Africa

Sadio Mane nets the winning spot-kick as Senegal beat Egypt 4-2 on penalties to clinch their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations after a 0-0 draw.

At least 10 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 displaced after Cyclone Batsirai tore through Madagascar.

The Supreme Judicial Council vows to continue working after the president orders its dissolution.

The military has seized power in five countries in the past year, mostly in West Africa.

A look back through some of the archive footage of the Queen's visits to Africa.

Rescuers spent days trying to reach five-year-old Rayan Oram after he fell into a deep well shaft.

An anxious wait for news of their five-year-old son, Rayan, ends in grief for the parents.

Cameroon come from 3-0 down to level at 3-3 against Burkina Faso before winning a penalty shootout to clinch third place at the Africa Cup of Nations.

A proposed African Super League would be "world class" according to Confederation of African football president Patrice Motsepe.

Sadio Mane's Senegal meet Mohamed Salah's Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations final as the two Liverpool stars go head-to-head.

Vandals damage the depiction of Emir Abdelkader, once 'France's worst enemy', before its inauguration.

Amira Osman is one of dozens believed to have been arrested by Sudan's feared secret police.

The five-year-old boy, Rayan, has been stuck at the bottom of a 32m deep well since Tuesday.

Local officials fear that landslides and flooding could leave tens of thousands of people homeless.

The murder of Moise Kabagambe, a Congolese migrant, in Brazil was captured on video and caused public outrage.

Without proper planning, organization and health and safety support the impact of teleworking on the physical and mental health and social wellbeing of workers can be significant, warns new report. Credit: Martin/ILO

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Feb 4 2022 (IPS)

Now it comes to teleworking, the double-edged, relatively recent phenomenon imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns. On the one hand, it improves work-life balance, opportunities for flexible working hours and physical activity, reduced traffic and commuting time, and a decrease in air pollution. So far so good, but…

… But, on the other hand, teleworking has also heavy negative impacts: it can lead to isolation, burnout, depression, domestic violence, musculoskeletal and other injuries, eye strain, an increase in smoking and alcohol consumption, prolonged sitting and screen time and unhealthy weight gain.

A new technical brief on healthy and safe teleworking, jointly released on 2 February 2022, by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Labour Organization (ILO) adds on this regard the changes needed to accommodate the shift towards different forms of remote work arrangements brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital transformation of work.

Among the benefits, the report says, teleworking can also lead to higher productivity and lower operational costs for many companies.

However, the report warns that without proper planning, organisation and health and safety support the impact of teleworking on the physical and mental health and social wellbeing of workers can be significant.

"In the nearly two years since the start of the pandemic, it’s become very clear that teleworking can easily bring health benefits and it can also have a dire impact"

Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO

The WHO/ILO joint report outlines the roles that governments, employers, workers and workplace health services should play in promoting and protecting health and safety while teleworking.

“The pandemic has led to a surge of teleworking, effectively changing the nature of work practically overnight for many workers”, said Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO.

 

Pros and cons

In the nearly two years since the start of the pandemic, it’s become very clear that teleworking can easily bring health benefits and it can also have a dire impact, she said.

“Which way the pendulum swings depends entirely on whether governments, employers and workers work together and whether there are agile and inventive occupational health services to put in place policies and practices that benefit both workers and the work.”

For her part, Vera Paquete-Perdigão, Director of the ILO’s Governance and Tripartism Department, said that teleworking and particularly hybrid working are here to stay and are likely to increase after the pandemic, as both companies and individuals have experienced its feasibility and benefits.

 

What to do?

“As we move away from this ‘holding pattern’ to settle into a new normal, we have the opportunity to embed new supportive policies, practices and norms to ensure that millions of teleworkers have healthy, happy, productive and decent work.”

Measures that should be put in place by employers include ensuring that workers receive adequate equipment to complete the tasks of the job; providing relevant information, guidelines and training to reduce the psychosocial and mental health impact of teleworking; training managers in effective risk management, distance leadership and workplace health promotion; and establishing the “right to disconnect” and sufficient rest days.

According to the joint report, occupational health services should be enabled to provide “ergonomic, mental health and psychosocial support to teleworkers using digital telehealth technologies, the report says and offers practical recommendations for the organisation of telework to meet the needs of both workers and organisations.”

These include discussing and developing individual teleworking work plans and clarifying priorities; being clear about timelines and expected results; agreeing on a common system to signal availability for work; and ensuring that managers and colleagues respect the system, explains the WHO/ILO study.

“Enterprises with teleworkers should develop special programmes for teleworking, combining measures for the management of work and performance with information and communication technologies and adequate equipment, and occupational health services for general health, ergonomic and psychosocial support.”

 

Key findings

Already in September 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the following key findings regarding teleworking:

• In Australia, France and the United Kingdom, 47% of employees teleworked during lockdowns in 2020. In Japan, which did not institute a nationwide lockdown, the teleworking rate increased from 10% to 28% between December 2019 and May 2020.
• Highly digitalised industries, including information and communication services, professional, scientific and technical services as well as financial services, achieved the highest rates of teleworking during the pandemic – over 50% of employees, on average.
• Teleworking rates during the pandemic were higher among workers in large firms than in small ones, reflecting lower digital uptake among small firms and their specialisation in activities less amenable to remote working.
• Workers with a higher level of qualifications were more likely to telework during the pandemic. In the United States, for instance, teleworking rates for individuals holding a Master’s degree or a PhD were fifteen times higher than for the least qualified employees.
• In most countries for which data are available, teleworking rates during the pandemic were much higher for women than for men, although the gap was narrower in Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
• Perceived productivity at home appears strongly associated with the desire to work at home. However, while most businesses and individuals now expect a greater use of teleworking than before the pandemic, relatively few employees are likely to telework full time in the future.

In view of all the above, teleworking is a two-faced coin and, anyway, should be accompanied by the needed measures aiming at protecting the remote working environment, which is here to stay.

 

Medical staff pose in a new maternal care ward at the Melamchi Municipality Hospital, Nepal, in November 2021. Credit: Marty Logan/IPS

By Marty Logan
KATHMANDU, Feb 4 2022 (IPS)

As the omicron wave of Covid-19 rose ominously in Nepal recently, to entice more people to get tested the government reduced the cost of PCR tests from 1,000 rupees ($8.37) to 800 rupees ($6.70) in government facilities and about double that in private ones.

“People with limited incomes can’t afford to get the test, and imagine if four members of a family have symptoms, the PCR tests alone will make a hole in their income,” Dr Baburam Marasini, former director at the Government of Nepal Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, told the Kathmandu Post.

Income per capita in Nepal in 2020 was $1,190, according to the World Bank.

“High quality health care was not universally accessible in Nepal, but was generally enjoyed by only a relatively small and elite portion of the population, and generally, access to health care in the country is unequal and the health system faces perennial shortages of resources, essential drugs and necessary medical infrastructure”

Noting that free treatment of conditions like tuberculosis, malnutrition and malaria had saved many lives in the country, Marasini argued that “the government should make PCR tests free across the country for those who have symptoms.”

While the government has not taken that step, in recent years it has provided free treatment for a growing number of chronic conditions to members of groups in need, such as the elderly, young children and the poorest in society. Yet equality in health care remains a paper promise.

In a briefing paper on the right to health in Nepal during Covid-19, the International Commission of Journalists argued that the government must “ensure that health services, facilities and goods are available to all without discrimination” and “ensure access to at very least the ‘minimum essential level’ of health services, facilities, and goods.”

Originally released in November 2020 and updated in September 2021, the ICJ paper notes that a plan was made to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to members of vulnerable groups first, but “According to various media reports, for example, some of the vaccines allocated for older persons were instead used to inoculate political party leaders, local level representatives, army personnel, their family and friends, administrators, businessmen’s families and their relatives.”

Article 35 of the Constitution of Nepal guarantees “the right to health care,” and its third provision states: “Each person shall have equal access to health care. ” The constitution’s Directive Principles, Policies and Obligations of the State also require that Nepal “keep on enhancing investment necessary in the public health sector by the State in order to make the citizens healthy” and “ensure easy, convenient and equal access of all to quality health services.”

Yet as ICJ points out, research done prior to Covid-19 found that “high quality health care was not universally accessible in Nepal, but was generally enjoyed by only a relatively small and elite portion of the population, and generally, access to health care in the country is unequal and the health system faces perennial shortages of resources, essential drugs and necessary medical infrastructure.”

Senior cardiologist Dr Prakash Raj Regmi says he sees the impact of inequality in health care daily. “In the process of investigation, in the process of treatment, even middle-class people face some difficulty.”

In an online interview the doctor notes that most of his patients are burdened by multiple non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and kidney and heart issues, whose diagnosis requires extensive testing. Afterwards, these patients often need multiple treatments. “Patients need to undergo several investigations: laboratory tests, x-rays, ultrasound, echo-cardiography. People may need coronary angiography or a CT scan or MRI—all these investigations are expensive.”

While the quality of available drugs is improving, they are also getting more expensive, so some patients discontinue their use prematurely, says Dr Regmi. “For example, a patient is given a follow-up time of three months, but they come only after six months. in that time they have stopped using two out of four drugs, so they develop complications.”

While he can provide financial support, both at his private clinic and at the non-profit community clinic where he also serves, Dr Regmi isn’t sure how many other doctors do the same. “I call myself a social worker… in my private clinic also, people who come for treatment, if they can’t afford their tests and treatment I find some way out; I support those patients.” Some tests can be done for free and for others he says he can direct patients to government labs; samples of medication can be provided at no charge and cheaper versions of drugs prescribed.

Despite the need for these informal mechanisms, Dr Regmi says that fewer patients require financial support today than in previous years, and that those who can afford it usually opt to visit less crowded private facilities.

Various developments have helped improve services in the government system: a new national health insurance scheme, devolution of some health care responsibilities to provinces and municipalities following Nepal’s transition to federalism in 2017, and free treatment of some chronic illnesses for the poorest of the poor, children and the elderly.

“A huge amount of money is being invested in this… This is very good for patients who cannot afford treatment: most of the patients are poor and these NCDs require lifelong treatment.” But the doctor says one thing is missing: “The government should focus on prevention in parallel with providing treatment, but it is not investing in prevention,” he argues.

Inequality is also obvious in maternal health services. For example, Sindhupalchowk is a mostly rural district three hours’ drive from the capital Kathmandu. Despite it having 79 health facilities, families who can afford to do so travel to the capital to have their children delivered or to larger facilities in neighbouring districts. In fact, in 2020 more than 70 percent of pregnant women left Sindhupalchowk to have their babies outside the district.

About one-half of Nepal’s hospitals, including centres for specialised care, such as the national maternity centre, are located in the Kathmandu Valley.

A recent report analysing data from 2001 to 2016 found a growing “remarkable improvement” in maternal health progress nationally, in all wealth groups. But drilling down into the statistics revealed that the poorest of Nepal’s seven provinces “have made minimal to zero progress.”

“Special investment to address barriers to access and utilization in provinces that are lagging to make progress in reducing inequality is urgent. Further studies are needed to understand the strategies required to address the gaps in these provinces and bring about fair improvement,” added the study.

Protesters take to the streets in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Credit: UN Sudan/Ayman Suliman

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 4 2022 (IPS)

A rash of military coups in Africa has resurrected a long dormant question: should leaders who take power through armed insurrections be barred from addressing the United Nations—an institution which swears by, and promotes, multi-party democracy?

The most recent surge, which the United Nations describes as “an epidemic of coups”, include military takeovers in Chad, Guinea, Mali, Sudan, and Burkina Faso (and not excluding Myanmar, which marked the first anniversary of a military government in the Southeast Asian country on February 1).

After a failed coup in Guinea-Bissau last week, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo told reporters “it was a failed attack against democracy. It wasn’t just a coup, it was an attempt to kill the president, the prime minister and the entire cabinet.”

In 2004, when the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor to the present African Union (AU), barred coup leaders from participating in African summits, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan singled out that landmark decision as a future model to punish military dictators worldwide.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a UN diplomat told IPS: “Perhaps it is time for African leaders to pursue such a proposal to censure military leaders. But that decision has to be ultimately taken by the General Assembly, the highest policy-making body in the Organization.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters February 1: “It is clear that coups are totally unacceptable. We are seeing a terrible multiplication of coups, and our strong appeal is for soldiers to go back to the barracks and for the constitutional order to be fully in place in the democratic context of today’s Guinea-Bissau.”

At an earlier press briefing on January 25, Guterres said: “I am deeply concerned with the recent coup d’état in Burkina Faso. The role of the military must be to defend their countries and their peoples, not to attack their governments and to fight for power.

“We have, unfortunately in the region, terrorist groups, we have threats to international peace and security. My appeal is for the armies of these countries to assume their professional role of armies, to protect their countries and re-establish democratic institutions.”

Asked about the celebrations in the streets following a military coup, at least in one African country, Guterres said: “There are always celebrations for these kinds of situations. It’s easy to orchestrate them, but the values of democracy do not depend on the public opinion at one moment or another. Democratic societies are a value that must be preserved. Military coups are unacceptable in the 21st century.”

The New York Times reported February 1 the African Union had suspended Mali, Guinea and Sudan, but not Chad –“a double standard that analysts warned could have dire consequences for Africa”.

Djibril Diallo, President & CEO African Renaissance and Diaspora Network Inc (ARDN) told IPS there is reason to be concerned about the resurgence of military takeovers in Africa.

Contrary to perceptions, he pointed out, military coups tend to lead to more state repression not less, more political instability and halt or reversal of economic gains.

“Geopolitical divisions among the international community have not helped to address the effects of military takeovers. Regional and subregional organizations are still to find an effective way of pressuring coup leaders to hand over power to a democratically government in a timely manner,” he added.

“Any solutions to the effects of military takeovers should start with addressing prevailing chronic poverty conditions and youth unemployment, as well as endemic corruption.”

Hence the importance to push forward with the rollout of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), said Diallo, who was a former Spokesperson for the President of the UN General Assembly, 2004-2005; and Special Advisor to the Executive Director and Deputy Director of Public Affairs at UNICEF in 1986.

Prof Daniel D. Bradlow, SARCHI Professor of International Development Law and African Economic Relations, Center for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria told IPS these coups are a troubling development.

“However, they are a symptom of the breakdown in security and governance arrangements in each country and the region, in many cases, caused by pressure from outside forces and the difficult economic situations in the country”.

He pointed out that sanctioning the military governments without also addressing the underlying governance problems and their causes is unlikely to produce sustainable improvements in the affected countries

A newly-released book* on the United Nations recounts Annan as the only Secretary-General (1997-2006) who challenged the General Assembly, urging member states to deny the UN podium to political leaders who come to power by undemocratic means or via military coups.

As one senior UN official put it: “Were military leaders seeking legitimacy by addressing the General Assembly?”

When the OAU, in 2004, barred coup leaders from participating in African summits, Annan went one step further and said he was hopeful that one day the UN General Assembly would follow in the footsteps of the OAU, and bar leaders of military governments from addressing the General Assembly.

Annan’s proposal was a historic first. But it never came to pass in an institution where member states, not the Secretary-General, rule the Organization. However, any such move could also come back to haunt member states if, one day, they find themselves representing a country headed by a military leader.

The outspoken Annan, a national of Ghana, also said that “billions of dollars of public funds continue to be stashed away by some African leaders — even while roads are crumbling, health systems are failing, school children have neither books nor desks nor teachers, and phones do not work.”

He also lashed out at African leaders who overthrow democratic regimes to grab power by military means.

Needless to say, the UN does not make any distinctions between “benevolent dictators” and “ruthless dictators.” But as an international institution preaching multiparty democracy and free elections, it still condones military leaders by offering them a platform to speak — while wining and dining them during the annual General Assembly sessions.

Although Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), once addressed the UN, some of the world’s most controversial authoritarian leaders, including Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad, and North Korea’s Kim il Sung and his grandson Kim Jong-un, never made it to the UN.

When former Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused of war crimes, was refused a US visa to attend the high-level segment of the General Assembly sessions back in September 2013, a Sudanese delegate told the UN’s Legal Committee that “the democratically-elected president of Sudan had been deprived of the opportunity to participate in the General Assembly because the host country, the United States, had denied him a visa, in violation of the U.N.-U.S. Headquarters Agreement.”

Meanwhile, some of the military leaders who addressed the UN in a bygone era included Fidel Castro of Cuba, Col Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, Amadou Toure of Mali (who assumed power following a coup in 1991 but later served as a democratically elected President), and Jerry Rawlings of Ghana (who seized power in 1979, executed former political leaders but later served as a civilian president voted into power in democratic elections).

In October 2020, the New York Times reported that at least 10 African civilian leaders refused to step down from power and instead changed their constitutions to serve a third or fourth term -– or serve for life.

These leaders included Presidents of Guinea (running for a third term), Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ghana and Seychelles, among others. The only country where the incumbent was stepping down was Niger.

Condemning all military coups, the Times quoted Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the president of Guinea-Bissau, as saying: “Third terms also count as coups”

*This article contains extracts from a recently-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment – and Don’t Quote Me on That”.

The link follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

 

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