Swine influenza detected in the East African Community / EAC Partner States institute appropriate measures to eliminate spread of the disease

 

 

ARUSHA, Tanzania, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Cases of Swine Influenza (AH1N1) have been detected in the East African Community in the Republics of Kenya and Uganda. The Kenyan and Ugandan authorities have instituted appropriate measures to minimize and eliminate the spread of the disease. The EAC Secretariat is in constant communication with both the Kenyan and Ugandan authorities on the matter. The EAC Secretariat has urged all EAC Partner States to fully activate their surveillance networks in line with EAC Diseases Control Strategy of Early Detection-Early Response. The EAC Partner States have been further urged to step up public health education on swine flu to avoid public panic. Further, EAC Partner States have been urged to set up hotlines. The EAC Secretariat is ensuring coordinated efforts in the control of AH1N1 within the region.

 

The Kenyan case is of a 20 year old student from United Kingdom, Nottingham University Medical School. The student arrived in the Republic of Kenya on Virgin Atlantic flight through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, in Nairobi on 21st June, 2009 and took a chartered bus directly to Kisumu with stopovers at Naivasha for lunch. 

 

The British student was in a group of thirty five students from the UK on a field trip to KEMRI-CDC laboratory in Kisumu. The student realized that he had flu like symptoms on Saturday 27th June, 2009 and immediately sought medical assistance.  Samples submitted to the laboratories in Kenya tested positive of AH1N1. Doctors in Kisumu, say that the patient’s illness is mild and does not need hospitalization, but close monitoring.

 

In the Ugandan case, authorities affirm that a 40-year-old male who arrived in country on June 26 from London via Nairobi to Entebbe without any symptoms was confirmed to have Influenza AH1N1 on July 1.  Ugandan authorities further confirm that the man is under isolation in Entebbe and in good condition.

 

According to World Health Organization (WHO), as of 1st July 2009, the Flu epidemic which started in Mexico two-months ago has already infected 77,201 people and killed 332. WHO has since declared it a pandemic at level six.

 

At level six pandemic alerts, there is human to human spread, characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in different WHO regions. Designation of this phase indicates that a global pandemic is underway.

 

The symptoms of AH1N1 include in man fever, lethargy, lack of appetite,  aching body, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and or diarrhoea. The symptoms are very much like those of the common cold.

 

AHIN1 (Swine Influenza) in pigs causes coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, fever, breathing difficulty. The mortality rates in an affected herd are generally low. 

 

AH1NI (Swine Influenza) is caused by influenza A viruses. These viruses are known to have the ability to change their antigenic structure and create new strains.  Gene reassortments (gene segment exchange) between strains of swine, poultry and human are said to be frequent.

 

Influenza viruses have eight genes, two of which code for virus surface proteins – hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) – that allow the virus to enter a host cell and spread from cell to cell. There are 16 H subtypes and 9 N subtypes, and, therefore, 144 possible HN combinations. However, only three (H1N1, H2N2 and H3N2) have ever been found in influenza viruses that are fully adapted to infect humans. Other combinations, such as avian influenza H5N1, occasionally infect people, but they are bird viruses, not human viruses.

 

According to recent updates received from the CDC the H1N1 influenza virus is a genetic re-assortment of four different influenza strains including swine influenza from North America and Eurasia, Avian gene segments from North America and human influenza gene segments. This genetic combination of swine influenza virus has not been recognized previously among swine or human isolates anywhere in the world.

 

According to the EAC Senior Livestock and Fisheries Officer, Mr. Timothy Wesonga, the disease can be avoided through good personal hygiene. “It is recommended that hands should be washed thoroughly with soap and water after touching contaminated surfaces. While sneezing or coughing, a hankie or tissue should be used. Crowded places should be avoided. People who show influenza-like symptoms should be seek medical assistance” advised Mr. Wesonga. The EAC Senior Livestock and Fisheries Officer has also strongly advised the general public to be vigilant and report to the nearest Health Authorities any suspected cases

 

SOURCE 

East African Community (EAC)

 

 

 

 

Côte d’Ivoire / L’ONUCI offre des classes aux enfants de Tieupleu

 

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, 3 juillet 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — L’Opération des Nations Unies en Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) a inauguré, le 2 juillet, dans le village de Tieupleu, dans le département de Danané (630 Km à l’ouest d’Abidjan), une école primaire construite et équipée par son bataillon bangladais, dans le cadre des projets à impact rapide de la mission. Les casques bleus bangladais ont réalisé les travaux de construction et d’équipement grâce à un financement de la République Suisse.

    

Le bâtiment de trois classes et un bureau, d’un coût d’environ 10,5 millions FCFA, remplace les paillottes qui, depuis 1968, servaient de classes aux écoliers des trois premières années (CP1, CP2 et CE1). Ceux des trois dernières années (CE2, CM1, CM2) devaient fréquenter les écoles des villages voisins. Le projet permet, donc, aux 97 écoliers du village, dont 57 filles, de suivre tous le cycle primaire sans aller dans un autre village.

 

Le Commandant du Secteur-Est de l’ONUCI, le Général de Brigade Zafar Iqbal Choudhry, a expliqué que les projets à impact rapide, sont destinés à répondre aux besoins les plus urgents de la population, tout en créant les conditions de renforcement de la cohésion sociale.

 

Le Porte-parole des villageois, Moïse Ngada Kopieu, a exprimé la gratitude des bénéficiaires à l’ONUCI qui, a-t-il dit, a su traduire en réalité un rêve de longue date de la population de Tieupleu.

 

Le Préfet de Zouan Hounien, Salomon Boni Agnimel, a également traduit sa reconnaissance à la mission. « C’est une satisfaction pour nous que les Forces Impartiales répondent toujours aux souffrances des populations à travers des actes concrets, empreints de générosité, de ténacité et de réconfort. » a-t-il indiqué.

 

L’école de Tieupleu porte à quatre, le nombre d’établissements scolaires et sanitaires réhabilitées ou construites par le bataillon bangladais de l’ONUCI basé à Man.

 

SOURCE 

Mission of UN in Côte d’Ivoire

 

 

 

13eme Sommet de l’UA / Le président Ping et la délégation américaine au 13eme sommet de l’UA débattent de la coopération

 

TRIPOLI, Libya, 3 juillet 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Le Président de la Commission de l’Union africaine (CUA), M. Jean Ping, a reçu, en audience, le jeudi 2 juillet 2009, à Syrte, Libye, la délégation des Etats Unis au 13ème Sommet de l’Union africaine (UA) dirigée par l’Ambassadeur Johnnie Carson, Secrétaire adjoint aux affaires africaines, en présence de M. Erastus Mwencha, Vice-président de la CUA et du Commissaire à la paix et à la sécurité, M. Lamamra Ramtane.

La réunion a eu lieu en marge de la Conférence des Chefs d’Etat et de Gouvernement qui se tient sous le thème “Investir dans l’agriculture pour la croissance économique et la sécurité alimentaire”.

Les débats ont portés sur les questions d’intérêt commun ainsi que sur les voies et moyens de renforcer le développement socio-économique et politique du continent. Les deux parties ont réitéré leur engagement à renforcer les relations existantes entre l’Union africaine et les Etats unis d’Amérique dans le but de faire face aux défis du moment.

 

SOURCE 

African Union Commission (AUC)

 

 

 

 

Bamako / VII Encuentro Africano de Fotografia

 

BAMAKO, Mali, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ –

 

 

SOURCE 

Casa Africa

 

 

 

Suisse / Nominations au Département fédéral des affaires étrangères

 

BERNE, Suisse, 3 juillet 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Le Conseil fédéral a nommé:

 

Charles-Edouard HELD, jusqu’à récemment Chef de Mission au Caire, Ambassadeur extraordinaire et plénipotentiaire en République du Sénégal, en République du Cap-Vert, en République du Mali et en République islamique de Mauritanie, avec résidence à Dakar. L’Ambassadeur Held prendra ses fonctions le 10 septembre 2009.    

Né en 1949 à Lausanne et originaire de Rolle/VD, M. Charles-Edouard HELD est docteur en droit de l’Université de Lausanne et possède également le brevet d’avocat. Entré en 1980 au service du Département fédéral des affaires étrangères, il fit son stage à Berne et Vienne. En 1982, il fut attribué comme collaborateur diplomatique à la Section du droit international public de la Direction du droit international public (DDIP). Puis il fut transféré en 1987 à la Mission suisse auprès des Communautés européennes à Bruxelles. Dès 1991, il fut chef de la Section du droit international public de la DDIP et à partir de 1995, sous-directeur de la DDIP. En septembre 2001, le Conseil fédéral le nomma Ambassadeur au Chili. Depuis 2005, M. Held est Chef de Mission en République arabe d’Egypte, et jusqu’à mi-2007 il fut également Ambassadeur en République du Soudan et en l’Etat d’Erythrée, avec résidence au Caire.

SOURCE 

Switzerland – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

 

 

 

African Countries Convene to Take Action on Behalf of Women and Children Worldwide

 

 

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — African Ministers of Health and delegates from 42 countries, including 29 African nations, have endorsed a Call to Action that will improve the health of women and children worldwide. This Call to Action focuses on task-shifting emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) from physicians to highly trained non-physician clinicians (NPCs) and midwives in order to address the critical human resource gap and prevent needless death and disability during pregnancy and childbirth.

 

The Call to Action decried the chronic shortage in the number of skilled health workers in Africa who can deliver life-saving interventions. There are fewer than five doctors for every 100,000 people on the continent, and each year 20,000 health professionals abandon their posts in rural areas in pursuit of jobs in urban areas or abroad. The consequence of this migration of health workers is disproportionately felt by the poorest and most marginalised people.

 

Within the Call to Action, the training and deployment of NPCs was acknowledged as an important and innovative solution to this human resource crisis. While not doctors, NPCs have increasingly taken on specialised or higher-level clinical functions, performing critical procedures such as surgery, conventionally associated with faculty-trained and highly mobile doctors and specialists. In the context of lifesaving maternal health care, this group also includes midwives and nurse/midwives who provide EmONC.

 

During the four-day meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, more than 350 participants comprising ministers, senior government officials, health programme managers, clinicians, and heads of health training institutes noted that continued poor access to reproductive health care, including family planning, and to quality care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, are responsible for the deaths of half a million women and over a million newborns every year.

 

This assembly and resulting Call to Action underscore the importance of achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4, to reduce child mortality, and MDG 5, to improve maternal health. In the Call to Action, delegates expressed concern that only five years remain to achieve these MDGs.

 

By endorsing the Call to Action, delegates committed to ensuring that national human resource plans address the critical shortage of trained health professionals and the specific skills required to save mothers and newborns; they also pledged that these plans be fully developed, adequately financed, and implemented so as to ensure quality training, distribution, motivation and retention of health workers.

 

In a closing keynote address to the delegates of the Human Resources for Maternal Survival Conference, Spain’s Minister of Gender Equality, H.E. Bibiana Aido Almagro, pledged her country’s continued support to African efforts to improve maternal health. “We cannot allow that being pregnant in Africa means having one foot in the grave,” she stated.

 

Closing the Conference, H.E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ethiopian Federal Minister of Health, urged his colleagues from the continent to be creative in seeking solutions to the tragedy of maternal mortality and morbidity in Africa. “Let us train more health workers and introduce financial and non-financial incentives to retain them, as part of a comprehensive strategy that addresses the health system in each country,” he advised.

 

Human Resources for Maternal Survival: Task-shifting to Non-Physician Clinicians is a collaborative effort of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD, in the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

 

SOURCE 

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

 

 

 

Mali / PAJM / Une concrète mise en œuvre / Lancé à Banamba le 1er novembre 2008, le Programme d’Appui à la Jeunesse malienne (PAJM) est aujourd’hui entré dans sa phase opérationnelle.

 

 

BAMAKO, Mali, 3 juillet 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Suite aux recommandations du 23e sommet Afrique-France tenu à Bamako en décembre 2005 sur le thème «la jeunesse africaine, sa vitalité, sa créativité et ses aspirations», les gouvernements malien et français ont jugé nécessaire d’apporter un coup d’accélérateur au renforcement des actions dans le domaine de l’insertion sociale et professionnelle des jeunes.

C’est dans cette optique que le 14 Avril 2008, une convention de financement relative à la mise en place du Programme d’Appui à la Jeunesse Malienne (AJM) a été signée entre les deux gouvernements. Prévu pour une durée de trois ans (2008-2011), ce programme a comme composantes «jeunesse et entreprenariat», «culture et citoyenneté», «structuration associative et dialogue institutionnel».

Ces trois axes connaissent aujourd’hui une mise en œuvre concrète, pratique et efficace. En effet, le Comité de crédit du PAJM a validé 132 projets de création ou de développement de micro-entreprise par les jeunes. Mieux, 36 % des porteurs sont des femmes et 17 % des projets sont financés dans le secteur agro-pastoral. Pour donner plus de chance aux jeunes de mener à bien leur projet le montant moyen des prêts accordés  est de 1 600 000 FCFA.

Ainsi, 20 projets portés par des associations de jeunes dans le domaine culturel ou d’éducation à la citoyenneté, répartis sur l’ensemble du Mali, viennent d’être soutenus financièrement. La cérémonie de signature de convention de subvention a eu lieu le 30 juin 2009 à la Maison des Jeunes de Bamako. L’enveloppe de ce financement s’élève en chiffre à un peu plus de 34 millions de F CFA (34.161.115 F CFA).

Il faut aussi souligner que le PAJM a contribué à l’édition et à la diffusion de 2 000 exemplaires du livret de la Charte Africaine de la Jeunesse. Il a aussi parrainé le lancement de deux outils de communication du Conseil National de la Jeunesse du Mali (CNJ/Mali). Il s’agit d’un site web (www.cnjmali.org) et d’un magazine trimestriel dénommé «Jeunesse info».

Avec autant d’actions et de réalisations concrètes, on peut dire que le PAJM est entré de plein pied dans sa phase de mise en œuvre.

SOURCE 

Mali – Ministère de la Jeunesse et des Sports

 

 

 

 

Somalia / IOM and UNDP Team Up to Bring Back Diaspora Expertise

 

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — IOM Press Briefing Notes.

 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IOM are joining forces to tap into key technical expertise among the Somali diaspora in a bid to help rebuild key governance foundations in parts of the country.

Somalis with professional expertise in policy and legislation, human resources management and public financial management living in North America, the UK and Scandinavia will be targeted for temporary return for an average period of six months to provide on-the-job peer-to-peer training in their respective fields in northern Somalia initially, including Somaliland and Puntland.

Better management of public finances is just one of the areas that need to be urgently targeted given that decades of conflict have left an almost entirely informal economy with a lack of most of the structures needed to handle donor inflows, collect taxes, pay security forces or even to maximize the potential of the estimated one billion US dollars in remittances the country receives each year.

Initially, there will be six diaspora expert missions. UNDP, which is funding the programme, hopes to eventually facilitate between 200-300 missions in three years to all three geographic zones of Somalia, including Somaliland.
 
The programme builds on the achievements of UNDP’s Qualified Expatriate Somali Technical Service (QUESTS) project over the past four years.

IOM will implement the programme, using the experience and expertise it has developed through its Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) initiative, and its network of missions in countries where Somalis with appropriate skills reside.

SOURCE 

International Office of Migration (IOM)

 

 

 

 

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU on the formal abolition of the death penalty in Togo

 

 

BRUSSELS, Kingdom of Belgium, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The EU welcomes the unanimous decision of the National Assembly of Togo on 23 June

2009 to abolish the death penalty for all crimes and to commute existing death sentences

into life sentences. We congratulate the Togolese Parliament, the Togolese Government

and the Togolese people on this important decision.

The Member States of the European Union consider that the abolition of capital

punishment contributes to the enhancement of human dignity. The European Union

reaffirms its objective of working towards universal abolition of the death penalty. It

believes that abolition by Togo is an important step towards that aim and hopes that this

decision will encourage other countries in the region to follow suit.

 

SOURCE 

European Council

 

 

 

Sudan / Providing livelihood activities for women

 

EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Daily press briefing by the office of the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general.

 

The Gender Advisory Unit of the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Affairs in North Darfur, today launched the reactivation of women centres at the Abu Shouk Camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in El Fasher, North Darfur.

 

Women centres were established to provide livelihood activities for women, as well as support in the context of sexual and gender based-violence.  The Abu Shouk Centre will carry out several activities, including tailoring, candle making, henna and coffee sessions, handicraft, adult literacy classes, and awareness-raising on women’s health, on sexual violence and assistance on reproductive health.

 

SOURCE 

United Nations – Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General