Kwabena A-Manager, Author at TalkAfrique

August 29, 2011

Vitamin A Could Save Children in Developing Countries

A new research shows that giving Vitamin A supplements to children under the age of five in developing countries could save 600,000 lives a year.

The work published in the British Medical Journal was conducted by a team of UK and Pakistani researchers. The group evaluated up to 200,000 children in 43 studies and found that if children were given vitamin A, deaths were reduced by a monstrous 24%

And not only that, they also established that taking Vitamin A could cut the rates of measles and diarrhea.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, around the world, 190 million children under the age of five may have a vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin A is vital for the visual and immune systems to work properly.

August 10, 2011August 10, 2011

Teenage pregnancy is ‘contagious’

A new research by a team from the UK and Norway has established that teenage pregnancy is “contagious” between sisters.

A study of more than 42,000 Norwegian teenage girls suggested they were more likely to become pregnant if their older sister had a baby as a teenager.

The effect was greatest when the sisters were of a similar age or from a poorer background.

‘Sister effect’

The researchers said the probability of the younger sister having a teenage pregnancy went from 20% to 40% if the elder sister had a baby as a teenager.

August 8, 2011August 8, 2011

Lighting Up in the Morning and Cancer

People who smoke soon after getting up in the morning are more likely to develop cancer than those who light up later in the day, say US researchers.

A study of 7,610 smokers, published in the journal Cancer, said the effect was independent of other smoking habits.

Smoking in the first 30 minutes after waking nearly doubled the, already high, risk of lung cancer.

August 5, 2011

Eating Disorders Delay Pregnancy

A new research suggests that women with a history of eating disorders may struggle to get pregnant quickly. The study also found that these women are more than twice as likely to need fertility treatment

The women had a history of anorexia or bulimia.

The research was conducted by the King’s College London and University College London and reported the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The 6.2% women with eating disorders were more likely to need fertility treatment compared with 2.7% of the general population.

However, perhaps surprisingly, more pregnancies in the group of women who had had anorexia at some point were unplanned.

Mary George of the eating disorders charity Beat said many people had no idea of the problems they could be causing in the future.

She said: “Eating disorders are very serious illnesses that are depriving the body of the nutrients that it needs.

“They can have long-term health consequences.”

July 5, 2011

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Accuser Sues New York Post For Prostitute Report

NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters) – The hotel maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault sued the New York Post and five of its journalists for libel on Tuesday for reporting that she was a prostitute.

The 32-year-old Guinean immigrant accused the Post of publishing defamatory articles between July 2-4 “in an apparent desperate attempt to bolster its rapidly plunging sales.”

The suit filed in Bronx state court seeks damages to be determined at trial for articles it said the Post knew were false or should have known were false before they were published.

A spokesman for the Post was not immediately available for comment.

On Friday prosecutors called into question the woman’s credibility for a series of lies about her background including a false story about being gang-raped on her application for U.S. asylum.

The Post reported on Saturday that the Sofitel housekeeper “was doing double duty as a prostitute, collecting cash on the side from male guests.” An article the following day reported that the housekeeper “continued to work as a prostitute in a Brooklyn hotel where she was stashed by prosecutors.”

“All of these statements are false, have subjected the plaintiff to humiliation, scorn and ridicule throughout the world by falsely portraying her as a prostitute or as a woman who trades her body for money and they constitute defamation and libel per se,” the suit said.

(Reporting by Noeleen Walder and Jennifer Golson; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Sandra Maler)

(This article has been modified to show the suit has been filed in the Bronx, not Manhattan; fixes number of defendants)

June 28, 2011

Fear of Failure Undermines England, says Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher has admitted there is a fear factor playing for England.

“One mistake and you could be absolutely slaughtered,” the Liverpool defender told BBC Radio 5 live.

“At your club, you know you will not be criticised as much and perhaps three days later there will be another game.

“With England, it could be months before you have another fixture. There is a fear at times when playing for England.”

Carragher, speaking a year after England’s elimination from the World Cup, said players sometimes buckled under the media scrutiny.

“The intensity of the press does get to the players,” said the 33-year-old. “Sometimes I think players would prefer the press guy to think they had played well, rather than the manager.”

England were knocked out of the World Cup in South Africa by Germany, beaten 4-1 in the second round.

Carragher played in the group games against the United States and Algeria after coming out of international retirement but was on the bench for the defeat by the Germans.

In a BBC Radio 5 live documentary, to be broadcast on Tuesday at 1930 BST, Carragher appeared to criticise England’s set-up in South Africa, arguing that players were bored.

“You stay in a hotel all day but you are at a World Cup for a long time and should be able to experience different things,” he said.

“I wouldn’t want players holed up. Take away the boredom, embrace the country we are in more. You never see anything.”

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp echoed Carragher’s sentiments.

“I spoke to a few players who said they were sat in their rooms waiting for the day to pass,” said the Spurs boss. “Some said they were bored out of their brains.”

Redknapp also argued that many Premier League footballers now prioritise club football over representing their country.

“The rewards, the money that is involved in club football and the desire to play in the Champions League – it seems the international game is almost taking second stage,” he said. “Players are loved by their clubs but not always when they play for their country.”

England won only one of their four games in South Africa, recording a 1-0 victory over Slovenia in their final Group C match, and were widely criticised for their poor performances.

Coach Fabio Capello remains in charge and has started to place more faith in youngsters like Jack Wilshere and Adam Johnson.

Former German international and coach Franz Beckenbauer believes Capello should place more trust in his younger players.

“I like Fabio but maybe he still holds on to older players,” said Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player and as a coach.

“Maybe he should be brave and bring on more youngsters. England always has a lot of youngsters.”

June 28, 2011

Grand Challenges Canada Announces Innovative Rising Stars in Global Health

From a tattoo that delivers drugs to combat the debilitating and disfiguring leishmaniasis disease; to solar powered tablets to train women in Haiti on HIV prevention; to a rugged, reliable fetal heart monitor that doesn’t require electricity in order to save babies’ lives in Africa, Canadian innovators demonstrate creativity, bold ideas and big hearts in the quest to make a difference in the developing world and save lives.

Today Grand Challenges Canada announces 19 grants totalling more than $2 million to Canadian innovators in the first phase of its Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health initiative.

The 19 projects being funded (detailed at www.grandchallenges.ca/canadianrisingstars_round1grantees):

Using mobile phone text messaging to reduce maternal and infant deaths in remote areas in China
Water and power: Energy-efficient water purification developed for point-of-care and scaled for public health
The use of a permanent make-up (or tattoo) device to target drug delivery against cutaneous leishmaniasis
mHealth for maternal and newborn health: Using mobile phones to support community health workers in kenya
Integration of pulse oximetry into the routine assessment of sick young infants at first-level clinics in Karachi, Pakistan
PPAR-gamma agonists for the treatment of cerebral malaria – tweaking the host response to save brains
Saving mothers: Preventing maternal mortality in rural Africa
A primary care toolkit to tackle child labour and promote health equity
Egg-free production of influenza vaccines using viral sensitizer technology : A reliable and affordable solution for developing countries
To develop a synergistic, innovative, implementation strategy for self testing for HIV in South Africa.
A low-cost, multiplexed, point-of-care test for extra-pulmonary tuberculosis
The world’s first free university
Paper as enabling platform for cell-based assays for basic research and medical diagnostics in resource-limited environments
Development of non-invasive diagnostic device for Diabetes
Development and evaluation of a tablet-based, community health worker delivered HIV/STI prevention intervention for women living in internally displaced persons camps in Leogane, Haiti
Revamping an old tool: point-of-care molecular diagnostics in blood capillary tubes
The fetal heart monitor project – human energy to save lives
Kumasi & Accra project to prevent AIDS (KAPPA): A social network-based intervention to prevent HIV among men who have sex with men
New therapeutic drug combinations for tuberculosis treatment.

“When I ran the in the Olympic Torch Relay with my wife Sandra, we felt a sense of pride in Canada as we had never felt before,” says Joseph L. Rotman, Chair of Grand Challenges Canada. “I feel the same sense of pride about these outstanding Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health who demonstrate the leadership Canadians can and do contribute to the international community.”

Says Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada: “These innovators are dedicated to bringing change to the world’s poorest countries. They believe Canada has a leadership role in improving health conditions in the developing world. Collectively they are a source of pride for our country.”

“We are enabling Canadians to make their contribution to global health challenges, in collaboration with colleagues in low- and middle-income countries. Grand Challenges Canada is just beginning to tap that potential,” says Dr. Singer.

In a first for a Canadian grant application process, these innovators each produced a short video to explain their ideas to Canadians. These videos are as creative as the ideas proposed, showing our innovators in a new engaging light. To watch the videos visit http://gcc.eyeptv.net

Through a rigorous peer review process, nineteen innovators’ proposals were selected from across Canada each receiving a grant of $100,000. Their ideas are innovative, plan to address barriers to implementation such as community values and ethics, the health systems required to deliver the discoveries, and cost-effective commercialization of their solutions Challenges Canada calls this Integrated Innovation, an approach which improves the success rate of discoveries. If their ideas are robust, effective, and proven, the innovators will be eligible for an additional scale-up grant of up to $1 million for each proposal.

There will be three rounds of Canadian Rising Stars for a total of $20 million. Of this amount, approximately $14 million will be available for scale-up grants.

Grand Challenges Canada is a new global health organization funded by Canada’s foreign aid budget. Its purpose is to fund research to address some of the most difficult global health issues through Integrated Innovation and save lives. Canada is the first country in the world to adopt a grand challenges approach to foreign aid.

Grand Challenges Canada participates in a consortium with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Mr. David Malone, President of IDRC, joins Dr. Alain Beaudet, President of CIHR in congratulating the new grantees.

“The grant recipients have all displayed enormous creativity and commitment to solving global health challenges,” says Dr. Beaudet. “It is exciting and very rewarding to have the opportunity to encourage them in their work.”

Adds Mr. Malone: “We’re very pleased to see Grand Challenges Canada, Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research take a ‘whole of Canada’ approach to creating the Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health initiative and supporting Canadians’ contribution to global health.”

Today Grand Challenges Canada is also announcing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Round 2 of Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health. In Round 2, proposal submissions will require developing world innovators to collaborate with Canadians on their bold ideas.

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Please click on the following link to learn more about the Canadian Rising Stars in Global Health Grantees: www.grandchallenges.ca/canadianrisingstars_round1grantees

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is a unique independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and well being of people in developing countries by integrating scientific, technological, business and social innovation. Grand Challenges Canada works with the International Development Research Institute (IDRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR )and other global health foundations and organizations to find sustainable long-term solutions to the most pressing health challenges. Grand Challenges Canada is hosted at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health. www.grandchallenges.ca

June 22, 2011

Treatment of Civilians in Southern Kordofan ‘Reprehensible,’ says UN official

22 June 2011 –

The United Nations humanitarian chief says the way civilians are being treated in the Sudanese state of Southern Kordofan is “reprehensible” and called for unfettered access to the tens of thousands displaced by the recent fighting between northern and southern troops.An estimated 73,000 people have been displaced since 5 June when fighting broke out in Southern Kordofan between the northern army known as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) of Southern Sudan.

“The treatment of civilians in South Kordofan, including the reported human rights abuses and targeting of people along ethnic lines, is reprehensible,” Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

She also called for an end to insecurity and movement restrictions, which are continuing to limit the ability of humanitarian personnel to assess the situation, to provide people the aid they urgently need, and to re-supply stocks.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), aid agencies are still unable to freely access the civilian population, despite the fact that the security situation in and around Kadugli, the main town in Southern Kordofan, has been generally calm.

“The threats to aid workers and peacekeepers need to stop immediately,” added Ms. Amos.

Last week, the UN strongly condemned the detention and abuse by the SAF of four of its peacekeepers who were on patrol in Kadugli, noting that the world body’s staff are critical to providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations.

OCHA is also reporting that all of the displaced people who had taken refuge near the Kadugli compound of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) have returned to the town after being advised by local authorities that it was safe to do so.

Ms. Amos also voiced concerned that the overall security situation in Sudan is deteriorating at an “alarming rate,” and that civilians are increasingly bearing the brunt of the volatile and uncertain political climate.

The conflict has also prevented sowing at the beginning of the agricultural season which will cause food shortages, her statement noted.

“We could be facing a worst-case scenario, with millions of civilians in both North and South Sudan in need of protection and critical humanitarian assistance,” said Ms. Amos.

The violence comes as the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan prepares to become an independent State on 9 July, after a referendum held at the start of this year in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the long-running north-south civil war.

UN News Center