Day: April 15, 2021

Zimbabwe’s government this month reported nearly 5,000 teenage pregnancies in January and February — a major jump from previous years. Advocates are blaming the rise on coronavirus lockdowns and poverty. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe           
 
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The World Health Organization says that raising taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products is the smartest and best way to save lives and save billions of dollars in health expenditures.An estimated eight million people die prematurely every year from tobacco-related illnesses, such as emphysema and lung cancer. Furthermore, the World Health Organization reports the cost of smoking to the global economy comes to more than $1.4 trillion in health expenditures and lost productivity.The WHO has issued a new manual on tobacco taxes to inform policy makers and others on how to create and implement the strongest tobacco taxation policies for their specific countries.WHO Tells Tobacco Industry to Stop Marketing Deadly Nicotine Products to ChildrenThe WHO accuses the tobacco industry of trying to get children and young people hooked on tobacco early in life, so they become life-long smokersJeremias N. Paul Jr. is head of Fiscal Policies and Health Promotion for the WHO. He says scare tactics employed by the tobacco industry are a key hindrance to raising taxes. He urges governments not to be put off by ploys aimed at undermining tobacco reforms, such as:“If you increase tobacco taxes, you increase smuggling and illicit trade,” Paul said. “You are sued in the court. Raising tobacco taxes is anti-poor. If you increase tobacco taxes, revenues will go down and employment impact will be negative.”Paul says the new WHO manual documents countries that addressed these scare tactics and succeeded in raising resources through good tax administration. For example, he says the Philippines has increased its revenue and tripled its health budget by taxing tobacco.”If you raise tobacco taxes, that does more to prevent premature death from non-communicable diseases than any other single health intervention…If you just increase taxes by one dollar, you can raise about $200 billion of additional revenues,” Paul said.According to the WHO, in 2018 only 38 countries, covering 14% of the global population, had sufficiently high tobacco taxes, which the agency defines as 75% of the retail price of a pack of cigarettes.When it comes to taxes, Paul says the rule of thumb is to make sure they are high enough to make tobacco products less affordable and deter consumers from using them.
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An independent panel of U.S. health experts is delaying a final decision about Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine as they get more information about it and possible links to a very rare but dangerous blood clot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s immunization advisory committee held an emergency meeting Wednesday, one day after the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration issued a joint statement recommending a pause in the use of the one-dose vaccine after six women between 18 and 48 years old developed blood clots known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) within six to 13 days after being inoculated.  One of the women died, while another has been hospitalized in critical condition.    The six cases were among the more than 7 million people in the United States who have been inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. FILE – A member of the Philadelphia Fire Department administers a COVID-19 vaccine, March 26, 2021.Dr. Beth Bell, a global health expert at the University of Washington, was one of the members who argued in favor of gaining more information.  But Bell called the blood clotting incidents “a very rare event” and insisted she didn’t want to send a message “that there is something fundamentally wrong with this vaccine.” Delays in EuropeBut the reports prompted the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Tuesday to announce it was delaying rollout in Europe, where vaccination efforts have been plagued by a shortage of vaccines and logistical problems, as well as the troubled rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has also been linked to cases of rare blood clots. Both the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were developed by using so-called adenoviruses to carry DNA into human cells that generates the body’s immune system to ward off the coronavirus.    People wait to receive a dose of AstraZeneca coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in Fasano, Italy, Apr. 13, 2020.The issues with the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines led the European Union to announce Wednesday that 50 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine that it was initially slated to receive by the end of the year will be delivered by June, adding to the 200 million doses it was already expecting to receive by then.  In a related matter, Denmark became the first country in the world on Wednesday to permanently stop administering the AstraZeneca vaccine because of the suspected blood clots, just a month after health officials suspended use of the two-shot regimen.   Tokyo Olympic Games   The world is nearing 3 million deaths from COVID-19 out of 138.2 million confirmed total cases, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.  Many nations are undergoing a new surge of the virus, which is throwing doubt and confusion over numerous planned events, including the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.   Passersby walk past a screen showing a countdown to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games that have been postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan, Apr. 4, 2021.Toshihiro Nikai, the secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Thursday during a televised interview the Olympics should be cancelled if the current wave of new infections grows out of control.  Nikai’s remarks came a day after Japan hit the milestone of  100 days before the July 23 official ceremony.   The Tokyo Olympics were scheduled for last July and August, but organizers and then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to postpone the event for a year as the novel coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the globe.  However, with Tokyo and other parts of Japan under a state of emergency to quell a surge of new infections, public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of Japanese believe the games should be postponed again or canceled.   
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Matchbox is launching a new series of toy cars based on real-life electric and hybrid vehicles, in a bid to make its miniatures more sustainable and to raise awareness among children of the environmental impact of motoring.The first model off the production line is a scaled-down version of the Tesla Roadster, which will be joined by toys based on cars made by Nissan, Toyota and BMW. Electric charging stations will also go on sale this year.”We are unveiling a concept car, just like the real car industry does,” said Nuria Alonso, head of Matchbox marketing for Europe, Middle East and Africa.She added that it would be the first die-cast model made of 99% recycled materials.”We wanted to work with Tesla to inspire kids as the future drivers of tomorrow. We think their parents will love to see how their kids play with cars that encourage environmental consciousness, like electric cars.”The launch is part of an overhaul in Britain and Europe at Matchbox, which is owned by toymaker Mattel.The Matchbox brand was created nearly 70 years ago and sells more than 40 million die-cast vehicles each year. 
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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege warned Wednesday that the scourge of sexual violence and rape in all conflicts is now “a real pandemic” and without sanctions and justice for the victims these horrific acts won’t stop.The Congolese doctor told the U.N. Security Council in a video briefing that “we are still far away from being able to draw a red line against the use of rape and sexual violence as a strategy of war domination and terror.”Mukwege appealed to the international community “to draw a red line against the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.” And he stressed that the “red line” must mean “blacklists with economic, financial and political sanctions as well as judicial prosecutions against the perpetrators and instigators of these egregious crimes.”Mukwege founded the Panzi Hospital in the eastern Congo city of Bukavu, and for more than 20 years has treated countless women who were raped amid fighting between armed groups seeking control of some the central African nation’s vast mineral wealth. He lamented that sexual violence and impunity continue.He shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize with activist Nadia Murad, who was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery by Islamic State militants in 2014 along with an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women.Mukwege said there has been progress in international law, and the greatest challenge today is to transform commitments into obligations, and Security Council resolutions into results. Accountability and justice “are the best tools of prevention,” he said, and without punishment and sanctions, rapes and sexual violence in conflicts will continue.Mukwege spoke at a council meeting on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ latest report on sexual violence in conflict that said the COVID-19 pandemic led to a spike in gender-based violence last year. It focused on 18 countries where the U.N. said it has verified information that 52 warring parties are “credibly suspected” of patterns of “rape and other forms of sexual violence” in conflicts on the council agenda. The majority of the parties are opposition, rebel and terrorist groups — so-called “non-state actors” — and over 70% “are persistent perpetrators.”In the latest example, Pramila Patten, the U.N. special representative on conflict-related sexual violence, told the council that right now in Ethiopia’s remote, mountainous regions of north and central Tigray, where fighting continues between the government and the region’s fugitive leaders, “women and girls are being subjected to sexual violence with a level of cruelty beyond comprehension.””Health care workers are documenting new cases of rape and gang-rape daily, despite their fear of reprisals and attacks on the limited shelters and clinics in operation,” Patten said, noting that the report records allegations of over 100 rape cases since fighting began in November but it may take months to determine the full scale and magnitude of the atrocities.She said the report documents “over 2,500 U.N.-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence committed in the course of 2020,” including in Congo, Central African Republic, Libya and South Sudan’s western Darfur region.”Each of these cases cries out for justice,” Patten said. “It is time to write a new social contract in which no military or political leader is above the law, and no woman or girl is beneath the scope of its protection.”Caroline Atim, director of the South Sudan Women with Disabilities Network who represented non-governmental organizations focused on women, peace and security, became the first deaf person to brief the Security Council. She used sign language for her remarks, which were voiced by an interpreter.Despite a 2018 peace deal, Atim said, “South Sudan remains engulfed by intercommunal, ethnic, political and armed conflicts where gender-based violence is deliberately used as a tool of humiliation against women and girls.””More than 65% of South Sudanese women have experienced sexual or physical violence, a figure that is double the global average and among the highest in the world,” she said, echoing calls for a halt to sexual violence, a survivor-centered approach for victims, and accountability for perpetrators.
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The coronavirus pandemic will cause significant global unrest for several years, U.S. intelligence chiefs warned lawmakers Wednesday. In the first public worldwide threats briefing in more than two years, China’s failure to stop the spread of COVID-19, along with increasing competition with the United States, was named the top threat. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.
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