#War on Public Health

[gwydionmisha]

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring

[guerrillatech]

What Luigi may have been experiencing

[northgazaupdates]

5 April 2024

Environmental engineer Dr. Tamer Al-Najjar reports a growing outbreak of hepatitis in north Gaza. He and his colleagues warned of this months ago, when the occupation fully cut off Gaza from water and directly targeted water and waste management infrastructure. He writes,

In the northern Strip, a condition known as "Jaundice of the Liver" is prevalent, referring to the initial stages of infection with Hepatitis A due to a dangerous mix of pollution, food and sugar scarcity, and poor water quality.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

By Tamino Dreisam

The World Socialist Web Site previously described Germany’s 2025 federal budget as a “war budget dictated by capital.” While billions are being spent on armaments and arms packages for Ukraine and Israel, vast cuts are being made to health and social services, including the planned cancellation of epidemic wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 and other pathogens.

The “Wastewater Monitoring for Epidemiological Situation Assessment” (Amelag) went into operation in 2022 and examines wastewater samples from up to 175 sewage treatment plants nationwide, searching for gene copies of coronaviruses on a weekly basis. Even if it is not possible to determine the exact incidence rate, Amelag provides information on whether the infection rate is growing or declining and where outbreaks are occurring. Waves of infection can also be recognised at an early stage.

Especially since the abolition of mandatory personal testing and all other coronavirus protection measures, wastewater monitoring is one of the most informative tools for determining the status of the pandemic. The planned abolition of this vital public health program illustrates the aggression and criminality with which the ruling class is enforcing the “forever COVID” policy. It not only spreads the lie that the pandemic is over, it also seeks to eliminate all data that proves the opposite.

Amelag’s federal funding expires at the end of the year and there are no plans to extend it. A spokesperson for Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrat, SPD) confirmed: “Unfortunately, no funds for the continuation of wastewater surveillance could be included in the government’s draft federal budget for the time being.” Although attempts were being made “in the course of parliamentary deliberations to obtain funding for continuation,” it is quite clear that these are just empty phrases. In government questions in the Bundestag (parliament), Lauterbach attempted to shift the funding to the municipalities, which are already in debt as it stands. “The federal government is not responsible for every sensible expenditure,” he explained.

Last year, Lauterbach announced the cancellation of funding for research into Long Covid and the development of therapies and medicines to combat it. The cut from €100 million to €21 million was justified with claims of a “tight budget situation.” He thus made it clear where this cancelled money was going: into military armaments, the only area of the budget to be significantly increased. With regard to the continued operation of Amelag, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) public health body explained that only €5 million per year would be necessary—that is, 0.8 percent of the sum of Germany’s most recent military support package for Ukraine.

A petition addressed to the Federal Ministry of Health on change.org under the title “Stop the end of AMELAG! Germany needs modern epidemiology” already has over 4,500 signatures. It explains: “Modern epidemiological surveillance is based on collecting data as quickly, comprehensively and unbureaucratically as possible. As the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic shows, modern surveillance systems are more necessary than ever in a globalised world affected by the overexploitation of natural resources.” The petition goes on to castigate the government’s abolition of all measures, noting, “Contrary to the experience of modern medicine, for the first time in human history we are relying on individual responsibility to overcome a pandemic.”

Many signatories of the petition write in their explanatory statement that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and that they themselves have already fallen ill with Long Covid.

Just how drastic the situation is, is also shown by the figures for the rising autumn coronavirus wave. According to the RKI’s latest weekly report on acute respiratory illnesses (ARI), 7.4 million people are currently suffering from acute respiratory diseases—a particularly high level for this time of year. COVID-19 directly accounts for around 22 percent of these. However, it is quite clear that the unhindered spread of COVID in recent months and years has weakened the immune systems of millions of people. As a result, they also fall ill more easily with other forms of ARI.

COVID-19 currently accounts for 17 percent of the number of severe ARI cases, although there are clear age differences, with COVID-19 accounting for 30 percent of severe respiratory illnesses in the over-80 age group.

Wastewater levels of COVID have sharply increased since mid-September. Last week, 239,000 gene copies per litre of wastewater were measured, while in the previous week the figure was 185,000. The viral load has doubled in the last four weeks. According to GrippeWeb, which collects data on the incidence of infection based on information from a test group of volunteers, the estimated COVID incidence is currently around 1,100.

The number of hospitalisations is also rising slightly and now stands at a 7-day incidence of four hospitalisations per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of deaths rose to 129 last week, compared to around 80 per week in the previous weeks.

The dominant variant is currently KP.3.1.1, which accounts for 41 percent of infections. The recombinant sublines now account for 27 percent, with virologists estimating that XEC has around twice the growth advantage of KP.3.1.1 and will be the dominant variant in winter.

In the UK, British GP Helen Wall reported in a recent interview with the Manchester Evening News that she has observed a difference between XEC and previous infections in her practice. Anyone infected with this variant should be prepared to feel “knocked out.” She explained: “Previous symptoms were more like cough and cold symptoms, but at the moment Covid seems to be really knocking people out.”

The long-term effects of COVID-19 are also being increasingly discussed. Broadcaster SWR recently published a report on the first anniversary of the post-COVID outpatient clinic in Mainz. The internist interviewed, Christoph Lembens, reports that more than 1,000 patients had already been treated in these twelve months. The appointment diary was still fully booked well into next spring.

Lembens estimates that around a fifth of his patients have not recovered from their COVID infections. This not only affects older people with previous illnesses, but also many younger people. Those affected suffer from exhaustion and fatigue. Some of them also have severe circulatory fluctuations, for example an extreme drop in blood pressure as soon as they stand up, which can lead to their simply falling over.

For many, it gets even worse: they may also have major muscular problems, so that some sufferers are dependent on a wheelchair. Many have cognitive impairments, including “brain fog,” making it extremely difficult to concentrate or memorise things.

These reports illustrate the criminal nature of the ruling class “forever COVID” policy, which has condemned hundreds of millions globally to suffer long-term damage to their health so that profits continue to flow.

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[notyourtoday]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Al Jazeera English (@aljazeeraenglish)

Caption on post -

"The vaccine campaign doesn't address the core issue, which is the lack of hygiene, sanitation and clean water." Chessa Latifi, from the organisation Project Hope, says it's unlikely most of the children in #Gaza will get access to the polio vaccine.

@aljazeeraenglish on Instagram.

Link to post .

[sparksinthenight]

“When governments spent more on health care through public means, people had greater access to these essential healthcare goods and services.”

Billions of people around the world lack access to healthcare, due to regressive tax policies which lead to a lack of public health services.

[nando161mando]

A timeline of New York's destruction of public health.

[gwydionmisha]

The overt purpose is to curtail 1st amendment rights such as free speech and assembly which is horrific and wrong, but I suspect they consider the Eugenacist effect to be a feature, not a bug.

Yes, I know there is supposedly a medical exemption, but how are people going to prove to police they are disabled enough to deserve exemption? Do you trust police to not blanket arrest disabled people if they want to? because I don't. do you think disabled people should have to present papers whenever they are in public? Because that's fucking distopian.

Also, I think people should have a right to mask so as not to become disabled from long COVID or risk spreading contagious diseases to lest robust friends and family.

The war on Freedom continues: The battle against free speech, free assembly, the right to descent, public health, and against disabled people and those who care about them simply existing in public spaces.

[agentfascinateur]

Good job UNRWA 👏👏

#heroes

[northgazaupdates]

9 January 2024

Engineer Dr. Tamer Al-Najjar discusses the current conditions in north Gaza. The English text reads,

With the start of a New day in the northern areas, people embark on impossible tasks to secure some food and water for their families !

Scarce resources, cutoff supplies, limited capabilities, and soaring prices make obtaining a can of beans or some wheat a significant achievement.

Efforts are being made by active entities, represented by the municipality, civil society organizations, and individuals, to enable the residents of the northern areas to remain here despite the destruction of all aspects of life !!

Given the complete and exte;nsive dest;ruct/ion of municipal facilities, equipment, active institutions' headquarters, main roads, and infrastructure .

Providing a small quantity of diesel and a small generator could be considered a great treasure in order to secure water that is globally deemed 'unfit' in the first place !!!

For weeks, thousands remain missing under rubble, inaccessible and unaccounted for, with a death probability exceeding 99.9%!!

The involved authorities lack fuel or proper equipment to remove debris and retrieve bodies.

Simultaneously, there's a concerning emergence of epidemics and unfamiliar diseases in the North due to this situation !!!

Source: Tamer Al-Najjar via Stories on Instagram

[jloisse]

Partie 3 - Voici une interview très récente de Thierry Meyssan qui considère que l’entité sioniste ne survivra pas au conflit annoncé face au Hezbollah.

Il nous donne les raisons. La principale c’est que la colonie juive en Palestine a été l’expression historique de la domination d’un Occident colonial. Cet Occident dominateur est déjà mort. Ce qu’on appelle "Israël" mourra donc avec.

[minisoc]

GP’s will soon be stripped of the ability to sign people off work as part of a major government inititive to crack down on ‘sick note culture’

Rishi Sunak says people should stop 'over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life'

published 4/19/24

if you've been wondering how they're reacting to the mass disabling event that is COVID 19. just mandate people not to take sick days

[waters-and-the-wilde]

starting to actually Get the concept of like. putting spikes on your jacket. i've spent any number of years now being like. noooo i can't put up armor against the big mean world!! that's how you lose yourself!! i don't wanna have to act tough i don't wanna have to put up facades that i can't back up and real bravery is going through the world soft and vulnerable anyway!!! and uh drinking too much of your 'im softe' juice when you still need to work on boundaries is. y'know. not the best great combo.

anyway now i work in retail and i stg not a week goes by where some guy tries to like. jovially clap me on the shoulder. bonus points for making it A Thing if i actually duck away from it now like damn we don't need to Have A Conversation about this just gtfo of my six feet.