By Matt Ferrero and Maura Kelly
Starting this week, Reporters Uncensored TV will be launching a new series on social innovators. We will be bringing to your attention the people and organizations that are right now making the biggest change in the world. In recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we will kick off this series by showcasing a new leader in women's issues.
Launched in 2000, Women's eNews is a non-profit Internet-based news site that covers issues related to women. Its founder, Rita Henley Jensen, was a former senior writer for the National Law Journal and a columnist for The New York Times Syndicate. She is also a survivor of domestic violence and a one-time welfare mother.
The site features freelance writers from across the globe covering everything from politics and health to sports and culture. What sets their stories apart is their commitment to finding the female perspective that is so often underreported in the mainstream media. Not only does the site prominently feature stories written for and by women, it also goes to makes a point of using women as sources. Other news sources, meanwhile, quote female sources in an average of one in three articles, according to a recent study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. For their contributions to women's media, Rita Henley Jensen and the other writers at Women's eNews have earned over 30 awards. You can check them out at www.womensenews.org.
Women have another sign of hope to mark on this month. Across sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people being tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is on the rise. In a few of these countries, the number of people being tested has more than doubled. According to a survey by the United Nations, the number of people taking antiretroviral drugs rose by more than a million last year. This represents a nine percent increase in therapy coverage for HIV positive children and adults. In 2001, the World Health Organization established a pilot center for its Making Pregnancy Safer program in the Soroti district of Uganda. Since then, maternal mortality rates in the district have been reduced by more than sixty percent. Given the program's success, Ugandan officials are anxious to expand it into other districts.
To learn more about Women's eNews and to see an exclusive interview with Mrs. Jensen, visit our website at http://www.reportersuncensored.com