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When Paternalism Doesn't Work for Patients

“Does there have to be someone watching me?” Paula had asked the question as I was examining her. She was referring to the woman sitting in her hospital room, a “sitter.” Paula had been in the hospital for days with a skin infection that was not healing. Earlier that morning, her nurse noticed a few pills covered underneath Paula’s bed sheets….

FGM campaigners: Nigeria ban welcome, but work not over

By Joseph D’Urso LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Activists on Friday welcomed Nigeria’s new law banning female genital mutilation (FGM), but warned that legislation alone will not be enough to eradicate the practice. According to 2014 U.N. data, a quarter of Nigerian women have undergone FGM — the partial or total removal of external genitalia which can cause physical and psychological problems. Although some of Nigeria’s 36 states already prohibit