Health & Well Being

Photo: A collage of pictures of Azu Ishiekwene, the writer, and Nigeria's Channel TV showing the first Nigerian being vaccinated.

My Vaccination Story

By Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — It wasn’t planned. I was seeing off my neighbour and friend on March 18 evening when one of the officers of our estate residents’ association called out to me.

He was in knickers and shirtsleeves, with his right hand clutching his left shoulder. “I’ve just been vaccinated,” he said. “Would you like me to put your name forward for it tomorrow?”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 March 2021

Photo: The jobless in Malaysia. Source: Malay Mail.

COVID-19 Pushes Millions into Destitution

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — A once-in-a-century crisis—a Great Disruption unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic—hit the world economy in 2020. The pandemic has reached every corner of the globe. Meanwhile, more than 120 million have been infected and close to 2.7 million people killed worldwide.

High unemployment and loss of income have pushed millions into destitution during the pandemic. The total number of people living in poverty is expected to have increased by 131 million in 2020 alone. As many as 797 million people will still be trapped in extreme poverty in 2030, representing a poverty headcount ratio of over 9 per cent.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 24 March 2021

Photo: Women Vision Workshop in Malawi. Source: Empower.

Development Needs to Come from The People

By Jones Ntaukira

KAPITA, Malawi (IDN) — Most development agencies fail because they don’t listen to the people and end up imposing projects on people. This is an important lesson I learned over 10 years working as a development worker here with Empower Malawi.

I joined the Empower Malawi team in 2010 as a fresh young graduate with no experience in development work. A scientist at heart, equipped with theories, hope and confidence amassed from the long lecture hours, I was eager to get down to work. I cared less where and how. I just wanted to work and enjoy myself.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 March 2021

Photo: The late Congo opposition candidate Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas. Source: France4

Congo Opposition Candidate Dies of COVID-19

By Lia Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Another African leader has lost the fight for his life—this time in a private hospital in Brazzaville, where he was last seen lifting up his oxygen mask and warning his supporters that he is “fighting death.”

Family members of Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas—the leading opposition candidate in Congo-Brazzaville’s current presidential election—were unable to bring him to France in time for treatment of COVID-19 while voting is underway.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 23 March 2021

Photo: Two Red Cross workers racing to revive the child at the port of Arguineguín in Spain's Gran Canaria island. Source: El Pais | Ángel Medina G. / EFE

Toddler's Death Highlights Perils of Crossing the Atlantic

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The sight of refugees clinging to leaking boats, barely floating in frigid waters, or worse, washing up lifelessly on sandy shores, almost fails to shock after these images repeat over and over, year after year.

But consciences were re-awakened when a two-year toddler from Mali was seen lifted from a sinking vessel packed with refugees. A team of Red Cross nurses worked frantically to resuscitate the girl who had suffered cardiac arrest. They hoped for a miracle. It never came.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Reduced Inequalities; 22 March 2021

Image: The "Sputnik V" vaccine. CC BY 4.0

Russia's Sputnik V Enters Africa's Orbit

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — More and more African countries are registering Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement that Angola, Djibouti and the Republic of Congo (DRC) have officially authorized Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V for mass use to fight the COVID-19 in their respective countries. It is health assistance aimed at stopping the further spread of the pandemic on the continent.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 19 March 2021

Photo: Screenshot of President Magufuli's last public appearance in Dodoma while launching a multi-million bus terminus. Source: Online Community KE YouTube

Tanzanian Populist President Dies, Leaving A Mixed Legacy

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Flags are flying at half-mast in Tanzania over the passing of President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, the country’s populist leader who passed away in the port city of Dar es Salaam on March 17 following his hospitalization for heart complications. The President was 61 years of age.

Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the leader’s death on national television. Hassan is expected to be sworn in to succeed Magufuli and complete his second five-year term which he had just started after winning elections late last year. She will be Tanzania’s first female head of state.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 March 2021

Photo: Phrase III of the clinical trial of Sovereign 2 was approved on March 3. Credit: BioCubaFarma

Cuba Working On A ‘People’s Vaccine’ In Response To Vaccine Hoarding By Global North

Viewpoint by Beth Geglia*

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — “The life of just one person is worth more than the private property of the richest man.” This is what’s written on the Calixto Garcia public hospital in Havana Cuba as a testament to the country’s commitment to free public healthcare, and to putting people before profit. I know this about Cuba because in March, at the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, I spent a week in the ICU at Calixto Garcia. I had been hit by a speeding ambulance, and Cuban doctors saved my life, operated on me twice, and nursed me to stability before putting me on a private medical evacuation flight back to the US.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 18 March 2021

Photo: Putin visits COVID-19 patients at Moscow hospital. Source: Kremlin Press Office | Handout - Anadolu Agency)

Russia Hopes to Boost Vaccine Production at Home and Abroad

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — Russia faces vaccine production challenges to meet the increasing market demand and to make prompt delivery on its current pledges to external countries. As vaccine production and distribution intensifies, rivalry and competition strengthen and the fight for market share and its associated disinformation abound worldwide.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly indicated that in order to boost sustainable supplies, the country has to build its domestic production capacity while, at the same time, searching for production partnership in foreign countries.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 17 March 2021

Asia-Pacific Needs Transformative Change Towards a Sustainable Future

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is United Nations-Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The COVID-19 crisis poses an unprecedented threat to development in the Asia-Pacific region that could reverse much of the hard-earned progress made in recent years. The good news is we know how to tackle this challenge. Recovery from the pandemic and our global efforts to deliver the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 must go hand-in-hand. The Goals provide a compass to navigate this crisis, faster and greener, everywhere and for everyone.