Category: Health Maintenance

BAMENDA, CAMEROON —

Nurses in Cameroon are marking this year’s World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (October 9) with visits to terminally ill patients in the country’s restive North-West and South-West regions. The regions’ ongoing separatist conflict has left hundreds of patients unable to receive regular in-home hospice care. Cameroon’s nurses are calling for that to change.

Mundih Noelar Njohjam a doctor treating patients with terminal diseases at Cameroon Baptist Conventions Health Services in Bamenda, capital of the English-speaking North-West region, says the separatist crisis is depriving many patients of palliative care.

“The high level of insecurity caused by the ongoing crisis has negatively affected access to palliative care for many patients, especially those living with cancers. Patients with terminal diseases are unable to get to health facilities where they can receive adequate palliative care. Consequently, they have to settle for suboptimal palliative care,” Njohjam said.

The Cameroon Association of Terminally Ill Patients reports that more than 900 patients are denied access to palliative care in the English-speaking western regions.

The association says hundreds of patients in need of help to relieve them of pain and suffering are dying in towns and villages. They say several hundred caregivers have fled hospitals in Cameroon’s troubled English-speaking regions since the separatist crisis escalated in 2017.

Hundreds of patients who have the means relocate to safer French-speaking towns to receive medical care for their terminal illnesses. The patients say they prefer to relocate to Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, and Douala, a coastal city where many of their family members have rushed to for safety.

Among others, the nurses visited the Yaounde residence of Christophe Esselebo, a 67-year-old retired teacher who has been living with HIV and liver disease for three years. He says he faces a great deal of stigma from family members and friends.

He says to prevent developing a mental health crisis, he avoids feelings of emotional attachments with family members who have abandoned him because of his condition. He says he avoids mental trauma during his remaining days by being positive about life and making friends on social media with people who think positively.

Esselebo says he regularly follows up treatment recommended by his doctor.

The visit to homes of people living with terminal diseases this year was organized by the Cameroon Association of Terminally Ill Patients and Santo Domingo Cameroon, a center that cares for people with terminal diseases.

Fulbert Kenfack Jiofack, coordinator of Santo Domingo Cameroon, says poverty pushes 70% of sick Cameroonians to seek assistance from African traditional healers. He says because of either illiteracy or lack of financial means, families abandon their members diagnosed with terminal diseases at home until they die.

Jiofack said fighters in the English-speaking western regions and government troops should avoid inflicting more pain on patients who are already suffering from diseases that cannot be cured. He said medical staff members should be allowed to give health care to people in need.

The nurses ask civilians to stop prejudging the terminally ill in Cameroon.

Cameron’s health ministry says the greatest prejudice is shown toward those suffering from infectious terminal diseases such as HIV.

The health ministry says stigma is driven by the thought that those receiving palliative care will die soon and that terminal illnesses are divine punishment for wrongdoing. Some families prohibit palliative caregivers from visiting their sick patients at home, the government reports.

Nurses said the role of palliative caregivers is to ease patients’ physical pain with medicines and provide psychological, emotional and spiritual counseling to people who have life-threatening and terminal illnesses.

Source: Voice of America

“The pandemic has destabilized societies, economies, and governments. It has shown that there is no global security without global health security,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a recent address to ambassadors and representatives to the European Union’s political and security committee.

“The fastest and best way to end this pandemic is with genuine global cooperation on vaccine supply and access,” Tedros said. “The longer vaccine inequity persists, the longer the social and economic turmoil will continue, and the more opportunity the virus has to circulate and change into more dangerous variants. We need a global realization that no country can vaccinate its way out of this pandemic in isolation from the rest of the world.”

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported Sunday it had recorded 234.6 million global COVID infections and nearly 5 million deaths.

Thousands marched Saturday in Bucharest, Romania, to protest restrictions that begin Sunday to combat a jump in coronavirus infections.

The European nation of 19 million is seeing a shocking rise in the daily number of coronavirus cases. A month ago, the number was about 1,000 new cases a day. On Saturday, Romania reported more than 12,500 new cases, its highest number since the pandemic began in March of last year.

Protesters, mostly maskless, gathered outside government offices, shouting “Freedom, freedom without certificates,” and “Down with the government,” according to Reuters. One sign read: “Green certificates = dictatorship,” The Associated Press reported.

The demonstration was organized by Romania’s far-right AUR party, the AP said.

The rising cases have strained the nation’s hospitals — intensive care beds are nearly full — and the protests angered some medical workers.

“The situation in hospitals is serious,” Beatrice Mahler, hospital manager of Bucharest’s Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumology, told The Associated Press. “We have patients hospitalized in beds in the hallway — all with extremely severe forms of COVID-19.”

The restrictions scheduled to take effect Sunday include requiring masks be worn in public, and that shops close at 10 p.m. local time.

Public spaces such as restaurants, theaters and gyms, can remain open — some at only partial capacity — for customers who have COVID-19 passes, meaning they are fully vaccinated, or show proof they have had the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Romania has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union, 33.5% of all adults are fully vaccinated, second only to Bulgaria.

There is a weekend curfew in effect for unvaccinated Romanians, and there are plans to make vaccinations mandatory for health care workers, Reuters said.

Since the pandemic began, Romania has recorded nearly 1.25 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 37,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Russia’s vaccine

Russia’s health minister, Mikhail Murashko, said Saturday that just some paperwork needs to be finished before its Sputnik V vaccine can be registered with the World Health Organization.

The shot has been approved in more than 70 countries and is used widely in Russia. If it wins approval from the WHO and the European Medicines Agency, that could make it available to other markets, Reuters said.

The WHO could not be immediately reached for comment, Reuters added.

Nicaragua shots

Nicaragua has OK’d two Cuban-made vaccines for use in the Central American nation, the Cuban manufacturer, BioCubaFarma, said Saturday.

Cuba developed three coronavirus vaccines, all of which are awaiting official recognition by the WHO, Reuters reported. Nicaragua authorized Abdala and Soberana for emergency use.

Iran, Vietnam and Venezuela have also OK’d the Cuban vaccines for emergency use in their countries.

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA —

Fifteen African countries have succeeded in fully vaccinating at least 10 percent of their populations against COVID-19 by September 30, a goal set by the World Health Organization in May. However, that leaves two-thirds of the continent’s 54 nations extremely vulnerable to the deadly disease.

Several countries have performed extremely well. Seychelles and Mauritius have fully vaccinated more than 60 percent of their populations and Morocco has inoculated 48 percent against the coronavirus.

Richard Mihigo is coordinator of the Vaccine-preventable Diseases Department in the WHO’s regional office for Africa. He said those countries were able to achieve and even excede the 10 percent target because they had a steady vaccine supply available.

He said most had the money to strike bilateral deals to procure vaccine in addition to the supplies delivered through the COVAX facility.

“Unfortunately, 70 percent of African countries have missed this important milestone to protect their most vulnerable, with half of the 52 countries with COVID-19 vaccination programs in Africa having inoculated less than two percent of their populations,” said Mihigo.

That compares to an inoculation rate of 50 percent or higher in wealthier countries.

The WHO reports monthly vaccine deliveries to Africa have increased 10-fold since June. However, it notes more than double that amount is needed to reach the 40 percent immunization target of Africa’s 1.3 billion people by the end of the year.

Mihigo said COVAX is identifying countries that do not have the means to procure vaccines and put them in the front of the line to get enough doses to cover their most at-risk populations. However, he said pledges of doses by wealthier countries need to materialize soon.

“Starting next week, we are sending multi-disciplinary teams of international experts to countries that are struggling to scale up their operations so that we can drill down and identify the bottlenecks so that the local authorities and their partners can remedy them as they continue to rollout the vaccines,” said Mihigo.

On a more positive note, the World Health Organization says COVID-19 infections in Africa dropped by 35 percent to just over 74,000 last week, with more than 1,700 deaths reported in 34 countries.

Despite the declining numbers, the WHO warns people must remain vigilant and continue to adhere to proven public health measures to save lives. Those include the wearing of masks, regular hand washing, and physical distancing.

Source: Voice Of America

The World Bank is predicting slower economic growth for developing nations in the East Asia and Pacific regions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A report issued by the bank Tuesday said while China’s economy is expected to grow by 8.5% in 2021, the rest of the region will only expand by 2.5%, down from its April forecast of 4.4%.

Manuela Ferro, the World Bank’s vice president for East Asia and Pacific, says the region’s economic recovery from the pandemic “faces a reversal of fortune.”

The report says the persistence of COVD-19 will likely hurt growth and increase inequality throughout the region.

The bank is urging governments to enhance testing and tracing to contain the spread of the virus, increase regional production of vaccines and strengthen their health systems.

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank issued a separate report last week predicting the region’s developing economies will likely grow at a slower-than-expected pace in 2021 due to lingering COVID-19 outbreaks and the slow pace of vaccination efforts.

The ADB also predicted that economies in Southeast Asia would grow by just 3.1% this year. It also had predicted 4.4% growth back in its economic outlook back in April.

Source: Voice of America

NIGERIA’S INFLATION AND THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE REMAINS HIGH DESPITE THE ECONOMY’S RECOVERY FROM THE RECESSION AMID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT

Nigeria has experienced the macroeconomic impact of the collapse in international oil prices, which caused the nation to slip into recession in Q3 2020. The gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by -3.62% (yearon-year) in Q3 2020, making a full-blown recession and second consecutive contraction from -6.10% recorded in Q2 2020. Further, the rebounding of the economy in Q3 2020, reflected residual effects of the restrictions to movement and economic activity implemented across the country in early Q2 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (Nairametrics, 22/11/2020). The Nigeria gross domestic product (GDP) advanced 0.51% YOY in the Q1 of 2021, slightly faster than a 0.11% rise in the previous quarter, making it the second consecutive quarterly growth since Nigeria’s economy dipped into recession in the Q3 of 2020, helped by easing COVID-19 restrictions and higher oil prices (Trading Economics, 24/05/2021). The GDP growth for 2021 is expected to be positive and the economy is expected to expand by 1.3%, and up to 2.3% in 2021 (CBN Economic Report, 2020).

Although Nigeria’s economy is gradually recovering from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment and inflation have remained high with the receding number of confirmed cases and the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Nigeria’s total unemployment rate rose to 33.30% in Q1 2021 from 27.10% in Q2 2020, and of the population, unemployed youth accounted for 53.4% in Q1 2021 from 40.8% in Q1 2020 (Trading Economics).

In addition, the World Bank says over 11 million or more Nigerians may lose their jobs due to the high inflation rate, and an estimated 7 million Nigerians may have been pushed below the poverty line in 2020 due to rising prices alone without considering the direct impacts of COVID-19 (The Cable, 15,06/2021).

THE INFLATION AND CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI) RATE REMAINED HIGH DURING PANDEMIC

The country’s annual inflation rate continues to rise from 12.34% in April 2020 to 15.75% in December 2020 and reaching the peak of 18.17% in March 2021 from 16.47% reported in January 2021, making it the highest inflation rate since April 2017. The inflation rate also pushed food inflation to 22.95% at the end of Q1 of 2021. Nigeria’s annual inflation rate dropped for four consecutive months after reaching a peak of 18.17% in March to 17.38% in July from 17.75% in June 2021, amid a slight slowdown in prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (21.03% vs 22.72% in April). The annual core inflation rate, which excludes the prices of agricultural produce, hit 13.72% in July from 12.7% in April (Trading Economics 16/07/2021). On the other hand, the Consumer price index (CPI) rose to 387.50 points in July 2021 from 318.40 points in April of 2020 (Trading Economics). Similarly, Core Consumer Prices (CCP) increased to 338.91 points in July 2021 from 2898.98 points in April of 2020 (Trading Economics ). To regulate the inflation and multi-exchange rates operating in the parallel market, the Central Bank of Nigeria is halting the sales of dollars to exchange bureaus among other policies that could help restore the integrity of the Naira (Reuters 27/07/2021)

COVID-19 EPIDEMIC OVERVIEW AND VACCINATION PROGRAM

On February 27, 2020, the Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the first COVID-19 case in Lagos State, Nigeria, making the country the third country in Africa to recognize an imported COVID-19 case after Egypt and Algeria, it was not until the 18th of April 2020 that the first case in the Northeast states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, since the first index case was confirmed in Borno State. The epidemiology of COVID-19 in Nigeria has since evolved, between February 27, 2020, and July 18, 2021, a total of 2,420,863 persons have been tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria, of which 169,518 (7.0%) were confirmed as being infected with SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR. A total of 2,127 deaths have been recorded among the confirmed COVID-19 cases, resulting in an observed case fatality ratio (CFR) of approximately 1.3% (NCDC, 19/07/2021).

Source: iMMAP

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Deby and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni are set to address the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

Access to COVID-19 vaccines has been one of the major topics of the annual meeting in New York and is likely to be one of the most discussed again Thursday as leaders from African nations make up a large portion of the day’s list of speakers.

While some countries such as the United States have had vaccine doses widely available to their populations for months, other countries have struggled to access COVID-19 vaccine supplies.

The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 4% of the population is fully vaccinated.

Ramaphosa was among a group of leaders who participated in a virtual summit Wednesday convened by U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss boosting efforts to vaccinate people all over the world. Biden announced the United States was buying another 500 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to distribute to other countries.

“Of the around 6 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, only 2% of these have been administered in Africa, a continent of more than 1.2 billion people,” Ramaphosa said. “This is unjust and immoral.”

Other speakers Thursday include Iraq’s President Barham Salih, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

The coronavirus pandemic has prompted a number of world leaders to pre-record their remarks instead of traveling to New York to speak in person. About half of Thursday’s speeches were recorded in advance.

Source: Voice of America

WASHINGTON —

Tackling the threat of climate change and COVID-19 were the dominant themes of leaders’ speeches Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly annual debate.

“While the world was fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis also struck at full force,” said President Andry Rajoelina of the African island nation of Madagascar.

Successive years of climate change-driven droughts have ravaged parts of his country. This year, swarms of locusts and armyworms have wiped out crops. The U.N. says more than 1 million Malagasy people in the country’s south are “marching toward starvation” with thousands already in famine-like conditions

“If we do not act, the crisis will continue and get worse,” Rajoelina said of the consequences of global warming. “Madagascar calls upon each state to act in an equitable fashion and commensurate with their polluting activities.”

In six weeks, nations will meet in Glasgow, Scotland, for a progress report on the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. All signs point to the planet falling short of keeping global warming to a cap of 1.5 degrees Celsius. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has focused much of his engagement this week on getting the robust commitments needed to reach that target.

Rich nations have benefited from growth that resulted in pollution, and now “have a duty to help developing countries grow their economies in a green and sustainable way,” Johnson said in a Twitter post Monday. He is due to deliver his address late Wednesday.

Combating climate change was among the topics of discussion in separate meetings U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held Tuesday with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez ahead of their remarks to the assembly.

Fighting COVID-19

After the coronavirus pandemic kept heads of state from attending last year’s General Assembly meetings, about 100 are attending this year’s session in New York. Others are choosing to stay home and deliver recorded remarks.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivered his remarks in person on Tuesday and then returned to Washington, where he convened a virtual summit Wednesday on ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re not going to solve this crisis with half-measures or middle-of-the-road ambitions, we need to go big,” he said. “And we need to do our part: governments, the private sector, civil society leaders, philanthropists. This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis.”

He announced that the United States — which has already donated some 600 million vaccine doses to developing countries — is buying another 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to give to low- and middle-income countries. They will start shipping out in January 2022.

Unresolved issues

Entrenched geopolitical issues also came up.

In video remarks, Jordan’s King Abdullah reiterated the need for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, while Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud chastised Iran over its nuclear activities.

“We support international efforts aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon,” King Salman said. “We are very concerned at Iranian steps that go counter to its commitments, as well as daily declarations from Iran that its nuclear program is peaceful.”

Only three female leaders were scheduled to speak Wednesday in a field of 30, highlighting the obstacles women still face in reaching the highest levels of government.

Meanwhile, it is mostly on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly debate that the real diplomacy takes place.

Wednesday evening the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — were to meet.

Britain’s newly appointed foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the group shares an interest in maintaining stability in volatile regions and in preventing terrorism.

Source: Voice of America