Around 285,000 people live in a space originally designed for 90,000.UNHCR Angelina Jolie visits dire refugee settlement on Kenyan border with Somalia on September 12 th,2009.
A group of Somali refugees in Ifo camp, Dadaab. As Somali civilians continue to flee to Kenya to escape continuing fighting and a prolonged drought, the pressure on the already severely stretched facilities and resources in the Dadaab complex of camps – which currently host three times the population they were designed to hold – is reaching a saturation point.
“I am very happy, very grateful to be going to Kakuma. It will be wonderful.”
Abukar Abdikadir Ali, 44, a Somali refugee on his way from Dadaab to Kakuma refugee camp in north-west Kenya.
After arriving last February in the congested complex of refugee camps at Dadaab, Abukar lived in a small mud brick house with his wife, six children and 74-year-old asthmatic mother-in-law. They shared their plot with two other families in a flood-prone area. So when he heard that the family would be relocated to Kakuma, he could not contain his joy. “Finally we will get a bit of space and privacy.”
Kakuma camp, he believed, would offer his children a better chance for the future: “My children need to get an education; there were no places for them in Dadaab and I hope they can go to school in Kakuma,” he said last week, while on the road to Kakuma.
For his 10-year-old son Saadiq, the three-day road trip was in itself a wonderful experience. “I enjoyed passing through all the big towns and seeing the different farming activities,” he said. “I even saw zebras and antelopes at the side of the road. Kenya is beautiful; there is no gunfire like in Somalia. I’m very excited to be going to Kakuma.”
A young Somali about to leave the overcrowded Dadaab refugee camp, in Kenya.
Last August, UNHCR embarked on a relocation programme aimed at decongesting Dadaab refugee camp and transferred some 13,000 refugees to Kakuma camp in north-west Kenya. Happy and grateful.
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About Somalia For nearly two decades, conflict in Somalia has forced more than 1.8 million people from their homes. Hundreds of thousands have fled the country or sought refuge in other parts of Somalia. In many cases, the camps for displaced Somalis are overcrowded, putting a heavy strain on available humanitarian aid, especially emergency shelter.
There are currently large populations of forcibly displaced Somalis living in settlements in central and northern Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen. With no end in sight to the violence in Somalia, the reality for the majority of displaced Somalis is a daily struggle for the basic necessities in life. The constant violence in the south and centre of the country has made the task of helping them extremely difficult and dangerous. You can watch the video below to learn more about the plight of Somalia’s internally displaced refugees.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, and since late 2006 the county has been engulfed in renewed armed conflict in which thousands of civilians have been killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes. It is one of the world’s worst refugee crises with well over a million people repeatedly displaced within Somalia, and 500,000 fleeing to countries in the region.
Somalis forced to flee war and the worst drought for 10 years are now living in overcrowded and unsanitary camps in Somalia and her neighboring countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen.
One such camp, the Dadaab camp in northern Kenya, has facilities for 90,000 people, and yet houses over 280,000 refugees who have no access to basic necessities, including clean water. Some refugees were moved to a camp in north-west Kenya in late 2009 but thousands continue to arrive monthly.
In Ethiopia, the Bokolmayo camp homes about 11,000 people, with at least another 1,000 people arriving there every month. Again here the facilities are not adequate to handle the huge numbers of arriving refugees, leaving them ravaged by the harsh environment and disease.
In Somalia itself, insecurity has hindered international aid agencies from reaching the 485,000 people who have fled from the capital, Mogadishu, to makeshift settlements for the displaced in the Afgooye corridor.
The horrific conditions seen in these three places — Afgooye, Dadaab and Bokolmayo – are replicated across the region, with the services being provided to these vulnerable and desperate people far below acceptable international standards.
UNHCR is working to help these displaced people find basic provisions and shelter. All we need is for every individual to give a small amount, and together we can make a huge difference.
“We will fail to reach this goal unless poor countries themselves make a firm commitment to education and develop credible national education plans. But the developed world needs to step up its investment too,” said the Senator.
SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON’S
EDUCATION FOR ALL LEGISLATION
Summary and Background
Legislation Responds to the Crisis of Out-of-School Children in Poor Countries
104 million children ages 6-11 (60 million girls) in developing countries are out of school – (UNESCO 2003)
Another 150 million are at risk of dropping out before completing primary school. (World Bank Education Advisory Services). In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 55% of girls do not complete primary school. (World Bank 2003)
1) Donors had promised to get all children in school by 2015
In April 2000, at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, the U.S. and 181 governments committed to the goal of universal education. (See www.unesco.org/efa)
The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals call for universal primary education by 2015 and gender parity by 2005. (See www.developmentgoals.org)
2) But poor countries are at risk of missing key education goals by 2015
Only 36 of 155 developing countries have achieved 100 percent primary completion rates – only six countries in sub-Saharan Africa. 86 countries are off-track to reach universal completion of primary school by 2015 (World Bank 2003).
Already, 76 countries will miss the goal of gender parity in primary school classrooms by 2005. (UNESCO 2003)
The use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV transmission is emerging as a potential new set of interventions for the prevention portfolio. Antiretroviral drugs, combined with HIV testing of pregnant women and appropriate infant feeding practices, are already being used to prevent HIV transmission from pregnant women to their children. Guidance also exists on the use of antiretroviral drugs for post-exposure prophylaxis, and research is ongoing on their use for pre-exposure prophylaxis. Studies have also provided observational evidence that antiretroviral therapy may reduce the sexual transmission of HIV in generalized epidemics, especially among discordant couples.
Some recent research studies have modelled the effects of antiretroviral therapy on HIV prevention. They have estimated that expanding antiretroviral therapy can substantially reduce the growth of the epidemic and related costs.
AIDS: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
The symptoms of AIDS are primarily the result of conditions that do not normally develop in individuals with healthy immune systems. Most of these conditions are infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that are normally controlled by the elements of the immune system that HIV damages.
Opportunistic infections are common in people with AIDS. HIV affects nearly every organ system.
People with AIDS also have an increased risk of developing various cancers such as Kaposi’s sarcoma, cervical cancer and cancers of the immune system known as lymphomas. Additionally, people with AIDS often have systemic symptoms of infection like fevers, sweats (particularly at night), swollen glands, chills, weakness, and weight loss. The specific opportunistic infections that AIDS patients develop depend in part on the prevalence of these infections in the geographic area in which the patient lives.
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lentivirus (a member of the retrovirus family) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid, pre-ejaculate, or breast milk. Within these bodily fluids, HIV is present as both free virus particles and virus within infected immune cells. The four major routes of transmission are unsafe sex, contaminated needles, breast milk, and transmission from an infected mother to her baby at birth (Vertical transmission). Screening of blood products for HIV has largely eliminated transmission through blood transfusions or infected blood products in the developed world.
HIV infection in humans is considered pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). From its discovery in 1981 to 2006, AIDS killed more than 25 million people. HIV infects about 0.6% of the world’s population.In 2005 alone, AIDS claimed an estimated 2.4–3.3 million lives, of which more than 570,000 were children. A third of these deaths are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and increasing poverty.According to current estimates, HIV is set to infect 90 million people in Africa, resulting in a minimum estimate of 18 million orphans.Antiretroviral treatment reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, but routine access to antiretroviral medication is not available in all countries.
HIV primarily infects vital cells in the human immune system such as helper T cells (specifically CD4+ T cells), macrophages, and dendritic cells. HIV infection leads to low levels of CD4+ T cells through three main mechanisms: firstly, direct viral killing of infected cells; secondly, increased rates of apoptosis in infected cells; and thirdly, killing of infected CD4+ T cells by CD8 cytotoxic lymphocytes that recognize infected cells. When CD4+ T cell numbers decline below a critical level, cell-mediated immunity is lost, and the body becomes progressively more susceptible to opportunistic infections.
Most people infected with HIV eventually develop AIDS. These individuals mostly die from opportunistic infections or malignancies associated with the progressive failure of the immune system.Without treatment, about 9 out of every 10 persons with HIV will progress to AIDS after 10–15 years. Many progress much sooner.Treatment with anti-retrovirals increases the life expectancy of people infected with HIV. Even after HIV has progressed to diagnosable AIDS, the average survival time with antiretroviral therapy was estimated to be more than 5 years as of 2005. Without antiretroviral therapy, someone who has AIDS typically dies within a year.
CD4+: CD4+ T helper cells
Perhaps the best example of the importance of CD4+ T cells is demonstrated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. HIV targets cells that express CD4, and can infect macrophages, dendritic cells (both groups express CD4 at low levels) and CD4+ T cells.
It has been proposed that during the non-symptomatic phase of HIV infection, the virus has a relatively low affinity towards T cells (and has a higher affinity for macrophages), resulting in a slow kill rate of CD4+ T cells by the immune system. This is initially compensated for via the production of new helper T cells from the thymus (originally from the bone marrow). Once the virus becomes lymphotropic (or T-tropic) however, it begins to infect CD4+ T cells far more efficiently (likely due to a change in the co-receptors it binds to during infection), and the immune system is overwhelmed.
At this point, functional CD4+ T cell levels begin to decrease, eventually to a point where the CD4+ T cell population is too small to recognize the full range of antigens that could potentially be detected. The lack of full antigen cover results in the core symptoms of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). CD4 T cell depletion during AIDS allows various pathogens to escape T cell recognition, thus allowing opportunistic infections that would normally elicit a helper T cell response to bypass the immune system. While these complete bypass situations only occur when the helper T cell response is absolutely necessary for infection clearance, most infections increase in severity and/or duration because the immune system’s helper T cells provide a weaker contribution to a less efficient immune response.
Two components of the immune system are particularly affected in AIDS, due to its CD4+ T cell dependency:
CD8+ T cells are not stimulated as effectively during the AIDS stage of HIV infection, making AIDS patients very susceptible to most viruses, including HIV itself. This decline in killing of CD4+ T cells results in the virus being produced for a longer period (the infected CD4+ T cells are not killed as quickly), increasing the proliferation of the virus, and accelerating the development of the disease.
Antibody class switching declines significantly once helper T cell function fails. The immune system loses its ability to improve the affinity of their antibodies, and are unable to generate B cells that can produce antibody groups such as IgG and IgA. These effects are primarily due to the loss of any helper T cell that can interact with the B lymphocyte correctly. Another symptom of AIDS is the reduction in antibody levels due to a decrease in Th2 cytokines (and less interactions by helper T cells). All of these complications result in an increased susceptibility to aggressive bacterial infections, especially in areas of the body not accessible by IgM antibodies.
If the patient does not respond to (or does not receive) HIV treatment they will succumb usually to either cancers or infections; the immune system finally reaches a point where it is no longer coordinated or stimulated enough to deal with the disease.
CCR5: Chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5
HIV uses CCR5 or another protein, CXCR4, as a co-receptor to enter its target cells. Several chemokine receptors can function as viral coreceptors, but CCR5 is likely the most physiologically important coreceptor during natural infection. The normal ligands for this receptor, RANTES, MIP-1β, and MIP-1α, are able to suppress HIV-1 infection in vitro. In individuals infected with HIV, CCR5-using viruses are the predominant species isolated during the early stages of viral infection, suggesting that these viruses may have a selective advantage during transmission or the acute phase of disease. Moreover, at least half of all infected individuals harbor only CCR5-using viruses throughout the course of infection.
A number of new experimental HIV drugs, called entry inhibitors, have been designed to interfere with the interaction between CCR5 and HIV, including PRO140 (Progenics), Vicriviroc (Schering Plough), Aplaviroc (GW-873140) (GlaxoSmithKline) and Maraviroc (UK-427857) (Pfizer). A potential problem of this approach is that, while CCR5 is the major co-receptor by which HIV infects cells, it is not the only such co-receptor. It is possible that under selective pressure HIV will evolve to use another co-receptor. However, examination of viral resistance to AD101, molecular antagonist of CCR5, indicated that resistant viruses did not switch to another coreceptor (CXCR4) but persisted in using CCR5, either through binding to alternative domains of CCR5, or by binding to the receptor at a higher affinity. Development of Aplaviroc has been terminated due to safety concerns (potential liver toxicity).
CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC) is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. It works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and it promotes health through partnerships with state health departments and other organizations. The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease prevention and control (especially infectious diseases), environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, prevention and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.
WHO: World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization, which had been an agency of the League of Nations.
PCP: Pneumocystis pneumonia
Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) or pneumocystosis is a form of pneumonia, caused by the yeast-like fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii. This pathogen is specific to humans. It has not been shown to infect other animals, while other species of Pneumocystis that parasitize other animals (all of which are mammals) have not been shown to infect humans.
Pneumocystis is commonly found in the lungs of healthy people, but being a source of opportunistic infection it can cause a lung infection in people with a weakened immune system. Pneumocystis pneumonia is especially seen in people with cancer, HIV/AIDS and the use of medications that affect the immune system.
TB: Tuberculosis
One–third of the world’s current population has been infected with M. tuberculosis. New infections occur at a rate of one per second.The proportion of people in the general population who become sick with tuberculosis each year is stable or falling worldwide but, because of population growth, the absolute number of new cases is still increasing.
In 2004, mortality and morbidity statistics included 14.6 million chronic active cases, 8.9 million new cases, and 1.6 million deaths, mostly in developing countries. In addition, a rising number of people in the developed world are contracting tuberculosis because their immune systems are compromised by immunosuppressive drugs, substance abuse, or AIDS. The distribution of tuberculosis is not uniform across the globe; about 80% of the population in many Asian and African countries test positive in tuberculin tests, while only 5-10% of the US population test positive. It is estimated that the US has 25,000 new cases of tuberculosis each year, 40% of which occur in immigrants from countries where tuberculosis is endemic.
MTCT: Mother-to-child transmission HAART: Highly active antiretroviral therapy
Antiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART. The American National Institutes of Health and other organizations recommend offering antiretroviral treatment to all patients with AIDS. Because of the complexity of selecting and following a regimen, the severity of the side-effects and the importance of compliance to prevent viral resistance. However, such organizations emphasize the importance of involving patients in therapy choices, and recommend analyzing the risks and the potential benefits to patients without symptoms.
There are different classes of antiretroviral drugs that act at different stages of the HIV life-cycle.
STI/STD: Sexually transmitted infection/disease
A sexually transmitted disease (STD), also known as sexually transmitted infection (STI) or venereal disease (VD), is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans or animals by means of sexual contact, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex. While in the past, these illnesses have mostly been referred to as STDs or VD, in recent years the term sexually transmitted infection (STI) has been preferred, as it has a broader range of meaning; a person may be infected, and may potentially infect others, without showing signs of disease. Some STIs can also be transmitted via use of an IV drug needle after its use by an infected person, as well as through childbirth or breastfeeding. Sexually transmitted infections have been well known for hundreds of years.
The third WMO (World Meteorological Organization)-convened World Climate Conference, which will be held in Geneva from 31 August to 4 September 2009, should be viewed both as an end and as a beginning.
In the wake of World War II, owing to advances in our observing and understanding of the dynamics of the atmospheric circulation, together with nascent digital computing and telecommunication technologies, the new field of numerical weather prediction was ushered in.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) is a specialized regional centre charged with the responsibility of climate monitoring, prediction, early warning and applications for the reduction of climate-related risks, including those associated with climate variability and change in support of national/regional poverty alleviation and sustainable development strategies.
Six years after opening, in January 2003, the International Centre on “El Niño” Research (CIIFEN) has succeeded in consolidating its presence in Central and South America by providing climate information services designed principally for users and decision-makers.
The interplay between hydrological and climatological information and analyses offers a maturing capability to assess expected terrestrial water regimes
Four weeks after an earthquake devastated the Indonesian region of Padang-Pariaman, Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel assigned to Operation Padang Assist are returning home this weekend
Australian Defence Force personnel assigned to Operation Padang Assist will return home this weekend one month after an earthquake devastated the Indonesian region of Padang-Pariaman,
The last elements of the ADFs Joint Task Force will depart Indonesia for Australia on the 2nd November, following the closure of the Australian Army Primary Health Care Facility and its official handover to the local health authorities, and the completion of all reconstruction tasks.
Among the many tasks achieved by the Australian contingent; 1.3 million litres of water were produced and distributed, 1300 patients were treated in a purpose built medical facility, in the village of Seigerringing, 63 buildings were assessed for structural integrity and over 532.4 metric tons of humanitarian aid was flown into the region.
The Commander of the Indonesian Earthquake Relief Effort, Major General Tanjung, praised the Australians for their dedication to the relief effort in support of the Indonesian Defence Force (TNI).
Your performance was outstanding to finish your mission in such a short time, we look forward to more opportunities to work together in the future, Major General Tanjung said.
Joint Task Force Commander Colonel Mark Brewer is proud of the performance of his personnel during the operation.
To see the Australian and Indonesian soldiers working side by side, forging friendships in the aftermath of a natural disaster, will be an enduring feature of this mission.
The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said through working closely together in the aftermath of the 30th September earthquake, the Australians and Indonesians had strengthened the friendship between the two nations.
I commend all the ADF men and women who contributed to Operation PADANG ASSIST. Your efforts contributed towards saving countless lives, establishing medical clinics, clearing landslides and repairing vital infrastructure, Air Chief Marshal Houston said.
Biological models of sex tend to view love as a mammalian drive, much like hunger or thirst.
Helen Fisher, a leading expert in the topic of love, divides the experience of love into three partly overlapping stages: lust, attraction, and attachment. Lust exposes people to others; romantic attraction encourages people to focus their energy on mating; and attachment involves tolerating the spouse (or indeed the child) long enough to rear a child into infancy. Lust is the initial passionate sexual desire that promotes mating, and involves the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and estrogen.
These effects rarely last more than a few weeks or months. Attraction is the more individualized and romantic desire for a specific candidate for mating, which develops out of lust as commitment to an individual mate forms. Recent studies in neuroscience have indicated that as people fall in love, the brain consistently releases a certain set of chemicals, including pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, which act in a manner similar to amphetamines, stimulating the brain’s pleasure center and leading to side effects such as increased heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and an intense feeling of excitement.
Research has indicated that this stage generally lasts from one and a half to three years.
Since the lust and attraction stages are both considered temporary, a third stage is needed to account for long-term relationships. Attachment is the bonding that promotes relationships lasting for many years and even decades. Attachment is generally based on commitments such as marriage and children, or on mutual friendship based on things like shared interests. It has been linked to higher levels of the chemicals oxytocin and vasopressin to a greater degree than short-term relationships have. Enzo Emanuele and coworkers reported the protein molecule known as the nerve growth factor (NGF) has high levels when people first fall in love, but these return to previous levels after one year.
The anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization.
Eyewitnesses made a curious video of a very strange cloud hovering above Moscow. The video, which was posted on the Mobile Reporter website, shows a cloud which looks like a huge white-rimmed whirlpool.
The video was made on October 7, on the Moscow Ring Road.
The phenomenon, which many Muscovites could observe in the western part of the city, is an optical effect, meteorologists said.
“This is purely an optical effect, although it does look impressive. If you look closer, you can see sun rays coming through that cloud. Most likely, the sun was setting when the video was being made. If you observe clouds regularly, you may see many other astonishing things. Clouds of the same class may look absolutely different in different areas. Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west – this is how the effect was produced,” a meteorologist said.
Another meteorologist said that there was a twister forming above Moscow because of several weather fronts in the area. However, the twister did not appear.
“The phenomenon has nothing to do with industrial emissions. They could not produce such an effect against the background of the current weather conditions. If something happens, there is the smog effect, but it appears only when the weather is quiet for a long time. The wind in Moscow has been quite strong recently,” a weather forecaster said.
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