Category: General

Malanje- The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, António de Assis, highlighted today, Thursday, the resilience that the sector has been showing in face of the limitations imposed by Covid-19 in the last three years, providing food to the country, for the strengthening of food security.

The Government official made this assessment during the opening of the I Provincial Conference on Agriculture, which aims at collecting subsidies and defining strategies for the development of the sector in the next five years.

He acknowledged that, despite the upheaval that Covid-19 has caused in the international economic circuit, the country has no food shortages, as a result of the commitment of agricultural producers, who have reinvented themselves to develop the sector.

Despite this, he said there were still many aspects to improve in the agro-livestock sector, in order to make it more attractive and consequently supply more food.

He considered it necessary to “deconstruct” some pessimistic narratives that some people have in relation to the capacities and potential of the country, especially in what concerns corn and wheat production.

On the other hand, Antonio de Assis said that Angola has the conditions to be self-sufficient in these two crops, as long as there is more organisation and training of producers.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, on Thursday congratulated young Angolans, students, sportsmen, artists and workers from all walks of life, for the fast construction of the Cafu Canal – Cunene River Water Transfer System.

In his Twitter account, João Lourenço left a word of appreciation and recognition to the young people who, in record time, built the “extensive canal” and the 30 water storage reservoirs of the Cafu project, in Cunene.

He stressed that the country is counting on the youth for peacekeeping and for the “great challenge” of economic and social development.

On Monday, the Angolan Head of State inaugurated the Cafu Canal, which aims to combat severe drought and benefit a total of 230,000 inhabitants and 255,000 head of cattle in the southern province.

The said system transfers water from the Cunene River to the localities of Ombala-Yo-Mungo (Ombadja municipality), Namacunde and Ndombondola.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The Minister of Health, Silvia Lutucuta appealed Thursday to the communities to get involved in the resolution and identification of the main problems that affect the environment and negatively impact the health of the population.

Silva Lutucuta, who was speaking during the allusive act to the World Health Day, which is marked today, Thursday, under the motto “Our community, our health”, highlighted the importance of the participation of the communities in the policies that aim at the population’s welfare and the increase of health assistance.

“It is fundamental, at a time when the world is going through a particular moment such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the participation and contribution of all in identifying problems that harm the wellbeing of the population,” she stressed.

The Cabinet minister praised the commitment and dedication provided by the health agents, who work daily for the health and well-being of the population, as well as those who develop projects of ecological sustainability.

In his turn, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment, Filipe Zau, stressed that the concept of human development should correspond to the reinforcement of people’s potential, through the acquisition of training, information and culture, as well as the access to health, housing and food.

“No African country that, in order to try to survive the economic situation, does not implement structural assembly programmes for the wellbeing of the community,” he stressed.

The WHO estimates that over 13 million annual deaths worldwide are due to preventable environmental causes, including the climate crisis.

According to the human development report entitled “Deepening democracy in a fragmented world”, average life expectancy in developing countries has increased by an average of 20 years since 1960.

The infant mortality rate has halved since 1960 and the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen to 78 million.

This year, World Health Day is being celebrated globally under the theme “Our planet, our health”, to serve as a timely reminder of the issues between the planet and health.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The Angolan ambassador to Egypt, Nelson Cosme, reaffirmed the Angolan State’s interest in strengthening the partnership with the Egyptian authorities, within the framework of bilateral cooperation.

Angola’s position was expressed Wednesday during a meeting with the president of the Arab Organization for Industrialization, Abdel Moneim Al-Trass, according to a note from the diplomatic representation of Angola in that country.

On the occasion, Ambassador Nelson Cosme highlighted the fact that Egypt has a strong and diversified industrial sector.

In his speech, the Angolan diplomat expressed interest in Arab participation in industrial projects in Angola, particularly in the fields of defence, health, telecommunications, electronics and renewable energy.

Abdel Moneim Al-Trass expressed his willingness, as an example, to train Angolan staff in research, through the Authority’s Training Academy, in different specialties of the industry.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and the Special Security Corps for Strategic Minerals (CESME) Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening mechanisms against illegal mining and ore trafficking.

According to a press release from the Criminal Investigation Service accessed by ANGOP on Thursday, the protocol was signed in Luanda by the general directors of SIC, chief commissioner António Paulo Bendje, and of CESME, Luciano Tânio da Silva.

At the time the director general of SIC underlined the relevance of the cooperation between the two bodies, which he said he hoped would reach a level of excellence, for the fight against trafficking and the squandering of national wealth.

On his turn, the director of CESME said that the act aimed at formalizing and updating procedures that date back a long time between both bodies.

“We want to guarantee that we are together and that the purpose between our tasks is the same,” stressed Luciano Tânio da Silva, noting that, above all, is the public interest.

As a sign of the reinforcement of the cooperation between both institutions, during the act, the CESME director proceeded the delivery of two all terrain vehicles, to support the SIC operative activity in the fight against crimes.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Disease caused by the omicron variant is on average around two days shorter than the delta variant, a large study of vaccinated Britons who kept a smartphone log of their COVID-19 symptoms after breakthrough infections found.

“The shorter presentation of symptoms suggests — pending confirmation from viral load studies — that the period of infectiousness might be shorter, which would in turn impact workplace health policies and public health guidance,” the study authors wrote.

Based on the Zoe COVID app, which collects data on self-reported symptoms, the study also found that a symptomatic omicron infection was 25% less likely to result in hospital admission than in a case of delta.

While omicron’s lesser severity has been known, the study is unique in its detailed analysis and in that it corrected for any distortions caused by differences in vaccination status by looking at vaccinated volunteers only.

The researchers at King’s College London analyzed two sets of data from June 1 to Nov. 27, 2021, when the delta variant accounted for more than 70% of cases, and from Dec. 20, 2021, to Jan. 17, 2022, when omicron was more than 70% prevalent.

The patients, close to 5,000 in each group, were matched and compared 1:1 with a person of the same age, sex, and vaccination dose in the other group.

Omicron’s shorter symptom duration relative to delta was more pronounced in those with three vaccine doses. Symptoms lasted 7.7 days on average during the delta-dominated period, and only 4.4 days, or 3.3 days less, during the omicron period.

Among those with only two vaccine doses, symptoms from delta lasted for 9.6 days and 8.3 days from omicron, a difference of just 1.3 days.

The Zoe COVID Study application, previously known as the COVID Symptoms Study App, collects data on self-reported symptoms.

The company ZOE Ltd was initially founded to offer customized nutritional advice based on test kits. Its app is a not-for-profit initiative in collaboration with King’s College London and funded by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The study was published in the medical journal The Lancet on Thursday and will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases later this month.

Source: Voice of America

Grace Oluwasanya Research Lead, Water, Climate and Gender, United Nations University

Duminda Perera Senior Researcher: Hydrology and Water Resources, United Nations University

When it comes to water security — a reliable, good supply of safe water — just 29 African countries have made some progress over the past three to five years. Twenty-five have made none.

This data comes out of the UN’s first-ever assessment of water security in Africa. Published by the UN University’s Canada-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, the assessment used 10 indicators to quantify water security in Africa’s 54 countries. Such an assessment had been done before in the Asia-Pacific region, but never for Africa.

The UN’s concept of water security encompasses various needs and conditions. These include: water for drinking, economic activity, ecosystems, governance, financing, and political stability. Water security, therefore, is not just about how much natural water a country has but also how well the resource is managed.

The assessment is limited by very poor data on some issues — such as access to drinking water or sanitation. It nevertheless offers some preliminary, but obvious, conclusions.

Overall levels of water security in Africa are low. Not a single country, let alone a sub-region, is at the highest “model” stage of water security. The top five countries — Egypt, Botswana, Mauritius, Gabon, and Tunisia — are at best at a “modest” (just above average) stage of water security.

Without water security, people are exposed to environmental and health risks, increased susceptibility to water-related disasters and lack water for economic and social use.

The assessment team hopes that as this quantitative tool develops, it will help generate targeted policy recommendations and inform decision-making and public-private investments toward achieving water security in Africa.

Key findings

The assessment introduced five stages of water security: Emerging (a score of 0 — 45), slight (45 — 60), modest (60 — 75), effective (75 — 90), and model (90 — 100).

Except for Egypt, all countries scored below 70. Only 13 of 54 countries were found to have a “modest” level of water security. Somalia, Chad and Niger appear to be the three least water-secure countries in Africa.

Over a third of the 54 countries had “emerging” level water security, representing a large gap to be closed to reach an acceptable level. These countries are home to half a billion people.

The situation doesn’t appear to be improving very quickly. Between 2015 and 2020, the continent as a whole progressed only by 1.1% based on the indicators.

Examining the indicators

Here is an overview of how countries fared on each indicator.

Access to drinking water

Access to “at least basic” drinking water services ranged from 37% of the population in the Central African Republic to 99% in Egypt. Regionally it ranged from 62% in central Africa to 92% in north Africa. Africa’s average basic drinking water service is 71%. This leaves behind about 29% of the total population, or more than 353 million people.

“At least basic” means access to improved water sources — such as piped water, protected hand-dug wells and springs. These either need to be “safely managed” (accessible on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination) or can be collected in a trip of 30 minutes or less.

Access to sanitation

Access to sanitation — meaning access to, and use of, sanitation facilities and services — was broadly similar at the regional level. There’s an average of 60% access to limited sanitation. This means at least 40% of the total population (483 million people) are left behind.

A few countries — Seychelles and most countries in north Africa — have reached, or nearly reached, 100%. The most challenged countries are Chad and Ethiopia.

Access to hygiene facilities

This indicator refers to access to practices like hand washing. The greatest access was found in north Africa (67%), the least access was in west Africa. Liberia was the lowest in the region with less than 10% access.

Chad and the Central African Republic suffer from the highest number of deaths from diarrhoea, an indicator of ineffective hygiene practices.

Per capita water availability

The amount of water available per person was highest in central Africa, with the Republic of Congo considered Africa’s most water-rich country. At the other end of the spectrum, half of the countries in north Africa appeared to be absolutely water scarce.

Water availability has recently declined in west, central and southern Africa. This was most notable in Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Somalia, Mozambique and Malawi.

Water use efficiency

This indicator assesses the economic and social value. The score is a sum of efficiencies — a measure of how well a country uses the water it has in its economy.

On this basis, water use efficiency appears to be lowest in north Africa (with Somalia lowest at the national level) and highest in central Africa (with Angola highest at a national level).

Water storage infrastructure

Water storage in large dams, measured in volume (m3) per capita, is deemed best in the southern Africa, worst in east Africa.

South Africa, with over 25% of all large dams in Africa, is outscored by Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, likely due to just one mega reservoir in those countries.

Half of all countries score very low, reflecting the continent’s low level of water storage development. Only Ethiopia and Namibia have increased their storage over recent years.

Wastewater treatment

Scores are highest in north African countries, lowest in east and west Africa, where 12 countries in each region treat less than 5% of wastewater. No country treats more than 75%. Only Tunisia, Egypt and Lesotho treat over 50% of wastewater.

Water governance

Governance takes into account the various users and uses of water with the aim of promoting positive social, economic, and environmental impacts. This includes the transboundary level.

Water governance appears to be most advanced in north and southern Africa and least advanced in central Africa.

Nationally, Ghana reported reaching 86% of integrated water resource management implementation in just two years — a significant improvement.

Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Comoros are the lowest-performing countries.

Disaster risk

Disaster risk is a measure of the potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets, which could occur to an ecosystem, or a community in a specific period of time.

North Africa appears to be the least risky sub-region (it has less exposure or high ability to adapt), with Egypt the least risky country. West Africa was the riskiest.

Some 49 of 54 African countries have seen increased disaster risk scores over five recent years.

Water dependency on neighbouring nations and water resources variability

Egypt stands out as Africa’s most water-dependent country. It relies on the Nile river which flows through 10 countries — Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Sudan — before reaching Egypt. And the southern Africa sub-region has a wide disparity in the available water per year.

Preparing for the future

Our paper calls for a pioneering effort to create global standards for water security measurement data and assessment.

Some critical components of water security simply cannot be assessed without good data. For example, it’s not possible to estimate the percentage of the African population that will have access to safely managed drinking water services or safely managed sanitation by 2030, a key UN Sustainable Development Goal.

Our water security assessment tool is a work in progress, guided by a goal of an influential and nationally-owned tool used by all African countries and that it helps generate targeted policy recommendations and inform decision-making and public-private investments in Africa.

Source: The Conversation

The Oklahoma House gave final legislative approval on Tuesday to a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

With little discussion and no debate, the Republican-controlled House voted 70-14 to send the bill to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has previously said he’d sign any anti-abortion bill that comes to his desk.

The bill is one of several anti-abortion measures still alive in Oklahoma’s Legislature this year, part of a trend of GOP-led states passing aggressive anti-abortion legislation as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court is considering ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

The Oklahoma bill, which passed the Senate last year, makes an exception only for an abortion performed to save the life of the mother, said GOP state Rep. Jim Olsen, of Roland, who sponsored the bill. Under the bill, a person convicted of performing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

“The penalties are for the doctor, not for the woman,” Olsen said.

Similar anti-abortion bills approved by the Oklahoma Legislature and in other conservative states in recent years have been stopped by the courts as unconstitutional, but anti-abortion lawmakers have been buoyed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow new Texas abortion restrictions to remain in place.

The new Texas law, the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the U.S. in decades, leaves enforcement up to private citizens, who are entitled to collect what critics call a bounty of $10,000 if they bring a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps a patient obtain an abortion. Several states, including Oklahoma, are pursuing similar legislation this year.

The Oklahoma bill’s passage came on the same day as more than 100 people attended a “Bans Off Oklahoma” rally outside the Capitol in support of abortion rights.

“These legislators have continued their relentless attacks on our freedoms,” said Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. “These restrictions are not about improving the safety of the work that we do. They are about shaming and stigmatizing people who need and deserve abortion access.”

Wales said Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in Oklahoma has seen an 800% increase in the number of women from Texas after that state passed its new anti-abortion law last year.

The Texas law bans abortion once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions in cases of rape or incest.

Also Tuesday, the Oklahoma House adopted a resolution to recognize lives lost to abortion and urge citizens to fly flags at half-staff on January 22, the day the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in its landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced plans to expand access to health care by proposing changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to allow millions of additional American families to purchase health insurance plans and obtain tax credits to offset the cost.

“When today’s proposed rule is finalized, starting next year, working families will get the help they need to afford full family coverage — everyone in the family,” Biden said in remarks at the White House ahead of signing an executive order to improve access to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.

Biden was accompanied by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama, who in March 2010 signed the ACA, the sweeping health care law known as Obamacare.

This was Obama’s first return visit to the White House since he left office in 2017 after two terms with Biden as his vice president.

“Joe Biden and I did a lot,” Obama said. “But nothing made me prouder than providing better health care and more protections to millions of people across this country.”

5 million affected

The proposal to change the rules on ACA would fix the so-called family glitch, where, based on current regulations, family members of an individual who purchases health coverage through an employer are ineligible for a premium tax credit even though they need it to afford coverage. The glitch affects about 5 million people, according to the White House.

The proposed change applies to individuals in households that spend more than 10% of their income on health insurance. According to a senior administration official who briefed reporters, it would allow 200,000 uninsured people to gain coverage and would lower premiums for a million other individuals.

The House Ways and Means Committee’s top Republican, Representative Kevin Brady, criticized the move and accused Biden of misusing executive orders that abandon the language of “the very law he claims he wants to build on.”

“He even ignores the last 12 years, during which the Obama-Biden Administration made clear it was unlawful to take such actions,” Brady said in a tweet.

No universal health care

The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not provide health care for all its citizens. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, 8.6% of people, or 28 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2020.

The country’s health care is delivered by a public-private system, with about 65% of Americans covered by private health insurance and the rest relying on public coverage, including Medicare and Medicaid.

“This is a country that is very much oriented toward the private sector, the employer, and the employer providing benefits,” Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told VOA.

Hoagland said that many Americans are also wary of too much government involvement and are concerned that government-run health care would be inefficient or inadequate.

About 55% of Americans support the ACA, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Disparities in health care

Poor people and people of color are more likely to be uninsured, and many health and health care disparities remain entrenched.

“We are the richest country in the world and yet some of our citizens have the poorest health,” Dr. Rachel Villanueva, president of the National Medical Association, the largest and oldest organization representing African American doctors, told VOA. “The lack of access to health care is one of the primary causes of health disparities for people of color. Increasing access to health care would help people to achieve their optimal health and reduce the racial and social inequities that are disproportionately impacting our communities.”

Since Biden took office, enrollment and coverage through the ACA is at its highest level. The law has significantly cut the number of uninsured, which once stood at 46.5 million. This happened despite repeated attempts by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress to dismantle the law, including efforts to reduce enrollment opportunities and slash subsidies to insurance companies.

The administration has taken steps to boost participation by opening a special enrollment period for people to get health care coverage during the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, millions of uninsured Americans still face the choice of either financial ruin or going without the health care they need as they struggle with medical bills.

Source: Voice of America

The United Nations’ top climate body says drastic measures, including significant cuts in fossil fuel use, are necessary to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures.

Monday’s report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that the world is “on a fast track to climate disaster” and that governments and organizations have engaged in “a litany of broken climate promises,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unlivable world,” he said in a video message released alongside the report.

Guterres said the world’s current trajectory is global warming of more than double the 1.5-degree limit agreed at climate talks in Paris in 2015.

To keep the 1.5-degree limit within reach, he said that the world would need to cut global emissions by 45% this decade.

The 2,800-page report said only such severe emissions cuts this decade could turn the situation around. Even then, it said such measures would need to be combined with governments planting more trees and developing technologies that could remove some of the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.

“It’s now or never,” IPCC report co-chair James Skea said in a statement with the report.

“Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible,” he added.

The report said that in the next three years — by 2025 — the world would need to stop greenhouse gas emissions from rising further to be on track to reach the Paris goals. If current policies continue, the report said, the 1.5-degree target will be “beyond reach,” and it will be harder after 2030 to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

Guterres put the blame on governments and businesses but did not single out individual countries.

“Some government and business leaders are saying one thing but doing another.”

“Simply put, they are lying,” he added. “And the results will be catastrophic.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the report “reveals how current global efforts to mitigate the climate crisis fall far short of what is needed” and that this will be a “decisive decade.”

He cited some of the report’s recommendations to halt climate change, from “improving energy efficiency, to halting and reversing global deforestation, to deploying more sustainable transportation and clean energy.” If countries take action now, he added, they can halve global emissions by 2030.

Source: Voice of America