Guinea-Bissau Maternal Death Rate Among the World's Highest

allAfrica.com: Guinea Bissau: 'It's Like a Hotel for Pregnant Women' (Page 1 of 1)

One in 13 women in Guinea-Bissau dies from complications during pregnancy - one of the highest death rates in the world, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Powered by ScribeFire.

Guinea-Bissau: Even the Drug Dealers have Bailed

Adam Nossiter writes:

First the general was blown up. Then the president was shot dead, the former prime minister was arrested and tortured, a presidential candidate was killed in his villa and the former defense minister was ambushed and shot on the bridge outside town.

Despite those chilling messages — reportedly executed by men in military uniform — Sunday’s election to replace the assassinated president, João Bernardo Vieira, will go on.

There is jolly music and dancing in the decaying streets; earnest international observers crisscross Bissau, the capital; the remaining candidates hold buoyant rallies in preparation for the vote; and trucks packed with chanting supporters bounce up and down over the little city’s deep potholes.

Underneath, though, there is anxiety and doubt here in Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony that is pitch-black at night because of a lack of electricity and that is so fragile it is being abandoned even by the drug traffickers, according to a United Nations expert.

link: Fragile Nation in Disarray Holds Few Hopes for Vote - NYTimes.com