DUBAI, 15 April 2007 (IRIN) - DUBAI, 15 April 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

AFGHANISTAN: Aid reaches most flood victims AFGHANISTAN: Taliban blocks polio vaccination KYRGYZSTAN: Malaria persists despite eradication efforts NEPAL: Tension in south could lead to war, analysts warn NEPAL: More than 600,000 women suffer uterine prolapses PAKISTAN: UN refugee agency faces deficit in Afghan repatriation funds PAKISTAN: Quake-displaced people start returning home from camps

AFGHANISTAN: Aid reaches most flood victims

About two weeks after flash floods and avalanches caused extensive damage across one third of Afghanistan, relief has reached almost all affected areas, say government and United Nations officials.

"Excluding Daykondi and Nooristan provinces, where we face severe logistical constrains, aid has been distributed to all flood and avalanches-hit provinces," Abdul Matin Adrak, director of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), told IRIN in the capital Kabul on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71239

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban blocks polio vaccination

Gulalai, 45, has always viewed the health of her children as a top priority and is not afraid to speak up about it. "It's been two years and still no one has come to vaccinate my children against polio," the mother-of-five told IRIN.

But living in the heartland of Afghanistan's Uruzgan province - where a growing anti-government insurgency has made vaccinations all but impossible - Gulalai has no illusions as to why.

"The vaccinators don't feel safe. They won't come and our children will suffer," she said from the town of Madabot, a dust-ridden community of 15,000 people just 15km from the provincial capital of Tarinkot.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70721

KYRGYZSTAN: Malaria persists despite eradication efforts

Health officials are keen to stem rising rates of malaria in Kyrgyzstan and prevent a serious outbreak, the likes of which the country experienced in 2002. In March, the government launched a campaign ahead of the May-October malaria season to improve awareness of symptoms of the disease.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71268

NEPAL: Tension in south could lead to war, analysts warn

As Nepal continues its transition from a decade-long armed conflict towards a peaceful democratic nation, analysts say a serious hurdle stands in its way – violence and unrest in the country's southern Terai region.

For the past three months, ethnic Madhesi groups have been demanding regional autonomy and greater political rights for their community in the Terai - home to almost half of Nepal's 27 million inhabitants, the majority of whom are Madhesis.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71235

NEPAL: More than 600,000 women suffer uterine prolapses

Nuche Maya Maharjan suffered a discomforting medical condition for 35 years before she built up the courage to seek medical assistance. For years she had no idea what the condition was and whether it could be treated.

"I had just given birth to my first child and was working in the fields near my village. Suddenly I felt as if my insides were dropping out of me," the 66-year-old recalled.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71244

PAKISTAN: UN refugee agency faces deficit in Afghan repatriation funds

After recently announcing that it was tripling its cash assistance for repatriating Afghans, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it may need to raise funds to live up to its promise in the last five days of the offer.

"UNHCR will need to do fund raising if the figures [of repatriating Afghans] go beyond the 200,000 mark," Babar Baloch, a spokesman for UNHCR in Pakistan, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71256

PAKISTAN: Quake-displaced people start returning home from camps

About 1,500 people displaced by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in October 2005 have returned to their areas of origin from makeshift tented settlements in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, aid officials said on Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71578

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