Public Health Wednesdays (PHW)- Africa & Asia Health Check

        Join us at Water & Cassva in observing Cervical Health Awareness Month

Actress Cote de Pablo talks about her own cervical cancer scare and shares advice for other women. Comments on this video are allowed in accordance with our comment policy: cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Tools/CommentPolicy.html This video can also be viewed at cdc.gov/wcms/videos/low-res/NCCDPHP/2015/cote_video_english_60_925629.mp4

This public service announcement encourages women to learn the symptoms of gynecologic cancer and pay attention to what their bodies are telling them. Comments on this video are allowed in accordance with our comment policy: cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Tools/CommentPolicy.html This video can also be viewed at cdc.gov/wcms/videos/low-res/NCCDPHP/2015/ayl_video_english_30_925657.mp4

Hello, World!

WHO WEEKLY REPORT-AFRICA

Zambia ended the year fighting Cholera. South Africa is still struggling with Listeriosis .

“ Botswana, Congo, Gabon, Eritrea, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Algeria ended 2017, with no PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES. ”

— WHO-AFRICA

RWANDA AND TANZANIA-DRONE TECHNOLOGY "UBER-ING BLOOD"

Both countries start 2018 with applying new technology towards healthcare access for all. Drone deliveries of blood to hospitals within the network are 45 minutes compared to the normal 4 hours. Zipline International has partnered with Tanzania to deliver 2,000 lifesaving deliveries to over 1,000 health facilities, that is about 10 million people.  

To know more about Zipline International

ASIA

MALAYSIA AND A CASE OF MERS-CoV

Malaysia started 2018 with the case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (Mers-CoV).  A man returning from Saudi Arabia tested postive for the virus, he was reported to be in stable condition. 

“Sexual Health is part of Public Health. ”

— Water & Cassava

THAILAND- WHITE PENIS ENVY

The first read is comical but then it gets sad. I mean of all the needs in Thailand, A White Penis? Questions come to mind such as: What can a white penis do that a colored penis cannot carry out? Then you must go back to the space of Orientalism!

“What power does the white penis hold in global south spaces?”

— Water & Cassava asking our Asian Brothers, WTH?

It is troublesome that a Thai Penis does not feel as loved compared to a White Penis. But  that there is a technology to whiten the penis, I just kept saying......

does the asian penis speak?

Therefore, we need more Sex Therapist of Color from Asian spaces and African spaces as well. There is an obvious need to deconstruct the Asian Penis and this platform can only go so far into the Orientalism stereotypes that have historically hunted Asian men.

However behind this blog, is a by-product of the West. I can say, Asian men are often viewed through western media has either the Geek or Kung Fu hero. In addition, I am not so sure on just how this happened, but western media has desexualized Asian men.

Asian Media has also fueled this complex of whiteness in their spaces as well. Hallyu to Bollywood, we have a colored problem and we need to talk.
 

FRANTZ FANON NEEDS YOU TO KNOW

Post Colonial Theorist, Psychiatrist Frantz Fanon.

Frantz Fanon spoke of this penis issue and complexes in White Society. Brother Frantz expressed that white men see not a black man but a black penis. There is nothing more to the Black man just a penis. I am afraid with our Asian brothers, there is no penis. Penis is only visible if it is white. 

Seriously love your sexual organs as they are, good grief we need to decolonize our beds as well!

To read more about Brother Frantz and the Black Penis in Society "Black Skin, White Masks"

To read more on this article on Whitening of the penis in Thailand. 

To learn more on Asian Sexuality and Narratives from an Academic lens, check out The Intersections Journal: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific.
 

To learn more on Black Sexual Narratives from an Academic lens, check out the Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships.

See you next PHW!

Muldays -Water Scarcity

“Can all of us get enough water to keep the plants growing, maintain proper sanitation and health?”

— Water Security (Policy cap on)

“We have no clean available water for daily needs, none for animals or the enviroment. We also don’t have any water infrastructures.”

— Water Scarcity ( Poor Folk View)

Picture Credit: Inhabitat.com

Water for Thought? I am aware of the year on the inforgraphic but like most tales of African Affairs, this will be a good beginning to understand Water Politics in Africa. 

Water makes up 70% of the planet but the stuff we drink, well there is just 3% available. 

“With the existing climate change scenario, by 2030, water scarcity in some arid and semi-arid places will displace between 24 million and 700 million people”

— UN-Water

I remember days carrying water on my head with other children and women in the community. We would trek and get water from streams, ponds that were often infected with water-borne diseases.  Water borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhea make up close to 50% of the health issues faced by Africans. My primary school years were nothing short from a horror movie written by Stephen King. I lost classmates, neighbors and friends from water borne diseases and at least 80% of my childhood was filled with those listed illnesses. 

 

                     What role does Water play in African International Relations?

Do you know, there are engineers that believe the hydro power capability of the Victoria Falls can offer power to Zambia and her neighbors? Some claim the entire continent!! What about nuclear power?

The lack of clean water contributes to more than just the poverty of African States. It is more than the poor brown faces you see on this blog. 

African States do not focus on niche diplomatic practices outside the continent or inside the continent.  Unfortunately because of this lack of practice, they underestimate the role which they play in promoting the niche diplomatic practices of middle, super and super power states.  
The practice of "water diplomacy" by governments and foreign non profit organizations, simply shapes and reinforces niche diplomatic practices of middle, super and  super power states in Africa. 

Middle Power states from Asia, like South Korea are also using this “water diplomacy” to offer help and soften their image, their brand, and their contribution to underdeveloped African Countries and Southeast Asian Countries. African Countries unknowingly or knowingly feed their narrative of needing to be saved, if you will "Diplomacy of Dependency" .

                      WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF WATER SCARCITY IN AFRICA?

The cause of water scarcity and the issues within water security in Africa can be blamed on the three major pollution culprits: Climatic, Industrial and Environmental.

Deforestation(Industrial pollution) in Sub-Saharan Africa has caused a process of desertification(Climatic & Environmental pollution).

 

“The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture”

— Desertification

Water Scarcity in Africa can be blamed on the exploitation of natural resources, dumping of industrial wastes and the selling of land to foreign interests. 

The link between selling land and water scarcity is the massive deforestation that takes place in a short amount of time. It also includes the disruption of water cycles that also play in the role of climate issues in the region.

“Have you picked up a bottle of water or noticed bottles of water with a brown face on it? Usually with a sticker “With every purchase spent, $1 goes to poor children or (****cough, cough) impoverished children in poor (***Cough, Cough***)developing African countries....”

— Niche Diplomacy Working

I hope you have seen the rather crafty ways countries maintain their image through niche diplomacy. 

****Before I go, I mentioned the possibility of nuclear power. Nuclear Power from Victoria Falls in Zambia with the assistance of a friend that is known in the West for Hard Power. Everyone has an appreciation for attraction and persuasiveness. 

Next week, we will take at our Water Mythology & Folklore Stories.