| 2013/11/29 | Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter  |
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 | Aiming at NATO, Hitting Afghans Ashfaq Yusufzai
A blockade of NATO supplies to Afghanistan by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s party has ended up hitting Pakistan’s legal trade with its neighbour, say local traders and truckers. They say the agitation by Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) is hurting the common people of Afghanistan as the ... MORE > >
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 | Uganda’s First Female Funeral Director – From Taboo to Mainstream Amy Fallon
Uganda may have the third-highest fertility rate in the world but where there is life, death is inevitable. And it is a certainty that Regina Mukiibi Mugongo made the most of when she became this East African nation’s first ever funeral director almost two decades ago. But in a country where a ... MORE > >
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 | GM Crop Could Migrate Dangerously Ranjit Devraj
Food security activists who secured a moratorium on introducing genetically modified brinjal (aubergine) into India fear that their efforts are being undermined by the release of GM brinjal in neighbouring Bangladesh. "India and Bangladesh share a long and porous border and it is easy for GM ... MORE > >
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 | ‘Business Is Business, Moses Is Moses’ Pierre Klochendler
As civil war paralyses Syria’s transit routes and political flux in Egypt may affect security at the Suez Canal, Israel is busy repositioning itself as a transhipment hub and trade gateway to the Middle East. With the government initiating massive infrastructure reform, Israeli businesses are ... MORE > >
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 | The Other Rearguard of Colombia’s FARC Rebels Humberto Márquez
The presence of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is evident in Venezuela’s Amazon region, where the guerrillas can be seen on speed boats, in camps, or interacting with local indigenous communities. “We see them once in a while passing by in a boat in the evening, dressed in ... MORE > >
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 | Spring Bursts Among the Toubou in Libya's Desert Karlos Zurutuza
"Can there possibly be anything more satisfying than teaching your own language to your own people?" Abdel Salam Wahali remarked to IPS. He is a teacher of Tebu, an ancient language which is experiencing a boom in post-Gaddafi Libya. "Lessons start at 5:00 PM and finish at 7:30 PM because the ... MORE > >
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 | Almost 20 Years On - International Justice Still Fails Rwandans Adam Bemma
"There is a saying that all Rwandans believe in. You can't forgive if you forget, but when you remember, you know what harmed you and you can forgive and move forward," Honore Gatera tells IPS as he walks through the grounds of the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda’s capital. The museum was ... MORE > >
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 | Taking Efforts to Fight Prejudice in Cuba to the Barrios Patricia Grogg
From a very young age, Irma Castañeda has braided her curly hair and cared for it with natural recipes inherited from her mother, ignoring the widespread conception that black women’s hair is “ugly” or “bad”. Gently, with skilful hands, she aims to chip away at something much more complex: the ... MORE > >
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 | Lebanon’s Splintered Law Wrecks Lives Rebecca Murray
Married women in Lebanon who suffer abuse at home remain at the mercy of the country’s multitude of religious courts, because the hard-fought civil law against domestic violence has been stalled for a vote in parliament since the summer. One woman demanding a divorce and custody rights is Aisha, ... MORE > >
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 | A Google for India’s Poor Keya Acharya
Deep in the forests of central India live the Gond tribals, an almost forgotten lot, neglected as much by the state as by mainstream media. Many cannot read or write. But thanks to a new technology, and the rapid spread of mobile phones through India, they are now picking up their cell phone and ... MORE > >
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 | Murders, ‘Protection Payments’ Mark Elections in Honduras Thelma Mejía
The capital of Honduras, one of the world’s most violent countries, has turned into a huge cage, where people lock themselves into their homes behind barred windows and iron doors along the steep winding, narrow streets of the city. And in the poor areas of Tegucigalpa, a city of 1.6 million, ... MORE > >
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Saturday, 30 November 2013
IPS Pick of Week 2013.11.29
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
MALARIA: DRC: Malaria cases soar in former rebel stronghold
"Between 2009 and 2012, the cumulative number of malaria case has never exceeded 25,000 per year. But just in 2013, as of 20 November, we had 76,343 cases, of which 27,340 were children younger than five. This is what pushed us in early November to declare an epidemic," Félix Kabange Numbi, DRC's health minister, told IRIN.
Of the 76,343 cases, 19,639 are of severe malaria. So far, some 40 people have died, among them 33 children younger than five.
Although Rutshuru typically records malaria cases during the rainy season, which extends from August to April, insecurity has fuelled the upsurge in numbers. Rutshuru was an M23 stronghold for about 18 months before the rebels group's 5 November surrender.
"Because of the insecurity, the fear of looting and attacks, the people were spending the night in the bush or in the fields, where the risk of exposure to malaria is very high," explained Francesca Mangia, the head of the MSF base in Goma.
"People were seeking refuge in the swamps where they grow rice," added minister Numbi, noting that such environments provide an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Malaria is caused by the plasmodium parasite, which is transmitted through the bites of mosquitoes.
Response
According to Numbi, the situation is "under control", with response activities ongoing. Supplies from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, such as medication, rapid diagnostic kits and other supplies, have been dispatched to health facilities in Rutshuru. A blood collection campaign is also planned.
The initial beneficiaries of the free blood transfusions will be children younger than five who are especially at risk in case of severe malaria, said Numbi. Malaria can lead to anaemia, as the infection is associated with a reduction in haemoglobin levels.
Since August, some 24,000 malaria cases have been recorded in Rutshuru, with numbers peaking to about 3,000 cases per week in early October, according to an 18 November Médecins Sans Frontière France (MSF) communiqué. The malaria cases were more than twice the UN World Health Organization (WHO) epidemic alert, noted MSF, which runs the Rutshuru general referral hospital, located 80km north of Goma, North Kivu's capital.
At present, the Rutshuru hospital is receiving 1,500 to 1,600 patients, 70 percent of them children, per week, making for a huge workload. "The number of patients with malaria is five times higher than last year on the same date," noted MSF.
To decongest the Rutshuru hospital, MSF is recommending the treatment and observation of patients suffering from severe malaria in two of its mobile structures, said Christophe Biteau, MSF Rutshuru project coordinator. DRC health authorities have also beefed up staff numbers in response. In the area of Kiwandja, 5km from Rutshuru, the Mapendo and Buturande health centres have also been reinforced to attend to malaria cases.
Malnutrition
Prevailing levels of severe and chronic malnutrition in children younger than five, at 1.6 and 60.6 percent respectively, may have aggravated the malaria infections.
"With the fighting, the people who live off farming… did not cultivate their farms, much less harvest, [and] suddenly could not eat," said Jean-Claude Bambanze, the president of Rutshuru's civil society.
Crop Biotech Update (November 27, 2013)
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
MALARIA: Malaria Nexus
One of our readers has shared the following link to MALARIA NEXUS
Malaria Nexus is Elsevier’s Global Malaria Resource: A major hub for scientists working in all aspects of malaria research. The website aims to provide free access to some of the latest research on malaria published in Elsevier’s many journals. Articles are regularly uploaded on the site and made freely available to registered members for a period of 3 months. News items and podcast interviews with key leaders in the field are also frequently posted and available for free to registrants. A host of new areas will soon be introduced, so keep an eye on the new developments of the website!
Monday, 18 November 2013
POVERTY: Bill Gates Can’t Build a Toilet
By JASON KASS
Published: November 18, 20
NEW YORK — In addition to eradicating polio in India and launching the personal computer revolution, the Seattle Superman of our age has managed to make going to the bathroom a cause célèbre. Five years ago, if I’d told someone I worked on toilets, they would have surely assumed I was a plumber. Now, people exclaim: “Oh! Isn’t Bill Gates into that?”
More than one-third of the world’s population — approximately 2.5 billion people — don’t have access to a toilet. The Gates Foundation and a handful of celebrities, deserve credit for putting this sanitation crisis on the map.
The trouble is that the Gates Foundation has treated the quest for finding the proper solution as they would a cutting-edge project at Microsoft: lots of bells and whistles, sky-high budgets and engineers in elite institutions experimenting with the newest technologies, thousands of miles away from their clients.
Just consider some of the parameters of the Gates Foundation’s first Reinvent the Toilet Challenge: create a “practical” toilet that is suitable for a single-family residence in the developing world. Make sure it takes in the bodily waste of an entire family and outputs drinkable water and condiments, like salt. And while you’re at it, make sure that the toilet is microprocessor-supervised and converts feces into energy. And all this has to cost just pennies per person per day. That’s some toilet.
The winner of last year’s contest invented a solar-powered toilet that converts poop into energy for cooking. Impressive — but each one costs $1,000.
Other models boasted membrane systems, treatment of fecal sludge using supercritical water oxidation (heating water to 705 degrees Fahrenheit, or 304 degrees Celsius, then injecting oxygen) and hydrothermal carbonization (oxidizing feces at a high temperature and high pressure while under water).
High-tech toilets are exciting, but even the Gates Foundation has admitted that “the economics of such a solution remain uncertain.” In plain English: No one can afford them.
They are beyond impractical for those who need them most: the residents of slums in countries like Haiti, Indonesia and Bangladesh, where people make between $1 and $5 per day.
Just imagine the fate of a high-tech toilet in one of these communities. What happens if the unique membrane systems get clogged? Or if the supercritical water vessel or the hydrothermal carbonization tank leaks, or worse, explodes? Or what if one of the impoverished residents realizes the device is worth more than a year’s earnings and decides to steal it? If the many failed development projects of the past 60 years have taught us anything, it’s that complicated, imported solutions do not work.
The people I’ve met in countries like Peru, El Salvador and Haiti tend to be subsistence farmers in the countryside or residents of big-city slums who do odd jobs to make ends meet. They are survivors. They make use of what they have, and are often very good at fixing things. But don’t ask them to become industrial engineers overnight.
When I listen to Mr. Gates talk toilets, I think of Juana, who lives in Belen, Peru, a city of 65,000 at the mouth of the Amazon River. Her neighborhood is under water half the year. During the other half, the drainage ditches are filled with excrement and rats.
When Juana needs to relieve herself, she walks on a narrow plank for about 30 feet until she arrives at her bathroom — four rotting wooden posts wrapped with a tarp. She stands, precariously, on two narrow slats perched above a ditch and does what she needs to do. She also knows that her kids play nearby and worries about them getting sick, since the waste goes directly into the stream.
Poor sanitation contributes to 2,000 childhood deaths from diarrheal diseases. Unfortunately for Juana, and the millions of people that live on marginal, waterlogged land, there are no cheap solutions available. What they need are the kind of toilets that they can buy or build with a few weeks’ savings. Ecological toilets that use natural composting to break down waste are simple to construct, waterless and are easy to fix. This is the go-to toilet for cottage owners in America who live too close to the water to have a septic system.
The only problem is they’re too expensive, with price tags of over $1,000. In Haiti, an organization called SOIL has successfully brought low-cost composting toilets to over20,000 people; and my organization is working on developing a more affordable version.
Even simple solutions like the peepoo bag, which inexpensively (less than 2 cents per bag) sanitizes waste before turning it into fertilizer, are huge improvements. They can also be critical in saving lives after natural disasters.
If we embrace these low-tech toilets, we will be on the right track to getting 2.5 billion people one step closer to having a safe, clean, comfortable and affordable toilet of their own. That’s something worth celebrating this World Toilet Day.
Jason Kass is an environmental engineer and the founder of the organization Toilets for People.
Friday, 15 November 2013
MALNUTRITION: Myanmar's infant mortality woes
In 2012, the clinic delivered a record 3,500 Burmese babies and had at least 5,000 Burmese antenatal care visits. Neonatal equipment such as an infant warmer were donated to the clinic last year when it saw more than 1,000 neonatal admissions, a 60 percent jump from 2011.
"Now we can save more babies' lives," said Cynthia Maung who set up the Mae Tao clinic in 1989. She admits the congested clinic struggles to meet demand, and frequently pays for patient referrals at Thai hospitals.
According to a 2013 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, almost 10 percent of newborns in Myanmar had a low birth weight, which is often caused by malnutrition, malaria, anaemia and prematurity.
Around 56,000 children in Myanmar die before they reach five every year.
Mothers who recently gave birth at the clinic said they crossed the border to obtain better treatment than they can get in Myanmar.
A few days after giving birth to preterm twins, Nin Moe Aye was exhausted and worried. "I'm concerned about my two babies," the 35-year-old mother from Bago Province, near Yangon, told IRIN. "I wonder if they will be fully developed when they grow up."
At 1.5kg each, her tiny newborns were placed in the clinic's infant warmer to improve their survival chances. Low birth weight babies under 2.5kg are one of the leading causes of infant deaths.
Myanmar's infant mortality rate is 48 per 1,000 live births while the mortality rate for children under five is 62 per 1,000 live births, both of which are the highest in Southeast Asia, the UNICEF report says.
As part of the country's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Burmese officials aim to cut these rates to 33 and 43, respectively, by 2015.
Infant care
To do this, health experts stress that proper care is paramount in the early days of a child's life.
"While the right to adequate health care across Myanmar is improving, infant mortality remains concerning with the highest proportion of under-five deaths during infancy," said Maharajan Muthu, officer-in-charge of UNICEF's young child survival development efforts in Myanmar.
Almost three-quarters of under-five deaths occur before the child's first birthday. Of these, around 90 percent are neonatal deaths (within the first 28 days of life), with many having treatable illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.
"There is a need for appropriate context-specific policy and programmatic responses," said Muthu, explaining that national coverage of postnatal home visits remains low and there is no official written policy on the treatment of pneumonia and diarrhoea by health volunteers.
In 2013, just over 3 percent of Myanmar's budget was earmarked for health, compared to more than 20 percent for defence.
Although foreign donors are trying to bolster the nation's healthcare system, many patients pay their own medical bills. More than 90 percent of total healthspending is by private patients in a country where the average person earns less than US$1,200 a year.
"Public expenditure on health in Myanmar has been very low for many years," said Philip Carroll, spokesperson for Save the Children. "This has led to a situation where health infrastructure has deteriorated and there is a lack of a sufficient health care workforce, including midwives and other health care workers capable of providing skilled birth attendance."
Better access for midwives to remote rural areas could reduce infant mortality, he added.
Health experts also warn that scarce health education is compounding the issue, particularly in border areas where decades-long fighting between ethnic rebels and the Burmese military has left many communities neglected.
In parts of eastern Myanmar, the infant mortality rate is 73 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 11 in neighbouring Thailand.
In 2005, the Mae Tao clinic and other health groups began the Mobile Obstetrics Medics (MOM) project to expand child and maternal care in hard-to-reach areas, but health workers are still stretched thin.
On average, midwives can cover up to 16 villages and work more than 10 miles away from their respective township departments. Furthermore, only 132 townships out of 332 were given training and services by the Department of Health from 2001 to 2012 to treat emergency obstetric and newborn cases, say World Health Organization officials.
Without sufficient access to care, expectant mothers will continue to follow Nin Moe Aye's well-beaten path across the border.
"I would have had more difficulties if I didn't come here," she said of the free clinic. "I don't think my babies would have survived."
sk/ds/cb
IPS Pick of Week November 14 2013
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 | Las Pavas Extracts a Miracle from God Constanza Vieira
The rural community of Las Pavas in northern Colombia received this year’s National Peace Prize Wednesday in recognition of its peaceful struggle for land that is claimed by an oil palm company, in a case that became an international symbol of the conflict over land in this country. The day ... MORE > >
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 | U.S. Fights G77 on Most Counts at Climate Meet, Leaked Doc Shows Claudia Ciobanu
The U.S. delegation negotiating at the U.N. international climate change conference in Poland is pushing an agenda of minimising the role of “Loss and Damage” in the UNFCCC framework, prioritising private finance in the Green Climate Fund, and delaying the deadline for post-2020 emission reduction ... MORE > >
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 | Cairo Women Bring Men Back on the Rails Annabell Van den Berghe
Nihal Saad Zaghloul is an Egyptian woman in her late twenties. Like other young women, she faces the daily risk of sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo. But Egypt’s revolution made her realise that people can unite and that she can make a difference. A trend of mob rapes has risen rapidly ...MORE > >
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 | U.N. Peacekeeping Goes on the Offensive Thalif Deen
As U.N. peacekeeping operations assume a more agressive role in conflict zones, the first concrete results came last week when the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) defeated the M23 rebel group after a 20-month-long insurgency. That victory was thanks in part to the support ...MORE > >
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 | U.N. Climate Meet: "It's About Survival" Desmond Brown
For the small island developing states of the Caribbean, there is nothing more important than the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place here at the national stadium of Poland from Nov. 11-22. “We’re being impacted by climate change right now. We have to fight sea level rise, we ...MORE > >
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 | Middle East Women Mean Business Rachel Williamson
Evidence is mounting to suggest women entrepreneurs are more common in the Middle East than in startup capital Silicon Valley, and some even say it’s a more supportive place for them to start a business. Yasmin Elayat, an Egyptian-American born and bred in California’s Silicon Valley, told IPS ...MORE > >
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 | Little Preparation for a Great Disaster Richard Javad Heydarian
Despite the government’s early warnings and evacuation of up to 800,000 people from vulnerable areas, the category 5 - the highest level - Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda to Filipinos) has left some communities and coastal zones in the central Philippine islands of Visayas in complete ruins. Widely ...MORE > >
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 | Visibility from High-Profile Human Rights Inquiries Trickles Down in Chile Marianela Jarroud
Ongoing efforts to determine the causes of the deaths of high-profile Chileans - singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, former presidents Eduardo Frei Montalva and Salvador Allende, and Nobel Literate Prize-winner Pablo Neruda – indirectly bring visibility to thousands of other victims of Chile’s 1973-1990 ... MORE > >
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 | Ethiopia’s Indigenous Excluded from Rapid Growth Ed McKenna
As the construction of a major transmission line to export electricity generated from one of Ethiopia’s major hydropower projects gets underway, there are growing concerns that pastoralist communities living in the region are under threat. The Gibe III dam, which will generate 1,800 megawatts ...MORE > >
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 | Libya’s Berbers Close the Tap Karlos Zurutuza
"Oil tankers won´t get crude from this port until Tripoli finally meets our demands," says Younis, one of the Amazigh rebels today blocking one of Libya´s largest gas and crude oil plants. Located 100 kilometres west of Tripoli, the Mellitah complex is a joint venture between the Italian oil and ...MORE > >
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Featured Video | |
 | Behind the Headlines: Haiyan in Philippines and UN Climate summit
Philippines typhoon / Warsaw Climate Change Conference Live discussion with Johanna Son, Director IPS Asia Pacific. Live discussion with Stephen Leahy, IPS Environment Correspondent. Recorded message from Kumi Naido, Executive Director Greenpeace. MORE > >
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