Day: April 21, 2024

Medenine: Asthma has become rampant in the country as the number of people suffering from it is constantly increasing and currently stands at around 500,000 people, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Charles Nicole Hospital, Hichem Aouina, said on Saturday evening.

Speaking to TAP on the sidelines of the opening of the 17th Djerba Medical Meetings, Aouina pointed out that there are many mechanisms that can be used to diagnose asthma, as well as advanced treatment methods for this disease, but the problem in Tunisia is the difficulty of the patient’s acceptance of his disease, despite the ease of living with it.

He pointed out that many national and international athletes have been able to live with the disease and control the general climate, including quitting smoking and accepting the necessary treatments for the disease and adhering to them at certain times to control all the risk factors.

The 17th Djerba Medical Meetings, organised by the Djerba Private Sector Doctors Syndicate, is bein
g attended by more than 350 participants, including doctors, pharmacists, paramedics and dentists, who came from different regions of the country and the main health institutions in Tunisia, according to Raouf Labassi, president of the syndicate and head of the Djerba Medical Meetings.

In a statement to TAP, he added that the event, organised by the Union of Private Sector Doctors of Djerba as part of its scientific activity, aims to support the continuous training of doctors, exchange experiences and expertise and follow the latest medical developments in the sector.

Over the course of two days, the meetings will focus on a number of general and specialised medical issues, and will present the latest developments in the fields of paediatrics, dermatology, chest diseases, asthma, diabetes, ophthalmology and neurology.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Medenine: Ferry services for vehicles and passengers between the island of Djerba and El Jorf in the Medenine governorate were suspended at 4pm on Sunday due to strong winds that prevented the normal operation of the ferries, Farhat Larayedh Kahia, director of the Djerba island ferries sub-department at the Regional Directorate of Public Works in Medenine, told TAP.

He added that travel to and from the island of Djerba is limited to the Roman road, noting that with the improvement of weather conditions, the ferries will resume operations to ensure the transport of vehicles and travellers.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Several ambassadors and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Tunisia were briefed on Sunday on a number of alternative tourism components and the tourist landscape of Tabarka, Ain Draham, Jendouba and Medjez el-Bab (Beja governorate), as part of a joint initiative between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad and the National Tourist Office.

They were briefed on the ecological characteristics of these regions and their development potential for investment.

The delegation, made up of 86 diplomats from 43 countries, visited several tourist units, sports facilities and tourist trails in the towns of Tabarka, Ain Draham and the Beni Matir dam, as well as a number of archaeological monuments, including the Bulla Regia archaeological site. They also saw some of the innovative projects being undertaken by talented young people, such as the electric car built by a young man from the Ain Draham delegation.

The programme for the visit, which began on Saturday evening
, included musical performances, craft exhibitions and organic cooking.

Helmi Hussein, Director General of the National Tourist Office, said this initiative, the first of its kind to involve a large delegation of representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Tunisia, is an opportunity to promote alternative tourism and to convey real images of the region’s ability to meet the new needs of foreign and local tourists. It is also an opportunity to showcase the region’s tangible and intangible resources.

According to professionals in the sector, tourism in the Jendouba governorate, particularly in the two tourist areas of Tabarka and Ain Draham, remains dependent on the reopening of the Tabarka-Ain Draham airport, the upgrading of National Road 7 linking Tunis to Tabarka and the reopening of the railway line linking the two towns via Mateur. This is besides the support needed for development projects, infrastructure development, the promotion and diversification of tourist services and the consolidation
of alternative tourism.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Medenine: The body of one of the two people missing since Saturday after a fishing trip has been found off the coast of the island of Djerba after a joint search by coastguard units supported by an army helicopter, a coastguard source told TAP.

The body was found on the island’s coastline near the Hachani public beach, while the search for the second missing person continues despite bad weather conditions, the source added.

Two people, who had left Seguia beach in Djerba Midoun at 1pm on Saturday to go fishing, have been missing ever since, and a joint operation was launched on Sunday by the coastguard and the army, with the help of fishermen from Djerba and Zarzis.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The World Health Organisation (WHO) is organising the World Immunisation Week 2024 on April 24-30.

“This year World Immunisation Week will celebrate 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) – recognising our collective efforts to save and improve countless lives from vaccine-preventable diseases and calling on countries to ramp up investments in immunisation programmes to protect the next generations,” the organisation said in a statement.

Humanly possible: saving lives through immunisation, the WHO said. The global vaccine drives of the second half of the 20th century are one of humanity’s greatest achievements.

“Immunisation campaigns have enabled us to eradicate smallpox, nearly defeat polio, and ensure more children survive and thrive than ever before,” further reads the statement.

“In just 5 decades, we went from a world where the death of a child was something many parents feared, to a world where every child — if vaccinated — has a chance to survive and thrive.”

The organi
sation said “at its inception in 1974, the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) focused on protecting all children against 6 childhood illnesses, but today, this number has grown to 13 universally recommended vaccines across the lifecourse, and 17 additional vaccines with context dependent recommendations. With the expansion of vaccination programme across the life course we now call it the Essential Programme on Immunisation.”

“In the last few years during the pandemic, progress on immunisation slipped. While more than 4 million more children were vaccinated globally in 2022 compared to 2021, there were still 20 million children who missed out on one or more of their vaccines, ” the organisation added.

“Growing conflicts, economic downturns, and a rise in vaccine hesitancy are some of the threats to efforts to reach these children. As a result, the world is seeing sudden outbreaks of diphtheria and measles diseases that, until now, we’d had nearly in hand. While global vaccine coverage is good — with
4 out of 5 kids fully covered — we have more to do,” the statement reads.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Some fifty exhibitors, including 34 French colleges and universities, Tunisian institutions offering French programmes and agencies promoting mobility to France, will take part in the 2nd edition of the Mobility Forum: studying in France, to be held on April 26 and 27 at the ‘Institut Français de Tunis’ (IFT).

According to the event’s official website, the forum, organised by Campus France Tunisie, will also feature a series of conferences and workshops on higher education, mobility and employability.

Aimed at young people wishing to pursue their higher education in France, the forum will provide an opportunity to find out about French and Tunisian scholarship programmes, digital tools for learning French, the pre-consular procedure, how to get into a top college and the opportunities offered by the courses on offer.

According to Campus France Tunisie, 14,291 Tunisian students were studying in France in 2022/2023, an increase of 11% in 5 years. Of these, 58% were female students.

Campus France Tuni
sie is a service provided by the Institut français de Tunisie and is aimed at all Tunisian and non-Schengen students residing in Tunisia who wish to study in France, or who need to travel to France to take part in a competitive examination or interview for a course of study, or to undertake a research period as part of their studies.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

SIDI BOUZID: The Tunisian Cultural Action Association (ATAC) started, in collaboration with the Border Crossings organization and the Higher Institute of Technological Studies (ISET) of Sidi Bouzid, the organization of a series of actions aimed at pushing international organizations defending the rights of migrants and refugees and human rights in general to call on the European Union to keep its international commitments towards migrants.

In this context, the film Suppliants of Syria (2024) was screened, Friday afternoon, in ISET in Sidi Bouzid in the presence of its director Michael Walling.

The film depicts the life of Syrian refugees in Turkey and in European countries and highlights the various injustices they suffer as well as the position of lawyers and international organizations in the face of these abuses.

In a statement to TAP, Riadh Abidi, program manager within the association, said that the European migration policy is based on strengthening border control.

He added that the association plan
s to organize a series of meetings to discuss ways to put pressure on the EU so that it acts fairly and justly towards migrants and asylum seekers.

Participants called on international organizations to ensure humane conditions for asylum seekers and migrants as well as defend their rights without discrimination.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Medenine: Search operations for two people missing since yesterday evening off the island of Djerba are still underway.

They left, on Saturday, from Sakia Beach in Djerba aboard a boat for a fishing trip, a source from the coastguard said, adding that contact with them was suddenly interrupted due to bad weather conditions.

«They have not returned until now,» the same source said.

A military helicopter is searching them in coordination with fishermen from Djerba and Zarzis, the same source added.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (French: FTDES) urged the State to speed up school infrastructure rehabilitation and secure continuous drinking water supply.

In a report entitled “Fallouts from the Absence of Environmental Justice and the Impact of Climate Change on Other Rights” released on April 18, the FTDES environment and climate justice department shed light on inequalities in public schools across regions.

The absence of basic equipment, mainly in the west central areas. was also highlighted. Most schools in these regions have no drinking water and sanitary facilities. This would severely affect the academic success of children and their mental and physical health as well as their right to decent life.

There were 128 primary schools with no sanitary facilities in 2022-2023, including 74 schools in west central areas (Kairouan, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid), that is 58%, the report said. Meanwhile, primary schools in the north and the Sahel regions report coverage rates of 90% to 1
00 %.

Pupils in a number of schools where there is hardly any access to water are confronted with such diseases as respiratory illnesses and Shigella, an intestinal infection caused by a family of bacteria known as shigella and spread by unwashed hands.

It is imperative to make sanitary facilities available in all schools “without exception,” and take additional measures, including setting up infirmaries in schools where water shortage related illnesses spread.

// Schools seen as insecure environment//

While denouncing socio-environmental justice endured by pupils, the forum was critical of the “State which abandonned its responsibilities in rural and marginalised areas” and said it is regrettable that schools deviated from initial mission as ” a space for learning, education, acquisition of knowledge and skills and building the next generation.”

The forum also called on the State to engage fully in efforts to create green spaces in courtyards of public schools and keep them clean, in collaboration with
school staff and pupils. This needs to be prioritised in poor and marginalised urban areas as well as in rural areas.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse