#uganda covid

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[kickthecan-revolution]

I’ve had a beautiful day today, I saw this massive olive tree on my walk that canopied the air, it’s so beautiful. Even with pausing for a minute or so before each big hill, I shaved about two minutes off my overall walk time to radiation. Today’s appointment was a breeze, I was in and out within 15m - nine more to go.

I decided to walk hills in my way home to reduce the cost of the Uber ride back and ended up at the Fairmont Hotel at the very top of San Francisco. I haven’t been inside of it, ever I think? If so I can’t remember. It’s old and ornate, they are decorating for the holidays. It’s beautiful.

I got home and saw this bouquet of flowers had arrived from my friend Kelly in Seattle - it has little bananas in it! I think it’s one of the coolest flower deliveries I have ever received in my life, I can even eat part of it!

We ended up FaceTiming and got caught up with each other. She got married a little later in life and her husband is so great – a lot more conservative than probably I’d be comfortable with, and such a kind man at his core. They traveled last year, taking a couple of honeymoon trips they’d postponed because of Covid and spent three weeks in Uganda. They visited a school where Kelly learned that the only protein kids get is one egg a week and a quarter cup of milk a week. When Kelly asked what they could give for Christmas, the Director clapped her hands and said oh if we could get them a second egg that week to celebrate it would be so incredible. Later on that evening, Kelly and her husband were driving back to where they were staying and saw a little boy in the street and short story long they couldn’t get them out of their mind, and went to the school to see if they could sponsor him. It’s a boarding school, the school actually limits class and said they were full, but a Ugandan woman was advocating for him and they ended up calling the owner of the school who happens to be in Chicago right now jetlagged, who said yes to the exception.

I asked her to send me some information. There’s a lot of kids in America right now who need a lot of help. And, one egg a week and an education for 75 bucks a month? That just seems like a no-brainer but you can’t be emotional with these decisions, these kids need you to commit for a decade. So I’m sitting with it. I was initially leery about donating to a Christian school but it really works in this area and I trust Kelly. At minimum, it was such important perspective. One egg a week. Goddamn.

Then I chatted with a work colleague - I’m definitely sensing people at my level not wanting me to come back as a manager. We have….. a lot of managers. Too many, I get it. And I think this is just even more fuel to the motivation to leave next year, don’t go to a party where you aren’t wanted. And I don’t take it personally, or I’ll try not to, I’m kind of glad for it. I’m a great leader and could be even better but being a leader has never been my primary motivator. Creating things, explaining things, solving problems, making things - that’s what I really love.

Last call was with my sister just making plans for my trip there on Saturday where I’ll make some introductions between she and the new tenants.

It’s cloudy and cold, sunny earlier but now it feels like rain. My kittens are snuggled in and so am I. I’m making a little “thank you” video to send on Thanksgiving to those in my life who really helped me, I’m a little nervous that it will be cheesy but being vulnerable is something I’m going to practice more.

[bopinion]

2024 / 33

Aperçu of the week

“All we have to do is call our opponent a communist or a socialist or someone who will destroy our country.”

(Donald Trump. We'll see about that...)

Bad News of the Week

Since the end of the coronavirus pandemic - although there hasn't actually been one - I've been waiting for its successor in a slightly anxious mood. Another rapidly infecting virus that spreads worldwide, is potentially deadly and, above all, restricts all our lives again. Now it's here: Mpox. For the first time since Corona, the WHO (World Health Organization of the United Nations) has declared the highest alert level, a “public health emergency of international concern”. Because of the virus that was previously called “Monkey Pox”. Discovered in Congo at the end of 2023, it has now also broken out in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya.

The initial figures spoke of 14,000 suspected cases. Based on the usual 50% rate and the reported 500 deaths, this means that one in twelve people who become infected will die. That's a lot. So it's certainly a virus that should be taken seriously. One day later, it was reported that the first case in Europe had emerged in Sweden. Then the first three in Asia in Pakistan. It's the usual pattern: on the one hand, every infectious disease spreads faster and more uncontrollably in times of international travel. On the other hand, specific cases are only discovered when they are specifically sought or tested for. So the numbers will now quickly go through the roof. Because the spread is already more advanced than we know.

What will happen now? What will the states do? How will society react this time? And above all: what have we learned? There is a lot of talk in Germany about the need to come to terms with everything that has happened around COVID. Also to learn from the mistakes. There is a lot of need for clarification - for example with regard to the procurement of masks, the closure of schools, compulsory vaccination, curfews and unequal treatment in the retail sector. And what has happened since (drum roll please!): Nothing. What applies to politics also applies in private life. Some friends turned out to be conspiracy theorists, others were law and order hardliners, most were simply irritated and unsettled. There were even rifts right through families. Rifts that still exist.

And now we could all be facing the same situation, just as ill-prepared. And if Mpox doesn't develop into a pandemic, perhaps swine fever will spread to humans. Or bird flu. Or something else entirely, be it from the South American jungle or from the secret laboratory of some deep state. Or a revenant from the past spreads again - cholera still exists after all and first cases of polio are reported from Gaza. No, I'm not panicking. But I do have one or two worries. After all, humanity has shown itself more than once to be incapable of learning from the past. I would love to be wrong about that.

Good News of the Week

Venezuela is not giving up. It is wonderful to see how the people are fighting for democracy, no longer wanting to put up with the corruption of their “elites” and finally wanting to have a perspective worth living in. Just under a month ago, elections were held in the Latin American country, which could actually live in prosperity and peace but is suffering from dramatic economic decline, inflation and poverty since years. Or as investigative journalist Sebastiana Barráez says in the news magazine Der Spiegel: “Maduro has couped!”

Initially, the state electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro Moro, who has been clinging to power since 2013, the winner without providing any evidence - as is actually required by the constitution. The opposition has now had access to more than 80 percent of the printed protocols of the individual polling stations and has made them public. According to these, their candidate Edmundo González won with around 67 percent of the vote - compared to 30 percent for the incumbent head of government. So did Maduro commit electoral fraud? It looks like it.

The United Nations and the Carter Center had sent election observers to Venezuela. They have now criticized the election authority's actions and declared that the official result was not achieved democratically. The panel of experts speaks of an “unprecedented process in recent electoral history”. No wonder that most Latin American countries as well as the USA and Europe did not recognize the “official result”. And Maduro? He doesn't give a damn. The despot has further intensified the repression against the population with the help of the military, the National Guard and other state organs loyal to him. According to the independent rights organization Foro Penal, over 2,000 people have been arrested since the election. These include opposition politicians. And journalists. That speaks a clear language.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the US government has now offered Maduro and close associates of the regime an amnesty if they relinquish power. I wish the Venezuelans would keep up the pressure. And the international stage too. Until Madura and his clan really abdicate. Because then the country, which has already been abandoned by 20% of its population in recent years, could return to better times. In a survey conducted by the Gallup polling institute in December 2012, the country's inhabitants were among the happiest people on earth. It would be nice if this vague memory could become reality again.

Personal happy moment of the week

“Your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) has been approved. You are now authorized to travel to Canada by air.” Nothing more to add here. Taking off this sunday. Boy am I excited...

I couldn't care less...

...about the discussion that Germany “only” came 10th in the medal table at the Summer Olympics in Paris - behind hosts France and Great Britain, even though their populations are smaller. “What does it take for more medals?” asks the Tagesschau news channel. That is of little interest to me. Much more important is the charisma of athletes as figures of identification for a nation, the role model function for children, the motivation to surpass oneself. After all, it's not for nothing that the Olympic motto is “Taking part is everything”. In that sense, Eddie the Eagle really did fly.

It's fine with me...

...that the Democrats' party conference is now turning into a coronation mass. Because the most important decisions have been made: Presidential candidate and his (better in this case “her”) running mate. Normally, I would now say that political program content should not be completely secondary. But I don't care about that at the moment. The main thing is momentum. The main thing is optimism. The main thing is not to go back. The main thing is that Donald Jessica Trump doesn't triumph in November. Harris Walz!

As I write this...

...we're trying to catch a mouse. Apparently it was raining too hard outside and it wanted to get out into the dry. Now she's hiding behind a bookshelf and is afraid of us - even though we want to rescue her and set her free. Update: we've got her and she's fine. Second update: there seems to be another one...

Post Scriptum

It's good when someone doesn't look away but points. Even if it's about Israel committing an injustice. After all, you are then almost reflexively vilified as an Anti-Semite. In this respect, I am pleased that the European Union is showing more and more backbone in this regard. In this case, I am not referring to the maltreated Gaza Strip, but to the West Bank, where the Palestinian population is suffering more and more from brutal attacks by militant Israeli settlers - who can be sure of the backing of Benjamin Netanyahu's increasingly right-wing extremist government.

Once again, there have been attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on the population of the West Bank. And now EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has had enough. He will “present a proposal for EU sanctions against the supporters of the violent settlers, including some members of the Israeli government”. Including the government! That's a bombshell. I very much hope that he finds the necessary support for this. Because this massive problem is currently all too easily overlooked in the great shadow of Gaza.

[studyingnstruggling]

I used to want to study abroad after hs (covid and my mom’s guilt tripping prevented it tho) and I watched a lot of videos about studying abroad in various countries. South Africa, Uganda, Russia, Spain, just to name a few examples. And in the majority of the vids there was a theme of if you’re causing trouble, or getting involved in some shady activity, you could be kicked out and deported with your student visa taken. Especially as a foreigner you should be careful. That was the given thing. Keep your head out of trouble and do your work. Respect the country you’re in even if you don’t agree with all their laws/culture. Why is this logic nonexistent in my country the u.s.? If you’re a foreign student and instead of studying you’re spending your days harassing people at protests, why shouldn’t you get deported? It sounds mean, but why is it ok in other countries for this to be an obvious thing but it’s considered bad here? I don’t understand. Why do some countries get to uphold a rule of law but that’s trampled upon in the u.s./west? If I go to Russia to get a degree, and I go to a pro Ukraine protest and I’m yelling at people, then I should get my student visa taken away and deported. I didn’t go there for that, I came for a degree, and if I’m going to cause trouble I should be sent away then. Not sure why this is so controversial.

[justforbooks]

It did not seem like a good thing when a precious consignment of human tumour samples on its way from Kampala, Uganda, to Heathrow was diverted to Manchester. When the samples finally arrived at the Middlesex hospital in London, they were swimming in murky fluid in their vials as though they had been infected with bacteria.

But when the pathologist Anthony Epstein looked at the fluid under the microscope he saw no bacteria, just individual cells that had been shaken loose from the tumours. And that was just what he needed in order to search for elusive virus particles and test his hunch that they were causing cancer.

In the early 1960s Epstein, who has died aged 102, had heard a lecture by Denis Burkitt, an Irish surgeon working in Kampala, that described strange tumours (now known as Burkitt lymphoma) growing around the jaws of children in equatorial Africa.

Intriguingly, the geographical distribution of the condition seemed to depend on temperature and rainfall, suggesting a biological cause. Epstein, who had been working with viruses that cause cancer in chickens, immediately suspected a virus might be involved, perhaps in association with another tropical disease such as malaria.

Epstein began to collaborate with Burkitt, who supplied him with tumours from children he had treated. But Epstein’s efforts to grow pieces of tumour in the laboratory and isolate a virus had all been unsuccessful until the dissociated cells arrived.

With his graduate student Yvonne Barr, he then decided to look at cultures of these cells in an electron microscope, a powerful instrument that had only recently become available in his lab.

The very first image showed a tell-tale outline that looked like one of the family of herpes viruses. It turned out to be a previously undescribed member of that family, and was given the name Epstein-Barr virus. In 1964, Epstein, Barr and Epstein’s research assistant, Bert Achong, published the first evidence that cancer in humans could be caused by a virus – to be greeted by widespread scepticism even though they went on to demonstrate that EB virus caused tumours in monkeys.

Thanks to samples supplied by Epstein, in 1970 Werner and Gertrude Henle at the Children’s hospital in Philadelphia discovered that EB virus also caused glandular fever. That made it possible to design a test for antibodies to the virus in order to confirm a diagnosis. EB virus turned out to be very common, infecting most children in early life, though it usually causes glandular fever only in older teenagers and young adults. As well as causing Burkitt lymphoma in endemic areas in Africa and Papua New Guinea, it is also associated with a cancer of the nose and throat that is the most common cancer of men in south China, as well as cancers in people whose immune systems have been compromised, such as those infected with HIV.

More recent research suggests that EB virus might also be involved in some cases of multiple sclerosis, and that people who have previously had glandular fever are more susceptible to severe Covid-19.

After the discovery, Epstein and others devoted time and effort to trying to find out under what circumstances EB virus causes cancer. The relationship between the virus, other diseases, human genetics and cancer is complex, and it took decades before the medical community could accept the EB virus as a cause with confidence.

Not until 1997 did the International Agency for Research on Cancer class it as a Group 1 carcinogen, formally acknowledging its role in a variety of cancers.

The discovery of EB virus opened up a whole new field of research into cancer-causing viruses. It also raised the exciting possibility of preventing cancers through vaccination, an advance that has now been achieved in the case of human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer, and hepatitis B virus, which causes liver cancer.

By the time of his retirement in 1985, Epstein’s research group at the University of Bristol had developed a candidate vaccine that protected monkeys infected with EB virus against tumours, but neither it nor any other candidate has yet been successfully developed for human use.

Epstein was born in London, one of three children of Olga (nee Oppenheimer) and Mortimer Epstein. Mortimer was a writer and translator who edited The Statesman’s Yearbook for Macmillan from 1924 until his death in 1946. Olga was involved with charitable work in the Jewish community. Anthony attended St Paul’s school in west London, where the biology teacher Sidney Pask encouraged boys to go far beyond the syllabus and whose pupils also included Robert Winston and Jonathan Miller.

Epstein won a place to study medicine at Trinity College, Cambridge. He moved to Middlesex hospital medical school in wartime London to complete his training, before doing his national service in India with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He returned to work at the Middlesex hospital as assistant pathologist, conducting his own research. Thinking electron microscopy might be useful in his studies of cancer-causing viruses in chickens, he spent some time learning the new technique at the Rockefeller Institute in New York (now Rockefeller University). Not long afterwards he attended Burkitt’s lecture and began the serendipitous route to his discovery.

In 1968 he was appointed professor and head of the department of pathology at the University of Bristol, where he remained until his retirement. He moved to Oxford as a fellow of Wolfson College in 1986, becoming an honorary fellow in 2001.

An exemplary scientific good citizen, he served as foreign secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society, and sat on boards and councils for numerous national and international research organisations, including as a special representative of the director general of Unesco; he was also a patron of Humanists UK. Among his many prizes and honorary degrees, he received the international Gairdner award for biomedical research in 1988. He was appointed CBE in 1985 and knighted in 1991.

“It was a series of accidents, really,” he said of his discovery in a conversation with Burkitt they recorded for Oxford Brookes University’s oral history archive in 1991. “Lucky quirks.” Burkitt immediately responded with Louis Pasteur’s aphorism: “Chance favours the prepared mind.”

Epstein was a deeply cultured man who retained a lively interest in many subjects – particularly oriental rugs, Tibet and amphibians – until the end of his life.

He is survived by his partner, Kate Ward, by his children Susan, Simon and Michael, from his marriage to Lisbeth Knight, from whom he was separated in 1965, and who died in 2015, and by two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

🔔Michael Anthony Epstein, pathologist, born 18 May 1921; died 6 February 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[allthecanadianpolitics]

"She was nearly ripped from her three-year-old daughter, but in a sudden reversal, a Toronto personal support worker who faced deportation despite having worked on the front lines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic can now stay in Canada permanently.

After going public with her story, Fatumah Najjuma has won her fight for permanent residence.

On Friday, she received word that her permanent resident application on humanitarian grounds was granted.

"This means a lot to me because I have been given a chance to live, stay and raise my baby girl," Najjuma told CBC Toronto, thanking her lawyer, advocates, her friends and the many strangers who supported her.

"As I am her only living parent, she is going to grow up a happy child because her mother is present in all her life."

Najjuma, 29, had been facing deportation to Uganda — a country she says she fled for her life after being disowned by her family and for her religious and social affiliations.

Her deportation date had been set for Jan. 7. But after garnering tens of thousands of signatures in an online petition, a campaign by advocacy groups and telling her story to CBC News, her removal was delayed in late December.

Now, her fight is over. But she says she remains concerned about the countless others who find themselves also facing deportation despite Canada's commitment to work towards granting status to undocumented workers.

"I shouldn't have to fight for basic rights," she said. "Everyone deserves status so we can live a good life. I encourage all migrants to speak up and raise their strong voice.""

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Kamala/ James Arthur Harris

James Arthur “Kamala” Harris was a professional wrestler best known for his professional wrestling persona, Kamala, a fictional Ugandan giant. Harris was born on May 28, 1950, to Jessie Harris and Betsy Mosely in Senatobia, Mississippi. He had four sisters as well. Harris grew up in Coldwater, Mississippi where his family owned a furniture store. When he was four years old, his father was murdered after a dice game. Growing up, he worked as a sharecropper to help provide for the family. Harris dropout out of high school in the ninth grade and became a burglar.

In 1967, on the advice of police, Harris left Mississippi and moved to Florida where he worked a truck driver and fruit picker. He next moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan where he met a professional wrestler Bobo Brazil who became his trainer. In 1978, Harris made his professional wrestling debut as “Sugar Bear” Harris. One year later, in 1979 he won his first professional wrestling championship in the National Wrestling Association (NWA) Tri-State Tag Team competition with wrestler Oki Shikina. In 1980 he joined Southeastern Championship Wrestling as “Bad News” Harris and later that year won its championship. In 1982, Harris joined the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) after being offer by a job by promoter Jerry O’Neal “The King” Lawler.

While wrestling for CWA, Lawler and another wrestling promoter, Jerry Winston Jarret, created a new wrestling character for Harris. This character, named Kamala, was a stereotypical Ugandan headhunter with face and body painting who was supposed to be the bodyguard of former President of Uganda Idi Amin. Harris then joined Mid-South Wrestling owned by promoter William Harris and remained with the organization until 1986.

Harris wrestled with other wrestling organizations during his career including World Class Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE), and World Championship Wrestling before retiring in 2010 at the age of 60.

Despite his long successful wrestling career, Harris had numerous personal and health related issues. In 2011, had his left leg amputated below the knee due to complications from high blood pressure and diabetes. A year later, his right leg was also amputated below the knee. As a result of the amputations, a charity fund was set up to help with his financial needs.

In 2016, Harris was part of a class action lawsuit filed against World Wrestling Entertainment claiming that wrestlers received traumatic brain injuries during their time with WWE. Unfortunately for Harris and other wrestlers, the lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in 2018.

Harris was married twice during his lifetime, first to Clara Freeman. That marriage ended in divorce. He later married Emmer Jean Bradley and that marriage lasted until his death. He was also father six children, five daughters and one son.

In 2017, Harris underwent lifesaving emergency surgery to clear fluid from around his heart and lungs. His health problems continued. He was hospitalized on August 5, 2020, after testing positive from COVID-19 during the pandemic in Mississippi. Four days later, on August 9, Harris died from complications from diabetes and COVID-19 in Oxford, Mississippi. He was 70.

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/kamala-james-arthur-harris-1950-2020/

[gossip-with-yourbestie]

WHO Declares Mpox a Global Health Emergency

In response to the alarming rise in mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its spread to neighboring countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global health emergency. This is the highest alert level under international health regulations.

On Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the decision after a special meeting of experts. “The emergency committee has advised that the current situation constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and I have accepted this advice,” Tedros stated at a press conference.

The PHEIC designation is a serious move, signaling the need for a coordinated global response to tackle the outbreak and prevent further loss of life. Tedros expressed concern over the emergence of a new mpox strain in eastern DRC and its detection in neighboring countries like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

The situation is dire. This year alone, over 14,000 cases and 524 deaths have been reported in the DRC, surpassing last year’s totals. The new pox strain, clade 1b, which seems to spread primarily through sexual contact, is particularly troubling.

Dimie Ogoina, who led the emergency committee, described the upsurge as “an extraordinary event,” warning that without stronger surveillance, the full scale of the crisis remains unclear. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s head of emerging diseases, stressed that halting pox transmission is possible with concerted effort but emphasized the need for a better understanding of the disease’s spread.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was first identified in the DRC in 1970. It is a viral infection that spreads from animals to humans and can also be transmitted between people through close contact. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and distinctive skin sores.

This is the second PHEIC declaration for pox, following the global outbreak in 2022 linked to the clade 2b strain, which primarily affected men who have sex with men. That outbreak, which lasted from July 2022 to May 2023, saw nearly 140 deaths from around 90,000 cases. The current clade 1b strain is more severe, with a higher fatality rate.

PHEICs have only been declared a few times since 2009, for issues like H1N1, polio, Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19. Marion Koopmans from Erasmus University highlighted that while a PHEIC raises international alarm, the core needs—improving diagnostic capabilities, public health responses, treatment support, and vaccination—remain the same. The DRC and its neighbors face significant resource challenges in addressing this outbreak.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is ramping up preparedness efforts across Africa, particularly in the hard-hit eastern DRC, to help contain the disease in the most affected areas.

[jcmarchi]

Researchers study differences in attitudes toward Covid-19 vaccines between women and men in Africa

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/researchers-study-differences-in-attitudes-toward-covid-19-vaccines-between-women-and-men-in-africa/

Researchers study differences in attitudes toward Covid-19 vaccines between women and men in Africa

While many studies over the past several years have examined people’s access to and attitudes toward Covid-19 vaccines, few studies in sub-Saharan Africa have looked at whether there were differences in vaccination rates and intention between men and women. In a new study appearing in the journal Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, researchers found that while women and men self-reported similar Covid-19 vaccination rates in 2022, unvaccinated men expressed more intention to get vaccinated than unvaccinated women.

Women tend to have better health-seeking behaviors than men overall. However, most studies relating to Covid-19 vaccination have found that intention has been lower among women. “We wondered whether this would hold true at the uptake level,” says Rawlance Ndejjo, a leader of the new study and an assistant lecturer in the Department of Disease Control and Environmental Health at Makerere University.

The comparable vaccination rates between men and women in the study is “a good thing to see,” adds Lula Chen, research director at MIT Governance Lab (GOV/LAB) and a co-author of the new study. “There wasn’t anything gendered about how [the vaccine] was being advertised or who was actually getting access to it.”

Women’s lower intention to vaccinate seemed to be driven by concerns about vaccine safety, suggesting that providing factual information about vaccine safety from trusted sources, like the Ministry of Health, could increase uptake.

The work is a collaboration between scholars from the MIT GOV/LAB, Makerere University’s School of Public Health in Uganda, University of Kinshasa’s School of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), University of Ibadan’s College of Medicine in Nigeria, and Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal. 

Studying vaccine availability and uptake in sub-Saharan Africa

The authors’ collaboration began in 2021 with research into Covid-19 vaccination rates, people’s willingness to get vaccinated, and how people’s trust in different authorities shaped attitudes toward vaccines in Uganda, the DRC, Senegal, and Nigeria. A survey in Uganda found that people who received information about Covid-19 from health workers were more likely to be vaccinated, stressing the important role people who work in the health-care system can play in vaccination efforts.

Work from other scientists has found that women were less likely to accept Covid-19 vaccines than men, and that in low- and middle-income countries, women also may be less likely to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and less likely to intend to get vaccinated, possibly due to factors including lower levels of education, work obligations, and domestic care obligations.

Previous studies in sub-Saharan Africa that focused on differences between men and women with intention and willingness to vaccinate were inconclusive, Ndejjo says. “You would hardly find actual studies on uptake of the vaccines,” he adds. For the new paper, the researchers aimed to dig into uptake.

People who trust the government and health officials were more likely to get vaccinated

The researchers relied on phone survey data collected from adults in the four countries between March and July 2022. The surveys asked people about whether they’d been vaccinated and whether those who were unvaccinated intended to get vaccinated, as well as their attitudes toward Covid-19, their trust in different authorities, demographic information, and more.

Overall, 48.5 percent of men said they had been vaccinated, compared to 47.9 percent of women. Trust in authorities seemed to play a role in people’s decision to vaccinate — receiving information from health workers about Covid-19 and higher trust in the Ministry of Health were both correlated with getting vaccinated for men, whereas higher trust in the government was correlated with vaccine uptake in women.

Lower interest in vaccines among women seemed related to safety concerns

A smaller percentage of unvaccinated women (54 percent) said they intended to get vaccinated, compared to 63.4 percent of men. More unvaccinated women said they had concerns about the vaccine’s safety than unvaccinated men, which could be driving their lower intention.

The researchers also found that unvaccinated women and men over 40 had similar levels of intention to get vaccinated — lower intention in women under 40 may have driven the difference between men and women. Younger women could have concerns about vaccines related to pregnancy, Chen says. If this is the case, the research suggests that officials need to provide additional reassurance to pregnant people about vaccine safety, she adds.

Trust in authorities also contributed to people’s intention to vaccinate. Trust in the Ministry of Health was tied to higher intention to vaccinate for both men and women. Men with more trust in the World Health Organization were also more likely to intend to vaccinate.

“There’s a need to deal with a lot of the myths and misconceptions that exist,” Ndejjo says, as well as ensure that people’s concerns related to vaccine safety and effectiveness are addressed. Officials need “to work with trusted sources of information to bridge some of the gaps that we observe,” he adds. People need to be supported in their decision-making so they can make the best decisions for their health.

“This research highlights linkages between citizen trust in government, their willingness to get vaccines, and, importantly, the differences between men and women on this issue — differences that policymakers will need to understand in order to design more targeted, gender-specific public health interventions,” says study co-author Lily L. Tsai, who is MIT GOV/LAB’s director and founder and the Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT.

This project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

[foster-the-world]

Crazy shit

Watched Savior Complex - The documentary about the white missionary in Uganda. That is some crazy shit. Sad all around.

Covid shot symptoms are gone today. Waking up feeling good after being sick is so glorious.

Family photos went well considering my child is a wild man who won't stand still long enough to catch a picture. Baby boy threw up mucus on himself on our block as we were leaving for the pictures. The effects of cold air are so immediate. At my insistence we are trying a new daily maintenance drug. It will take a few weeks to see if it works. The girls are professionals photo takers by now. I still bribe them with a cake pop but mostly just appreciate their cooperation. The photographer said baby boy would be a perfect model "if he could calm down." HA! HA! He's very cute but not calming down anytime soon.

Both girls scored goals in their soccer games. Nice to be outside after weeks of rain cancelations.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.9

Holidays

Accession Day (Jordan)

Ananda Mahidol Day (Thailand)

Bill and Ted Day

Birsa Munda Shahidi Diwas (Madhya Pradesh; India)

Clothing Poverty Awareness Day (UK)

Community Day (La Rioja, Murcia; Spain)

Coral Triangle Day

Cornflower Day (French Republic)

Denture Day

Donald Duck Day

Feast of the Birth of the White-Breasted Giantess

Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day

Global Maintenance Day

Home Sweet Home Day

International Archives Day

International Batten Disease Awareness Day

International Day of Celtic Art

International Dough Disco Day

La Rioja Day (Spain)

Light Industry Workers’ Day (Former USSR Nations)

Meezer’s Colors Day

Monkey Spank Day

Murcia Day (Spain)

National Cancer Thriver Day

National Earl Day

National Earl Baltes Day

National Helen Day

National Heroes’ Day (Uganda)

National Krewe of Tucks Day

National Long COVID Awareness Day (Canada)

National Meal Prep Day

National Mitchell Day

National Sex Day

National Sex Educator Appreciation Day

National Stripper Appreciation Day

No Apologies Period Day

Profess Your Love Day

Purple People Eater Day

Rockman Day

609 Day

South American Football Day

Toy Industry Day

Traverse Myelitis Awareness Day (UK)

World Accreditation Day

World APS Day (a.k.a. World Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome Day)

Writers’ Rights Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Dark ’n Stormy Day

Kraft Cheese Day

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day

Independence & Related Days

Flevelt (a.k.a. the Confederation of Flevelt; Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Självstyrelsedagen (Åland Self-Governing Day; Åland)

2nd Sunday in June

Abused Women and Children’s Awareness Day [2nd Sunday]

Bunker Hill Day observed (Massachusetts) [Sunday before 17th]

Canadian Rivers Day (Canada) [2nd Sunday]

Father’s Day (Austria, Belgium) [2nd Sunday]

International Drink Chenin Blanc Days, Day 3 [2nd Sunday]

International Shiatsu Day [2nd Sunday]

LEAF Open Farm Sunday (UK) [2nd Sunday]

Mother’s Day (Luxembourg) [2nd Sunday]

Multicultural American Child Day [2nd Sunday]

National Career Nursing Assistants’ Day [2nd Sunday]

National Children's Day [2nd Sunday]

National Garden Day (Germany) [2nd Sunday]

National Puerto Rican Day [2nd Sunday]

Race Unity Day (a.k.a. Race Amity Day; Baha’i) [2nd Sunday]

Ride the Wind Day [2nd Sunday]

World Pet Memorial Day [2nd Sunday; also 2nd Tuesday]

World Swallowtail Day [2nd Sunday]

Write To Your Father Day [2nd Sunday]

Weekly Holidays beginning June 9 (2nd Full Week)

National Automobile Service Professionals Week (thru 6.15) [Week with 6.12]

National Clay Week (thru 6.15) [2nd Full Week]

National Email Week (thru 6.15) [2nd Full Week]

National Flag Week (thru 6.15) [Week with 6.14]

National Little League Week [2nd Week]

National Pet Wedding Week (thru 6.15) [2nd Full Week]

National Right of Way Professionals Week (thru 6.15) [2nd Full Week]

Festivals Beginning June 9, 2024

Annecy International Animated Film Festival (Annecy, France) [thru 6.15]

Beacon Sloop Club Strawberry Festival (Beacon, New York)

Community-Wide FELStival (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

International Dairy-Deli-Bake Seminar & Expo (Houston, Texas) [thru 6.11]

Jewish Cultural Festival (Dayton, Ohio)

New England VegFest (Worcester, Massachusetts)

Peabody Awards (Los Angeles, California)

Savor Idaho (Boise, Idaho)

Feast Days

Aidan of Lindisfarne (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

Architects of the Middles Ages (Positivist; Saints)

Bathe in Marinara Day (Pastafarian)

Bede (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

Cloverfield Dairy Cow (Muppetism)

Columba of Iona (a.k.a. Columbia or Columkille; Celtic Christian) [Poets]

Edmund (Christian; Saint)

Ephrem the Syrian (Roman Catholic Church and Church of England)

George Pérez (Artology)

James Collinson (Artology)

Jim Jones Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Joe Haldeman (Writerism)

José de Anchieta (Christian; Saint)

Jotunheim Day (Pagan)

Liborius (Christian; Saint)

Lord Buddha's Parinirvana (Bhutan)

Michael Ancher (Artology)

Paul Beatty (Writerism)

Pelagia of Antioch (Christian; Virgin and Martyr)

Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (Artology)

Primus and Felician (Christian; Martyrs)

Ralph Goings (Artology)

Remembrance for Sigurd the Dragonslayer (a.k.a. Siegfried; Asatru/Slavic Pagan)

Richard, Bishop of Andria (Christian; Saint)

Robert Indermaur (Artology)

Vesalia (Feast of Vesta; Roman Goddess of the Hearth)

Vincent of Aden (Christian; Martyr)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [33 of 57]

Premieres

Bill of Hare (WB MM Cartoon; 1962)

Cars (Animated Pixar Film; 2006)

The Coo Coo Bird (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1947)

The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon (Novella; 1966)

Dire Straits, by Dire Straits (Album; 1978)

The Empty Chair, by Jeffrey Deaver (Novel; 2000)

Gone in 60 Seconds (Film; 2000)

How Do I Know It’s Sunday (WB MM Cartoon; 1934)

Invisible Touch, by Genesis (Album; 1986)

Jelly-Roll Blues, recorded by Jelly Roll Morton (Song; 1924)

Kids Say th Darnedest Things!, by Art Linkletter (Humor Book; 1958)

Labour of Lust, by Nick Lowe (Album; 1979)

Loki (TV Series; 2021)

Mr. Tambourine Man, recorded by Bob Dylan (Song; 1964)

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco (Novel; US Translation 1983)

The Nine Billion Names of God, by Arthur C. Clarke (Short Stories; 1967)

Ode to Discord: A Chimerical Combination in Four Bursts, by Charles Villiers Stanford (Song; 1909)

A Pirate Looks at Fifty, by Jimmy Buffett (Memoir; 1998)

Party Girl (Film; 1995)

Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, by Elvis Costello (Album; 2009)

Some Girls, by The Rolling Stones (Album; 1978)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Film; 1989)

Stroke It Rich (Radio Game Show; 1947)

Super 8 (Film; 2011)

Tangled (Phantasies Cartoon; 1944)

3, by Honeyhoney (Album; 2015)

Tumble Weed Greed (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1969)

Ups an’ Downs Derby (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1950)

The Wise Little Hen (Disney Cartoon; 1934) [1st Donald Duck]

The Year of the Mouse (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1965)

Today’s Name Days

Annamaria, Ephraim, Grazia (Austria)

Diomed, Efrem, Kolumban, Ranko (Croatia)

Stanislava (Czech Republic)

Primus (Denmark)

Elar, Haljand, Hallar, Helar, Helari, Hellar (Estonia)

Ensio (Finland)

Diane (France)

Annamaria, Diana, Ephram, Grazia (Germany)

Rodanthi (Greece)

Félix (Hungary)

Efrem, Primo (Italy)

Gita, Liega, Ligita, Naula, Valeska (Latvia)

Felicijus, Gintas, Gintė (Lithuania)

Kolbein, Kolbjørn (Norway)

Felicjan, Pelagia, Pelagiusz (Poland)

Chiril (România)

Stanislava (Slovakia)

Efrén, Feliciano, Julián (Spain)

Birger, Börje (Sweden)

Cole, Coleman, Colman, Dean, Deana, Deanna, Dee, Dena, Diana, Diane, Dianna, Dianne, Dyane, Prima, Primavera (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 161 of 2024; 205 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 23 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 1 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Geng-Wu), Day 4 (Jia-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 3 Sivan 5784

Islamic: 2 Dhu al-Hijjah 1445

J Cal: 11 Blue; Foursday [11 of 30]

Julian: 27 May 2024

Moon: 12%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 20 St. Paul (6th Month) [Architects of the Middles Ages]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 83 of 92)

Week: 2nd Full Week of June)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 20 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Dag (Day) [Half-Month 12 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 6.26)

Duir (Oak) [Celtic Tree Calendar; Month 6 of 13]

[myangelgarden]

Top 10 headlines the media didn't tell you this week:

10. Senator Rand Paul to file criminal charges against Fauci.

9. Boycotters vow to make Best Buy 'the new Bud Light' after James O'Keefe reveals shocking discrimination against white employees.

8. Biden's FBI raid and kill 75 year old man over social media posts.

7. Tucker Carlson interview of Andrew Tate nears 100 million views on 𝕏, proving mainstream media is irrelevant.

6. Biden requesting another $24 billion for Ukraine, refuses to allow audits for transparency of fund allocation.

5. President Donald Trump reacts to news that J6 committee destroyed records, calling it a 'criminal act'.

4. World Bank bans further financing to Uganda due to their adoption of the Anti-homosexuality Act

3. Elon Musk's X fined $350,000 for failing to comply with a DOJ search warrant relating to President Donald Trump's Twitter account.

2. Secret Chinese COVID BioIab was funded upwards of $400,000 by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

1. FBI buries Massive Voter Fraud bust in Michigan, discovering tens of thousands of fake voter registrations, bags of pre-paid gift cards, guns with silencers, burner phones, and a democrat-funded organization with multiple temporary facilities in several states.

Bonus: Massachusetts Lt. Gov tells residents to 'consider hosting' illegal immigrant families in their HOMES

What story am I missing?

(COPIED)

[maaarine]

Uganda's failure to jail child rapists as teen pregnancies soar (Tamasin Ford, BBC News, April 17 2023)

“Defilement means unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 18.

According to Uganda's Health Management Information System, pregnancies among girls between the ages of 10 and 14 increased by 366% during the country's first Covid lockdown (March-June 2020).

At the regional general hospital in Gulu nearly a quarter of all pregnancies in the last financial year were girls under 18, the age of consent in Uganda.

Dr Baifa Arwinyo, the head of obstetrics and gynaecology, said: "If I am talking of teenage mothers, all of them are defiled. They are teenagers, they are not supposed to be pregnant.

"You will find that young mothers are the highest proportion of those dying of obstructed labour. The younger the mother, the more the complication."

The high levels of sexual violence are thought to be a legacy of the two-decade conflict in northern Uganda, which was infamous for its brutality.

The war was started by Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that wanted to overthrow the government.

His fighters were known for their inhumane treatment of those they abducted: maiming, cutting off lips and limbs, and forcing people into submission through fear.

It is estimated 40,000 children were abducted, forced to become soldiers or sex slaves, and 1.7 million people lived in internally displaced camps.

The rebels moved on from Uganda in 2008, but the after-effects of their atrocities are still present today, according to gender rights activist Pamela Angwech, director of Gulu Women Economic and Globalisation, a grassroots non-governmental organisation (NGO).

"Living within a toxic, minefield environment had long-term effects on the community. People are used to seeing dead bodies, people are used to seeing death. Sexual abuse was used as a military strategy by the LRA team.

"I describe it as the war was fought in the body of the woman and the woman became the battlefield."

Few people ever saw justice for the heinous crimes committed during the war.”

[ewan-mo]

On the way home

Sat 30th Sept 2023.

I started yesterday with a visit to the Benedict Medical Centre, a small hospital in a poor suburb of Kampala.   They are continuing to find funding a bit of a struggle.  It was worse in Covid but there are 3 government health centres in the locality who give free medication when they have it, and three or four private-for-profit ones.  Also Butabika Hospital, the main psychiatric hospital, is only about 3 miles away, so many people with a mental illness go straight there. The public perception of mental illness is that it means 'Butabika'. It takes quite a shift to imagine that mental illness can be treated at the level of a small hospital like Benedict Medical Centre.

They are hoping that having a psychiatric clinical officer will enable them to develop a good reputation for mental health care.    JF has sponsored Robin to train as a psychiatric clinical officer.  He has finished the course but has still to get a project approved.  We are helping them to raise the awareness of mental illness and its care in their community and to present the hospital as an alternative to Butabika.

Meanwhile, Joshua and I had agreed to look at the experiences of people with mental illness or epilepsy who have been confined at home, usually by their families. They may be chained, tied with ropes, or left in shackles and sometimes leg shackles as well, then locked in the room and dependent on someone else to prepare their food and attend to their personal hygiene. I would be really interested to know how they think of it all. Are they troubled by traumatic memories? Angry with their families? Resentful about the lost years? Or do they just accept that this is how it is during times when they are ill and troubled or overactive and moveous?

Some of you will remember James, who was kept locked in a dark room, chained by his ankle, from his late 20’s to age 42, about 15 years. When we saw him 6 months after our first meeting, he was being cared for by the team and on treatment, and was totally transformed. James taught me a little of what it can be like for our patients, and his story comes with me whenever I teach on international mental health. 

Joshua and I thought it would be interesting to interview some of the  patients we know who have been in similar situations. He’s made a good start, but the majority of the cases so far come just from Bwindi Hospital. Apparently the research journals get suspicious when that appears to be the case; you may have been making up the details!

I’ve asked our young colleagues to scout around to find us some more, as several thought there were some in their districts. Village health workers from the Village Health Teams (VHT), church leaders and local councillors often know their communities very well and will be aware if there are some individuals hidden in the darkness.

The VHTs remind me of the old wise women of the villages in earlier times in our English landscapes. I can remember some from the villages near where my grandmother lived in Somerset. ‘Aunt Em’ and ‘Aunt Cis’, for example. They knew all the local remedies, the herbs and potions that could help with everyday ailments. I’d quite like to talk with them again now, but they have long gone.

When Joshua and I talk, we find our conversation ranges far and wide beyond clinical matters. He’s not short of opinion on some of the political shenanigans that go on in Uganda and from his stories I learnt some fascinating details. He’s interested in English politics too though even he, who has long experience of goings on in Africa, was a bit surprised at the thinking and impact of Liz Truss. And indeed her very short tenure as our prime minister. Uganda’s current president has been in charge for 37 years. Just imagine….

Joshua is a great friend to Jamie’s Fund. He has years of experience in mental health research, and trained as an mhGAP Master Trainer in Geneva (and Italy!) directly under the auspices of the World Health Organisation. We have been very fortunate to have him and his support in our training programmes which have been making such a difference across Uganda. 

Market day at the roadside.

Hassan later drove us down to Entebbe where we had a late lunch in a café we have known for some years.  It has a lush green garden.

A metal baboon in the garden.

We were then dropped at Guinea Fowl guest house, where we spent time catching up on our computers. They were doing major road works on the residential road outside and I enjoyed watching the machines at work – as I used to do 60 years ago.  Not sure why they have selected this road for such major works – the fact that a number of military officers apparently live on it may not be a coincidence.

A grader at work, even after dark.

We went to the airport late evening and  all went smoothly.  In Brussels I was fascinated to make the acquaintance of a Ugandan dentist who has lived in London for a long time but still comes back to Uganda to see family. Her father is a doctor and her sister is a psychiatrist in UK! 

We changed planes in Brussels and got home late morning today, Saturday.

It has been a very encouraging visit.  Hugh, Linda and Avril have found the same encouragements visiting the hospitals in the west as well.  Although JF is stopping we will continue to visit and have tentative plans to return early next year when six of the PCOs JF sponsored will be graduating.

Thank you for reading our blogs and we hope you have found them of interest.  We have aimed to give you a flavour of what we have been doing.

If you would like to drop us an email, please do using the email the200x100challenge@gmail.com

[mariacallous]

NSELE, Democratic Republic of the Congo—Nana Ibumbu noticed that 8-year-old Daniel Mwanza was burning up. Ibumbu is the nutritionist at an orphanage on the outskirts of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and oversees all aspects of the children’s health. Last fall, Congo faced a major mpox (previously known as monkeypox) outbreak, as well as a persistent threat from measles. She decided to give Daniel antibiotics, hoping his fever would die down. But then the vomiting started, and soon afterward blotchy rashes appeared on Daniel’s skin.

Days later, two younger children, Chris Matondo and Benicielle Tshitenge, showed the same symptoms. Ibumbu thought they all might have measles; few of the 35 kids living in the orphanage were vaccinated. She took the three to a nearby health clinic, where Dr. Tresor Gulefwa had another theory: mpox. To be sure, he had to send samples to the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), located in central Kinshasa, about 18 miles away—the only lab able to test for infectious diseases in either Congo or the neighboring Republic of the Congo.

Congo struggles with a string of annual epidemics: Measles, polio, cholera, plague, malaria, Ebola, and mpox are just some of the diseases that have threatened children, many of whom are unvaccinated. In Congo, only 35 percent of children are fully vaccinated before their second birthday. This follows an unfortunate trend: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, global immunization rates were slowly increasing, but in 2021 almost 25 million children around the world missed their routine vaccinations, the largest backslide in more than three decades.

Congo has long been a ground zero for infectious diseases. Low vaccination coverage—as well as reduced trust in vaccines—and poor sanitation put the country at risk of exporting viruses across its borders. During a 2018 Ebola outbreak, which became the world’s second-largest, related cases were reported in Uganda. Although Congo’s government has taken steps to improve immunization rates, the country’s large size and limited financial resources make controlling nationwide outbreaks difficult. Without comprehensive vaccination campaigns, diseases can spread and adapt undetected and threaten the rest of the world, too.

Days after returning from the health clinic, 1-year-old Chris’s fever remained high. All the orphanage staff could do was wait. Without the test results, they wouldn’t quarantine the children, as a mpox quarantine would be much stricter than one for measles, given the 3 percent to 6 percent mortality rate for mpox. As they waited for the results, the children in the orphanage mingled and spread the disease to at least two others. Even months later, Gulefwa never received the test results from the INRB.

But whether the children at the orphanage had measles or mpox still mattered: Although a more effective mpox vaccine, Jynneos, was approved by the FDA in 2019, it is not yet publicly available in Congo. When the virus reached Europe and the United States last year, causing short-lived but sizable outbreaks, they received the available vaccines. But Congo is among the countries most affected by both viruses. Between 2020 and 2022, the World Health Organization recorded more than 10,000 cases of mpox in Congo, with more than 360 deaths. Congo also experienced its worst-ever measles epidemic between 2018 and 2020, with more than 460,000 cases. The true figures are likely much higher.

Given Congo’s history with the disease, just one case of mpox is enough to declare an epidemic, according to Gulefwa. Last year, 22 of the country’s 26 provinces experienced mpox epidemics. But the lack of capacity for rapid testing in Congo often renders test results useless, as the orphanage staff learned. “The biggest challenge is the time between when we receive the samples and when we find the results,” Placide Mbala, INRB’s lab manager, said.

Congo struggles to immunize millions of children under ordinary circumstances. A lack of infrastructure, fuel shortages, and the centralization of vaccines in the capital have contributed to the problem. Keeping the vaccines at the necessary temperature in the tropical climate is the biggest challenge, said Devos Kabemba, the head of the Nsele health zone. He added that the Nsele health zone doesn’t receive enough annual funding to develop adequate vaccination campaigns—only $3 per child, when it really needs $15. Support from international partners isn’t enough to cover it.

The government has focused on education. At the Mervedi medical center in Nsele, mothers stood in line with their newborns waiting for them to be vaccinated. Many women said they have no access to clean, running water—another factor exacerbating epidemics in the country. Outside the clinic, Ortane Manligo, a community volunteer, spoke to people about vaccines. Her work is key, as rampant disinformation following the COVID-19 pandemic has made people wary of vaccination.

Community volunteers “were doing well with convincing parents to vaccinate children against polio and other diseases,” Manligo said. “But when COVID came, disinformation spread on WhatsApp.” A study by the government and international partners showed that 45 percent of disinformation about COVID-19 is transmitted by word of mouth and 20 percent through social media; while the government has involved community leaders in its fight against disinformation, rumors remain hard to control. COVID-19 made it harder to convince citizens to get vaccinated, undermining preparedness for future pandemics.

Another major barrier to immunization efforts is low-level corruption. Many health workers responsible for vaccinating children around the country say they have not been paid for years. Jacques Belly, a health worker in Kinshasa who administers vaccines, said he has not been paid beyond his $75 monthly risk bonus since 2008, adding that the situation in the Nsele health zone resembles that of most of his colleagues. “We are Congolese, and we care about our children. We continue to work, and we continue to ask the government to pay us through strikes and protests,” Belly said.

Most funding for vaccines and medical utilities comes from partners like UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the Gates Foundation, but health workers’ salaries are the responsibility of the state. Veronique Kilumba Nkulu, Congo’s deputy health minister, said the issue stems from a lack of digital payment infrastructure that could allow the money to reach health workers in remote areas. She said in an interview with Foreign Policy that they are trying to introduce more mobile payments, but the situation on the ground shows that even in Kinshasa, health workers aren’t receiving their salaries.

This precarity has led some local health workers to extort the population by asking parents for money in exchange for vaccines. Kamy Musene, a former program field manager for the University of California, Los Angeles, infectious disease program in Congo, monitored the government’s efforts between 2018 and 2022. He found that some mothers were collecting sugar cane to pay for vaccination cards for their children. “We heard in some villages that mothers had to buy vaccination cards for their babies, which can cost almost $1,” he said. Some mothers said their children still did not receive vaccines, and in some cases not even their cards.

“The problem is they know what is happening, but they are not reacting to what we are telling them. Nothing is changing,” Musene said.

The children at the orphanage in Nsele eventually recovered, according to Ibumbu, but the test results never came back. While the outbreak—which she still suspects to be measles—would have been a good opportunity to immunize all children at the orphanage, Gulefwa never received the supplies to do so, leaving the orphanage vulnerable to outbreaks. For Ibumbu and the children at the orphanage, the lack of food and beds is a much more immediate threat. “We don’t have enough means to protect and support these children,” she said. “But we’re trying to do it; it’s our duty.”

Although the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the importance of global health security, the inequity and disinformation that followed have affected the ability of some governments in the global south to immunize children against other threats. As new diseases emerge, countries like Congo remain on the front line of eradication—and without the appropriate resources, they risk fueling other outbreaks and other pandemics.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Governments appear to have signed a once-in-a-decade deal to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, but the agreement seems to have been forced through by the Chinese president, ignoring the objections of some African states.

After more than four years of negotiations, repeated delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic and talks into the night on Sunday in Montreal, nearly 200 countries – but not the US or the Vatican – signed an agreement at the biodiversity Cop15, which was co-hosted by Canada and China, to put humanity on a path to living in harmony with nature by the middle of the century.

In an extraordinary plenary that began on Sunday evening and lasted for more than seven hours, countries wrangled over the final agreement. Finally, at about 3.30am local time on Monday, news broke that an agreement had been struck.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s negotiator appeared to block the final deal presented by China, telling the plenary that he could not support the agreement in its current form because it did not create a new fund for biodiversity, separate to the existing UN fund, the global environment facility (GEF). China, Brazil, Indonesia, India and Mexico are the largest recipients of GEF funding, and some African states wanted more money for conservation as part of the final deal.

However, moments later, China’s environment minister and the Cop15 president, Huang Runqiu, signalled that the agreement was finished and agreed, and the plenary burst into applause.

Negotiators from Cameroon, Uganda and the DRC expressed incredulity that the agreement had been put through. The DRC said it had formally objected to the agreement, but a UN lawyer said it had not. The negotiator from Cameroon called it “a fraud”, while Uganda said there had been a “coup d’état” against the Cop15.

Amid plummeting insect numbers, acidifying oceans filled with plastic waste, and the rampant overconsumption of the planet’s resources as humanity’s population grows wealthier and soars past 8 billion, the agreement, if implemented, could signal major changes to farming, business supply chains and the role of Indigenous communities in conservation.

The deal was negotiated over two weeks and includes targets to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade, reform $500bn (£410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and restore 30% of the planet’s degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems.

Governments also agreed urgent actions to halt human-caused extinctions of species known to be under threat and to promote their recovery.

The deal follows scientific warnings that humans are causing the start of Earth’s sixth mass extinction event, the largest loss of life since the time of the dinosaurs.