45K Dying Each Month in Congo

33 women beaten, bound

(NEWSER) - Women were restrained with ropes or beaten unconscious when some 33 of them were raped in the latest mass assault in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The coordinated New Year's Day attack, in front of some of the women's children, involved several men in each assault, said Doctors Without Borders. All the women were treated at local hospitals the following days, and two severely injured—one beaten with a rock, the other shot in the chest—were transported to a more sophisticated care facility, reports the Guardian . More»

New study shows growing problem

(NEWSER) - The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the midst of a horrific and deepening gang rape crisis, according to a new report commissioned by Oxfam. Of the roughly 4,000 rape victims researchers interviewed, 60% said they’d been attacked by groups of armed men. The sheer number of such sexual attacks is increasing too, thanks to the ongoing civil war in the country; both government and rebel forces use rape as a weapon against civilians, the BBC reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The World Health Organization has issued a warning against homeopathic treatments for TB and other life-threatening illnesses, reports the BBC. The organization issued the alert after pressure from a group of young researchers who complained that homeopathy was being promoted in poor countries as a treatment for TB, infant diarrhea, HIV, and malaria. "When homeopathy stands in place of effective treatment, lives are lost," said the researchers. More»

(AP) - Hillary Clinton traveled to war-ravaged eastern Congo today, where the nation's top diplomat demanded an end to the sexual violence that has claimed at least 200,000 victims. Clinton came to Goma aboard a UN plane over the objections of some top aides who were concerned about security and logistics for the visit. She is the first secretary of state to visit the city. More»

(NEWSER) - Diarrhea kills 1.6 million children under 5 every year—more than AIDS or malaria—and gets a fraction of the funding. But a deceptively simple new treatment may mark a breakthrough, Time reports. Zinc supplements appear to dramatically decrease diarrhea-related deaths—one afflicted village in Mali hasn’t had a single death since the pills arrived. Zinc “has totally taken off,” a researcher says. “It looks like real medicine and is not given out for free.” More»