Gambia

Women who have undergone female genital mutilation in The Gambia have a higher prevalence of bacterial and viral infections, a recent study of 1348 women aged 15-54 years found.

The National Assembly is yet to work on the controversial Media Commission Bill that has raised concerned from media practitioners.

The Gambian parliament will debate on 24 April, a media bill that would empower a new National Media Commission to enforce a code of conduct for the media, register journalists and judge complaints from aggrieved parties. The Gambia Press Union has expressed concern over the new bill. "The impending enactment of the National Media Commission Act [is] not only quite draconian but a visible threat to press freedom in this country," the president of the union, Demba Jawo, told IRIN on Tuesday.

Observer’s reporter and head of Provincial Desk, Demba Sambou, has been arrested by the National Intelligence Agency officers at Bansang, while attending a presentation ceremony at the Bansang Hospital. In a telephone interview with our reporter, Mr Sambou said an NIA officer from Bansang found him at the Bansang Hospital and picked him up for interrogation at the NIA office.

A symposium by The Gambia press union voiced concerns at the denial of access to public information, problems encountered with objective reporting and the need for better-trained journalists, the following is the text of a report by The Gambian newspaper The Independent.

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