{Residents of Cyanika, Burera district attribute the increase of infectious diseases to inadequate sanitation in their households over stony land which prevents to dig toilets’ deep holes. }
Residents expressed their views on this Monday 2nd November 2015 during the launch of maternal and child care week organized by Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC). They called for help to eradicate the problem of inadequate sanitation to improve their livelihoods.
Talking about challenges residents encounter, Nkurunziza Alphonse said that it is difficult to dig the depth of one meter because of the land’s structure which prevents deep penetration over stony land.
He declared it to be the major cause of inadequate sanitation that results in the contamination of infectious diseases.
Mukeshimana Providence, a community health councilor attributes the lack of proper toilets to diseases even though she tries to mobilize residents to clean existing ones.
Sembagare Samuel, the mayor of Burera district promised to find solution through community work and the assistance of partners.
Sembagare shared that last year 2000 households had improper toilets adding that the matter will be solved not later than December 2015.
The executive board of RBC noticed that the one week campaign launched aims at saving children and mothers lives since they get affected easily.
{The pineapple, the tropical fruit enjoyed by people worldwide in slices, chunks, juice, upside-down cakes, jam, tarts, ice cream, yogurt, stir-fry dishes, piña coladas, glazed ham and even Hawaiian pizza, is finally giving up its genetic secrets.}
Scientists on Monday said they have sequenced the genome of the pineapple, learning about the genetic underpinning of the plant’s drought tolerance and special form of photosynthesis, the process plants use to convert light into chemical energy.
The genome provides a foundation for developing cultivated varieties that are improved for disease and insect resistance, quality, productivity and prolonged shelf life, University of Illinois plant biologist Ray Ming said.
Pineapples, domesticated about 6,000 years ago in what is now southwest Brazil and eastern Paraguay and currently grown in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide, are big business.
They are the second most important tropical fruit crop behind bananas, and are grown in more than 80 countries, with an annual value of more than $8 billion.
“The industrial production of pineapple in Hawaii a century ago made pineapple a popular fruit worldwide because of its extraordinary flavor and aroma,” Ming said.
Pineapples are the most economically important crop that uses a type of photosynthesis called CAM, or crassulacean acid metabolism, that evolved in arid locales for high water-use efficiency. It is one of three types of photosynthesis and differs from the forms in the vast majority of plants.
Most crop plants use a type of photosynthesis known as C3.
Plants with CAM photosynthesis use 20 to 80 percent less water han typical crop plants and can grow in arid, marginal lands unsuited for most crops.
Mindful of global climate change forecasts, the researchers said understanding the pineapple genome may help to engineer drought tolerance into other crops and even engineer C3 photosynthesis crops like rice and wheat to use CAM photosynthesis.
“As such, CAM photosynthesis applications could hold major significance for the entire food industry,” added plant molecular biologist Qingyi Yu of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at Dallas.
Some of the pineapple’s photosynthesis genes are governed by its circadian clock genes, which enable plants to distinguish between day and night and adapt their metabolism accordingly.
Ming said this makes sense because CAM photosynthesis lets plants close pores in their leaves during daytime and open them at night, helping retain moisture.
The research appears in the journal Nature Genetics.
{The scene from “Sex and the City” when Charlotte reflects on the effort she put into pregnancy prevention as a single woman–only to get married and learn that she has a 13 percent chance of conceiving– is an unfortunate reality that rings true for millions of women in the United States, according to the CDC. Historically, it has been fairly impossible to predict your odds of getting pregnant in the future; however, a new screening exam is changing that.}
According to Glamour, the diagnostic test called What’s My Fertility? can determine whether or not a woman is suffering from Premature Ovarian Aging or POA.
{{How it works:}}
All women are born with all of their eggs and they gradually lose them over time. Unfortunately, some women lose their eggs more rapidly than others, causing their ovaries to age prematurely.
“The number of eggs that are left in a woman’s ovaries at a given time defines her ovarian age,” said Dr. Norbert Gleicher, who developed the exam. “For 90 percent of women, their egg counts follow an expected curve as they age. But for 10 percent of women—independent of race, background, or what they eat or drink—their egg counts don’t follow that curve pattern, and their ovaries age prematurely.”
According to Dr. Gleicher, who serves as medical director and chief scientist of the Center for Human Reproduction, the screening is available to women ages 18 to 35 and in place to equip women experiencing POA with the knowledge needed to make decisions about the future.
“After treating infertility in women for decades and hearing them tell us time and time again that they wished they had known of the risk of POA so that they could have planned for a family sooner, we were determined to find a better way to proactively identify POA in young women,” said Dr. Gleicher. “This is the group of women our screening is addressing. Fertility centers like ours see an exploding patient population in this category, and since they usually present to us very late—in their mid to late 30s or 40s—there are limited options we can offer them. The best case is that they go into IVF quickly; the worst case is that they are unable to have biological children.”
Currently, testing costs $98 plus lab fees. It consists of a medical questionnaire, and blood tests that take three things into consideration:
1. “The FMR1 gene, which may regulate how a woman’s ovarian function changes over time.”
2. “Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which has a role in the maturation of eggs (if FSH levels are high that’s an indicator of declining ovarian reserves or how many eggs a woman has left).”
3. “Anti-muellerian hormone (AMH), another indicator of a woman’s ovarian reserves.”
While What’s My Fertility? is only licensed in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Florida, and Virginia at the moment; you can still ask your ob-gyn to access the screening for you.
If you’re residing in one of the licensed states, you can begin the screening process by heading over to the What’s My Fertility? website and filling out a questionnaire. You will then be prompted to go to a local lab to have blood work performed.
“Our plan is to offer this program for free to the general ob-gyn community and primary care doctors in every state so that it may eventually become part of routine screening for young women,” said Dr. Gleicher. “If we can advance the first diagnosis of POA from the late 30s to the mid- to late 20s, there will be a huge outcome difference because women will have the chance to do something about it; they’ll be able to make informed decisions earlier in life that will help them avoid the emotional and hefty costs of later infertility treatments.”
{Most times, it’s how we handle conflicts and issues that come with relationships that would go a long way in deciding how successful or unsuccessful the relationship would turn out.}
Love sometimes isn’t enough; I’ve seen couples who deeply love each other, but don’t know how to live peacefully with each other. Relationships like these always have the case of breakup today and makeup the next.
In the long run, the inability to handle relationship conflicts would definitely ruin your relationship.
With these eight tips, you would handle conflicts in your relationship much better.
{{
1. Handle your emotions first}}
The ability to handle relationship conflicts starts from within. Everyone have varying levels of emotions like anger, and an emotion such as this would make you unable to handle your relationship issues.
So, deal with your personal demons first and foremost; learn how to calm yourself when angry and you are halfway there.
{{2. Put away contempt and undue criticism}}
Besides anger, contempt is another thing that makes couples unable to resolve issues — and contempt would end up worsening the feeling of anger.
Contempt include acts like disrespecting your partner, being insulting, acting superior, harshly criticising them, and even ridiculing your partner. Many people are fond of these during arguments; put away such acts and your relationship would be better of.
{{3. Learn to accept your partner’s values}}
Couples fight over issues mostly because they have different values and methods of achieving what they want, and inability to recognise this would heighten tensions in the relationship.
Try to understand your partner’s response even if you don’t agree with them. Understanding their point of view would definitely make things easier; there wouldn’t be an agreement at this point, but there also wouldn’t be a fight and that’s a step in the right direction.
{{4. Learn to listen}}
This is another issue that conflicting couples seem to have. For the previous tip to be duly applied, couples should learn to listen to each other — you would never fully understand your partner’s point of view if you don’t listen.
{{5. Don’t see it as a situation you must win}}
Another reason couples can’t resolve issues peacefully is because they most likely see it as a case they must win. Your relationship shouldn’t be treated like a case in the court of law; when you see things like that then your relationship suffers. When you treat your relationship in a way that you must win then you are only digging the grave of your relationship without knowing.
{{6. Patience
}}
Patience is an important virtue and it’s one that’s highly important in relationships. Without patience then every other tip would be hard to practice during conflicts.
{{7. Learn to compromise}}
Compromise is like finding a middle ground. Finding this middle ground would make both partners feel safe and respected. If you’ve tried to win over your partner and it didn’t then you shouldn’t force it — be ready to compromise.
{{8. Live it in the past and makeup}}
Making up is one important part that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Inability to do this would make grudges and probably hatred grow gradually — and this isn’t healthy for your relationship.
Now that you’ve learnt how to handle conflicts, put it to practice and watch your relationship grow stronger and stronger, because the inability to handle these conflicts can even turn love to hate if care isn’t taken.
Now that you’ve learnt how to handle conflicts, put it to practice and watch your relationship grow stronger and stronger, because the inability to handle these conflicts can even turn love to hate if care isn’t taken.
{The University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology (UR-CST) emerged top in the first ever edition of the National Inter-University Female Debate Championship.}
Nine institutions from around the country took part in the competition on Saturday at the Akilah Institute for Women in Kibagabaga, Kigali.
The three-person team from UR-CST beat off stiff competition from Kepler Kigali to claim a trophy and gold medals in a tense final in front of an audience including the British High Commissioner to Rwanda, William Gelling, Akilah Institute staff and students from the nine participating institutions.
Gelling described as “important” the theme of the day, ‘The Women’s Role in Public Speaking and the Development of the Nation’.
“Developing is not about electricity, constructing new roads and buildings, but being able to ask questions, expressing oneself and being held to account and holding others to account,” he explained.
The nine institutions were divided into two pools and the top two in the both pools made it to the semifinals. Kepler Kigali beat hosts Akilah Institute, while UR-CASS defeated Kigali Institute of Management en route to the finals. The top three institutions were handed cheques worth Rwf250, 000, Rwf150.000 and Rwf100, 000 respectively. Akilah Institute took the bronze. The best three speakers were awarded Rwf50, 000, Rwf30, 000 and Rwf20, 000 respectively.
The other institutions that took part were the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, College of Education, Independent University of Kigali-Gisenyi, Catholic Institute of Kabgayiand UR-Busogo.
{Rwanda’s Minister of Justice Johnson Busingye and US attorney’s general, Lorohnson Busiongetta E. Lynch, held yesterday bilateral talks in various areas of justice to build a strong relationship between the two countries.}
Briefing the media after indoor discussion, Lorohnson appreciated Rwanda exciting achievement in the area of justice and promised sustainable partnership.
“I am delighted to hear exciting working achievements, in such important areas such as access to justice making the system accessible for all Rwandans. We have discussed on a number of different areas of mutual interest and I look forward continuing a strong working relationship with the government of Rwanda.”
According to the Minister Busingye, discussions revolved around access to justice, international prosecution, law making, taking forward judicial capacity, partnerships and building framework that will take forward Rwandan capacity to deliver justice.
“It is important for the world to bring genocide fugitives to account. It is important for the World to understand that it is an obligation of every state to the in world to do what they must do to have these people in courts.”Minister Busingye outlined indoor discussions on tracking perpetrators of 1994 genocide against Tutsi.
He argues that outcomes of discussions anticipate fruitful results since the partnership will also facilitate the track of roaming Genocide fugitives.
“We are very satisfied and confident that the future is bright.”
{LEGISLATORS have proposed that organic laws be translated into Swahili, the most widely spoken language in East African Community.}
Explaining the proposals, Speaker Donatile Mukabalisa said Article 8 of the revised Constitution provides that a law may add or remove an official language to suit a certain reason.
“While working on the law, and in an effort to make it flexible, we realised that it might be in our interest to add a Swahili translation to our organic laws for integration purposes now that we are in the EAC,” she said.
Kiswahili will be a subject in the new skills-centred education curricula due for rollout in January.
However, according to Blaise Rwigamba, a practicing lawyer, translating the law into Swahili might be a bit tricky if the language is not one of the official languages of the country.
“There will be a need to have the language (Swahili) first recognised as one of the official medium of communication in the country’s supreme law before such a drastic change can be effected,” he said.
Of late, MPs had made their concerns known about delays in the drafting of legislation due to issues of language that they believe sometimes fail to contextualise realities on the ground.
MPs have suggested that they need to liaise with experts in linguistic in order to make the laws they enact easily understandable, a move that, according to lawyers, will help them in supporting their clients.
{{General changes}}
Meanwhile, lawyers have hailed the proposed constitutional amendments that were passed by the Lower Chamber of Parliament, saying the timely changes will make the Constitution more accommodative and compatible with other laws.
Other than the proposed changes in the presidential term limit, the other amendments, if passed by referendum, will see members of the Senate, the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice serve a five-year term, renewable only once.
The change would come into effect after they serve their current terms that end in 2018.
However, according to the proposed amendments, senators who are former heads of state will not be subject to term limits.
Cecile Karakure, a lawyer, said the proposed changes are timely and encouraged reform in the way the Supreme Court handled cases, saying that the court is inundated with cases.
“There is also a need to reduce the amount of work done by the Supreme Court. We would have to decide which competent institution would handle the authentic interpretation of the supreme law,” Karakure said.
The East African Community (EAC) has registered a general improvement in maternal, newborn and child health, but there are areas in each member state that require sustained action for improvement, according to a recent report.
The Countdown to 2015 Report, A Decade of Tracking Progress for Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival, launched last month at the first Global Maternal and Newborn Health Conference held in Mexico, includes an updated country profile for each of the 75 countries, which jointly account for more than 95 per cent of the world’s maternal, newborn and child deaths.
The seventh in a series released over 10 years, it examines trends in mortality and nutrition; intervention coverage (including inequality); financial flows to reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health; and supportive policy and systems measures in 75 countries.
The report is intended to help policymakers and their partners assess progress, prioritise actions and ensure accountability for commitments to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality.
{{Shared problems }}
As is the case in nearly all other countries, all EAC countries have not ratified the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183), a modern international labour standard on maternity protection, which came into force in 2002.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), expectant and nursing mothers require special protection to prevent harm to their infants’ health, and they need adequate time to give birth, recover and nurse their children.
Mothers also require protection to ensure that they will not lose their job simply because of pregnancy or maternity leave.
All the five EAC countries also suffer inequalities as regards skilled attendants at delivery between poor and rich households. Furthermore, in the entire EAC region and beyond, under-nutrition is mainly attributed to half of child deaths even though pneumonia is blamed for most under-five deaths.
Zulfiqar Bhutta, the co-chair of Countdown to 2015 Initiative, said worldwide maternal and child survival had improved by 50 per cent since 1990, but newborn survival and child nutrition remain the two major challenges that must be addressed.
{{Rwanda}}
Only four of the 75 Countdown countries — Cambodia, Eritrea, Nepal and Rwanda — will achieve both Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, the report noted.
Regarding socio-economic equities, the report paints a positive picture for Rwanda when it comes to oral rehydration therapy (ORT) and continued feeding; measles; diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) immunisation coverage; early initiation of breast feeding; and antenatal care.
Rwanda has good policies, including community treatment of pneumonia, and postnatal home visits in the first week after birth, but still lacks an international code of marketing of breast milk substitutes, according to the report.
The Code is an international health policy framework for breastfeeding promotion adopted by the World Health Organisation in 1981 as a global public health strategy.
It recommends restrictions on the marketing of breast milk substitutes, such as infant formula, to ensure that mothers are not discouraged from breastfeeding and that substitutes are used safely if needed.
{{Rwanda registered 1, 300 maternal deaths in 2013.}}
The report shows that in 2013, general government expenditure on health as a percentage of total government expenditure was 22 per cent, while out of pocket expenditure as percentage of total expenditure on health was 18 per cent.
During the Mexico conference, Catherine Mugeni, the director of the Community Programmes Unit at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), shed light on how 45,000 community health workers (CHWs) champion post-natal health in Rwanda by identifying all women in child bearing age, those who are pregnant and visiting pregnant ones three times during pregnancy.
She, however, cited insufficient supervision and mentorship by health care providers and a high turnover among the challenges to maternal and child health.
The way forward, according to Mugeni, includes “strengthening community-based maternal and newborn health service delivery through supportive supervision and mentoring.”
Reinforcing physician nursing home visit documentation and linkage with heath facilities, she said, is another good idea.
{{Kenya}}
In Kenya, under-nutrition is mainly attributed to half of child deaths, while haemorrhage (25%) and hypertension (16%) are the biggest causes of maternal deaths. Post-natal visits for mothers – within two days – were at 51 per cent in 2014.
Government expenditure on health as percentage of total government expenditure in 2013 was six per cent, while out of pocket expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure on health was 45 per cent.
Dr Irene Mbugua, World Vision’s regional maternal, newborn and child health project coordinator, observed that equity gaps are wider for interventions that require access to health facilities or repeat contacts with a health provider than for interventions that can be delivered through outreach services at the community level.
“The community needs more empowerment which can only come about when citizens understand their rights and entitlements in the health delivery system. They need to monitor the standards at the health facilities and ultimately the two parties (citizens and duty bearers) need to get together and dialogue to look for sustainable solutions,” she said.
{{ Tanzania}}
On equity, Tanzania only does well in closing the gap in use of insecticide-treated nets among under-five children between rich and poor households. But there are inequalities regarding even early initiation of breast feeding.
The country of 53.5 million people also lacks community treatment of pneumonia with antibiotics, according to the report.
Another policy deficiency is the lack of antenatal corticosteroids, medication given to pregnant women expecting preterm delivery, as part of management of preterm labour, a situation which often results in greater health risks for babies.
Most (39 per cent) of its maternal and newborn health expenditure is covered by external sources, while general government expenditure accounts for 33 per cent and private sources 27 per cent, according to 2012 statistics.
In 2013, out of pocket expenditure as percentage of total expenditure on health was 33 per cent and the country registered 7,900 maternal deaths that year.
{{Uganda}}
Most (53 per cent) of Uganda’s maternal and newborn health expenditure is covered by private sources while government expenditure accounts for 24 per cent and external sources 23 per cent, according to 2012 data.
Out of pocket expenditure as percentage of total expenditure on health was 38 per cent in 2013.
The country recorded 5, 900 maternal deaths in 2013.
{{ Burundi}}
Regarding matters of equity, Burundi is an outstanding example as it registered a thin gap between rich and poor households as regards antenatal and DTP3 immunisation coverage.
At policy level, Burundi lacks in many respects. For instance, it has no maternity protection; no maternal deaths notification; no kangaroo mother care in facilities for low birth weight or preterm newborns; and no antenatal corticosteroids as part of management of preterm labour.
{President Kagame has appreciated Interpol’s efforts to pursue Genocide perpetrators, render justice to Genocide victims and calls for more great achievements.}
This message was conveyed during the introduction of 84th Interpol summit presided by president Kagame .The meeting is held in Kigali on this 2nd November 2015.
President Kagame noted that security is the foundation of everything based on results of Rwanda’s partnership with Interpol.
“When security breaks, losses are likely to increase. These involve loss of lives, loss of trust among people, states and economic deterioration. It has been remarked in our country when security organs supported perpetrators.”He said.
“Allow me to express my gratefulness to Interpol’s efforts to pursue genocide convicts as well as helping survivors to access justice even though more efforts need to be put in place.” President Kagame added recalling Interpol to increase collaboration to sue exiled genocide perpetrators.
He said that the country strived to restore security achieved by establishment of Rwanda National Police which completes 15 years of existence and commended collaboration among countries to counteract emerging challenges facing the World.
President Kagame promised that Rwanda will ensure sustainable partnership to preserve security and justice.
IGP Gasana Emmanuel also shared that Interpol helped Rwanda to detect criminals during 41 years of membership.
Interpol’s current President, Mrs Mireille Ballestrazzi recognized the contribution of Rwanda National Police and noted that a long milestone needs to be completed to resist technology related crimes, terrorism, human trafficking among other cross border crimes.
This annual meeting has gathered approximatively 700 delegates from 154 countries including Chiefs of Police, prosecutors, heads of regional and international police organisations, partners in policing and senior government officials among others.
{Thirteen UN workers abducted last week by rebel fighters released unharmed on Sunday, the UN said.}
Rebel fighters in South Sudan have released 13 United Nations workers who were held hostage for a week, the UN has said.
Around 100 rebel fighters, who have been battling the government for almost two years, seized 31 members of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) last week.
While 18 Bangladeshi peacekeepers were freed soon after their capture, the 13 remaining UN workers – all South Sudanese nationals – were released by the rebels on Sunday, UNMISS said on Monday.
The UN had last week said that only 12 were still being held. However, it said 13 were released on Sunday.
The rebels had captured the men after seizing a UN barge carrying fuel along the Nile River.
While the barge was also given back, the UN said that rebels had stolen the 55,000 litres of fuel it was carrying, as well as communications equipment, an inflatable boat and seven weapons.
UN chief in South Sudan Ellen Margrethe Loj said she was “relieved by the safe release of all UN personnel.”
She had previously warned that the kidnap “may constitute a war crime”.
Cycle of violence
Some 12,500 peacekeepers are deployed in South Sudan, which has been wracked by conflict since late 2013.
A political row between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar erupted into violence in December 2013.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, and UN-backed experts have warned of the “concrete risk of famine” before the end of the year, if fighting continues and aid does not reach the hardest hit areas.
Both sides are accused of having perpetrated ethnic massacres, as well as recruiting and killing children and carrying out widespread rape, torture and forced displacement of populations to “cleanse” areas of their opponents.
Some 3.9 million people are in crisis – a third of the country’s population – a massive 80 percent rise compared to the same period last year, the UN said.
The army and rebels have repeatedly accused each other of breaking an August 26 internationally-brokered ceasefire, the eighth such agreement aimed at ending the nearly two-year long war.
