NATO na unyama wake huko Libya

NATO's onslaught on Libya unjustified

Henchmen for Libya's Moammar Gadhafi on Monday dismissed arrest warrants issued against him by the international war crimes court as inconsequential with little near-term prospect of being carried out. But such confidence in a future without punitive measures is perhaps no more than posturing on the part of despots. Amid the turbulence of Arab Spring rebellions, the fate of once seemingly entrenched dictators has become uncertain, to say the very least. "The ICC [International Criminal Court] has no legitimacy whatsoever," Gadhafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Monday. "We will deal with it." Indeed, with NATO bombs pounding Tripoli (reportedly killing one of Gadhafi's sons and three grandchildren in April) and growing western impatience with the four-month war, the prospect of a Hague trial on charges of crimes against humanity may seem little threat to the leader compared with other exit scenarios.
Amid the usual stream of bravado from Tripoli, however, reasons abound for Gadhafi to be anxious about how this may end for him.
And not just the Libyan leader. Syria strongman Bashar al-Assad sounded equal parts conciliatory and defiant as he called for a "national dialogue" in a televised speech last week. Though he blamed the violence that has killed more than 1,000 people in three months of anti-government unrest on foreign-directed saboteurs, Damascus notably permitted an opposition gathering in the capital on Monday. Yemen's ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh, a one-time close ally in the U.S. war against terrorism, has yet to return from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia after being badly wounded in a rocket attack on his presidential palace in Sana earlier this month.
Saudi Arabia has also become home to Tunisia's Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, who fled anti-government protests in January in the first of the Arab Spring democratic revolutions. Last week, Ben Ali, described in U.S. diplomatic cables as the head of "the Family," was convicted in absentia on charges of embezzling a fortune in cash and jewelry from the North African nation he ruled for more than three decades.
Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, who in February followed Ben Ali in fallen Arab strongmen, is also facing criminal prosecution. He and his two sons are due to go on trial in August. Mubarak could face the death penalty, Egypt's Justice Minister has said.

Msafara wa kwanza kutoka Afrika waelekea Gaza

MSAFARA wa kwanza kabisa katika historoa ya bara la Afrika, ukiwa na shehena ya vyakula na msaada mwingine umeanza safari yake kuelekea Gaza.

Msafara huo, ukiwa na wanaharakati ishirini na moja na magari zaidi ya kumi, umebeba aina mbalimbali ya misaada inayohitajika huko Gaza, eneo la Palestina ambalo limewekewa vizuizi na utawala wa Israeli kwa muda mrefu sasa.

Misaada hiyo ni madawa, maziwa ya unga, majenereta, vifaa vya ujenzi, na mahitaji mengine muhimu kwa wananchi waishio huko.

Msafara huo umeanza ulianza juzi huko Durban, nchini Afrika ya Kusini na unatarajiwa kufika Gaza mwishoni mwa mwezi ujao, yaani Julai.

“Leo hii tumesimama hapa, bila ya masharti yeyote kuunga mkono juhudi za kimataifa dhidi ya wananchi wa Palestina ambao wanateseka. Mungu awabariki mkiwa safarini kuelekea katika nchi ambayo mutawafikia Wapalestina,” alisema Bwana Michael Abrahams katika ofisi ya Meya wa jiji la Durban.

Magari yote yaliyomo katika msafara huo yatatolewa bure kama msaada kwa halmashauri za miji ya Palestina.

Waandaji wa msafara huo wamesema lengo lao siyo kupeleka msaada tu huko gaza, bali pia kuhamasisha kote Afrika ambako msafara huo utapita, juu ya madhila yawapatayo wananchi wa Palestina huko Gaza kutokana na unyama wa Israeli.

Wananchi wapatao milioni moja na nusu hivi wanaishi kwa taabu kutokana na kukosa huduma muhimu za hospitali, elimu na mambo mengine ya kila siku.

Aid Mission to Gaza

First African convoy to Gaza gets ready for departure.

The final countdown to the departure of Africa’s first ever overland aid convoy from Durban to Gaza has begun. It will culminate in a grand send off ceremony for the South African Relief Agency’s road convoy at the Durban City Hall at 09h00 on Sunday 26 June 2011.
Of special significance is the fact that Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be present along with the Premier of KZN, the Ambassador of Palestine and the Mayor of Durban to send us off with their prayers and best wishes for the success of this mission.
The convoy will be distributing aid to the needy in towns that they will be stopping over enroute through Africa. The main aid consignment consisting of baby milk powder, medicines, wheelchairs, crutches, medical equipment, school stationery, disposable diapers, portable electricity generators and ambulances are destined for Gaza. This huge undertaking would not have been possible without the support and the generosity of donors from the corporate sector, community organizations and concerned individuals

Two journalists from Tanzania in South Africa

Two renowned journalists from Tanzania Mr Nasser Kigwangallah and Miss Bestina Maguto who attended a week's GEM seminar in Johannesburg, South Africa in October, 2010

HIV spreads unabated

Since HIV was discovered 30 years ago this week, 30 million people have died from the disease, and it continues to spread at the rate of 7,000 people per day globally, the UN says.

There's not much good news when it comes to this devastating virus. But that is perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the "Berlin patient" is so remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy community.

Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco's CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago. This Wired story says it was more likely passed down from people who became immune to a smallpox-like disease.)

What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.

"He has no replicating virus and he isn't taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV," his doctor Gero Huetter told Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild neurological difficulties after the operation. "It makes me very happy," he says of the incredible cure.

The development of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s was the first sign of hope in the epidemic, transforming the disease from a sudden killer to a more manageable illness that could be lived with for decades. But still, the miraculous cocktail of drugs is expensive, costing $13 billion a year in developing countries alone, according to Reuters. That figure is expected to triple in 20 years--raising the worry that more sick people will not be able to afford treatment.

Although Brown's story is remarkable, scientists were quick to point out that bone marrow transplants can be fatal, and there's no way Brown's treatment could be applied to the 33.3 million people around the world living with HIV. The discovery does encourage "cure research," according to Dr. Jay Levy, who co-discovered HIV thirty years ago, something that many people did not even think was possible years ago.

‘Men shying away from family planning’

LITTLE participation by men in family planning and sexual reproductive is stifling efforts in the fight against maternal deaths and population boom in Malawi, health experts have said.
A media training tour organized by US-based population reference bureau in Chikhwawa, Blantyre and Zomba districts discovered that women were in the forefront in issues of sexual reproductive health and family planning while men showed reluctance.
Women in all the areas said men had been reluctant to participate in efforts to reduce problems of sexual reproductive health and family planning, a development that is pulling back progress in the area.
A visit to Tomali Traditional Authority Lundu in Chikhwawa District revealed that women start practising family planning methods without the knowledge of their husbands for fear of reprimands.
A 30-year-old woman in the area who is on Depo Provera, an injection for family planning Lisineti Chilongo said her husband told her that he would like to have two more children on top of the three they have.
She said the pains she passed through when delivering her last child a year ago made her consider methods of family planning.
“When I told my husband about my decision to practise family planning I was shouted at and he called me names accusing me of being unfaithful,” Chilongo said.
The woman said the development left her with no option but to seek help secretly.
“I consulted a health surveillance assistant who gave me an injection that will keep me out of any danger of conceiving for three months,” she said.
Commenting on the development, family planning advisor for USAID-funded Malawi Sciences for Health programme Joyce Wachepa appealed to men to take part in the efforts saying the success of family planning and sexual reproductive health lay in the understanding of both husband and wife.
“The decision to control the number of children a family is supposed to have is an agreement between the man and the woman in the family,” she said.
Wachepa said if men were taking part in the programmes maternal deaths would have reduced drastically.
Meanwhile Banja la Mtsogolo says since the introduction of vasectomy in the 1990’s, a handful had come forward to use the method, Marketing and external relations manager for Banja la Mtsogolo Mackenzie Kachanje told journalists during the training.
“Despite a steady growth in other methods of family planning vasectomy has remained static.
“Statistics shows a zero growth on men coming for vasectomy since 1994 to date. I think this is due to the fact that a lot of men do not like to take part in issues of family planning,” he said.
He said men have a variety of what he called unfounded fears that if they undergo vasectomy they would no longer be able to perform in bed.
Kachanje said men also fear that in the event of a divorce they might not be able to father any children when they remarry.
“The reluctance of men to take up vasectomy is an indication that men are not forthcoming to participate in issues of family planning and this is dangerous,” Kachanje said.
He said Banja la Mtsogolo planned to intensify information campaign in an effort to reach out to many men.

Journalists at work

Outbreak of measles, a threat to health in Tanzania

.Health PS says more than 1,500 cases reported
.Parents urged to send children for vaccination

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Blandina Nyoni

The government yesterday announced an outbreak of measles in six regions that has already killed 18 people since January this year and affected more than 1,500 people.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Dar es Salaam, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Blandina Nyoni named the affected regions as Iringa, Dar es Salaam, Coast, Tanga, Arusha and Morogoro.

Nyoni said the reports of the outbreak of measles in the regions were received between January 11 and June 22, this year.

The PS said between January and June 22 this year, 642 outbreaks were reported in Ngorongoro district from which ten people died.

In Iringa 362 people got infected one of whom died.

Nyoni said 349 measles cases were reported in Dar es Salaam districts of Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke resulting in seven deaths.

“Of the 1,573 reported cases, 1,062 equivalent to 67 per cent are children under five,” Nyoni said, adding that 85 per cent of all the patients were either not vaccinated or do not remember when they were vaccinated.

She said the ministry in collaboration with local and international health organizations has already sent officers to the affected areas to carry out ring vaccination. The target group is children aged between nine months and five years, Nyoni said appealing to parents in the areas to ensure their children are vaccinated.

She said plans were on to carry out mass vaccinations in the country.

She said the ministry has dispatched a team of officers all around the country, and specifically to the affected areas to do intensive research on the measles outbreak, so as to successfully counter it.

She reminded the public that measles was a dangerous disease that could kill at any time, demanding urgent measures to counter it and protect people.

“Young children less than five years are the most vulnerable, Nyoni said, adding: “If we don’t protect our children then this is going to be a big problem to the government and the country in general,” said Nyoni.

“I am appeal to people especially parents to take care of their children by sending them to hospital for vaccination and vitamin A drops,” said Nyoni.