By  Dickens Wasonga.\Kenya

The Kenya Medical Research Institute in collaboration with the America’s Centers for Disease Control have launched a five-year period study to compare school and community based mass drug administration delivery strategies for control of
bilharzia along lake Victoria’s  riparian districts where prevalence rates are high.

Speaking during the launch at a Kisumu hotel, the principal investigator Dr. Pauline Mwinzi of KEMRI said the study to compare Bilharzia control strategies in the western Kenya region will target over 150 communities and is expected to
bring people together towards ensuring a Bilharzia free communities.

The research  study will determine the best combination of strategies for controlling the water borne disease which affects commonly communities living along the shores of lake Victoria where prevalence rates are as high as 75 per cent.

Speaking at the function the investigator said the operational studies will include 150 communities where the prevalence of schistosomiasis is over 25%, and 75 communities where the rates are  moderate and at between 10-25%.

The scientist said identified communities will be randomized into two arms and further into 6 arms, half of which will receive community wide treatment and the other half school based treatment with variations over the years to determine the best frequency and strategy for mass drug administration.

In year 5, a final evaluation of communities in all study arms will be performed.

The primary outcome will be comparison of schistosomiasis prevalence and intensity levels among treatment arms to identify the best strategies for mass drug administration. Bilharzia  is a neglected  parasitic disease caused by several species of fluke.

Although it has a low mortality rate, schistosomiasis can damage internal organs and, in children, impair growth and development. It is the second most socio-economic devastating parasitic disease after malaria.

This disease is most commonly found in Asia, Africa, and South America, especially in areas where the water contains numerous freshwater snails, which carry the parasite.
Infections in the Lake Victoria basin in Western Kenya are associated with lake water contact. Seven districts in the region have been picked for the study and includes Bondo, Rachuonyo North, Homa Bay, Rarieda, Kisumu east and west and Nyakach.
Previous studies demonstrated an association between school proximity to the lake and the prevalence of the disease, suggesting that the lake is the primary source of schistosomiasis transmission in this area.

The researchers said here, prevalence levels can go up to 100% and school children are the most affected.

Currently, the WHO recommended strategy for control is school based mass drug administration with praziquantel, the first line drug of choice.

Dr. Mwinzi said that although the drug which is administered orally will be distributed by the community health workers and given one dose per year. She said the drug was available and cheap but lacks the demand since very few people who have the disease visit health facilities to seek treatment.

â?~â?TThis is what we target to reverse. The current  strategy which is school based also does not reach all other people at risk of these infections including fishermen and entire communities who use the Lake for livelihood, she added.

Apart from Kenya, four other countries namely Mozambique, Niger, Uganda and Tanzania will also be taking part in the study in Africa.

The scientists said the five-year study will cost Ksh.120 million to be provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

ENDS.

BY INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER. Kenya

KENYA’S Prime minister Raila Odinga’s move to attend presidential campaigns in Uganda Wednesday this week  has received protests from residents of the disputed Migingo Island who perceived the visit as a show of  support to the country’s president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

The residents said for a long time they have looked up to Raila to use his position in government to help them resolve the boundary row between Kenya and Uganda which has seen  the two east Africa states spend huge a mounts of money to reevaluate the boundary and end squabbles pitying the Kenya fishermen residing at the tiny island and the Ugandan authorities in vain.

Led by beach management unit officials at the island, the Kenyan fishermen said the presence of the prime minister was a huge disappointment and a let down for them adding they have realised they have all along been hanging their hopes on false illusion.

”It is a pity to see a man we have hoped to be the one to come to our aid in ending the persistent harassment at the island can visit and campaign alongside the very government that has visited pain and suffering to poor Kenyans living at the island.  We are really dissolutioned.  It is like our leaders have secret agenda which we do not know but pretend to back efforts to resolve the controversy over Migingo.” said one of the bitter leaders.

Currently reports from the island indicates that fishermen collects up to 150,000 daily from the fish landed at the Island which they then hand over to the Ugandan marine police patrolling the island.  The fishermen also take care of the officers in terms of feeding and accommodation daily  even though they do not support  continued stay of the Ugandans.

The fishermen have on several occasions complained of persistent harassment in the hands of the Ugandan police whom they accused also of taking away their catch and fishing gears worth thousands of shillings.

On many occasions the Kenyan fisherman  have pleaded with their government to intervene but such pleas have been largely ignored with the local government representatives only accusing the fishermen of violating Kenyan waters.

Even though  Raila was quoted as pushing  during the Museveni rallies at Iganga in Eastern Uganda and Kigulu for a stronger cooperation with Kenya within the EAC, many residents of Migingo  continued to raise doubts over whether regional integration will materialise.

Speaking after a meting with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni at the state lodge in Jinja on Wednesday,the PM said close relations between Kenya and Uganda could quicken the consolidation of unity among the East African Community states.

The PM said the days of borders between the East African States are numbered,saying the region is moving towards a federation and Uganda and Kenya could lead the way.

Raila has also been viewed as a rival of Museveni and unconfirmed reports claimed foreign forces took part in the post-election chaos that rocked Kenya and was murky in Kisumu city where several youths were executed.

But during his visit Raila, said he admired the progress Uganda has achieved since the end of the brutal era of Idi Amin and Kenya has something to learn on post war integration.

He called for peaceful elections in February ,saying a stable and a peaceful Uganda is good for Kenya.

” I call upon all Ugandans to uphold peace during the elections. Let us maintain  the cordial relations between the two countries”, Raila was quoted as saying by the PM press service.

The to leaders committed to forge closer ties , with Museveni describing Raila as ”a brother in the struggle ”while the PM acknowledged the support he received from the Ugandan president during the struggle for the second liberation in Kenya.

ENDS.

DRC: New law a boon for police reform

Photo: Fabienne Pompey/IRIN

Police recruits take part in a crowd-control training exercise

KINSHASA, 16 December 2010 (IRIN) – Legislation has been passed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national assembly aimed at reforming the country’s police force, which, staffed by ex-soldiers and former rebels – riddled with corruption, poorly trained and lacking basic equipment – is widely seen as more of a threat to the population than a guarantor of its security.

The legislation, due to go before the senate, is the fruit of three years of committee work by seven government ministries, senior police managers, donors, the UN and the European Police Mission in DRC (EUPOL).

The law will clarify the role and responsibilities of the police as a unified, civilian, republican force that is demilitarized, apolitical and financially and administratively autonomous, whose main duties are to ensure public security, protect people and their goods and to maintain public order.

The law also calls for an overhaul of the police administration and for competitive recruitment.

Census

A key step in the reform process has been taken by Gen. Charles Bisengimana, who recently took over command of the general inspectorate of the police force and launched a nationwide, six-month census of its staff and the training they have undergone.

According to Bisengimana, the force numbers 110,000, a figure some experts believe to be unrealistically large.

“The census will allow those who are supposed be retired, or who are not physically fit, to be discounted. It will also give a better picture of the level of training,” said Hervé Flahaut, EUPOL’s head of mission.

“It will also expose any ghost workers. This won’t make everybody happy; some people clearly profit from the confusion,” said one source close to the preparatory committee.

With a salary of barely US$30 a month, police in DRC often abuse their power by extorting money from civilians.

“The system is rotten to the core with senior officers who take a share of what the lower ranks rip off from people. And since salaries are always paid in cash, there is a lot of room for ‘leakage’,” explained a source from the UN mission in DRC’s police unit (UNPOL).

“Given our post-conflict situation, we need around 150,000 officers to have an adequate ratio with civilians,” noted Gen. Patrick Sabiti, a senior police officer. He added that the census and new legislation would lead to better training and living conditions.

Recent history has shown that simply pouring money into training police may not have lasting benefits. Before elections in 2006, some 7,000 members of a rapid reaction unit (PIR) were trained and equipped with help from Angola, France, EUPOL and Morocco, among others.
According to a recent EUPOL report, these 11 battalions are now in “a state of extreme disrepair”.

Scattered across the vast country, PIR members were never given barracks or follow-up training.
“Police management is trying to reconstitute some battalions in Kinshasa but most of the men vanished. Some are returning by barge or on foot,” said one expert.

Coordination required

EUPOL’s Flahaut told IRIN that generally police training methods were inconsistent across the country. “There’s a lack of harmonization, even if there is now more coordination between donors.”

Bisengimana said it was important that donors seek the advice of the Congolese before releasing funds. “Some things are funded which are of no use to us at all,” he said, citing as examples border police posts in the east.

“That’s the trouble with rushed initiatives. In one case we have two prisons opposite each other and some [new] barracks which remain empty,” explained a source.

“We are going to draw up norms so that donors have a point of reference and so that training is coherent,” according to Sabiti.

UNPOL is pushing for the creation of 20 mobile intervention units, which will each cost $9.4m to train, equip and house, but so far funding has not been forthcoming.

Some $2.2m for basic training has been provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

In Kapalata, a town near Kisangani, capital of Orientale Province, some of this money is being spent on 500 new recruits drawn from various armed groups who signed a peace deal with the government in 2009.

Over six months they will receive basic physical training and police procedure, as well as a grounding in law and ethics and in specific tactics such as crowd control.

“It is this kind of training, covering all the basics of police work, which we need to provide to all our staff. But for that we need human and financial resources. The government will do its part but we will need help from the international community,” said Sabiti.

With a presidential election due in late 2011, there is an urgent need to make sure the vote takes place in adequate security. “What we are trying to do now is mend a boat while it is still sailing. It is very complicated,” said Flahaut.

fp/am/mw

source. http://www.irinnews.org

INDONESIA: Avian flu deadliest in the world

Photo: Brennon Jones/IRIN

Indonesia- deadliest place in the world to be hit with avian flu

BANGKOK, 16 December 2010 (IRIN) – The number of deaths from avian flu in Indonesia is the highest worldwide, due to a slow response rate and surveillance challenges, say specialists.

“At 83 percent, Indonesia has the world’s highest fatality rate from avian flu,” Brenda Langdon, pandemic influenza adviser in the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Jakarta, told IRIN.

With the recorded infection of a 21-year-old female in Bandung city in west Java on 9 December, the number of people with the virus in Indonesia has risen to 171 since 2003, of whom 141 have died.

Avian influenza – also known as bird flu or H5N1 – is a highly contagious infectious disease among poultry and other birds.

The virus is transmitted from farm to farm by the movement of birds and people (with contaminated shoes or clothing), and from birds to unsuspecting people who touch them, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Since it was first detected in central Java in 2003, the disease has spread to 31 out of 33 provinces nationwide, caused more than US$500 million in economic losses and disrupted the livelihoods of more than 10 million people who rely on poultry, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The likelihood of dying from bird flu in Indonesia is nearly three times higher than in Egypt, which had the highest number of recorded bird flu cases this year but a fatality rate of only 32 percent, Langdon noted.

Slow response

With no human vaccine available, intensive medical attention (Tamiflu is the main anti-viral treatment) is required within the first 24 to 48 hours of reported symptoms. However, many patients wait too long before seeking medical attention.

“Jamu [traditional medicine] is still a strong tradition here so people try that before going to the clinic,” Langdon said. “But there are also financial constraints, given the administrative and transportation fees that patients have to pay to access healthcare here.”

Surveillance challenges

Indonesia spans almost 4,000km from Jakarta in the west to Jayapura (capital of Papua Province) in the far northeast, almost the same distance as London to Baghdad.

The size and geography of Indonesia – 17,000 islands host 250 million people, the world’s fourth most populous country – make virus surveillance particularly difficult.

“It could be that milder cases simply aren’t being detected due to the size and decentralization of the country, so only the really serious cases are being noticed,” said Langdon.

With a small number of human infections but a high fatality rate, more effort needs to go into preventing H5N1 from spreading in animals rather than only focusing on treatment when it reaches humans, according to the WHO office in Jakarta.

cm/pt/mw

source. http://www.irinnews.org

SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: Tussle over planned resumption of deportations

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN

South African troops stop illegal migrants from Zimbabwe

Johannesburg, 11 November 2010 (IRIN) – As the deadline to deport undocumented Zimbabwean migrants on or after 1 January 2011 looms, human rights activists warn South Africa could face a potential human rights disaster, though a senior South African official says the government is not aiming for a “massive deportation operation”.

Rights NGOs working with Zimbabwean migrants said they were bracing for hundreds of thousands to be deported.

Richard Kadziwe of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF), a member of a panel set up by the South African government to liaise with it on matters affecting Zimbabwean migrants, said: “We are not quite sure how to prepare for it [the resumption of deportations suspended since April 2009] – we are hoping the authorities will extend the deadline.”

But Modiri Matthews, chief director of immigration services at the department of home affairs, rejected suggestions of a massive blitz against Zimbabwean migrants at the end of the year.

“We don’t have the capacity for one to go looking for Zimbabweans without documents, and imagine what we would look like as a government if we did something like that – going off on trucks rounding up Zimbabweans.

“And around that time – 31 December – we have other issues to handle as we have a lot of travellers in and out over the Christmas and New Year period.

“There will be proper investigations to see if people have outstanding asylum-seekers’ claims – their status will be verified before they are rounded up.”

Improved conditions in Zimbabwe?

The South African government in September 2010 set the January deadline for the resumption of deportations of undocumented Zimbabweans on the grounds that conditions had improved in Zimbabwe sufficiently to revoke a moratorium on expulsions.

Matthews explained: “The situation in Zimbabwe is not the same as last year when the economy was still struggling and the cholera outbreak was ongoing. We felt there was no need for a special dispensation for Zimbabweans, and [that] they should now be treated like any other migrants from our neighbouring countries.”

The International Monetary Fund said on 8 November that Zimbabwe “is completing its second year of buoyant economic growth after a decade of economic decline,” but warned that “political stability” was also key to “consolidating [the] gains.” President Robert Mugabe’s announcement that elections will take place in 2011 has been greeted with concern by NGOs, who fear they could trigger fresh violence.

In April 2009 South Africa placed a moratorium on deportations, introduced a 90-day visa on demand for Zimbabwean passport holders and was on the verge of issuing a special permit allowing them to work and reside in South Africa for up to three years – something hailed by many rights NGOs. But that did not happen.

Before the moratorium, at least 300,000 Zimbabweans were being deported every year – the cause of a significant strain on the department of home affairs, said Tara Polzer, a senior researcher with the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“We are offering them a lot more now. We have bent over backwards to help,” said Matthews. “Zimbabwean nationals who are working, conducting business, or studying in South Africa will be issued with a working permit, business permit, or study permit when they show their passports.”

Slipping through the cracks

We don’t have the capacity for one to go looking for Zimbabweans without documents, and imagine what we would look like as a government if we did something like that

But there are many casual workers who will slip through the cracks, say NGOs, who are also concerned about the many disabled people who were unable to access services in Zimbabwe and crossed the border in recent years.

NGOs reckon it is hard for casual labourers to get letters from their employers. “Many of them who fled Zimbabwe in a hurry do not even have passports,” said Selvan Chetty, deputy director of Solidarity Peace Trust, a faith-based rights organization working with Zimbabwean migrants.

Braam Hanekom of People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), an NGO helping displaced people and refugees in South Africa, said he gets hundreds of phone calls from informal traders and casual workers.

ZEF’s Richard Kadziwe said informal traders needed to apply for licenses from local government authorities and “show receipts of payment as proof of employment”. But Chetty said not many were aware of this. “They are even frightened of approaching the authorities.”

Kadziwe said his NGO was working round the clock talking to employers to persuade them to issue letters. “We are trying our best to ensure that we can help as many as we can before the deadline.”

“The authorities should extend the deadline. I think it is particularly hard for the disabled – given the state of medical services in Zimbabwe,” said PASSOP’s Hanekom.

The government’s decision “was constructed in the interests of the South African economy and the motivation was not humanitarian… South Africa is taking care of its own interests like any other country but the question is – with so many vulnerable people involved – this could become a very big human rights issue,” said Polzer, adding that deportations could lead to violence.

The FMSP estimates that 1-1.5 million Zimbabweans are living in South Africa. But proving how many of these might be undocumented is “extremely complicated” as “some have the 90-day visa at the moment” or “are moving through the asylum-seeker process,” said Polzer.

jk/cb

source http://www.irinnews.org