AU and the maritime charter:
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US and AMISOM –covert operations:
The UK and the Mau Mau:
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Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 October 2016
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Buhari wins – but the new president of Nigeria faces an enormous challenge
Source: Wikicommons, Heinrich Boell Stiftung. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Buhari_holding_a_broom_at_a_campign_rally.jpg
Nigerians have chosen General Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, to be their president. Following an election that saw 41 people killed in the north of the country, Goodluck conceded defeat, and congratulated Buhari on his victory.
Buhari’s military regime from 1983 to 1985 was draconian: he systematically repressed freedom of expression through the jailing of journalists, radical public intellectuals, and student protesters. He is now saying that “the global triumph of democracy has shown that another and a preferable path to change is possible”. Nigerians and the international community will be watching whether this time around Buhari will work for the common good in Nigeria.
Corruption and crisis
The general political and economic situation in Nigeria is problematic. Nigeria is home to a corrupt government. According to Transparency International, Nigeria is ranked 136 out of 175 states in terms of perceptions of corruption. Women are underrepresented in political affairs: until now, the House of Representatives had only one female principal officer, and only 7% of the 362 members were women. The House of Representatives committee on women has called for more participation from women in the nation’s politics. We will now see if the new government responds to this demand.The economy is in crisis: Nigeria has an unhealthy dependence on its oil exports, which represent more than 80% of its national income. There has now been a drop in oil prices, which means that public sector jobs will have to be cut; 24% of Nigerians are unemployed. Nigeria must double its investment in infrastructure, and improve its power sector, the water and sanitation sector, its road networks, and its air transport safety.
Nigeria has to be serious about health. The World Health Organisation recommends that governments spend 15% of their budget on health, but Nigeria spends only 6% of its budget. Nigeria had 40,000 pregnancy-related deaths a year account for approximately 14 percent of the world’s total in 2012.
Northern exposure
The situation in northern Nigeria is critical. Since 2014, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by Boko Haram. Around one million Nigerians have been forcibly displaced within the country, and 200,000 have fled to Cameroon, Niger or Chad. Colonel Joseph Nouma of the Maroua Defence Regiment in the Nigerian army told the IRIN news service:When you go to border villages, all you see are women and children and old people. Young [men], between the ages of ten and 45 are no longer there. They are across the [Nigerian] border with Boko Haram militants.In the north, regional actors have been more active than the Nigerian government in fighting Boko Haram. With the approval of the African Union, Nigeria and its neighbours – Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin – have deployed a 8,700-strong Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight around 4,000-6,000 Boko Haram Islamist militants.
Source: Wikicommons, VOA. Attentat à Nyanya par Boko Haram le 14 avril 2014. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Attentat_Nyanya_VOA1.jpg
Past policy vacuum
The way the government has addressed violence in the north has been abysmal: very few measures have been taken. Muslim clerics identified lack of good governance as the primary reason Boko Haram succeeded in recruiting members. According to a US official, “they warned that similar crises would occur if the government failed to address social problems”.In terms of social measures, when Boko Haram started fighting in 2009, a “societal reorientation programme” was created in the north. However, according to one US official, this programme only made it possible for Boko Haram to “recruit more members”, as it had no impact on the population’s well-being.
Military action against Boko Haram has been deplorable, probably because Boko Haram had clear connections to the government. The Nigerian army committed serious human rights violations in its response to Boko Haram. Hundreds of civilians and suspected Boko Haram members have been killed, and detainees have died in military custody.
In 2015, President Jonathan’s national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki, only mentioned the creation of a single social policy – in Kuje prison in the capital Abuja which aims at deradicalising former insurgents. The new government will have to develop social policies to reduce inequalities in order to prevent further violence.
What the new government has to do
The economic involvement of the Nigerian government is inadequate. Only half of the investment projects in the north were completed in 2014. In 2015, the government created a US$133m emergency fund for the north in order to finance 94 different projects such as road construction, railways, energy and agriculture, but the precise use of this fund remains to be seen.The new president will have to address three long-standing and critical issues in the north: economic development, education and health. Economic development is needed to counter Boko Haram, which is paying men around US$700-a-month to join its ranks.
The economy
The new government must tackle the difficult issue of unemployment which, among all age groups, is at least 75%. Many young people, especially recent graduates, say it is impossible to find decent work. For the few who do have a job, the minimum wage is US$70 a month. The new government will also have to address the lack of economic resources and food in the north.
Click to enlarge
Education
The new Nigerian government will have to prioritise education. When Boko Haram started attacking civilians in 2009, it was known to oppose “western education models”. However, young men fighting for Boko Haram could not have had much knowledge of education. In 2011 in northern Nigeria, half of the men had no education at all, only 7% completed primary education, and only 6% completed secondary education. Education in the north should therefore be a priority for whoever has power next. This is important not only for men, but it is also essential for women: in 2011, 65% of women had no education, 6% completed primary education, and 3% completed secondary education.Health
The new president will be held accountable for improving health in the north, as clinics are under-staffed, and women are ten times more likely to die in childbirth than in the south.With these conditions Boko Haram filled a vacuum. The militants will now be much harder to remove but ultimately, the next government can take steps to start tackling the problems that allowed them to gain a foothold.
This article was first published in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/buhari-wins-but-the-new-president-of-nigeria-faces-an-enormous-challenge-39291
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Six lessons from the initial failed international response to Ebola
The Ebola virus has killed more than 9,000 people – about 2,000 in Guinea, 3,000 in Sierra Leone and 4,000 in Liberia. The outbreak started in Guinea in December 2013, but the Ebola crisis really started in April 2014 when it began to spread.
The initial international response was deemed “totally inadequate” by British MPs. Since then efforts have improved, but here are six lessons that can be learned from the problematic initial response – from the problems highlighted by the MPs – and especially pertinent to those states that have the capacity to react to epidemics.
1. Trust NGOs and build WHO expertise
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) alerted governments as early as April 2014 about the Ebola problem, but it was not until August that year that the World Health Organisation declared Ebola a public health emergency. MSF was right about the scale of the problem. A witness at the House of Commons, Fergus Drake, who is Director of Global Programmes at Save the Children, said: “MSF have been the real heroes, in terms of people on the ground and the scale of their response.”
The four-month absence of reaction by the WHO had terrible consequences for the areas affected by the Ebola virus, in a large part because governments which had aid programmes that could be used for epidemics chose to follow the advice of the WHO.
If the international community had reacted straight away, the outbreak could have been contained. States should rely on the expertise of doctors on the ground, or make sure that the WHO has a similar level of expertise if that is the advice they want to follow. And the WHO should not replicate the work conducted by NGOs.
2. Improve health facilities
The international community should address the fact that medical facilities were insufficient in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. At the outset of the outbreak, there were only 40 doctors for a total of 4m people in Liberia, 120 doctors for 6m people in Sierra Leone, and 1,200 for 12m people in Guinea. Senegal and Nigeria, which reacted as soon as people were diagnosed with Ebola, have a more developed infrastructure of medical services, and local doctors were able to respond to the Ebola outbreak. In Nigeria, experience working to eradicate polio particularly helped.
However, in general, more doctors are desperately needed in the following states, which have fewer than 100 doctors for 1m people: Guinea, Ghana, Congo, Mali, Cameroon, Timor Leste, Guinea-Bissau, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Benin, Senegal, Togo, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Eritrea, Lesotho, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Chad, Somalia, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Niger, Liberia, and Tanzania.
To put this into context: the United Kingdom and the United States respectively have 2,800 and 2,400 doctors for 1m people.
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3. Plan logistical responses
The UK had no detailed contingency plan for a sudden medical emergency. According the parliamentary report, when the Ebola crisis was in full swing the UK could only send 55 health professionals to stricken countries, whereas Cuba committed 165 at various grades to work in the UK-funded treatment centres.
The British government relied on Save the Children to run Ebola facilities, but this NGO had never done this before, and the first facility was only set up in November 2014.
Funding – for example for aid – is one thing but expertise that can be deployed by international actors and especially local actors in emergencies is also important. The Department for International Development and other funding organisations could focus their aid on education and health facilities. China, for instance, opened a hospital in Sierra Leone in 2012 and in Liberia in 2011 and 2014.
4. Follow scientific advice
The United Kingdom, the United States and France revoked the licences of planes with direct flight paths to the regions where people were ill with Ebola, despite the absence of scientific justification for doing so. This made it harder for NGOs and doctors to access the region. The Ebola crisis led to unnecessary panic in the United States, but it is the responsibility of governments to look at the science and reassure rather than add to it.
5. Recognise states that contribute
And shame those who do not contribute enough. Until now, the UK and the US have been the most involved in committing funds to fight the Ebola virus. However, taking into consideration the population of each state, the British donated twice as much as the Americans. The states lagging behind have been Germany, France, Canada and especially Italy. Ebola is a threat to all people in the world: every donor, and not only former colonising states, should be engaged in fighting the virus.
6. Pharma should cover range of vaccines
One of the reasons why there was no vaccine for Ebola was that it concerned few people in remote areas in African states. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, said that Ebola vaccine was never developed “because it only affected poor African countries”.
Ebola was not the priority of governments and pharmaceutical companies. Research on Ebola has been conducted in North America, Europe, China and Africa. However, more research is needed, and vaccines against viruses such as Ebola or Marburg should be commercialised, and made available cheaply.
This article was first published in The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/six-lessons-from-the-initial-failed-international-response-to-ebola-37862
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