Thousands of organizations across the world are participating in the 2012 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. The campaign, now in its 22nd year, is organized by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University. The campaign began on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25) and ends on International Human Rights Day (December 10).
While there are a huge number of events and activities being held across South Africa, I was interested to see that the Province of the Northern Cape was hosting an event related to FASD awareness in the community of Carnavon on one of the 16 days.
According to the government press release:
“The preliminary finds of the Balelapa survey indicates that of the 2,045 persons interviewed in Carnavon , 1,523 indicated that they are unemployed and 1,075 indicated that they have no income. Unemployment and poverty are of the contributing factors for substance abuse and the situational analysis indicates that Carnavon is a high risk area for substance abuse.”
I think it’s still exceedingly rare for individuals and governments to make the connections between violence, poverty, substance misuse, and FASD.
Check out this series of stories by Leonie Marinovich on All Africa called South Africa: 16 Stories for 16 Days of Activism.
For more on FASD in South Africa, see earlier posts:
- FASD Prevention in South Africa (January 12, 2011)
- More on FASD Prevention in South Africa (June 8, 2011)
- Mentor Mother Home Visiting Program in South Africa (October 6, 2011)
Girls, Women, Alcohol, and Pregnancy 