Day: July 4, 2022

Airborne diseases have plagued urban and rural communities alike in epidemic and pandemic forms since ancient times. During the 1918–1920 Spanish influenza pandemic, which was the deadliest in recorded history, it is estimated that more than 50?million people died.1 As of 1 May 2022, there have been over 510?million confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2, a respiratory virus, and approximately 6.2?million deaths.2 Over the 2?years of pandemic, WHO has also estimated the excess mortality due to COVID-19, disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, to be 13.3–16.6?million deaths.3 Respiratory disease pandemics are clearly a threat to human security and development in our world.

The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is one of WHO’s six geographical regions and home to nearly 700?million people across 22 diverse countries and territories spread over South and West Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.4 A special issue series was commissioned in May 2021 jointly by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and BMJ Global Health to gather evidence on response and associated learnings from COVID-19 pandemic in the Region.4 This special issue explores the pandemic response with the aim of identifying successes, lessons and ways to address gaps for regional public health community to be able to better manage future pandemic risks.5 The Eastern Mediterranean Region is facing an unusual situation of multiple disease outbreaks ongoing in different countries (as shown in figure 1)6 along with the COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the importance of preparedness and response to epidemics and pandemics.

Source: British Medical Journal

BANJUI— Cryptocurrencies are the solution to tackling financial exclusion in the Central African Republic, its President Faustin-Archange Touadera said, citing the cost of opening bank accounts.

“The alternative to cash is cryptocurrency,” Touadera said at a launch event for crypto initiative Sango hosted by the country, after it became the first African state to make bitcoin legal tender in April. “For us, the formal economy is no longer an option.”

The move to adopt cryptocurrencies in a country where internet use is low and electricity unreliable has raised eyebrows among crypto experts, puzzled lawmakers and residents, and drawn words of caution from the International Monetary Fund.

The Sango project, including a Sango Coin, was backed by the Central African Republic’s National Assembly and spearheaded by Touadera, who said the token would provide access to the country’s “mountain” of natural resources, including gold and diamonds.

The country’s “Sango” website says that it will “facilitate the tokenisation of Central African Republic’s resources for worldwide investors”.

“Sango Coin will be the currency of the new generation of the Central African Republic,” Touadera said, without providing specifics.

The Central African Republic’s enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies does not seem to have been dented by recent losses in their values, with the price of bitcoin falling over 58 per cent in the past three months, according to Refinitiv data.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

ACCRA (Ghana)— West African leaders attending a regional summit agreed Sunday to lift sanctions on two neighbors led by military governments that are now promising a return to democratic rule.

The summit of the Economic Community of West African States resolved to lift all economic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali and Burkina Faso, although those countries will remain suspended from the regional bloc, said Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, an Ivorian politician who has been serving as president of the ECOWAS Commission.

Guinea, the third country under sanctions, received no reprieve because it did not submit an acceptable roadmap toward elections, he said.

He said the suspension of all three nations from ECOWAS would remain in force until they hold elections.

In lifting the sanctions on Mali and Burkina Faso, leaders at the summit in Ghana’s capital, Accra, accepted transition plans presented by military authorities in those countries. Mali’s junta proposed scheduling a presidential election by March 2024. Burkina Faso proposed a 24-month transition leading to polls.

ECOWAS sanctioned Mali severely in January by shutting down most commerce with the country, along with its land and air borders with other countries in the bloc. The measures have crippled Mali’s economy, raising humanitarian concerns amid widespread suffering.

The wave of military coups began in August 2020, when Col. Assimi Goita and other soldiers overthrew Mali’s democratically elected president. Nine months later, he carried out a second coup, dismissing the country’s civilian transitional leader and assuming the presidency himself.

Mutinous soldiers deposed Guinea’s president in September 2021, and Burkina Faso leader Roch Marc Christian Kabore was ousted in a January coup. Burkina Faso authorities said Saturday that Kabore, who has been under house arrest, is now a free man.

The political upheaval came as many observers started to think that military power grabs were a thing of the past in West Africa, an increasingly restive region that also faces growing danger from Islamic extremist fighters.

Some leaders who spoke at Accra’s one-day summit urged action as armed groups expand their footprint in the region.

“These terrorist attacks are now not only focusing on the Sahel, but also expanding to the coastal states in our region,” Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. “It is imperative for us to continue to implement our regional action plan against terrorism and to coordinate our various security initiatives.”

In the first half of 2022, the region recorded a total of 3,500 deaths from 1,600 extremist attacks targeting countries including Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria, according to Brou.

In Burkina Faso, where attacks blamed on Islamic extremist fighters are soaring, gunmen killed at least 55 people in the country’s northern Seno province last month.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK