Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Protesting Health Care in Zambia

Earlier this summer in Zambia, there was a health care workers strike that appeared to have no end in sight. In effort to urge government to work to end the strike, the news editor of the local newspaper sent photos of a woman giving birth outside a closed hospital to the vice president and a number of other organizations.

The photos of a desperate woman struggling to survive, instead of being taken as the evidence of a serious problem, were considered pornography and Chansa Kabwela, the editor, was arrested this Monday and faces five years in prison.

Ms. Kabwela said that she sent the photos to try and get people concerned about how the strike was disproportionately effecting women. She faced additional criticism from women's groups who said that she had violated the woman's rights by circulating "inappropriate" photos.
Photo courtesy of www.flickr/kioko

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