HARARE, 1 July 2011 (IRIN) – A combined effort by donor agencies, foreign governments, local organizations and the Zimbabwean government is slowly improving the water infrastructure while reducing the chances that cholera will return. The UN Children’s agency (UNICEF) agreed to supply water treatment chemicals until the end of June 2011 but this has been extended until March 2012, by which time it is hoped that the local government authorities will be able to purchase their own water treatment chemicals. “Thus far, water treatment chemicals worth over US$10 million have been procured, including over 25,000 tonnes of aluminium sulphate, 700... Continue Reading
SHARQIA, (IRIN) – Faced with a shortage of water for irrigation, Ahmed Osman, a farmer in his late thirties, opted to divert local sewage water to irrigate his two-hectare vegetable plot in the heart of Egypt’s Nile Delta governorate of Sharkia. “Without water, any water, our plants will die, and we will go begging,” he said. “There can be no agriculture without water.” He is not alone. Other farmers in his village, Kafr Saqr, are doing the same. “Villagers around this country have to use untreated sewage to irrigate their land because Nile water is becoming so scarce; the... Continue Reading
By Johan van Dongen, the Netherlands. About the Author. – After the usual continuing education from 1969 to 1973 Johan van Dongen followed the Biotechnology Educational Program at the Department of Experimental Surgery at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands, where his mentor, Dr. H. Stol handing him his diploma in 1973. The training he received to experimental micro-surgeon in General Surgery at the University Hospital and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is completed in 1976 after which he became head of the Experimental Microsurgery Unit of the Departments of Pathology /Immunology/General Surgery at the University of Maastricht. He performed thousands... Continue Reading
KHAYELITSHA, 29 October 2010 (PlusNews) – Shrieks of laughter echo through the community centre in the Cape Town township of Khayelitsha as 20 children aged between four and 15 play a game of tag. Photo: Lee Middleton/PlusNews The children rehearse their moves They are part of the Cirque du Monde Ibhongolwethu Project run by Cape Town’s Zip Zap Circus School with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Through twice weekly workshops, HIV-positive children are taught circus-act skills such as the trampoline, tumbling and juggling. For the past 18 months, the sessions have included discussions with MSF’s Youth Officer, Brian Mbanga, who... Continue Reading
South Africans are resilient, capable people but could our strong, ‘let’s get on with it’ temperament be preventing us from acknowledging and dealing with potentially dangerous stress levels? “The demands of our fast-paced lifestyles are placing us under increased pressure and stress-related conditions are sky-rocketing; some of which include serious diseases such as depression and ischemic heart disease. It is vital that we take stress more seriously and proactively manage our daily stress levels,” says the Medical Nutritional Institute (MNI). While our fast-paced, energetic modern lifestyles offer many advantages, the escalating demands of work and home appear to be taking... Continue Reading
