We will be back next #PHW
Cassava Tuesdays: Challenges Facing the Country Brand of Nigeria aka Naija!
Nigeria’s Women’s Bobsled Team Qualifies for 2018 Olympics, Country’s 1st Ever Winter Olympians
Next Cassava Tuesday, we will discuss the challenges facing the brand of Nigeria. The success of power and influence of a country is based on a country’s reputation regionally and globally. What happens, when a country is in the green economically(ON PAPER) but in the red with reputation?
We will discuss next Cassava Tuesday
Mulday Mondays: Day Zero in Cape Town, South Africa
This is an oldie but goodie in explaining Water Security.
CAPE TOWN
In the beginning of the month, we touched on just how close Cape Town, SA was to Day Zero of having no water supply. The imbalance in distribution of water across the region including weak water policies have contributed to the water shortage in Cape Town. Other issues such as failing waste water plants and poor water system infrastructure to treat sewage that needed a major upgrade also made this situation worse. South Africa is the largest food producer for Southern Africa, the agriculture sector consumes about 60% of all water use in the country. This water shortage crisis in Cape Town will result to water stress towards neighboring countries that will also lead to Food, Water, and Energy security towards the entire region.
GOVERNMENT RESPONDS WITH A POINT SYSTEM
Cape Town has officially announced that each person in the city will be given an allowance of 25 liters a day (6 gallons) of water. Yet the public has heard no immediate solutions from the government on making sure this catastrophe does not repeat itself years later. Cape Town has failed to look at the other dangers that come with hygiene and water access.
This is repeated so often in discussions with water access and challenges that face women in global south spaces, Menstrual Hygiene. The inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene for women brings more challenges than solutions and should never be gambled or minimized.
Put aside that poor menstrual hygiene leads to a host of health issues such as: UTI’s (ask any woman in your life just how great this feels), Constipation and a Range of infections.
What do you think school attendance will look like for girls attending school in the region compared to boys?
“Do you know that washing your hands can prevent over half of the water borne related illnesses? Granted the WATER IS CLEAN.
”
Inadequate W.A.S.H(Water Sanitation and Hygiene) affects Public Health, Waterborne Diseases, Vector-Born Diseases, Nutrition, Gender, Education, and Disaster Management. Inadequate W.A.S.H(Water Sanitation and Hygiene) affects Public Health, Waterborne Diseases, Vector-Born Diseases, Nutrition, Gender, Education, and Disaster Management. The Cape Town government has been reactive and not proactive even at this moment. While Citizens are being asked to sacrifice their health and wellness, the government is still not working on the real issues.
The city recommends people take no more than 2 showers a week
The city also encourages using the ocean for washing. However, if people cannot flush often, care to guess how quickly Open Defecation might be an issue?
How much water do you use daily? Try this Water Calculator out!
TOURISM TAKES A HIT
It is reported that numbers of tourists are cancelling their trips to Cape Town. You can imagine tourists might not be okay with one flush a day, personal hygiene in the ocean or showering twice a week.
CAPITALIST SEES ONLY SOLUTIONS
RAINBOW GASTRONOMY WITH NO WATER
Cape Town Food Designers, are making the best of no water in Cape Town, by making sure to use only salt tolerant vegetables. This is the type of unique ingenuity expected from Chefs of the “Rainbow Cuisine”. Rainbow Cuisine is the term used to describe South African Gastronomy. This ingenuity makes South African chefs, cooks, and food designers important players in the overall narrative of African Gastronomy. This is also a tool that can be used for their niche Gastrodiplomacy in interacting with other countries that are experiencing similar water shortage issues.
DRY BATH-BATHING WITH NO WATER BY MR. MARISHANE
If you had to walk a mile for a jug of water every day, as millions of people do, it's unlikely you'd use that precious water to bathe. Young entrepreneur Ludwick Marishane tells the amazing, funny story of how he invented a cheap, clean and convenient solution: DryBath, the world's first bath-substituting lotion.
Want to know more about his products?
See you next Mulday
.
Public Health Wednesdays(PHW)-Africa & Asia Health Check
AFRICA WHO REPORT
Botulism in Nigeria
Lassa fever in Benin
Lassa fever in Nigeria
Suspected Rift Valley fever in South Sudan
Cholera in Angola
Suspected Rift Valley fever in The Gambia
We have reported on Lassa Fever for the last few weeks within different regions in Africa. It seems no matter the country, public health education and engagement with the community is lost in the conversation. At some point, poor infrastructure must be addressed and scrutinized in the same manner that NGOs are expected to solve these issues. I was told these words of wisdom as a young one, that I shall pass down to you
“WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE YOU TOUCH ANY PART OF YOUR BODY
WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE YOU TOUCH ANYTHING
.... WASH YOUR HANDS....”
Oh, another little piece of information, you can contract Lassa Fever sexually. I only explain this piece because throughout my experience in public health, there was always someone that wanted to minimize the meaning of sexual contact. If you have Oral, Vaginal, or Anal sex, you can contract Lassa Fever. You will be surprised, just how this little piece of information is not mentioned as it ought to be.
It reminds me of working for a health department that had one lead in a division that did not want certain spaces to know that Zika could be contracted sexually. #Dobrownlivesmatter? It was at that moment, I understood white privilege in public health spaces can be very dangerous.
There is privilege in saying things such as “Those people and my personal favorite, them”.
You can imagine, I decided we will always go the educated route and inform everyone. During my undergraduate years, my classmate told me after a heated discussion on public health policy...
.
“I will not trust a mut#er$%^&*@ that cannot birth us to educate us on my health. GTFOH
It was such a raw honest moment, I was asked if I was okay?
I simply stuttered .. am straight. I was not straight or okay. I was in shock and needed some raw juice from Whole Foods”
While my classmate had a valid point, this spaces are filled with folks that look like her. Yet the addiction to International Aide and lack of investment in health infrasttucture will almost see Lassa Fever till Mid 2018, I predict.
LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX IN UGANDA: SEX WORKERS
Never up for discussion, unless you have plans to back up the plans.
Sexual Health is Public Health. Sexual Health Education and Awareness towards Africans is always this nauseating push and pull of Eurocentric Religion, Colonialism, and addiction to Western Aide.
“Gayatri Spivak asked, Can the Subaltern Speak? I often wonder, Do black penises and vaginas have their own separate narratives? It seems Africans can only come together with permission granted by Americans and that is also for a host of other issues.”
The investment monies given to African countries from Asian partners like Japan, China, and India to invest in infrastructure must also consider public health infrastructure. Sex workers are part of the society, you are not going to Jesus or Mohammed it away. The options needed are opportunities to work with the women and their daughters but most importantly, Uganda needs and upgrade in the condom factory sector. Uganda needs to take a page from Southeast Asian nations that manufacture their own condoms and now sell their brands throughout Asia.
The lack of self-reliance in Uganda by Uganda in addition to the codependency relationship with the United States is going to cost Uganda a lot.
The current U.S Administration decision to reinforce the global gag rule “Mexico City Policy” means Uganda sex workers have no access to condoms. Do you know in Uganda, sex workers wash and dry their condoms to reuse them?
We touched on African Medical Liberties last year, but at the end of this
Now you can easily argue why is an immediate issue for the United States to help Uganda?
MEANWHILE IN ASIA
SOUTH KOREA: THE BIRD FLU & THE OLYMPICS
Since late December, South Korea has confirmed cases of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) but it is becoming troubling with the Olympics around the corner. The earlier cases were found in a duck farm. Last year, the country slaughtered more than 30 million birds to contain the worst predicted outbreak of avian flu in the country’s history. No human cases have been reported since last year.
“The virus has spread mainly in North and South Jeolla Province with nine highly pathogenic cases since mid-November, but the first outbreak in Gyeonggi Province prompted stronger quarantine measures as the area is close to Gangwon Province, the host of the PyeongChang Olympics, which runs from Feb. 9-25. ”
SINGAPORE: ZIKA
Singapore is on a CDC Level 2 Alert - Practice Enhanced Precautions. This means the mosquitoes are infected with Zika. The most vulnerable population with Zika are moms to be. Please look at the infographic below for any questions.
World Health Organization
You can also contract Zika through any sexual contact.
See you next PHW
Public Health Wednesdays (PHW)- Africa & Asia Health Check
ASIA
JAPAN HAS A FUGU PROBLEM
This is the Fugu Fish, very few chefs can prepare this fish without killing you. It is also known as a Blowfish.
Food & Poison
A grocer at Gamagori, Japan accidentally sold some of the poisonous parts and the city is now on high alert. Fugu is a winter delicacy and a very expensive one. A blow fish will take you back $100-$200. I have never tried but I must admit it is very tempting as I enjoy sushi. I never try it because... Well mortality is a blow.
AFRICA
What's new?
Chikungunya in Kenya
Cholera in Malawi and Zambia
Suspected Rift Valley fever in South Sudan (Viral Haemorrhagic Fever)
NAMIBIA-HEPATITIS E
DO YOU KNOW YOU ABC'S?
Namibia has reported over 200 cases of Hepatitis E and the numbers are at risk of increasing
UGANDA-CRIMEAN-CONGO FEVER
January 5th....
January 14th
Yesterday NTV reported that one person with symptoms of the deadly Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever had been placed under isolation at Kiwoko Hospital in Nakaseke District. Documents obtained from Kiwoko Hospital indeed showed that the young boy was exhibiting symptoms of the deadly disease.
FAKE MEDICINE IN AFRICA
World Health Organization (WHO) report counterfeit medicine is responsible for about 100,000 deaths a year in Africa. A 2016 report from Sanofi pharmaceutical discovered that counterfeit medicines laboratories that target the African market are in China, Indonesia, Ukraine, and Poland.
The need for such counterfeit medicine in global south spaces or developing countries in Africa, is a direct result of countries that do not reimbursed their governments for medical expenses.
Accountability goes back to African countries that lack their definitions of just what counterfeit medicine is, more African actors are needed in the pharmaceutical industries not just as consumers but as manufacturers, better regulations, and enforceable policies on legal enforcement for the sellers and manufacturers.
A Chinese policeman walks across a pile of fake medicines seized in Beijing. The rapid growth of Internet commerce has led to an explosion of counterfeit drugs sold around the world, with China believed to be the biggest source of fake medicines in the world.
Source: AFP/GETTY
“Substandard also called “out of specification”, these are authorized medical products that fail to meet either their quality standards or specifications, or both.
Unregistered/unlicensed medical products that have not undergone evaluation and/or approval by the National or Regional Regulatory Authority for the market in which they are marketed/distributed or used, subject to permitted conditions under national or regional regulation and legislation.
Falsified medical products that deliberately/fraudulently misrepresent their identity, composition or source.””
See you next PHW