If they say I can’t, And I say I can, I have to choose whose word I believe, And then prove it! It’s tempting to choose what they say, because it’s easier to prove; Just do nothing
You’re Powerful
Little Drops or a Heavy Downpour
There’s a reason we care about hurricanes. They come upon us all of a sudden. Cable TV, Mayors, Governors and FEMA jump in. On the other hand, sea levels are rising every day and have been doing so for a long time. In the long run, whether is instantaneous like a hurricane or drip drip like the sea level, the effect is the same.
Competing with Artificial Intelligence
I was just reading an article about how artificial intelligence (AI) is going me to make me obsolete in a few years, which was a little disheartening. As I thought about the article, it occurred to me that there are few areas I can always have the advantage over AI if I work on them. One thing that came to mind is learning how to show more empathy and care. On these, I know I’ll have the edge over AI for some time.
Clear Your Mental Cache and Restart
Occasionally, we clear our computer cache and history when performance is cranky. Once everything has failed, the IT expert on the other end of the phone may even ask you to do this. In many cases, there is improvement in performance, even if it doesn’t solve the whole problem.
We need to do this to our brains every now and then. Sometimes you’re just feeling too heavy and sluggish because you cache is filled with negative emotions: fear, anger, resentment, hatred, jealousy… This load puts extra demands on your processor impairing your thinking.
In times like these, the best solution may be simply take a pause, clear your mental load, and restart.
Transitions in Africa: The Two Sides of the Story
This months elections occurred in two African countries, Ghana and the Gambia. On Dec 1, 2016, Gambia went to the polls in which, unexpectedly, opposition candidate Adama Barrow defeated long-term incumbent Yahya Jammeh. Ghana followed up on Dec 7. Here also the leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the main opposition party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo defeated the incumbent president John Mahama, in what can be described as a landslide, looking at how close elections have been in Ghana over the past 20 years or so.
The post elections developments in the two countries though are different. In Gambia, Mr. Jammeh alleges widespread voter fraud and is calling for another fresh elections, in line with how politics is done in many African countries. In Ghana, President Mahama has called to congratulate Nana Addo and has promised to assist in a peaceful transition and his support for the incoming president to move the country forward.
These are the two faces of Africa. Maybe in the years to come, the Ghana story will be the norm but for now, we will be leaving with the two sides.
While the western media makes so much about events such as happening in the Gambia, there are many examples of the Ghana standard, and that deserve the same amount of media coverage.
Good News: Child Mortality Decreasing
A new UN reports says between 1990 and 2015, child mortality decreased by a whopping 53%! Looking at the number of children who die under 5 years, the number was 12.7 million in 1990, but projected to be under 6 million in 2015.
In Africa, oil-rich Angola has the highest rate of child deaths up to 254 per 1,000 births, followed by Somalia, Chad and Central African Republic
African Healthcare: Diabetes, Cancer, Other NCDs Catch up with Malaria
It is no longer malaria and tuberculosis.
In the past, the two diseases dominated any healthcare conversation when the subject was about Africa. Times have changed. Today, diabetes, cancer, and heart and respiratory diseases are emerging as the top killers in Africa. Though infectious diseases remain a threat, the trendline is changing due to the rise of non communicable diseases (NCD). These used to be called the diseases of the rich but urbanization, smoking and the intrusion of western diets have broken the insulation African used to enjoy against these diseases. What is alarming is that African healthcare infrastructure are not currently able to manage these non communicable diseases.
In the weeks ahead, I will be delving into the issues of non-communicable diseases in Africa, the case for more funding of research to understand the rise NCDs and what governments need to do to avoid NCDs becoming the next malaria and TB.
There will always be Garbage In
By Dr. Kwabena Amponsah-Manager
There is a popular saying that ‘garbage in, garbage out’. What this means is that if you receive poorly refined instructions, codes, methodology, you act on it as you receive it. When this is true, it reduces one to the level of a robotic machine or a lower level being.
What makes you a superior being, that is if you think you are, is that you are not at the mercy of the external instructions you receive. You have the capacity to refine and filter out the ‘garbage in’ so that the output is not garbage. This is the reason I do not run chemical reactions that explode and burn my laboratory buildings or develop ‘weapons of mass destruction’ despite the myriad of information available to me on the web and the library.
You are the middleman between the instruction, information and codes you receive and the output they are meant to produce. Whether you receive the bulk mixture from your accountant, PTA, spiritual leader, politician, counselor, etc., your role is to filter out the garbage, retrieve and concentrate the fine code to get required output.
There will always be garbage in, but that does not mean there has to be garbage out if you and I pay our part.