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World can save lives and ‘end this pandemic, together’ – WHO chief

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World can save lives and ‘end this pandemic, together’ – WHO chief

“Many countries heard our call back in January when we rang our highest alarm by calling a public health emergency of international concern”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a regular press briefing in Geneva. 

Since then, he explained that they have been working closely with the UN agency, following parameters set out in its strategic response plan, outlined on 4 February.

“They’ve conducted reviews, shared data and experience and honed their response to their national experience and unique situation on the ground”, Tedros continued, adding that they have also been strengthening their responses by using Intra-Action Reviews, which harness “a whole-of-society, multi-sectoral approach” at national and sub-national levels. 

“Intra-Action Reviews not only help countries improve their COVID-19 response but also contribute towards their long-term health security”, the WHO chief upheld. “To date, 21 countries have completed them, and others are in pipeline”.

‘Never too late’

The best time to look at country’s emergency response capacity is during an emergency, “when you can clearly see what works, what doesn’t and what you need to improve”, he said.

And wherever a country is, he maintained that they can “turn it around with a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response”.

“There’s hope, and now is the time to double down on efforts to tackle this virus” Tedros stressed. “We can save lives and livelihoods and end this pandemic, together”.

Health ministers speak  

Having conducted reviews in real-time, the Ministers of Health from Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia, shared their experiences with the WHO chief.

Anutin Charnvirakul explained how Thailand drew on lessons learned from SARS back in 2003 and responded to COVID with a strong public health response led by identifying, isolating, treating cases and tracing and quarantining contacts of those infected.

“We commit to improving our response to COVID-19 by working closely with relevant stakeholders”, he stated.

Meanwhile, Zweli Mkhize gave an overview of the pandemic in South Africa, and how the country utilized the Intra-Action Review, the lessons it had learned and its path forward, which includes new committees at both national and provincial levels to ensure that recommendations being “incorporated into strategic plans” are implemented.

“COVID-19 is still with us and we must remain vigilant and continue to fight together”, he warned. 

And Terawan Agus Putranto, Indonesia’s health minister, said their successful response to the pandemic had been built around “coordination, risk communication and community empowerment.”

He also acknowledged that the country needs to improve on its enforcement of “lockdown restrictions and empowering the community, as agents for change”. 

German police investigate Vienna terror attack – Vatican News

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By Stefan J. Bos

German police said the men targeted Friday were not considered suspects, but they contacted the attacker, and two met him in person.

Several suspects are still held in Austria, and officials are following up leads in Switzerland too.

The gunman went on a rampage in Vienna on Monday night, opening fire in six places in the center. Two women and two men were killed, and 23 were wounded in Monday’s terror attack, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. 

Police shot the gunman dead. They found that the attacker named as Kujtim Fejzulai had both Austrian and Macedonian citizenship. 

The shootings started around Vienna’s main synagogue, recalled Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister. “I heard the shootings on the street. In the beginning, I thought it was fireworks, which can happen at this time of year,” he said. “But then I saw an attacker with a gun was shooting at the guests in the nearby bars and restaurants in the area.”

Austria’s Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said authorities are trying to track down the 20-year-old killer’s contacts. He claimed that they were dealing with “a violent criminal who was clearly intensely active in the Islamist political network, a sympathizer who took on their ideology.”

Slovakia warning

But the minister has admitted that a warning from Slovakia last summer about the attacker was not followed up. In Slovakia, police revealed they had tipped off Austrian authorities about “suspects from Austria” trying to buy ammunition in July.

He reportedly failed to buy bullets as the gunman had no license. 

It has also emerged he was released early from a jail sentence last December for trying to join jihadists in Syria.

The shootings have underscored broader fears of Islamic terror attacks in Europe following the recent stabbing of three people in a church in the French city of Nice and the beheading of a teacher in a Paris suburb.

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos

EU extends Turkey sanctions by one year

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EU extends Turkey sanctions by one year

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. The European Union extended by one year the sanctions against Turkey for unauthorized drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and threatened to impose fresh sanctions.

“The Council today adopted a decision extending for one year, until 12 November 2021, the existing framework for restrictive measures in response to Turkey’s unauthorized drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean”, the Council of the European Union said.

“The European Union will therefore maintain its ability to impose targeted restrictive measures on persons or entities responsible for or involved in unauthorized drilling activities of hydrocarbons in the Eastern Mediterranean. The sanctions consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze for persons, and an asset freeze for entities. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed. Currently two individuals are subject to sanctions.”

Editing by Stepan Kocharyan

Ex-Campaign Head Parscale Reportedly Penning Book

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President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and trusted ally Brad Parscale is reportedly expecting to sign a big-money book deal — and it has Trump’s team worried.

Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg reported Parscale has told a number of people he’s writing a book, raising concerns with some Trump advisers that it could reveal damaging information about Trump and his family.

Parscale has said he has a literary agent and is in talks with a publisher; a potential deal could be seven figures, Bloomberg reported.

Parscale was demoted in July after a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drew far less attendance than the then-campaign manager promised.

But he stepped aside altogether in September, telling Politico in a statement at the time that he intended to ”focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress.” 

The statement followed reports that Parscale was in the hospital days earlier after his wife, Candice Blount, reported he was at their Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home with guns and threatening to harm himself.

According to Bloomberg, Parscale’s allies think Trump would’ve convincingly won reelection with Parscale at the campaign helm — and those allies expect his book will include how he would’ve run the operation in the closing months.

In a tweet Friday, Parscale took a veiled shot at the campaign’s management, suggesting Trump outperformed among Latino voters thanks to the work of an aide who had left.

He also tweeted the country “needs to rethink elections.” 

”We have the ability and the technology that the people of this country are fairly represented,” Parscale wrote. ”It is time for all of us just say, my vote should count. Make it transparent. Make it fair. Just stop and make it right.”

Religion no bar: How love for kin motivated these two women to undergo swap kidney transplant

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Religion no bar: How love for kin motivated these two women to undergo swap kidney transplant

LUDHIANA: When the God shuts one door on you, he opens another. When a man in dire need of a kidney was about to lose all hope, a woman from another family donated her kidney to him, and the recipient’s sister gave her kidney to the donor woman’s husband, who was also in need of organ transplant. The two women’s ultimate gifts thus saved the lives of their loved ones.
However, the unique part of the swap kidney story remains that the two families come from different communities — Muslim and Sikh. The first recipient hails from a Muslim family of Malerkotla, while the second recipient’s Sikh family belongs to Fatehgarh Sahib. The kidney transplants were done by a doctor at a private hospital in Ludhiana.
Manvir Singh, 30, of Manderan village in Fatehgarh Sahib, who worked as a bus driver, told TOI that following swelling in his feet and stopping of urine flow, the doctors said his both kidneys have stopped functioning, and for the two-and-half years he had been undergoing dialysis.
“My wife was ready to give her kidney, but her blood group did not match with mine. For one reason or the other, none in the family was suitable for donating the organ to me. Later, the specialist at the private hospital told me that a swap kidney transplant with a Muslim family was a possibility and we went for it,” said Manvir.
“While my wife Manpreet Kaur gave her kidney to Shakeel Ahmed, his sister Shakeela gave her kidney to me. Now, it’s a blood relation between us. She has become my sister by giving me a new lease of life, whereas my wife is sister to him as she gave a part of her body to him. It’s a great example of communal harmony,” he added.
On the other hand, readymade garment trader and resident of Jamalpura in Malerkotla, Shakeel Ahmed, 43, said he is thankful first to Allah and then to the Sikh family for giving him a new life. His 45-year-old sister Shakeela made the sacrifice for him.
Shakeel, who is unmarried, said he had developed kidney problem and was operated upon several years ago. But later, his kidney again stopped working and he had been undergoing dialysis for the past five months.
Urologist and transplant surgeon Dr BS Aulakh, who led the team in the surgery, said, “The families did not know each other prior to coming to the hospital and their meeting was arranged by the hospital coordinator and the transplant was approved by the government-appointed authorisation committee. They agreed to give this precious gift of life to each other’s patients and in doing so spread the message of humanity and communal harmony”.
Director of the hospital Dr Navpreet Kaur Aulakh said, “Such acts of kindness and selflessness have given a new lease of life to two patients. Both the transplants were successful and both patients were discharged with normal kidney function. This swap transplant epitomises the essence of organ donation transgressing all boundaries, including religion. The unique procedure is bound to raise hopes for several organ receivers as also donors.”

The European Union provides additional €17.2 million to support health systems in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan

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The European Union provides additional €17.2 million to support health systems in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan

The European Union has approved an additional €17.2 million through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) to support coronavirus preparedness in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. The EUTF support to the emergency health response in the Horn of Africa now reaches almost €300 million and another €480 million to minimize the economic impact of the pandemic in the region.

Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, said: “The Emergency Trust Fund for Africa has been a key instrument in supporting some of the most vulnerable populations in the Horn of Africa. It has already improved the access of more than 4.8 million people in the region to basic services such as health, sanitation and nutrition. These additional €17.2 million will support in particular internally displaced persons, refugees, and their host communities in Somalia. *They will help provide protective equipment for frontline health workers in South Sudan and strengthen the Sudanese health system. The EU will work hand in hand with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the World Health Organisation to deliver this new assistance from Team Europe**.*”

Somalia

In Somalia, €5 million will support a new strand of work under the RE-INTEG programme to help face the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. This programme aims to protect the most vulnerable people, including refugees and displaced persons, and to create favourable conditions for economic and social development. The new component will increase cross-border health surveillance, enhance epidemiological observation at health facilities, and improve case management. It will also include community-based prevention activities and capacity building for national public health personnel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will manage the work in close coordination with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the EU response to the health and socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in the IGAD region.

Sudan

In Sudan, €10.2 million will strengthen a coronavirus health response programme financed under the EUTF. Implemented by the WHO, the programme addresses critical shortcomings in health governance, epidemiological surveillance, and epidemic preparedness. The programme, in April 2020, also receives €400,000 in co-funding from the WHO, bringing the total amount to €20.6 million. The programme follows the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach piloted in Sudan.

The EU has also recently signed a €92.2 million agreement with the World Bank to support Sudan in tackling the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

South Sudan

The Support to health services in South Sudan programme will receive an additional €2 million to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline health workers engaged in the coronavirus response through a component implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP).

Background

The EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa was established in 2015 to address the root causes of instability, forced displacement and irregular migration and to contribute to better migration management. The EU, its Member States and other donors have so far allocated resources amounting to €5 billion to the EUTF.

For More Information

EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa website

EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa factsheet

UN agencies warn of risk of famine in four countries – Vatican News

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UN agencies warn of risk of famine in four countries - Vatican News

By Vatican News staff writer

According to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), South Sudan and Yemen, two of the world’s biggest ongoing food insecurity emergencies, are being joined by Nigeria’s North East and Burkina Faso in West Africa’s Sahel region, with conditions edging closer to famine.

The report, ‘FAO-WFP early warning analysis of acute food insecurity hotspots’, published on Friday, outlines a toxic combination of conflict, economic decline, climate extremes and the COVID-19 pandemic, that is driving millions further into the emergency phase of food insecurity.

People in the four hotspots of highest concern are already experiencing a critical hunger situation, with the report warning that escalations in conflict, as well as reductions in humanitarian access, risk the onset of famine.

Acute hunger rising in 16 other countries

The FAO-WFP report says these four countries are far from being the only red flag on a world map that shows acute food insecurity levels reaching new highs globally, driven by a combination of factors. Another 16 countries are at high risk of rising levels of acute hunger.

The report calls for urgent action to avert a major emergency, or series of emergencies, in the next 3 to 6 months, WFP has said in a statement.

Urgent action today

“This report is a clear call to urgent action”, said Dominique Burgeon, FAO’s Director of Emergencies and Resilience. He expressed deep concern about the combined impact of several crises which, he said, “are eroding people’s ability to produce and access food, leaving them more and more at risk of the most extreme hunger”.

Burgeon stressed the need to access these populations “to ensure they have food and the means to produce food and improve their livelihoods to prevent a worst-case scenario”.

Catastrophe, or famine, is the most severe of five phases used by the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system to chart escalating degrees of food insecurity.

Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Director of Emergencies, said, “We are at a catastrophic turning point”.  “When we declare a famine it means many lives have already been lost. If we wait to find that out for sure, people are already dead”.

Another Somalia of 2017?

Comparing the situation in the critical countries to that of Somalia in 2011 when 260,000 people died, she said, “We cannot let this happen again. “We have a stark choice — urgent action today, or unconscionable loss of life tomorrow.”

The FAO-WFP report points to a total of 20 countries and contexts that are at “further risk of deterioration of acute food insecurity”.  The key drivers of hunger include expansion and intensification of violence, economic crises exacerbated by COVID-19 socioeconomic impact, weather extremes, transboundary threats such as desert locusts and a lack of humanitarian access.  (Source: FAO-WFP)

Pope Francis donates pectoral cross to Crucifix museum – Vatican News

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Pope Francis donates pectoral cross to Crucifix museum - Vatican News

By Vatican News staff writer

Pope Francis has donated a pectoral cross to the International Crucifix Museum in the Sicilian town of Caltagirone. The Museum was opened this year on 14 September, the feast of the Triumph of the Cross.

The Pope’s gift will be presented by the Bishop of Caltagirone, Calogero Peri. After celebrating the Mass for First Friday, Bishop Peri will entrust the pectoral cross to Father Enzo Mangano, the founder of the Museum.

Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life

The idea for a museum dedicated to making the spirituality of the Crucifix better known came to Fr Mangano during Lent, as he reflected upon the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences. Father Mangano then appealed to friends and artists to donate works of art and other memorabilia focused on the Passion of Jesus.

Pope Francis responded to the call by means of a letter, signed by the Substitute of the Secretariat of State, in which the faithful and pilgrims to the ancient Sanctuary of the Passion are encouraged “to adhere ever more intensely to Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”





Crucifix donated by Bishop Calogero Peri

Meditating upon the Crucifix

The International Museum of the Crucifix of Caltagirone is dedicated to Bishop Peri, who was one of the first to donate a crucifix: a small reproduction of a San Damiano Cross found in the hospital room where the prelate was being treated for the coronavirus. During his illness, Bishop Peri said, the crucifix was a point of reference for his questions and prayers. When he was finally discharged, Peri asked to take the crucifix with him; he later decided to donate it to the Museum as a sign of gratitude to God for his recovery.

More than 150 works are already on display at the Museum, which is housed in the Sanctuary of Santissimo Crocifisso del Soccorso. The shrine is dedicated to a crucifix found in 1708 by a local farmer on the site of the Church of the Madonna del Succorso (Our Lady of Succour), which had been destroyed in an earthquake 15 years earlier.

Albania needs to expand population coverage to move towards universal health coverage

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Albania needs to expand population coverage to move towards universal health coverage

New WHO analysis finds that out-of-pocket payments for health are a major source of financial hardship for people in Albania. Around 8% of households are pushed into poverty or further impoverished after paying out of pocket and 12% experience catastrophic health spending. The financial hardship caused by out-of-pocket payments is heavily concentrated among poorer parts of the population and is increasingly driven by household spending on outpatient medicines.

A large gap in population coverage and heavy co-payments undermine financial protection

Entitlement to most publicly financed health care in Albania is linked to payment of contributions to the mandatory health insurance fund. This makes it difficult to cover the whole population in the context of a large informal sector. As a result, about a third of the population is uninsured and must pay for almost all health services out of pocket. This is just one reason why financial protection is weak and levels of unmet need for health and dental care are high. The Government of Albania has taken steps to improve access to primary care for uninsured people, offering them free annual check-ups in 2015 and free visits to general practitioners in 2017. These measures are welcome, but do not address other important gaps in coverage.

Uninsured people pay the full cost of diagnostic tests, medicines and non-emergency specialist care, while those who are insured pay co-payments of up to 50% of the reference price for outpatient-prescribed medicines. Although pensioners and disabled people are exempt from these co-payments, there are no exemptions specifically targeting low-income people or most people with chronic conditions; nor is there an annual cap on co-payments. During the period under analysis, out-of-pocket payments for outpatient medicines grew from 53% to 76% of all household spending on health.

Everyone in Albania should have access to needed health services, regardless of health insurance status

Poor households in Albania are at high risk of being uninsured, facing financial barriers to access and experiencing catastrophic health spending. Because of this, steps to reduce unmet need and financial hardship must prioritize people in poverty. Three protective measures are key. First, de-linking entitlement to health insurance from payment of contributions, so that the mandatory health insurance fund automatically covers everyone. Collecting contributions is a tax not health policy responsibility. Second, exempting low-income people and people with chronic conditions from co-payments, including co-payments for outpatient medicines. And third, increasing public investment in the health system, so that the priority Albania gives to health when allocating government spending is no longer among the lowest in Europe.

WHO supports countries to move towards universal health coverage – leaving no one behind

Financial protection is at the heart of universal health coverage, which means that everyone can use the quality health services they need without financial hardship. Linked to WHO’s General Programme of Work, the European Programme of Work places universal health coverage at the core of the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s work. Through the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Strengthening, the Regional Office undertakes context-specific monitoring of financial protection in over 30 countries, including Albania.

The Barcelona Office also provides tailored technical assistance to countries to reduce unmet need and financial hardship by identifying and addressing gaps in coverage.

ESMA publishes new Q&A on product governance

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ESMA publishes new Q&A on product governance

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has today updated its Questions and Answers on the implementation of investor protection topics under the Market in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation (MiFID II/ MiFIR).

The Q&As on MiFID II and MiFIR investor protection and intermediaries’ topics includes three new Q&As on ‘product governance’ that aim to give guidance on how firms manufacturing financial instruments should ensure that:

  • financial instruments’ costs and charges are compatible with the needs, objectives and characteristics of the target market;
  • costs and charges do not undermine the financial instrument’s return expectations;
  • the charging structure of the financial instrument is appropriately transparent for the target market, ensuring that it does not disguise charges or is too complex to understand.

The purpose of the MiFID II/MiFIR investor protection Q&As is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of MiFID II and MiFIR.

ESMA will continue to develop this Q&A document on investor protection topics under MiFID II and MiFIR, both adding questions and answers to the topics already covered and introducing new sections for other MiFID II investor protection areas not yet addressed in this Q&A document.

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