeding - a 3D Experience". The theme focuses on communication as an essential element of protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. Cross-generation, cross-sector, cross-gender, and cross-culture communication encourages the sharing of knowledge and experience, and enables wider outreach to support breastfeeding mothers and babies the world over.

• More information on World Breastfeeding Week
• Statement by the Assistant Director-General on World Breastfeeding Week