IGIHE

Category: Health

  • Threats of violence in Kenyan slums color election

    {{Dozens of shack homes have been burned to the ground in recent weeks in Mathare, Nairobi’s most dangerous slum. }}

    Families are moving into zones controlled by their own clans, fearful of attacks between the tribes of Kenya’s top two presidential candidates.

    Kenya on Monday holds its first presidential election since the 2007 vote devolved into months of tribal violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced 600,000 from their homes.

    In a hopeful sign, this year’s presidential candidates pledged at a weekend prayer rally to accept the outcome of the election and ensure violence doesn’t again break out.

    But the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday released a long list of physical attacks, hate speech and cases of ethnic intimidation Kenya has seen in recent weeks, exposing an undercurrent of tribal tension.

    Those strains are on high display in Mathare, where at least seven people have died and 100 shacks burned in the last two months.

    Officially Mathare suffered 112 deaths during the 2007-08 election violence, though one policeman, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press, says Mathare really suffered over 370 killings.

    Lewis Kamau is a Kikuyu but wears the bright orange hat of the Luo candidate, Raila Odinga.

    Kamau is not crossing party lines; he says the hat protects him from Luo attacks. He says he expects Luos to react negatively if Odinga loses.

    “Violence will erupt because of results they don’t like,” he said. “I know these people. They won’t accept the results.”

    Kamau — who backs the Kikuyu candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta — is standing 20 feet from a dirt lot scorched by fire, one of the shacks burned in Luo-on-Kikuyu attacks that began in late December and carried over into January.

    “Just the other day they burned here and we didn’t retaliate,” he said, motioning to the charred lot. “We kept quiet. On Monday after the (election results) announcement, we will be ready for it.”

    Odinga or Kenyatta must win at least 50 percent of the vote in Monday’s election, or the two will go to a second-round runoff, where attention will be even more focused on the two, heightening tensions further.

    Many in Mathare, and across town in Nairobi’s biggest slum, Kibera, say that Kenyans have learned from the 2007-08 violence, and won’t repeat it.

    But many of those pronouncements come from people who assume their candidate will win.

    http://news.yahoo.com/threats-violence-kenyan-slums-color-election-182400085–politics.html

  • No Sign of Chavez in Venezuela

    {{At Caracas’ military hospital, the only outward signs that President Hugo Chavez is a patient inside are the motorcades that come and go and the soldiers standing guard, some of them wearing red berets.}}

    A poster with a large photo of Chavez smiling sits atop the Dr. Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital, but it has been there since long before the socialist leader was admitted upon his return from his latest cancer treatment in Cuba.

    Some of the president’s supporters shout “Viva Chavez!” and “He’s back!” as they drive past the hospital, which this week has become the new center of attention in Chavez’s 21-month-long cancer struggle.

    The government provided an update on Chavez’s condition Thursday night, saying that he remained at the hospital and that “the medical treatment for the fundamental illness continues without presenting significant adverse effects.”

    Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read the statement on television, saying that a “respiratory insufficiency” that arose in the weeks after the surgery “persists and its tendency has not been favorable, thus it continues to be treated.”

    The government has said Chavez is breathing through a tracheal tube.

    “The patient remains in communication with his relatives, with the political team of his government and in close cooperation with his medical team,” Villegas said, adding that Chavez “keeps clinging to Christ, with a maximum will to live.”

    The government hasn’t released a single photo of Chavez since his arrival in Caracas on Monday, and that has led some Venezuelans to question whether he’s actually in the hospital.

    Others insist he is there, just out of sight while undergoing treatment.

    {wirestory}

  • Uganda Lags in Sannitation–Report

    {{A Sannitation report by an international organisation, WaterAid, shows that Uganda is still lagging behind on the reduction of people without sustainable access to basic sanitation.}}

    Uganda, according to the report, has achieved only 34 per cent access to basic sanitation compared to the required 72 % by 2015.

    This means that more than half of the Ugandan population lack access to basic sanitation facilities.

    Rwanda, one of the five African countries studied in the report, has achieved 64% access to basic sanitation.

    However, the same report also indicates a steady progress that Uganda has achieved in access to clean and safe drinking water, which stands at 72%.

    “Only four countries in the region are on track to achieve the MDG target and, on current trends, the target will not be met until well into the next century,” notes the report.

    While Uganda is not performing well in regard to sanitation and hygiene, it has scored better than several African countries like Sierra Leone, where only 13 per cent of the population has access to adequate sanitation.

    The authors attribute the slow progress to neglect of the sanitation and hygiene sector and poor funding.

  • Operation Smile to Provide Free Cleft Surgery

    {{Over 100 people with cleft lips are set to benefit from free reconstructive surgery to be conducted at the University Central Hospital of Kigali (CHUK).}}

    The free surgical programme will start on February 22 to March 1st. |It was organized by Operation Smile, a non-profit volunteer medical services organization providing free reconstructive surgery.

    A cleft lip is a malformation where the lip has not fused together and fully formed and looks like a gap in the upper lip while a cleft palate is a hole in the roof of the mouth.

    Operation Smile will be operating on people with this deformity for the fourth time since 2010.

    Currently, there’s no national data showing the status of this disease in Rwanda.

  • Children Aged 9-15 to be Vaccinated Countrywide

    {{Rwanda Ministry of Health has announced that children aged between 9-15 will be vaccinated across the country from 12th March to 15 March, 2013.}}

    According to Minister of Health Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, children will receive a vaccine which is a combination of two elements that fights against measles and Rubella,

    “It’s the first time the vaccine is introduced in the country for massive public Health campaign.” Binagwaho revealed.

    Since 2006 to 2012, cases of rubella disease and measles have increased across the country.

    In 80s, more than 40 000 children were dying yearly due to measles which has the same signs as the ones of Rubella.

    “Today no child dies of measles as there is its vaccine. The next step is to call upon parents to vaccinate their children,” said Maurice Gatera Head of Vaccine Preventable Diseases Division-Institute of HIV/AIDs, Disease Prevention & Control at Rwanda Biomedical Centre.

  • More European Women to Die of Lung Cancer

    {{Lung cancer is set to overtake breast cancer as the biggest cause of female cancer death in Europe, say experts.}}

    This is already the case in the UK and Poland, the Annals of Oncology reports.

    The rise reflects a surge in the number of women who started smoking in the 1960s and 1970s, the experts say.

    The lung cancer death rate will continue on its upward trend for the next few years – but with fewer young European women now starting to smoke, it should decrease with time.

    In 2013, some 82,640 European women will die from lung cancer, while 88,886 will die from breast cancer.

    And by 2015 the balance will have shifted and lung cancer will take the lead, according to Prof Carlo La Vecchia and colleagues.

    BBC

  • Over 15,000 Medical Workers to Be Re-Assessed

    {{Following the arrest of four health workers operating without proper academic docments, IGIHE has established that the problem of fake academic documents is much wider.}}

    The National Council for Nurses and Midwives has organised re-assessment exams for several health practitioners with suspected fake academic documents.

    About 15,000 applications from nurses and midwives are set to be re-assessed.

    Munyandinda Jean Bosco in charge of administration and finance at the NCNM told IGIHE that the council is in process of reviewing those applications and grant a license to nurses and midwives that qualify.

    He said that the exercise takes time given the amount of applications they have received.

    As soon as the final list of nurses and midwives who fall into this category is known , the council will set an exam for them to validate their qualifications.

    Munyandinda noted that some nurses and midwives who studied outside of Rwanda bring fake diplomas into the Rwanda medical profession.

    More than 25 cases had been discovered and were handed over to the court and police.

    Rutavogerwa Janvier, the legal adviser of the council told IGIHE that it is difficult to review applications from nurses and midwifes who completed their studies outside Rwanda especially those from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    In this situation, the council normally contacts councils from other countries to know if applicants had successfully completed their studies in the medical field.

    He said that it is easy for the council to contact its counterparts in Kenya, Uganda, among others but when it comes to DRC it is challenging because the council from there doesn’t exist.

    The council want to make sure that those practicing the medical profession in Rwanda are really qualified in order to protect the public from medical malpractices said Rutavogerwa.

    He mentioned a case at “Kamonyi Centre de Sante” in 2012 where a woman who was about to give birth was neglected by nurses and midwives to the point the baby died. Two nurses were definitely suspended. A situation like this is not a welcome in Rwanda`s medical field, said Rutavogerwa.

  • UN urges African Firms to Embrace Ethics

    {{The United Nations has urged business leaders in Africa and the Middle East to embrace ethical and sustainable practices in order to succeed in modern economic environment.}}

    Speaking on the side-lines a UN Global Compact forum in Nairobi on Monday, the organisation’s humanitarian coordinator, Mr Modibo Toure, said that businesses can no longer afford to ignore issues like labour rights and climate change if they want to succeed.

    “The pursuit of ethical standards is congruent to the bottom line. You can no longer strengthen one without the other,” Mr Toure said.

    The forum has brought together business leaders and government officials from Africa and the Middle East.

    He added that the presence of a rigorous ethics culture in African economies will go a long way in attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

    The UN Global Compact is a platform that engages the private sector in developing solutions to improve social and economic equity across the globe.

    During the two-day forum in Nairobi, business leaders are expected to take stock of international progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    They will also come up with recommendations for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will come into effect following the expiry of the MDGs in 2015.

    “Different regions will have different priorities for the SDGs. We have to marry all these concerns,” he said.

  • Rwandans to Celebrate International Condom Day

    Rwandans will on February 13, join the rest of the world to celebrate the international condom day.

    Aid Health Foundation Rwanda in partnership with MOH and other stake holders will coordinate the celebrations.

    During the celebrations, a number of activities will be conducted including; testing and counseling, free distribution of condoms, road shows among others.

  • France & Britain Promise Punishment in Horsemeat Scandal

    {{France Britain promised on Saturday to punish those found responsible for selling horsemeat in beef products at the heart of a growing scandal that started in Britain but is quickly spreading to France.}}

    French Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon said an investigation had found that the horsemeat had originated in Romania, although there were links with French, Dutch and Cypriot firms and a factory in Luxembourg.

    British environment minister Owen Paterson said more cases of contaminated food could emerge as British retailers conducted tests for horsemeat on processed beef products.

    The scandal threatens to affect consumer confidence in Europe’s giant food industry, with pressure rising for greater checks.

    The British unit of frozen foods group Findus began a recall this week of its beef lasagne from retailers on advice from its French supplier, Comigel, over concerns that some packs contained high levels of horsemeat.

    Findus France said it too had recalled lasagne and two other products after discovering that they included horsemeat from Romania rather than beef from France as it had thought.

    Hamon said an EU-wide alert had been sent out and that it was not yet clear whether there had been an intentional fraud or the meat had been sold as beef by accident.

    Agencies