While the birth of a child is reason to celebrate, in many traditional cultures, a daughter’s birth is often considered a disappointment. As technology allows parent to know earlier the gender of their children, some in India and other Asian countries, abort or kill infant daughters to avoid the shame and financial cost of raising them. Read more...

More than 135 million women and girls, most in Africa and parts of the Middle East, have undergone genital mutilation. Every year, another two million girls risk the effects of a ritual in which all or part of a girl’s genitalia is removed, without anesthesia and often under squalid conditions. Resulting damage can include infection, extreme pain during sexual intercourse, sterility and increased susceptibility to the AIDS virus. However, hundreds of thousands of mothers and fathers continue to have their daughters undergo the procedure in the name of tradition. Read more...

As food shortages threaten millions through Africa, parts of Asia and Central America, 18,000 children are at risk of starvation in Argentina, a country named after the French word for “money,” and once known as “South America’s breadbasket.” In Tucuman, Misiones and Sante Fe Provinces, 85 children already have died of malnutrition. Read more...

More than 30 million Africans are threatened by food shortages, yet critics of emergency food donations argue that food distribution alone is a short-lived solution, at best. While simply giving away food does little to promote sustainable change in poor communities, humanitarian organizations like World Vision use emergency food supplies as a catalyst for long-term development. Read more...