Africa
Crop shortages disproportionately affect children
NIAMEY, Niger — As crop growth recovers from last year’s drought and farmers enjoy a boom in millet production, they will soon face economic hardship from dramatic cuts in food prices. The price reductions for millet, a staple crop grown by nearly all farmers in Niger, find their cause in delayed humanitarian efforts from the World Food Program. As thirty thousand tons of food from WFP centers in Togo and Benin reach the market at the same time as newly harvested crops, prices will plummet and cause many farmers already in debt to lose even more money. Fueling the problem is the poor allocation of donations, which are presently going to Niamey, the very region where the harvest was most successful. The aid group Doctors Without Borders, however, contends that stopping food aid will leave over a million individuals at risk.
UNITED NATIONS — Due to poor corn growth, Zimbabweans are facing a mounting threat of widespread famine. While Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe contends that potato production remains robust, the price of potatoes in Zimbabwe is far beyond what the average person can afford. Perhaps the root of the problem lies in Mugabe’s controversial policies governing the distribution of land ownership; in the 1990s, thousands of farmers were expelled from their land, which was subsequently appropriated by politically well-connected Zimbabweans. Moreover, according to a parliamentary committee, a lack of even basic resources like fuel for transportation, seeds, and agricultural chemicals makes having a successful farming season this year implausible even if the drought breaks.
Fighting “Cot Death” in South Africa
KWAZULU NATAL, South Africa — “Cot death,” a respiratory syndrome that prevents babies from breathing, is responsible for one out of every 500 live births in South Africa. Recently, however, it has been shown that tickling or rousing a baby who has stopped breathing can stimulate respiration. A new device developed by Pretoria is designed to monitor a baby’s breathing and to vibrate along the baby’s waist to stimulate it in case respiration ceases. The device is currently undergoing testing at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit in Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town.
Asia
Debate in India over contraception
DEHLI, India — The Health Ministry of India has decided to legalize emergency contraceptive pills, making them available to all women regardless of age and without requiring a doctor’s prescription. In India there were as many as 11 million abortions carried out in the past year, the majority of which were illegal. Of these abortions, more than 20,000 resulted in death. The pill has been added to the government’s social marketing list and now costs only 5 rupees rather than the 40 rupees it cost before.
MANILA, Philippines — Facing the threat of a global health nightmare, nations throughout Asia are struggling to find and report outbreaks of avian flu. Epidemiologists fear that a mutated form of the H5N1 virus, emerging from southern China and Hong Kong eight years ago, could infect humans. Lessons from the recent SARS outbreak have taught countries the importance of quick, open disclosure, proper training for health workers, and drug stockpiles, but many poorer nations, like the Philippines and Vietnam, are unable to afford the necessary measures to combat the disease.
Americas
EUGENE, Oregon — Many are fond of arguing that suburban sprawl discourages walking and exercise, but a study by two Oregon State researchers has determined that the correlation between obesity and suburban life may not be what it seems. Although the suburbs seem to attract an obese population, they do not actually cause obesity. Researchers found that fit people tend to choose neighborhoods that facilitate walking to work or to shops, as opposed to obese people, who gravitate to places where a car is needed.
President Fidel Castro at a news conference
HAVANA, Cuba — Cuban President Fidel Castro has now twice offered to send a team of 100 Cuban doctors to Louisiana to assist the United States with its relief efforts in the wake of Katrina. “Our country is ready to send, in the small hours of morning, 100 clinicians and specialists in Comprehensive General Medicine,” Castro was quoted as saying. “We stand ready waiting for the US authorities’ response.” Cuban doctors have already participated in international health efforts in Venezuela and other parts of Latin America. So far, there has been no response from Washington.
Europe
Doctors on strike in Germany
FRANKFURT, Germany — Over a thousand German doctors took to the streets this summer to protest the low wages and long hours handed out by Europe’s largest health system. Carrying signs reading “Better Pay for Better Work” and “England Pays Twice as Much,” the strikers demanded an increase in salaries for doctors fresh out of medical school. Average starting salaries for German doctors working in the public sector total just $36,000 a year, a fraction of what their colleagues in France, the UK, and the US can expect to earn. As Germany struggles to cut costs from its overburdened budget, young doctors claim they are feeling the pain in the form of longer hours and reduced vacation time. Senior doctors with managerial responsibilities, on the other hand, fare much better—they typically take home up to 12 times as much.
The perils of driving in Moscow
MOSCOW. Russia — Imagine if every intersection crossing were a battlefield, with pedestrians sprinting and dodging speeding cars and their careless drivers. This nightmare is the situation on the streets of Moscow, where at least fourteen cars hit pedestrians every day. Throughout Russia, 34,506 people were killed last year, more than double the rate in the U.S. Though drivers and passersby may have become desensitized to wreaths lining the streets in honor of the fallen, a national campaign has begun to promote respect for pedestrians, or at least remind drivers of the lives they endanger. Both drivers and pedestrians will receive stickers for good behavior, but some say dangerous driving is entrenched in the city’s culture. Chaotic, high-speed traffic conditions force drivers to plow through the city or crash themselves, and many pedestrians cross busy streets midblock, defying survival.
Compiled from newyorktimes.com, sundaytimes. co.za, yahoo.news.com, associatedpress. com. by CHRIS GLAZEK, AUSTIN KILARU, GOVIND RANGRAS, KYAN SAFAVI