"As Long as I Got a Breath in My Body": Risk and Resistance in Black Maternal Embodiment.

"Mothering while black" in Cleveland, Ohio is a radical act. This highly segregated, highly unequal urban environment is replete with the chronic stressors that degrade well-being and diminish survival for Black mothers and their infants; specifically, a maternal mortality rate two and a half times that of their white counterparts and an infant mortality rate nearly three times that of infants born to white mothers. In the midst of such tragedy and disadvantage, Black mothers strive to love and care for their children in ways that mitigate the toxicity of structural racism. The seventeen pregnant and postpartum Black women in this ethnographic study describe transformational experiences with what we label "betterment:" whereby they center their children's perspective and needs, reconsider their social networks, and focus on the future with an unflinching understanding of the constraints of structural racism. Locating betterment alongside other examples of maternal embodiment and through the rich theoretical lens of Black feminist scholars these participant narratives suggest that the toxic effects of racism and the means to resist them are embodied by Black mothers. A nuanced understanding of Black motherhood disrupts public discourses of blame and responsibility that obscure our collective duty to dismantle structural racism.

Factors associated with men's opinion about female genital mutilation in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is considered a human rights violation against women and girls causing serious short and long-term health complications. Despite being a criminal offence in Ethiopia since 2004, the practice continues. Minimal research has been published on factors associated with men's opinion about FGM in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE AND AIMS: The present cross-sectional study used secondary data to identify factors associated with men's opinions about the practice of FGM. METHODS: Secondary data analysis was conducted using data from 8,718 men who responded to the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS). The dependent variable was men's opinion about FGM. Demographic, socioeconomic, and other characteristics were examined. RESULTS: Variables associated with men's support for FGM were lack of education (AOR = 2.91; 95% CI: 1.93, 4.40, p = <0.001), poor wealth index (AOR, 1.76; 95% CI 1.32, 2.35, p = 0.001), ethnically Afar (AOR = 2.50, 95% CI: 1.27, 4.95, p = 0.009) and Somali (AOR = 2.02, 95% CI: 1.15, 3.54, p = 0.015), Muslim religion (AOR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.13, 2.50, p = 0.007), and support for wife beating with at least one justification (AOR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.66, 2.50, p = <0.001). CONCLUSION: Lack of education, poor household wealth index, being Muslim and being a member of the Afar or Somali ethnicity and having a tendency that it is appropriate for a husband to beat his wife, were positively associated support for FGM. These findings suggest that context-specific interventions are needed to eradicate the practice.

Obstetric Violence in Their Own Words: How Women in Mexico and South Africa Expect, Experience, and Respond to Violence.

This article, based on ethnographic research in Mexico and South Africa, presents two central arguments about obstetric violence: (a) structural inequalities across diverse global sites are primarily linked to gender and lead to similar patterns of obstetric violence, and (b) ethnography is a powerful method to give voice to women's stories. Connecting these two arguments is a temporal model to understand how women across the world come to expect, experience, and respond to obstetric violence-that is, before, during, and after the encounter. This temporal approach is a core feature of ethnography, which requires long-term immersion and attention to context.

Genomic Surveillance Enables the Identification of Co-infections With Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Lineages in Equatorial Guinea.

COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 represents an ongoing global public health emergency. Rapid identification of emergence, evolution, and spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) would enable timely and tailored responses by public health decision-making bodies. Yet, global disparities in current SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance activities reveal serious geographical gaps. Here, we discuss the experiences and lessons learned from the SARS-CoV-2 monitoring and surveillance program at the Public Health Laboratory on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea that was implemented as part of the national COVID-19 response and monitoring activities. We report how three distinct SARS-CoV-2 variants have dominated the epidemiological situation in Equatorial Guinea since March 2020. In addition, a case of co-infection of two SARS-CoV-2 VOC, Beta and Delta, in a clinically asymptomatic and fully COVID-19 vaccinated man living in Equatorial Guinea is presented. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a person co-infected with Beta and Delta VOC globally. Rapid identification of co-infections is relevant since these might provide an opportunity for genetic recombination resulting in emergence of novel SARS-CoV-2 lineages with enhanced transmission or immune evasion potential.