METROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT STARTS SENSITISING COMMUNITIES ON CLIMATE CHANGE

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Zambia Meteorological Department has selected Sesheke district as a pilot for the climate information and early warning systems project. 

This came to light when Sesheke district commissioner Cecilia Limwanya officiated at the opening of the 2015/2016 seasonal forecast forum.

Capt. Limwanya said the project will greatly enhance the collection of weather and climate information in the district. 

She further explained that early warning systems will enable farmers to plan ahead of the coming rain season.

The district commissioner stressed that farmers can only prepare adequately once they are availed with the weather and climate information on a timely basis. 

The UNDP project is expected to run for a period of two years. 

Meanwhile Sesheke district commissioner says the high sunshine intensity in the district presents an opportunity for investment in solar energy. 

Capt. Limwanya observed that Sesheke is one of the districts in the country that is heavily affected by climate hazards such as extreme temperatures. 

She noted that the high sunshine temperature in Sesheke district if well utilised can help to cushion the power deficit the country is faced with. 

Capt. Limwanya implored participants not to concentrate on the negatives of climate change but to make the best out of the prevailing hot weather by investing in solar energy. 

And The Zambia Meteorological Department (ZMD) has called for strengthening of the early warning prediction services in the country. 

ZMD Director Jacob Nkomoki said the strengthening of the early warning prediction services will help in mitigate disasters induced by climate change.

He observed that government was spending huge sums of money in mitigating effects of drought and floods which can be forecasted in advance in order to reduce impact on communities. 

However Mr Nkomoki bemoaned that unpredictability of weather patterns poses a big challenge to the department. 

Mr Nkomoki said availing accurate weather climate information to various communities and stakeholders is important as it helps the citizenry to make informed decisions.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA FACES SLOWEST GROWTH SINCE 2009

 While growth in sub-Saharan Africa is still stronger than in many regions, economic activity in several countries has weakened markedly in recent months, prompting the IMF to mark down its forecasts for 2015 to 3¾ percent—the lowest in six years.

Speaking to reporters during the IMF-World Bank Annual meetings in Lima Peru, Antoinette Sayeh, head of the IMF’s African department, said the vastly improved business and macroeconomic environment that has allowed for strong growth in recent years now risks being eclipsed by falling commodity prices and less accommodating financial conditions.

There is considerable variation across the region, however, said Sayeh. Hardest hit are the eight oil-exporting countries—including Nigeria and Angola—which together account for half of the region’s GDP. “Falling export incomes and sharp fiscal adjustments are taking their toll on growth, which is expected to decelerate sharply to 3½ percent this year, from 6 percent in 2014”, Sayeh said, adding these numbers are weighing down on the regional average.

Sayeh noted while low-income countries continue to experience growth rates of around 6 percent, thanks to sustained private consumption and investment in infrastructure, growth in several middle-income countries is being hampered by electricity shortages, increasingly difficult financing conditions and weaker commodity prices.

Limited savings to offset drag

The prospects for many countries are further compounded by modest savings and growing deficits, Sayeh said: “In many cases, savings from the recent period of rapid growth have been limited, and countries are now entering this period with larger fiscal and external deficits than at the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis.”

Sayeh also described the security situation in a number of countries as a further risk: “The civil war in South Sudan and the acts of violence perpetrated by Boko Haram and other insurgency groups in a region spanning Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Mali, are causing widespread suffering. They are also weighing on economic activity, straining fiscal budgets, and diminishing the prospects for investment”. Sayeh added the recent political unrest in Burundi and Burkina Faso was also a cause for concern.

Weathering the sharp and durable decline

Sayeh said for oil-exporters, with oil prices such as they are, “fiscal adjustments are unavoidable, and the room to smooth this adjustment is becoming increasingly limited. For most other countries, fiscal policies need to be guided by medium-term spending frameworks that balance debt sustainability considerations while addressing development needs.”

Exchange rates in some countries have also been under pressure, Sayeh said. “Wherever the terms-of-trade decline has been large and the exchange rate is not pegged, it is appropriate to allow for the exchange rate depreciation to absorb the shock. But even countries that are not heavily reliant on commodity prices have seen their currency come under pressure. Given the strong global forces behind these pressures, there too, resisting these pressures risks losing scarce reserves.”

Sayeh said diversifying the economy and tapping into the region’s significant tax potential, would help countries continue to finance infrastructure and development needs, while containing the increase in public debt.

IMF

EXPANDING THE BOUNDARIES OF GLOBAL HEALTH: THE INTERSECTION OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR

“There is a shift taking place in the public health arena to strategically engage the private sector to address global health needs,” said Bridget McHenry, a fellow for Global Health Fellows Program II, serving as organizational development adviser for Office of Population and Reproductive Health in U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Health Bureau.

A health worker visits a malaria patient in a rural village in Kenya. 

An increasing number of companies are turning their attention — and their resources — to the vast health needs of the global population for two essential reasons: It represents opportunities to create shared value and it is foundational to a thriving economy. Relatively new to the landscape of international development, strategic partnerships help to guide the strategies, investments and on-the-ground engagements that can inform the deployment of the resources only the private sector can bring.

Working with the Public Health Institute and its innovative work through the USAID-funded Global Health Fellows Program opened my eyes to the realities, needs, and opportunities for the private, public, and social sectors to engage in global health. It’s not news to the professionals in this field that health is the base upon which development and commerce meet, but it’s something that the rest of us might not see as clearly.

In 2010, GHFP-II saw an opportunity to expand that kind of insight by linking with PYXERA Global to create “Global Health Champions,” strengthening programming by enabling non-profit organizations to work with corporations who place their employees in short-term pro bono assignments that leverage their professional expertise to improve health in underserved communities.

The U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, which were ratified last month, address global health challenges for people of all economic and cultural backgrounds. The venn diagram below is one depiction of how these goals interrelate. At the centre of the graphic, is one of the most important points: partnership is required to achieve these goals. No one organization — or one sector — can do it alone. The challenges these goals represent require the innovative thinking from a diverse community of talent — leveraging government, non-profit and private sector professionals alike.

Goal 3, for example, is the most obvious health-related goal, because it speaks directly to ensuring healthy lives and promotes wellbeing for all at all ages. When BD sends its employees to Peru to provide professional assistance to Cervi Cusco, a non-profit dedicated to preventing cervical cancer, and build the organization’s capability to reach more than 35,000 underserved women from the Andes mountains who often need to walk up to five hours for basic gynaecological services, they are meeting a vital health need.

Perhaps it’s not such a surprise that one of the world’s largest and most innovative medical technology companies would be involved in such work. But would you think of IBM, Dow and PepsiCo at the edge of innovation for global health? These companies — and companies like them — are champions for global health, and their work shows it.

Goal 2 speaks to ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture. When PepsiCorps provides Heifer International South Africa, an NGO that works to provide people with the skills and resources they need to expand their options for the future, with the professional assistance to improve the quality of life of low-income families by developing sustainable agriculture, they are meeting an important health need.

Goal 6 speaks to ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. When Dow sends a Leadership in Action team to Ethiopia through the Dow Sustainability Corps, to work with PSI and IMC on sanitation marketing, they are meeting an important need.

In each of these cases, corporations provided their skilled employees at no charge to the host client to build capacity and enable them to better serve their clients and meet their mission.

While the private sector provides short term pro bono champions, the core of the GHFP-II places global health professionals at different stages of their careers as full-time fellows for two-four year assignments. This work augments USAID’s technical capabilities to address key global health priority areas, while at the same time further developing a diverse group of global health professionals.

Bridget McHenry is a prime example of the return on that investment. As a full-time Global Health Fellow, she works with the Office of Population and Reproductive Health to support the capacity of the public health supply chains in low- and middle-income countries that receive donated contraceptives and medicines from USAID. Through this work, she is identifying a sustainable workforce to help the meet its mission in global health, which also directly contributes to Goal 8: “Promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.”

“I didn’t initially think of my fellowship as anything but global health because that is the frame I have always thought of it in,” said McHenry. “But my fellowship is about looking at public health systems and developing human resources capacity — I bridge the gap between the outward face of public health, such as physicians, and its inside workings, such as supply chain and logistics.”

McHenry points out that the linkages with the private sector are critical as emerging and frontier markets expand and logistics workforces are developed. “It’s important to keep in mind that the skillsets required to ensure that contraceptive and pharmaceuticals are available and accessible in the most remote health outposts are the same capacities that drive commercial success as well.”

There are a number of other examples where organizations and individuals have provided the assistance, including manufacturing and marketing assistance for clean cookstoves; strategic communications that help prevent violence to women and girls; logistical support to ensure reliable supply chains for medicines and clinic suppliers; new financing models which secure affordable, reliable health care. These are a few ways in which the private sector — especially in partnership — can provide their assistance to build a world of better health for all of us.

Devex

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About the author

Laura Asiala

Passionate about the power of business to help solve the world’s most intransigent problems, she leads the efforts to attract more participation of businesses to contribute to sustainable development through their people and their work. Prior to working for PYXERA Global, Laura was director of corporate citizenship at the Dow Corning Corporation. Her 30-year career in international business has included roles in HR, business development, finance, marketing, branding, communications, and corporate social responsibility, including the company’s public-private partnership with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (a UN Foundation, U.S. State Department, and Clinton Global Initiative).

25 YEAR OLD NAMIBIAN MAN CHOPPED WITH HOE ALLEGEDLY BY HIS BROTHER

A 25-year-old man was chopped with a hoe in his head while asleep allegedly by his 19-year-old brother at the Thipanana village on Saturday.

Thipanana village is near Andara, some 200 kilometres east of Rundu.

The deceased has been identified as Thirumbu Twapwa.

Acting Regional Crime Investigations’ Coordinator for Kavango East, Detective Chief Inspector Chrispin Mubebo told Nampa on Sunday the man was hit three times on the left side of his head and once on the right.

The incident took place between 20:00 and 21:00 hours.

Twapwa died at the Andara District Hospital.

Police arrested the suspect on the same day, and he is set to appear in court this coming week.

The deceased’s next of kin have been informed.

120 WOMEN BENEFIT FROM NUTRITION PROGRAMME IN KASAMA

120 women have benefited from a programme called Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) in Kasama District of Northern Province.

Kasama District Administrative Officer (DAO), Beauty Namukoko, revealed that so far started benefiting from the Programme.

She said this when she officiated at the official hand over of 120 village Chickens to 60 women from another group of 60 females who recently received Hens from government in Chiba ward in Kasama District.

Ms. Namukoko explained that the initiative was to ensure all expectant mothers, Lactating, and those with children under the age of two years, start keeping chickens that will enable their children have sufficient vitamins during the first 1000 most critical days of a child’s life.

Ms. Namukoko stated that the programme was initiated in order to improve nutrition and further reduce the prevalence of stunted in the Zambian population.

She noted that 40 % of the Zambian children are stunted due to poor nutrition adding that the condition has also resulted in affecting their academic performance among other things.

She said it is for this reason that government through the food and scaling up nutrition commission and other line ministries is making frantic efforts to improve nutrition in Zambia.

ZANIS

INTERNET GATEWAY PLAN THREATENS ONLINE FREEDOMS IN THAILAND

An initiative in Thailand to create a single government-controlled gateway for international Internet traffic represents a clear danger to online freedoms, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement today. CPJ calls on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to drop the proposed plan and stop harassing journalists and social media users.

According to news reports , the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology was ordered at a September 1 Cabinet meeting to establish a firewall to filter all Internet traffic entering and leaving Thailand. The written order, signed by Prayuth, said the gateway would "serve as a tool to control access to inappropriate sites and the influx of information from abroad," the reports said. Prayuth's order called on authorities to "expedite" the gateway's establishment.

State enterprises and private companies currently operate nine gateways to the Internet in Thailand, news reports said. Information and Communications Technology Minister Uttama Savanayana denied the single gateway initiative was designed to censor the Internet, but rather aimed to lower costs for online businesses, reports said. Uttama said the gateway project was still in the proposal phase and that if implemented would not violate users' personal data or access to information, the reports said. 

"Thailand needs fewer, not more, controls on the Internet," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "Prayuth should scrap the one gateway plan and any other designs to block, censor, or surveil the Internet and Internet-based social media applications. Any new laws or plans to govern Thailand's Internet should be left for a new, elected administration, not his self-appointed military junta."  

The ruling junta, the National Council for Peace and Order, has sought to bolster online surveillance since seizing power in a May 2014 coup, CPJ research shows. Days after the coup, the NCPO made the creation of a single Internet gateway an "urgent priority" to be jointly managed by the army, police, National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, and National Intelligence Agency, according to reports. The gateway as proposed then would administer the Internet, govern websites and tackle provocative content, the reports said.

A Cyber Security Bill approved by Prayuth's Cabinet in January aimed to establish a committee charged with detecting and countering online threats to national security, stability, the military and economy, news reports said. Under Section 35 of the bill, the committee would be authorized to access information on personal computers, cell phones and other electronic devises without a court order, news reports said. The bill is pending approval in the National Legislative Assembly.

Prayuth's military government has cracked down hard on online dissent, particularly for postings deemed as offensive to the Thai monarchy, a criminal offense punishable by 15 years in prison under the country's draconian lèse-majesté law. In the harshest sentence under the law in Thailand's modern history, a military court in August sentenced Pongsak Sriboonpeng, a tour guide, to 30 years in prison for six Facebook postings ruled as critical of the crown, according to news reports.

Newspaper reporter Pravit Rojanaphruk was held in military detention for three days this month over a tweet authorities saw as critical of Prayuth and the coup. Military authorities also erroneously accused him of sending tweets critical of a personnel rotation at the National Security Council which the reporter neither sent nor retweeted, Pravit told CPJ. Pravit was freed without charge but was required as a condition of his release to sign a form pledging not to become involved in any anti-junta activities or risk seizure of his personal assets, he told CPJ.