UN says online anti-vaxxers fuelling Samoa measles deaths

Yahoo – AFP, December 5, 2019

The measles outbreak in Samoa has claimed 62 lives since mid-October
(AFP Photo/ALLAN STEPHEN)

Social media giants must crack down on anti-vaccination posts that are fuelling Samoa's deadly measles epidemic from afar, UNICEF's Pacific islands chief said Thursday.

Sheldon Yett, the regional representative for the UN children's agency, said "incredibly irresponsible" online material on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram had exacerbated the Samoa measles outbreak -- which has claimed 62 lives since mid-October -- by discouraging immunisation.

"It's quite clear that they have a corporate responsibility to step up to the plate and make sure that populations, particularly vulnerable populations, get accurate information that's going to keep children alive," Yett told AFP.

Immunisation rates in Samoa dropped to just over 30 percent before the outbreak, well below accepted best practice of around 90 percent, making the island nation extremely vulnerable to infection.

The World Health Organisation blamed an anti-vaccine messaging campaign, which Yett said was carried out largely online by overseas-based activists.

"It's quite obvious that there are very loud people on social media making very false claims about vaccines," he said.

"Unfortunately it's found a ready audience in Samoa, where some people are suspicious about the quality of healthcare and may have issues with local (vaccine) providers."

Immunisation rates in Samoa dropped to just over 30 percent before the outbreak, 

well below accepted best practice of around 90 percent, making the island nation 

extremely vulnerable to infection (AFP Photo/ALLAN STEPHEN)

He said activists posting anti-vaccine material from wealthy developed countries such as the United States and Australia needed to realise the impact of their actions in developing nations.

"It's devastating, it can be a death sentence for a child here where there's low immunisation and possibly other health issues going on in the background," he said from the capital Apia.

'No easy fix'

Yett said suspicion of vaccines in Samoa stemmed from a case last year when two babies died after receiving measles shots, leading to an eight-month suspension of the country's immunisation programme.

Subsequent investigations found there was no problem with the vaccine itself, but the nurses administering it accidentally mixed it with anaesthetic, instead of water.

However, trust in the immunisation programme was dented and anti-vaxxers stepped up efforts to push their agenda online, creating what Yett described as "a perfect formula" for an uncontrollable epidemic.

The activists have also hindered efforts to control the outbreak, with one prominent Australian-based blogger last week comparing compulsory vaccinations to Nazi Germany and saying "fascism is well and truly alive in Samoa".

Yett said health authorities' focus at the moment was containing an epidemic 

that was still raging (AFP Photo/ALLAN STEPHEN)

Others have promoted quick remedies such as "kangen water", an alkaline water which supporters say can cure measles, despite no scientific evidence.

Yett said health authorities' focus at the moment was containing an epidemic that was still raging, resulting in fresh infections and child deaths every day.

But he said once it was over there had to be discussion with platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about their approach to anti-vaccine material.

He said informed debate was important but it was wrong to allow online activists to question the effectiveness of vaccines, which the WHO estimates have saved the lives of 21 million children over the past 20 years.

"It's not easy, nobody wants to be a censor," he said.

"Companies have a responsibility to do it, but we also have to be honest and say there's no easy fix where they can flick a switch."

He conceded the clicks generated by heated online debate about vaccines could prevent the platforms from wanting to take swift action on the issue.

"We shouldn't be naive, there are many counter incentives here for social media giants as well," he said.

Related Articles:

New York mandates vaccine to contain Brooklyn measles outbreak

Kryon Q&A

Question (2003): Dear Kryon, I have a new grandson. He's going for his first vaccination in the next few weeks. If we're beginning to transmute toxins with reconnections to our endocrine system through our DNA, then what happens to our babies, who by law have to be vaccinated? What are your thoughts on this subject?

Answer: First, know that vaccinations are a God-given science that humanity earned. They're a tried and proven homeopathic method that have been with you for years. You were probably vaccinated yourself, and it worked.

We have three answers: (1) God is not in a vacuum. Even the vaccinated Human Being who's older can modify and rework their DNA. So there's no time limit, and there are no rules that say "Once vaccinated, you're ruined." (2) The Human who is of the age of awareness can say, even as they are vaccinated, "Let nothing inappropriate enter my chemistry." This is a conscious instruction given to your "intelligent cellular structure" (the same one responsible for kinesiology and homeopathic results). This will result in your cells only using what they need and casting away everything else. (3) Finally, about babies: There has been a push by your science lately to vaccinate against many things at the same time. You'd be advised to seek out a doctor who will only vaccinate your child for only the basic diseases that have been known in the last 40 years. Eliminate the vaccinations for the new ones. This leaves you with approximately seven or eight - the very ones that have been used for years. What your science is not appreciating yet is the results of combining all the vaccination substances together. There's a problem that will show itself in time. Stick with the basic ones.

Drone delivers vaccines in key Vanuatu trial

Yahoo – AFP, 18 December 2018

A key requirement for vaccine deliveries, including by drone, is maintaining
the temperature

A one-month-old on a remote island in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu became the first child to be immunised in a commercial trial of drone-delivered vaccines, the UN children's fund UNICEF said Tuesday.

Aid agencies hope the successful run in the country, where one in five children is not fully immunised, could eventually help governments and organisations reach others in far-flung places around the world.

"Today's small flight by drone is a big leap for global health," UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.

"With the world still struggling to immunise the hardest to reach children, drone technologies can be a game changer for bridging that last mile to reach every child."

While this is not the first time that drones have been used to deliver vaccines, it is the first time such a method has been deployed in Vanuatu, which has 83 islands, most only accessible by boat.

It is also the first time a commercial contract is being used for routine immunisations, UNICEF said.

A key requirement for the deliveries is maintaining the temperatures at which the vaccines are carried.

In warmer places such as Vanuatu, transportation across limited roads has its challenges.

In the trial, the drone travelled across almost 40 kilometres (25 miles) of rough and mountainous terrain from the west of the southern island of Erromango to its east, arriving at the remote Cook's Bay.

The vaccines were kept in styrofoam boxes that carried ice-packs and a temperature sensor that would be triggered if it exceeded the required range. A total of 13 children and five pregnant women were vaccinated by a registered nurse, UNICEF added.

"As the journey is often long and difficult, I can only go there once a month to vaccinate children. But now, with these drones, we can hope to reach many more children in the remotest areas of the island," the nurse, Miriam Nampil, told UNICEF.

The agency said Vanuatu's government was considering incorporating drone deliveries of vaccines into their national immunisation programme, and with the supply of other health aids.

1 in 10 infants received no vaccinations last year: UN

Yahoo – AFP, July 17, 2017

A full 12.9 million infants received no vaccinations last year, WHO found in a joint
report with the UN's children's agency, UNICEF (AFP Photo/WAKIL KOHSAR)

Geneva (AFP) - Nearly one in 10 infants received no vaccinations in 2016, meaning that they missed the first innoculation against three lethal diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

A full 12.9 million infants received no vaccinations last year, WHO found in a joint report with the UN's children's agency, UNICEF.

As a result, they missed the first dose of a triple vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, also called pertussis.

Another 6.6 million who received the first dose of the so-called DTP vaccination did not complete the immunisation course last year.

Since 1980, the UN's health agency has tracked the percentage of infants given the DTP vaccination.

"Since 2010, the percentage of children who received their full course of routine immunisations has stalled at 86 percent," WHO said in a statement.

The figure fell short of the agency's 90 percent coverage target.

"These children most likely have also not received any of the other basic health services," WHO's immunisation, Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, said in a statement.

"If we are to raise the bar on global immunisation coverage, health services must reach the unreached."

Only 130 of WHO's 194 member-states have hit the 90 percent target, with the worst coverage recorded in countries gripped by conflict.

Eight countries in 2016 had a sub-50 percent coverage rate for all three DTP shots, including Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syrian and Ukraine.

Of that list, only the small west African nation of Equatorial Guinea is not seen as suffering from an active conflict, although its government has been fiercely condemned by rights groups over widespread abuses.

WHO estimates that vaccinations prevent between two and three million deaths each year.

Related Articles:

“To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that is the question”

Kryon Q&A

Question (2003): Dear Kryon, I have a new grandson. He's going for his first vaccination in the next few weeks. If we're beginning to transmute toxins with reconnections to our endocrine system through our DNA, then what happens to our babies, who by law have to be vaccinated? What are your thoughts on this subject?

Answer: First, know that vaccinations are a God-given science that humanity earned. They're a tried and proven homeopathic method that have been with you for years. You were probably vaccinated yourself, and it worked.

We have three answers: (1) God is not in a vacuum. Even the vaccinated Human Being who's older can modify and rework their DNA. So there's no time limit, and there are no rules that say "Once vaccinated, you're ruined." (2) The Human who is of the age of awareness can say, even as they are vaccinated, "Let nothing inappropriate enter my chemistry." This is a conscious instruction given to your "intelligent cellular structure" (the same one responsible for kinesiology and homeopathic results). This will result in your cells only using what they need and casting away everything else. (3) Finally, about babies: There has been a push by your science lately to vaccinate against many things at the same time. You'd be advised to seek out a doctor who will only vaccinate your child for only the basic diseases that have been known in the last 40 years. Eliminate the vaccinations for the new ones. This leaves you with approximately seven or eight - the very ones that have been used for years. What your science is not appreciating yet is the results of combining all the vaccination substances together. There's a problem that will show itself in time. Stick with the basic ones.

Sierra Leone's first Ebola-hit community reconsiders its traditions

Yahoo –AFP, Jennifer O'Mahony, May 12, 2016

Bendu Alliou sits with her infant daughter outside a hospital in Kailahun, eastern
Sierra Leone (AFP Photo/Marco Longari)

Kailahun (Sierra Leone) (AFP) - Violently coughing up blood, the woman was close to collapse when brought to Kailahun hospital in eastern Sierra Leone from her village close to the Guinean border.

For nursing staff, the spectre of the killer Ebola virus had returned.

"My staff went into PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)," said Samuel Massaquoi, medical superintendent of the hospital. "People said that if she came from near Guinea she had Ebola."

Hard hit by the Ebola virus the capacity

of the small hospital in Kailahun, Sierra

Leone, has been stretched over the 

course of the epidemic (AFP Photo/

Marco Longari)

Urging calm, the doctor immediately implemented the screening measures used at the outbreak's height, when Ebola cases arrived on a daily basis.

That was one month ago -- the patient was instead diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis -- but it is a clear example of how the the fear of Ebola still grips the heart of this community.

The district was the first in the country to record cases back in May 2014 after the initial outbreak in southern Guinea.

The virus killed around 230 people in Kailahun but its impact did not end when the area was declared Ebola-free a year ago: residents say entrenched attitudes to health and tradition have changed significantly.

"The outbreak started here. Every patient at that time was considered a suspected case," Massaquoi said, standing metres from the now empty triage building, where health workers in hazmat suits once worked in scenes resembling a horror film.

His hospital received a real boost, he said, with extra funding for equipment from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and targeted training for staff from Britain's Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

"It was not like this two years back. It has improved significantly," the general practitioner said. That was reflected by an uptick in the number of patients admitted post-Ebola, many of whom previously viewed the hospital as a place of death, not healing.

Traditions upended

Kailahun's first spate of cases is believed to have originated from the funeral of a traditional healer in a village close to where the Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone borders meet.

Ebola sufferers were crossing to see her from Guinea before she too succumbed to the virus. Many west Africans believed Ebola was a curse, and turned to their local witchdoctor rather than attempt the long distances and meet the elevated costs of government health facilities.

"Ebola came, but it came with lessons. Most of them who treated Ebola patients died," Massaquoi said.

"It was only when the powerful healers started dying that people started believing this is real. We lost quite a good amount of them," he said, with many no longer as convinced of their invincibility.

Health workers in Sierra Leone are battling a teenage pregnancy epidemic that 

peaked when the Ebola crisis was at its height late in 2014 (AFP Photo/Marco Longari)

The Red Cross sought to engage the healers in the fight against the virus, persuading some to advise visitors that they could not cure Ebola, and pointing them to dedicated treatment centres.

Prevention in the form of better hygiene is highly visible in the proliferation of hand-washing stations at the string of villages that dot this rural district.

Another influential group has altered its activities post-Ebola in Kailahun: the female secret societies that dominate rural life in this part of west Africa, whose primary role is to initiate girls into womanhood.

Traditionally they would carry out female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice performed on 90 percent of girls in Sierra Leone, according to UNICEF.

But in 19-year-old Baindu Alie's village, they have stopped.

"(Families) are afraid, so there is less trust in the societies," she said.

The girls' loss of blood during the excision, usually performed with a razor, was now known to be a possible transmission point for Ebola, medical professionals in the community confirmed to AFP.

Survivor communities

Naima Morie, 20, lives down the road from the district hospital and is an Ebola survivor. Three of her family members were not so lucky, including a sister who died in her arms.

Morie had symptoms of fever, headache, vomiting and diarrhoea when she arrived at the Ebola treatment unit (ETU), and was driven there semi-conscious.

When she came round, "my whole system was very hot, boiling hot inside," she told AFP.

Morie made a full recovery, and in February gave birth to a baby boy named Joseph.

Health workers carry the body of a suspected Ebola victim for burial at a cemetery

in Freetown December 21, 2014. Reuters/Baz Ratner/File Photo

"When I was out of the ETU and went back home they were all rejoicing," she said, describing the reaction back in her village. "Now babies that are sick, they visit the hospital after seeing me survive."

Not everyone is so accepting. The stigma of Ebola remains a problem, and survivors have held protests in recent months against the government, claiming free follow-up treatment and scholarships for their children have not been delivered as promised.

According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) there are more than 4,000 Ebola survivors living in Sierra Leone, and the virus killed many of country's already limited number of health workers.

Ebola is one in a long list of epidemics that have ravaged this community, each leaving its own generation of survivors and broken families.

Huge roadside signs in the district now proclaim: "It's not the end for Ebola survivors; it's the end for stigma", alongside more faded billboards that read "An HIV test saved my life".

Health workers assist a patient suspected of having Ebola on their way to a

 treatment centre run by the French Red Cross in Patrice, Guinea, on

November 21, 2014 (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

Related Articles:

WHO declares Ebola outbreak over

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”

World must tighten laws on breast-milk substitutes: UN report

Yahoo – AFP, Nina Larson, May 9, 2016

Only about one child in three is exclusively breastfed for the first half year of life
-- a rate that has not improved in two decades (AFP Photo/Johan Ordonez)

Geneva (AFP) - Legislation against the promotion of breast milk substitutes must be significantly tightened if global efforts to encourage breast feeding are to succeed, a UN report warned Monday.

It is widely recognised that breastfeeding carries huge health benefits, but countries' failure to crack down on the marketing of substitutes means far too many children are still being reared on formula, said the World Health Organization, the UN children's agency UNICEF and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).

A mother breastfeeds her child in 

suburban Manila on August 1, 2015

 (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)

"There are still far too many places where mothers are inundated with incorrect and biased information through advertising and unsubstantiated health claims," warned Francesco Branca, head of WHO's Nutrition for Health and Development department.

"This can distort parents' perceptions and undermine their confidence in breastfeeding, with the result that far too many children miss out on its many benefits," he said in a statement.

Experts have long extolled the health benefits of breastfeeding, pointing out that breastfed children are healthier, perform better on intelligence tests and are less likely to be overweight or suffer from diabetes later in life.

Women who breastfeed also have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancer, research shows.

A study in the Lancet medical journal earlier this year estimated that more than 800,000 child deaths and 20,000 breast cancer deaths could be averted every year if more babies were breastfed for longer.

Industry pressure

WHO and UNICEF recommend babies have nothing but breast milk for the first six months, after which they should continue to breastfeed alongside other safe and nutritionally-adequate foods until they are at least two.

But in spite of the clear advantages, only about one child in three is exclusively breastfed for the first half year of life -- a rate that has not improved in two decades.

Countries have agreed to try to push that number up to at least 50 percent by 2025, but pressure from a growing breast-milk substitute industry is complicating those efforts.

The industry today rakes in sales of nearly $45 billion annually -- a figure which is projected to grow to $70 billion by 2019.

Of the 194 countries studied, 135 had some form of legal measures linked to the WHO's International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes.

Experts have long extolled the health benefits of breastfeeding, pointing out 

that breastfed children are healthier, perform better on intelligence tests and are 

less likely to be overweight or suffer from diabetes later in life (AFP Photo/

Jonas Roosens)

That was a clear improvement from 103 countries in 2011, but the report showed only 39 of them covered all the Code's recommendations, including banning all advertising and sample hand-outs of breast-milk substitutes, bans on labels making nutritional or health claims and requiring products to inform consumers of the superiority of breastfeeding over formula.

'Fudging the truth'

And the world's wealthiest countries, which are often the most business-friendly, tend to have the weakest legislation.

Only six percent of European countries provide comprehensive legislation and most have just a few laws.

The United States, Australia and New Zealand meanwhile had no legal measures at all, the report said.

At the other end of the scale, a full 36 percent of countries in Southeast Asia had laws covering all the recommendations in the Code, followed by Africa at 30 percent and the Eastern Mediterranean region at 29 percent, the report showed.

"Clever marketing should not be allowed to fudge the truth that there is no equal substitute for a mother's own milk," UNICEF nutrition chief Werner Schultink said in the statement.

Wee are not amused: $40k toilet for Thai princess unflushed

Yahoo – AFP, 23 February 2016 

Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen walk

 past honor guards upon her arrival at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on 

February 22, 2016 (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

A luxury commode custom-built for a Thai princess's visit to Cambodia was left unused despite its hefty $40,000 price tag, local officials said Tuesday, in a poor country where the majority of rural dwellers do not have access to a toilet.

The convenience was built for a visit on Monday by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to Yeak Lom lake in northeastern Cambodia.

But her two-hour visit ended without her ever having experienced the lavish water closet, community leader Ven Churk told AFP.

The toilet was later "removed" and the adjoining bathroom will now be turned into a security post for tourists visiting the tree-ringed lake, he added.

"She (the Princess) did not go inside the bathroom, she just looked at it from outside and took some pictures," he said.

The toilet took more than two weeks to build and cost an estimated $40,000, Ven Churk told AFP.

Thai princess gets $40K toilet built for Cambodia  …Play videoThai princess gets $40K toilet built for Cambodia  …
"I have never seen such a bathroom," he said.

Provincial governor Nhem Sam Oeun confirmed the toilet was unused, adding the loo is "very modern, very good... it can't be kept because it is for royals."

The Thai side covered the construction costs, he added.

Local media reports said the luxury pan was built by the Siam Cement Group, a Thai construction giant partly owned by the Crown Property Bureau, which manages the Thai royal family's assets and investments.

SCG could not be reached for comment.

While the pricey privy has made international headlines it has not received any media attention in Thailand, where a severe lese majeste law punishes any perceived criticism of the royal family with up to 15 years prison.

Tin Luong, the chief of Yeak Lom commune, told AFP he was impressed by the "very beautiful" bathroom.

"Thai engineers have constructed the bathroom," he said confirming all of the materials were brought from Thailand.

"I estimate that it could cost up to $40,000 to build the bathroom. It looks like a house with beautiful decoration," he added.

Figures released last year by UNICEF said 61.5 per cent of Cambodians living in rural areas practice open-defecation -- one of the highest rates in Southeast Asia -- as they have no access to latrines.

Thailand's monarchy is among the world's richest, with its fortune in part built through investments in major local businesses such as SCG and Siam Commercial Bank.

After visiting the lake, the princess opened a new health centre that was donated by the Thai royal family. She also met with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen during the visit, which ends on Wednesday.

Denied abortion, 11-year-old Paraguay rape victim gives birth

Yahoo – AFP,  Hugo Olazar, 13 Aug 2015

The entrance of the Red Cross Hospital where a young girl who was raped and 

became pregnant stayed, in Asuncion on May 8, 2015 (AFP Photo/Norberto Duarte)

Asuncion (AFP) - An 11-year-old Paraguayan girl who was raped by her mother's boyfriend gave birth Thursday, rekindling the uproar over authorities' refusal to let her have an abortion.

The child, who was 10 when she was raped, gave birth by C-section to a girl that weighed 3.5 kilos (eight pounds), said Dolores Castellanos, the doctor that monitored the pregnancy.

The girl has named the baby Milagros, which is Spanish for miracles.

The pregnancy came to light when the girl went to the doctor with stomach pains in April. Doctors initially believed she had parasites, but discovered on examining her that she was five months pregnant.

The authorities' handling of the case sparked outrage in this predominantly Catholic country, where abortion is illegal except when the mother's life is deemed to be at risk.

Officials ruled the pregnancy could proceed.

The girl, who turned 11 in May, was 37 weeks pregnant when she gave birth.

She stands just 1.39 meters (four feet six inches) tall and weighed just 34 kilos before her pregnancy.

She will remain under observation for 72 hours, said Castellanos, head of child and adolescent medicine at the Asuncion hospital where the baby was born.

Mario Villalba, director of the Red Cross hospital, said the delivery "was like any other Cesarean, without complications, the difference being the age."

Asked if the child will be able to nurse the baby, Villalba said, "we'll see how she does as a mother."

The baby's father, Gilberto Martinez Zarate, age 42, was taken into custody in May and is awaiting trial on rape charges. He could get between 12 and 15 years if convicted.

The girl's mother was also arrested for neglect but allowed to visit her daughter during the pregnancy.

The lead prosecutor on the case, Monalisa Munoz, said the girl was systematically abused by her mother's boyfriend.

"She was always at his mercy because the mother worked. The rapist even went to the girl's parent-teacher conferences," she told AFP.

'Extremely risky'

The case reverberated far outside Paraguay, with UN experts criticizing the Paraguayan government for refusing to consider an abortion.

Amnesty International called on Paraguay's government to repeal its strict anti-abortion law, saying the girl was lucky to be alive.

Erika Guevara, the rights group's director for the Americas, said the fact that the child survived "does not excuse the human rights violations she suffered at the hands of the Paraguayan authorities."

Officials in the South American country "decided to gamble with her health, life and integrity despite overwhelming evidence that this pregnancy was extremely risky and despite the fact that she was a rape victim and a child," she said.

Castellanos, the attending physician, insisted the girl's life was never at risk.

UNICEF has accused Paraguay of failing to protect girls from sexual predators.

Every day, two girls aged between 10 and 14 give birth here, it says.

At the hospital where the 11-year-old girl gave birth Thursday, three other girls, all aged 12, are due to give birth in the coming weeks.

World Day Against Child Labor highlights conditions on US tobacco farms

An estimated 500,000 children are working on tobacco fields in the United States, most of them in extremely hazardous conditions. World Day Against Child Labor, on June 12, aims to highlight the plight of the children.

Deutsche Welle, 13 June 2015

Celia Ortiz was only 11 when she started working on tobacco fields in North Carolina. When most children were sleeping late, watching television, or riding their bicycle during spring breaks, Celia would wake up each morning at five to harvest crops for 10 or 12 hours in extremely dangerous conditions. She worked on tobacco fields for seven years.

"When you're a child, you're out there because you need the money," she said. "It's not like you're looking for fun."

Celia is taking part in the World Day Against Child Labor on June 12 with members of the Child Labor Coalition - a group of nonprofit organizations including Human Rights Watch. The coalition gathered in Washington DC to raise awareness and discuss problems and possible solutions for the country's child labor issue.

There are four states that produce 90 percent of the country's tobacco - North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee - and in these states children as young as 7 are working 50-60 hours per week harvesting and cultivating tobacco plants, in most cases with severe repercussions. Human Rights Watch estimates nearly half a million such children work on these fields.

"This is perfectly legal in the US," says Zama Coursen-Neff, executive director of the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch. "[It is legal] because of a loophole in child labor laws that makes it legal for children to work in agriculture at far younger ages, for far longer hours, under far more hazardous environments."

June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor

Nicotine exposure

Coursen-Neff took part in an initiative that spoke to over 140 child workers across the United States. "Three-quarters of them reported frequently feeling dizzy, nauseous, or vomiting in the fields," she said.

Two-thirds of them displayed symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness, or nicotine poisoning. This occurs when workers are exposed to wet tobacco plants, through either rain or morning dew, and contact with the plants causes their skin to absorb the toxins. This is extremely hazardous to the younger workers. "Nicotine exposure during adolescence leads to mood disorders, attention deficit, lasting cognitive disorders," Coursen-Neff explained.

For Celia, this was all too familiar. She recalls feeling the symptoms of nicotine exposure. "You get dizzy and nauseous," she said. "The world is closing in on you and you feel like you're going to die. I can't even explain it properly."

Celia says she only learned of the hazards of her work last year. "From all the years that I worked, they never informed us of the dangers and hazards. When you're young you don't know what to do."

Child workers were not given proper protection against the nicotine exposure or frequent usage of pesticide sprays on the crops, which would also fall on their clothes and skin. They were left to find their own ways of protection.

"We would put on garbage bags and put holes in them for our head and feet," Celia said. "And we didn't have rain boots so we put grocery bags over our shoes."

Humiliation and danger

The conditions grew worse as Celia worked over the years. Eventually the farmers stopped providing water to the workers. The children brought their own to stay hydrated, but that led to more complications. "Going to the restroom is another problem. You would have to go to the other side of the field just so nobody could see, just to get some privacy. It's dangerous, especially being a young lady." These lengthy trips for solitude were often met with harsh demands for faster and harder work.

"I knew it was wrong that we didn't get water," she remembered. "I knew it was wrong we didn't get restrooms. I knew it was wrong they sprayed pesticide while we were working." Even then, Celia said, there was too much fear to say anything.

"It was hard for me to speak up and say, 'Hey I'm sick please take me off the row.' Because you want to prove to adults that you can work like they can, and you want to be paid. That's the fear factor about speaking up."

The environment also presented psychological stresses of insecurities and self-doubt. "In one instance I was humiliated and belittled because I didn't do the job as well [as an adult]. I started to think, 'If I can't do this job what makes me think I can do an office job?'"

But even that office job is usually a pipe dream. "Unfortunately," explained Coursen-Neff, "the interference of their education and the negative health effects of working in agriculture in the United States perpetuates a cycle of poverty that ultimately leave children often without any other options except to continue working in the fields."

She says it's time to break the cycle. "This is a solvable problem. Children are too young to buy cigarettes, and yet right now children are working in fields in the United States being poisoned by nicotine in the fields, and these bills that are in Congress right now can do something about that."

The Child Labor Coalition is hoping to lobby for changes to the law, amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that would prohibit child employment in tobacco-related agriculture by "deeming such employment as oppressive child labor."

As for Celia, she will return to work. Not in the fields, though - she did get that office job, in a bank. The hope is to turn her exception to the rule into a more common occurrence.