Tonga was still picking up the pieces after the Hunga volcanic eruption and tsunami waves when the pandemic reached its shores.The volcano’s ashfall had damaged roads, polluted water and destr
Cheerieann Wilson
10 April, 2021, 10:58 pm
In December 2020, We Rise Coalition welcomed four new partner organisations. A testament of the work in the Pacifi c Feminist Movement, our seven partners - Sista Vanuatu, Talitha Project, Brown Girl Woke, Voice for Change - PNG, IWDA, FWRM and femLINKpacifi c - formalised their commitment to building and sustaining women’s collective power through movements. Picture: SUPPLIED
The the tail end of a difficult year, an organisation at the frontline of providing a safe pathway for women who survive violence was at the brink of not being able to deliver critical services.
The organisation Voice for Change which is based in Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea, operates in an extremely difficult environment that is remote and laced in conflict.
The University of New South Wales interviewed 26 people across the country, including girls aged between 16-19 who had become pregnant, about their experiences, as well as older women who spoke about their knowledge of local practices.
Dr Christine Linhart from the University of New South Wales said in a statement that knowledge about contraception and reproductive health was quite low among the young women interviewed. For a lot of the young women the first physical symptoms of their pregnancy came as a surprise. It s not that they did not understand that sexual interactions would lead to pregnancy, it s just that wasn t a result that most of them had considered was going to happen, she said.