charity

UK pandemic hero's daughter slammed by charity probe

  • Moore raised the astonishing sum for UK health service charities by completing 100 lengths of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020.
  • The family of a 100-year-old UK war veteran who became a global hero for his fundraising efforts during the Covid pandemic gained "significant" financial benefit from links to a charity set up in his name, a watchdog said Thursday.
  • Moore raised the astonishing sum for UK health service charities by completing 100 lengths of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020.
The family of a 100-year-old UK war veteran who became a global hero for his fundraising efforts during the Covid pandemic gained "significant" financial benefit from links to a charity set up in his name, a watchdog said Thursday.
Captain Tom Moore caught the British public's imagination during the Covid-19 lockdown when he took to raising nearly £33 million ($41.7 million) by walking up and down his garden using a walking frame.
Images of the stooped but dapper veteran with his military service medals pinned to his blazer lifted the nation's spirits as it struggled with a mounting death toll and fears about the future.
But in a 30-page report, the Charity Commission said there had been repeated instances of misconduct by Moore's daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore and her husband Colin.
It accused the couple of a misleading implication that they would make sizeable donations from a book deal to the charity.
An advance of around £1.4 million ($1.7 million) was paid to a company of which the Ingram-Moores were directors for a three-book deal, though none of the money went to the foundation, the commission said.
Moore raised the astonishing sum for UK health service charities by completing 100 lengths of his garden before his 100th birthday in April 2020.
Queen Elizabeth II knighted him, making him "Captain Sir Tom", and his death in February 2021 was marked by a nationwide round of applause with Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part and MPs bowing their heads in parliament.
The commission opened a case into the foundation in 2021, shortly after Moore's death. It launched a formal probe in 2022.
Earlier this year, it also disqualified the Ingram-Moores from being charity trustees.

'Blurring' of interests

In a statement, the Ingram-Moore family rejected the commission's conclusions and said they had been treated "unfairly and unjustly".
They described the process as "excessive" and accused the watchdog of of having a "pre-determined agenda". 
"We remain dedicated to upholding Captain Sir Tom's legacy and want the public to know that there has never been any misappropriation of funds."
David Holdsworth, commission chief executive, said the probe found "repeated instances of a blurring of boundaries between private and charitable interests".
He said this resulted in the couple "receiving significant personal benefit", adding that the failings amounted to "misconduct and/or mismanagement".
The report said it appeared that "Captain Tom himself believed or intended that (his book) 'Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day' would in some way financially support the charity".
"Astonishingly at my age, with the offer to write this memoir I have also been given the chance to raise even more money for the charitable foundation now established in my name," Captain Tom wrote in a prologue.
The report's authors said the inquiry could not see how Moore's words would be "interpreted as anything other" than that proceeds would "flow to the charity".
Literary agent Bev James, however, told the inquiry her understanding was that the Ingram-Moores were "very clear that they did not want the money from the books to go to charity" but that they would make a donation to the foundation.
The report concluded that "the public had a reasonable expectation that the Captain Tom books they purchased... would have financially benefited the charity and... would understandably feel misled given no donation has been made to the charity".
har/phz/js

health

K-drama for mental health? Binge on, one expert says

BY CAT BARTON AND HIEUN SHIN

  • - The idea that a K-drama binge can help with mental health may seem far-fetched, but it chimes with decades-old psychotherapy ideas, one expert said.
  • If you've ever binge-watched an entire season of a K-drama like "Squid Game" or "Crash Landing On You", one Korean-American expert has good news: it's likely improved your mental health.
  • - The idea that a K-drama binge can help with mental health may seem far-fetched, but it chimes with decades-old psychotherapy ideas, one expert said.
If you've ever binge-watched an entire season of a K-drama like "Squid Game" or "Crash Landing On You", one Korean-American expert has good news: it's likely improved your mental health.
High production values, top-notch acting and attractive stars have helped propel South Korean TV shows to the top of global viewership charts, but therapist Jeanie Chang, says there are deeper reasons so many people are hooked.
With soap-like plotlines that tackle everything from earth-shattering grief to the joy of new love, watching K-dramas can help people reconnect with their own emotions or process trauma, she says, giving the shows a healing power that transcends their cultural context.
"We all have family pressures and expectations, conflict, trauma, hope," she said, adding that watching heavy topics being successfully managed on screen can change people's ability to navigate real-world challenges.
For Chang, who was born in Seoul but raised in the United States, K-drama was particularly helpful in allowing her to reconnect with her roots -- which she rejected as a child desperate to assimilate.
But "the messages in Korean dramas are universal," Chang said.
"Mental health is how you're feeling, how you relate to others, psychologically, how your brain has been impacted by things. That's mental health. We see that in a Korean drama."

'Soften my heart'

Global K-drama viewership has exploded in the last few years, industry data shows, with many overseas viewers, especially in major markets like the United States, turning to Korean content during the pandemic. 
Between 2019 and 2022, viewership of Korean television and movies increased six-fold on Netflix, its data showed, and Korean series are now the most watched non-English content on the platform.
American schoolteacher Jeanie Barry discovered K-drama via a family funeral, when a friend recommended a series -- 2020's "It's Okay to Not Be Okay" -- she thought could help her after a difficult time.
"There was something about it, the way that this culture deal with trauma, mental depression, just really struck a chord for me," Barry, who had travelled to South Korea as part of a K-drama tour organised by therapist Chang, told AFP.
"I started to grieve when I had not been. It was a lot of tears during that drama, but it also made me see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," she said.
Immediately hooked, Barry said she had watched 114 K-dramas since discovering the genre, and effectively given up watching English-language television.
"They let me soften my heart," she said.
Fellow tour member and American Erin McCoy said she had struggled with depression since she was a teenager, but K-drama helped her manage her symptoms.
With depression, "when you live with it that long, you're just numb and so you don't really feel bad necessarily but you don't ever feel good either," she said.
"You just don't feel anything," she said, adding that K-drama allowed her to experience emotions again.
"There're so many highs and lows in every one of them, and as I felt the characters' emotions, it just helped me relate to my own more," she said.
"I feel like I was able to express and experience emotion again." 

 'Art therapy'?

The idea that a K-drama binge can help with mental health may seem far-fetched, but it chimes with decades-old psychotherapy ideas, one expert said.
"Watching Korean dramas can be beneficial for anxiety and depression from the viewpoint of art therapy," Im Su-geun, head of a psychiatry clinic in Seoul, told AFP.
First used in the 1940s, art therapy initially involved patients drawing, but evolved to incorporate other artistic activities.
"Visual media like Korean dramas have significant strengths that align well with psychotherapy," he said. 
K-drama -- or television and cinema generally -- can help viewers "gain insights into situations from a new perspective, fostering healthy values and providing solutions to their issues," he said.
It is unlikely to be prescribed by a doctor, he said, but if a therapist were to recommend a specific drama that related to the patient's case, it could be helpful.
For example, it can provide a roadmap for patients "facing specific situations, such as breakups or loss," he said.
ceb-hs/sn/cwl

endometriosis

Endometriosis linked to slightly higher risk of early death

  • From the data, the researchers found that patients with one or both conditions had a slightly higher risk of dying before 70.
  • Women with the common conditions of endometriosis or growths in their uterus have a slightly higher risk of dying before the age of 70, a large US-based study said on Thursday.
  • From the data, the researchers found that patients with one or both conditions had a slightly higher risk of dying before 70.
Women with the common conditions of endometriosis or growths in their uterus have a slightly higher risk of dying before the age of 70, a large US-based study said on Thursday.
One in 10 women worldwide suffer from endometriosis, a chronic disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the womb.
Up to a quarter of women are thought to have non-cancerous growths in their uterus called uterine fibroids.
Despite so many having these conditions, both are considered under-researched -- with some blaming a historically male-focused medical establishment for overlooking health problems that affect women.
Previous research has linked both conditions to a higher risk of some potentially deadly diseases, such as heart disease and some types of cancer. 
The new study in the BMJ journal analysed data from more than 110,000 women in the United States whose health has been monitored every two years since 1989. 
This kind of observational research cannot directly prove cause and effect.
From the data, the researchers found that patients with one or both conditions had a slightly higher risk of dying before 70.
This was because the patients were more likely to get the other health problems suggested by previous research, the study indicated.
For uterine fibroids, the increase in early death was linked to a higher risk of gynecological cancers, the study said.
These cancers were also a main cause of deaths among patients with endometriosis, though there were other factors including heart and respiratory diseases.
People with endometriosis had between a nine and 30 percent higher risk of dying before 70 compared to people who did not have these linked health problems, the study said.
"These findings highlight the importance" of doctors looking out for these health problems in patients with endometriosis and uterine fibroids, the authors of the study said.
While historically overlooked, health conditions that only affect women are receiving more attention from researchers and policy makers.
This has particularly been the case for endometriosis, which can cause serious pain during periods and infertility -- and for which there is no known cure.
jdy/dl/tw

education

Pakistan reopens Punjab schools after smog improves

BY MUHAMMAD SOHAIL ABBAS

  • "It's good that schools are reopening, as children's education was being disrupted," said Muhammad Akmal, who had just dropped off his daughter.
  • Schools reopened Wednesday in Pakistan's most populated province after authorities announced a drop in dangerous air pollution, with parents rejoicing their children's return to classes. 
  • "It's good that schools are reopening, as children's education was being disrupted," said Muhammad Akmal, who had just dropped off his daughter.
Schools reopened Wednesday in Pakistan's most populated province after authorities announced a drop in dangerous air pollution, with parents rejoicing their children's return to classes. 
Punjab, home to more than half of Pakistan's 240 million people, closed schools in its major cities on November 6 after dense smog hit "hazardous" levels, a situation described by the province's environment minister as a "national disaster."
But Punjab's environmental agency said late Tuesday that "the ambient air quality had improved in Punjab" due to rain in the north, as well as change in wind direction and speed.
"Therefore, all the educational institutions in the whole province, including Lahore and Multan Division, shall be opened" beginning Wednesday, it announced.
By morning, smog still shrouded the Punjab capital of Lahore as commuters headed to work, while road tractors continued belching wafts of dark smoke.
However the Air Quality Index for Lahore was 150, reflecting a massive improvement from two week ago when pollution in the city climbed to a record-high AQI value of 1,100. 
Parent Muhammad Waheed, 48, said his children were "happy when the announcement was made about schools reopening". 
"The children were getting bored at home," the daily wage worker told AFP. "Thank God, they'll be going back to school."
According to authorities, students and staff will still be required to wear face masks. 
There is also a "complete ban on outdoor sports and outdoor co-curricular activities till further orders", said the environmental agency.
Every Lahore winter, a mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by seasonal crop burn-off by farmers, blanket the city, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.
According to a University of Chicago study, high levels of pollution have already reduced life expectancy in Lahore, a city of 14 million inhabitants, by 7.5 years.
But the issue is "not limited to Lahore alone", said Punjab's environment minister Marriyum Aurangzeb during a press conference Wednesday. 
"Due to seasonal atmospheric conditions, it is also affecting southern Punjab, northern Punjab, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, and now Karachi. The wind speed is also impacting Karachi," she said. 
"This is a national disaster, and we must treat it as such. As a nation, we need to come together and take collective action to address this (smog)."
- 'Disrupted' education - 
A steady stream of parents ferrying their children on motorbikes arrived at a Lahore school Wednesday, with staff members checking to see that the girls clad in blue uniforms had on face masks.
"It's good that schools are reopening, as children's education was being disrupted," said Muhammad Akmal, who had just dropped off his daughter. "Kids were distracted by their phones and not focusing on anything else." 
Instead of closing schools, he said the government should have pursued other measures "such as using artificial rain to address the smog".
Breathing toxic air has catastrophic health consequences, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning that strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory diseases can be triggered by prolonged exposure.
Even before smog descended on Pakistan, UNICEF reported that "around 12 percent of deaths among children under five were due to air pollution".
Two weeks ago, the Air Quality Index hit a record high of 1,110. By Sunday, it had fallen below 300 -- the threshold considered "hazardous" for humans. 
Still, as of Tuesday evening, the concentration of PM2.5 micro-particle pollutants in Lahore was still more than 10 times higher than levels deemed acceptable by the WHO.
Similar hazardous conditions have hit India's capital New Delhi, where classes have been moved online after air pollution surged past 60 times the WHO-recommended daily maximum.
Experts believe that modernising car fleets, reviewing farming methods, and making the transition to renewable energies are key to overcoming the smog that paralyzes millions of Pakistanis and Indians every year.
strs-vid-stm/dhc/mlm

WHO

New WHO financing mechanism put to the test

BY AGNèS PEDRERO

  • Regardless of political shifts in Washington, Thornton stressed that the WHO was intent on seeing the "very important" partnership with the United States continue.
  • The WHO announced late Tuesday that it had raised nearly $4 billion through a new financing mechanism, aimed at securing predictable funding, as shifting political winds threaten cuts from Washington.
  • Regardless of political shifts in Washington, Thornton stressed that the WHO was intent on seeing the "very important" partnership with the United States continue.
The WHO announced late Tuesday that it had raised nearly $4 billion through a new financing mechanism, aimed at securing predictable funding, as shifting political winds threaten cuts from Washington.
The announcement, made on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, came as the stakes have risen substantially for the World Health Organization since Donald Trump won the US presidential election earlier this month.
During his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, the Republican relentlessly attacked the UN health agency, over its handling of the Covid pandemic especially. It began withdrawing his country -- traditionally the WHO's top donor -- from the organisation.
Although President Joe Biden renewed ties with the agency, there are fears that Trump might slam the door shut again.
The Geneva-based organisation said that pledges from Australia, Indonesia and Spain at the G20 summit, combined with earlier donations and pledges, had yielded $3.8 billion in funding for the next four years -- more than half of the funding gap it needs to fill through 2028. 
Here is an overview of how WHO funding works and what the new mechanism set up in May aims to achieve:

Imbalances

When the WHO was created in 1948, it received all of its funding through so-called assessed contributions, or the membership fees that each member state pays, based on the size of their economies.
"That money was predictable, because you know what you're going to get each year," Daniel Thornton, head of the WHO's Coordinated Resource Mobilisation unit, told AFP. Those funds could also be used flexibly, in line with the organisation's strategy, he added.
However, over the years, the WHO became increasingly reliant on voluntary contributions.
In 2022-2023, membership fees covered just 13 percent of the agency's budget, the remainder covered by voluntary contributions.
Such funds are far less predictable and are typically earmarked for specific projects, giving the Geneva-based organisation little flexibility over how they are used.
This funding imbalance has meant that "generally, communicable diseases are better funded than non-communicable, (even though) the disease burden is much heavier on non-communicable diseases", Thornton said.

Investment round

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the UN health agency created the WHO Foundation to marshal new resources from business and philanthropists.
Two years later, member states agreed to immediately increase the portion of the WHO's biannual budget covered by membership fees to 20 percent, and to gradually raise it further to 50 percent by 2030-31.
The organisation also launched last May a new investment round aimed at securing as much funding as possible up front for its core activities over the next four years (2025-28).
The WHO is not asking for more funds, but "is moving from a process where we get a continuous stream of income to one where we ... want the four years' funding up front", Thornton said. 

$7.1 billion

The WHO estimates it will need $11.1 billion over the coming four years.
The agency expects to secure more than a third of that, some $4 billion, thanks in part to expected membership fee hikes.
That has left it seeking to raise $7.1 billion to close the gap, as it solicits both public and private donors including foundations.
With the latest pledges, it has now covered 53 percent of that amount.
Since the start of the investment round in May, the agency has attracted dozens of new donors, including over a dozen in African nations.
Regardless of political shifts in Washington, Thornton stressed that the WHO was intent on seeing the "very important" partnership with the United States continue.
"That is our priority," he said, stressing that another major concern was to ensure "we've got a broad donor base".
apo/nl/rjm/jj

conflict

'An inauspicious day': the landmines ruining Myanmar lives

  • She had urged her husband to stay home because the traditional Burmese calendar, which is guided by lunar cycles, planetary alignment and other factors, marked it out as inauspicious.
  • It was an unlucky day in the Burmese calendar, farmer Yar Swe Kyin warned her husband in July, begging him not to go out to check on their crops.
  • She had urged her husband to stay home because the traditional Burmese calendar, which is guided by lunar cycles, planetary alignment and other factors, marked it out as inauspicious.
It was an unlucky day in the Burmese calendar, farmer Yar Swe Kyin warned her husband in July, begging him not to go out to check on their crops.
Hours later he was dead, killed by one of the countless landmines laid by both sides in Myanmar's three brutal years of civil war.
In the evening, "I heard an explosion from the field," she told AFP at her home in the hills of northern Shan state.
"I knew he had gone to that area and I was worried."
She had urged her husband to stay home because the traditional Burmese calendar, which is guided by lunar cycles, planetary alignment and other factors, marked it out as inauspicious.
"He didn't listen to me," she said.
"Now, I only have a son and grandchild left."
Decades of sporadic conflict between the military and ethnic rebel groups have left Myanmar littered with deadly landmines.
That conflict has been turbocharged by the junta's 2021 coup, which birthed dozens of newer "People's Defence Forces" now battling to topple the military.
Landmines and other remnants of war claimed more victims in Myanmar than in any other country last year, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), with the Southeast Asian country overtaking war-ravaged Syria and Ukraine.

'Trees were spinning'

At least 228 people -- more than four a week -- were killed by the devices and 770 more were wounded in Myanmar in 2023, it said in its latest report Wednesday.
In eastern Kayah state, a short journey to collect rice to feed his wife and children left farmer Hla Han crippled by a landmine, unable to work and fearing for his family's future.
He had returned home after junta troops had moved out from his village and stepped on a mine placed near the entrance to the local church.
"When I woke up I didn't know how I had fallen down and only got my senses back about a minute later," he told AFP.
"When I looked up, the sky and trees were spinning."
Now an amputee, the 52-year-old worries how to support his family of six who are already living precariously amidst Myanmar's civil war.
"After I lost my leg to the land mine, I can't work anymore. I only eat and sleep and sometimes visit friends -- that's all I can do," he said.
"My body is not the same anymore, my thoughts are not the same and I can't do anything I want to... I can eat like others, but I can't work like them."
His daughter Aye Mar said she had begged him not to go back into the village.
"When my father lost his leg, all of our family's hopes were gone," she said.
"I also don't have a job and I can't support him financially. I also feel I'm an irresponsible daughter."

'Nothing is the same'

Myanmar is not a signatory to the United Nations convention that prohibits the use, stockpiling or development of anti-personnel mines.
The ICBL campaign group said there had been a "significant increase" in anti-personnel mine use by the military in recent years, including around infrastructure such as mobile phone towers and energy pipelines.
The church in Kayah state where Hla Han lost his leg is still standing but its facade is studded with bullet wounds.
A green tape runs alongside a nearby rural road, a rudimentary warning that the forest beyond it  may be contaminated. 
Some villagers had returned to their homes after the latest wave of fighting had moved on, said Aye Mar.
"But I don't dare to go and live in my house right now."
She and her father are just two of the more than three million people the United Nations says have been forced from their homes by fighting since the coup.
"Sometimes I think that it would have been better if one side gave up in the early stage of the war," she said.
But an end to the conflict looks far off, leaving Hla Han trying to come to terms with his fateful step.
"From that instant you are disabled and nothing is the same as before."
str-lpk-rma/slb/djw

gender

Trump ally seeks to block trans lawmaker from women's restrooms

  • On Monday, Republican Representative Nancy Mace, a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, introduced the resolution banning transgender women from using female restrooms.
  • Democrats and LGBTQ rights advocates expressed outrage Tuesday after a Republican lawmaker introduced a measure that would ban the first openly transgender person elected to the US Congress from using women's restrooms in the building.
  • On Monday, Republican Representative Nancy Mace, a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, introduced the resolution banning transgender women from using female restrooms.
Democrats and LGBTQ rights advocates expressed outrage Tuesday after a Republican lawmaker introduced a measure that would ban the first openly transgender person elected to the US Congress from using women's restrooms in the building.
The text targets Sarah McBride, who won one of Delaware's seats in the House of Representatives earlier this month and will take her place in Congress come January.
On Monday, Republican Representative Nancy Mace, a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump, introduced the resolution banning transgender women from using female restrooms.
The fiery South Carolina congresswoman also explained her thinking on X, posting that "biological men do not belong in private women's spaces. Period. Full stop. End of story."
Transgender rights are a hot-button issue in the United States -- with the participation of trans people in competitive sports and the subject of access to gender-affirming care for minors triggering fiery debate.
Democrats and LGBTQ advocates largely denounced Mace's effort, categorizing it as an attack on trans people.
Calling the proposed resolution "hateful," US House Democrat Becca Balint said there was "no bottom to the cruelty. We have an obligation to push back."
Mark Pocan, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said the resolution was "a pathetic, attention-seeking attempt to grab Trump's eye and the media spotlight."
"Trans people, including trans employees, are paying the price," he said.
Asked Tuesday about the measure, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson deflected, telling reporters: "This is an issue that Congress has never had to address before, and we're going to do that in deliberate fashion with member consensus."
McBride herself wrote on X that the maneuver was "a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing."
While McBride has acknowledged her groundbreaking status as the first openly trans lawmaker, she has said her legislative priorities will remain "affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care, reproductive freedom."
cjc/bfm/mlm

obesity

Novo Nordisk's obesity drug Wegovy goes on sale in China

  • A Novo Nordisk spokesperson confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that the drug was "now available in China" for the treatment of adults with obesity and those overweight with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
  • Novo Nordisk's blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy is now available for use in China, the company confirmed to AFP on Tuesday, as the Asian nation battles high rates of obesity.
  • A Novo Nordisk spokesperson confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that the drug was "now available in China" for the treatment of adults with obesity and those overweight with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
Novo Nordisk's blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy is now available for use in China, the company confirmed to AFP on Tuesday, as the Asian nation battles high rates of obesity.
The Danish pharmaceutical firm is the maker of two game-changing treatments for diabetes and obesity -- Ozempic and Wegovy -- propelling its emergence as Europe's most valuable company.
Wegovy was approved for use in China in June, and local media reported that the first prescription at a public hospital was issued in Shanghai on Monday.
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that the drug was "now available in China" for the treatment of adults with obesity and those overweight with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
China's rapid economic development has driven health improvements in recent decades but that growth was also accompanied by an explosion in weight-related disorders.
Nearly half of all adults in the country are either overweight or obese, according to a peer-reviewed study last year that was covered by state media.
Local media reported that a month's supply of Wegovy will cost around 1,400 yuan ($193), compared to the reported US list price of $1,349.
Novo Nordisk last week posted a 21 percent rise in net profit to 27.3 billion kroner ($3.94 billion) in the third quarter, despite production constraints.
The company said it expected full-year sales to rise by 23 to 27 percent from a year earlier, revising its earlier forecast of 22 to 28 percent.
mjw/oho/dhc

mosquito

Urban mosquito sparks malaria surge in East Africa

BY ERIC RANDOLPH

  • "The invasion and spread of Anopheles stephensi has the potential to change the malaria landscape in Africa and reverse decades of progress we've made towards malaria control," Meera Venkatesan, malaria division chief for USAID, told AFP. - 'More research is needed' - The fear is that stephensi will infest dense cities like Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast and Sudan's capital Khartoum, with one 2020 study warning it could eventually reach 126 million city-dwellers across Africa.
  • The spread of a mosquito in East Africa that thrives in urban areas and is immune to insecticide is fuelling a surge in malaria that could reverse decades of progress against the disease, experts say.
  • "The invasion and spread of Anopheles stephensi has the potential to change the malaria landscape in Africa and reverse decades of progress we've made towards malaria control," Meera Venkatesan, malaria division chief for USAID, told AFP. - 'More research is needed' - The fear is that stephensi will infest dense cities like Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast and Sudan's capital Khartoum, with one 2020 study warning it could eventually reach 126 million city-dwellers across Africa.
The spread of a mosquito in East Africa that thrives in urban areas and is immune to insecticide is fuelling a surge in malaria that could reverse decades of progress against the disease, experts say.
Africa accounted for about 95 percent of the 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 deaths worldwide in 2022, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO), which said children under five accounted for 80 percent of deaths in the region.
But the emergence of an invasive species of mosquito on the continent could massively increase those numbers. 
Anopheles stephensi is native to parts of South Asia and the Middle East but was spotted for the first time in the tiny Horn of Africa state of Djibouti in 2012.
Djibouti had all but eradicated malaria only to see it make a slow but steady return over the following years, hitting more than 70,000 cases in 2020. 
Then stephensi arrived in neighbouring Ethiopia and WHO says it is key to an "unprecedented surge", from 4.1 million malaria cases and 527 deaths last year to 7.3 million cases and 1,157 deaths between January 1 and October 20, 2024.
Unlike other species which are seasonal and prefer rural areas, stephensi thrives year-round in urban settings, breeding in man-made water storage tanks, roof gutters or even air conditioning units.
It appears to be highly resistant to insecticides, and bites earlier in the evening than other carriers. That means bed nets -- up to now the prime weapon against malaria -- may be much less effective.
"The invasion and spread of Anopheles stephensi has the potential to change the malaria landscape in Africa and reverse decades of progress we've made towards malaria control," Meera Venkatesan, malaria division chief for USAID, told AFP.

'More research is needed'

The fear is that stephensi will infest dense cities like Mombasa on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast and Sudan's capital Khartoum, with one 2020 study warning it could eventually reach 126 million city-dwellers across Africa.
Only last month, Egypt was declared malaria-free by WHO after a century-long battle against the disease -- a status that could be threatened by stephensi's arrival.
Much remains unknown, however.
Stephensi was confirmed as present in Kenya in late 2022, but has so far stayed in hotter, dryer areas without reaching the high-altitude capital, Nairobi. 
"We don't yet fully understand the biology and behaviour of this mosquito," Charles Mbogo, president of the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association, told AFP.
"Possibly it is climate-driven and requires high temperatures, but much more research is needed."
He called for increased funding for capturing and testing mosquitos, and for educating the public on prevention measures such as covering water receptacles.

Multiplying threats

The spread of stephensi could dovetail with other worrying trends, including increased evidence of drug resistant malaria recorded in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Eritrea.
"The arrival of resistance is imminent," said Dorothy Achu, WHO's head of tropical and vector-borne diseases in Africa. 
WHO is working with countries to diversify treatment programmes to delay resistance, she said. 
A new malaria variant is also evading tests used to diagnose the disease. 
"The increased transmission that stephensi is driving could potentially help accelerate the spread of other threats, such as drug resistance or another mutation in the parasite that leads it to be less detectable by our most widely-used diagnostics," said Venkatesan at USAID.
Another added challenge is the lack of coordination between African governments. 
Achu said WHO is working on "a more continental approach". 
But Mbogo in Kenya said "more political will" was needed. 
"We share information as scientists with colleagues in neighbouring countries," he said."But we need to reach the higher level. We need cross-border collaborations, data-sharing."
er/txw/rl/rsc

malaria

Djibouti experiments with GM mosquito against malaria

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) says the species is a key factor in an unprecedented spike in malaria cases in Djibouti and Ethiopia, and has been found in six other African countries so far. 
  • Tens of thousands of genetically modified mosquitos are being released every week in Djibouti as the tiny Horn of Africa state experiments with a new weapon against an unprecedented malaria surge. 
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) says the species is a key factor in an unprecedented spike in malaria cases in Djibouti and Ethiopia, and has been found in six other African countries so far. 
Tens of thousands of genetically modified mosquitos are being released every week in Djibouti as the tiny Horn of Africa state experiments with a new weapon against an unprecedented malaria surge. 
East Africa faces a deadly new threat from the arrival of Anopheles stephensi, a mosquito native to Asia and the Middle East that thrives in urban areas and is immune to insecticides. 
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the species is a key factor in an unprecedented spike in malaria cases in Djibouti and Ethiopia, and has been found in six other African countries so far. 
In 2019, Abdoulilah Ahmed Abdi, health adviser to Djibouti's presidency, heard about a new invention being used primarily in Brazil against a dengue-carrying mosquito. 
The so-called "Friendly" mosquito, created by British biotechnology firm Oxitec, is a genetically modified male that carries a protein ensuring its offspring will not survive.
Since only females bite, the idea is that GM males can be released in vast numbers without posing an additional risk to humans.
Djibouti launched the programme in May with the release of 40,000 GM mosquitos and on October 6, began weekly releases that will run for six months.
"We are trying to find with our partner Oxitec an innovative and sustainable solution that could have an impact on the whole region and the continent at large," said Abdi.
"We are very proud of it. It's an initiative for all Africa," he added.
Abdi said results were expected by mid-2025 and that Djibouti was also building a factory to produce the mosquito for shipment across Africa. 

Hopes and challenges

Oxitec has released well over one billion GM mosquitos in Brazil and Florida in the United States, where it targets the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti. 
Its studies indicate it can reduce wild populations by 90 percent or more. 
"There's nothing better at finding the biting disease-transmitting female mosquito than a male mosquito," Neil Morrison, Oxitec's chief strategy officer, told AFP.
He emphasised the Djibouti programme was still at a pilot stage.  
"Early next year, we'll start to figure out how many mosquitoes we'll need to release to deliver suppression," he said.
GM mosquitos are controversial with some environmentalists.
A 2019 report led by GeneWatch UK said Oxitec's technology risked altering the evolution of mosquitos and the way diseases spread, in potentially dangerous ways. 
It questioned Oxitec's claims of efficacy, saying it could inadvertently release many females alongside its sterile males, or simply push wild mosquitos into neighbouring areas. 
Oxitec insists its GM mosquito is "completely harmless and non-toxic" and regulators cleared it for deployment in the US in 2022. 
But if GM mosquitos must be continuously released to be effective, there is the question of cost -- a key factor in Africa, which accounts for around 95 percent of the 600,000 malaria deaths each year.
Oxitec refused tell AFP how much its mosquitos cost to governments and private buyers. 
Outside experts are taking a wait-and-see approach. 
"We are very supportive of innovation," said Dorothy Achu, WHO's head of tropical and vector-borne diseases in Africa.
She said WHO was working on a regulatory framework to measure the impact of GM methods. 
"Initial results are very promising but we need things that are sustainable over time and we need impact on wide areas," said Achu.
er/txw/cw/rsc

crime

Anger, pain in Turkey as 'newborn deaths gang' trial opens

BY REMI BANET

  • As the trial of the so-called "newborn baby gang" opened, the courtroom on the European side of Istanbul was packed with family members and reporters, with 47 suspects due to testify over the coming weeks. 
  • Dozens of suspects went on trial in Istanbul Monday over the deaths of at least 10 babies as part of a vast social security fraud scheme in Turkey's worst health scandal in years. 
  • As the trial of the so-called "newborn baby gang" opened, the courtroom on the European side of Istanbul was packed with family members and reporters, with 47 suspects due to testify over the coming weeks. 
Dozens of suspects went on trial in Istanbul Monday over the deaths of at least 10 babies as part of a vast social security fraud scheme in Turkey's worst health scandal in years. 
As the trial of the so-called "newborn baby gang" opened, the courtroom on the European side of Istanbul was packed with family members and reporters, with 47 suspects due to testify over the coming weeks. 
Prosecutors believe a network of private hospital staff, from managers to doctors along with emergency call operators and ambulance drivers, conspired to send healthy babies to certain neonatal care units for financial gain. 
Giving the parents false medical grounds, the defendants allegedly kept some of the infants in intensive care needlessly, sometimes for weeks at a time. 
Other babies who were in need of specialised care did not receive the treatment they needed, in a scandal which shocked the nation when it was made public last month. 
The aim was to secure a social security payment of 8,000 Turkish lira ($230) per day which is granted to private hospitals treating newborns on top of the fee charged to the parents. 
The profits were then shared out between them. 
The indictment, which is almost 1,400 pages long, said at least 10 babies died as a result of negligence and improper treatment over several years. 
The inquiry began in May 2023 and by the end of October, investigators were looking into some 350 complaints, Turkish media reports said. 
As the trial began, demonstrators outside the courthouse lined up a row of empty pushchairs, one of which bore the slogan "Dead children don't grow up", while others denounced the harm done by excess privatisation within the Turkish health system. 

'Barbaric'

"The night I gave birth, my baby was fine, he was healthy. The next day, they told us he had three deep-vein thrombosis, high blood pressure and was in respiratory distress," Nazli Ahi, who gave birth at a private Istanbul hospital in April 2023, told the Anadolu news agency. 
"Then they said they were going to transfer him" to a neonatal intensive care unit at another hospital, she said. 
A few days later, her baby boy was declared dead.
"If they had told us they need money, I would have given them billions if they would just give me my child back," she said. 
The authorities have closed nine private hospitals in Istanbul and a neighbouring province, including one run by a former health minister from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party, who served from 2013-2016.
And nine other health centres are being investigated. 
The defendants face a string of charges, including "wilful negligent homicide", conspiracy to defraud public institutions and establishing an organisation "with the aim of committing a crime". 
If convicted, they collectively risk several hundred years behind bars.
Erdogan, who has said he was "personally" following the developments, has promised the "severest possible" punishment for "those responsible for this barbarity". 
rba/hmw/sbk

Global Edition

India's capital shuts schools because of smog

  • Primary schools were already ordered to cease in-person classes on Thursday, with a raft of further restrictions imposed on Monday, including limiting diesel-powered trucks and construction.
  • India's capital New Delhi switched schools to online classes Monday until further notice because of worsening toxic smog, the latest bid to ease the sprawling megacity's health crisis.
  • Primary schools were already ordered to cease in-person classes on Thursday, with a raft of further restrictions imposed on Monday, including limiting diesel-powered trucks and construction.
India's capital New Delhi switched schools to online classes Monday until further notice because of worsening toxic smog, the latest bid to ease the sprawling megacity's health crisis.
Levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- were recorded at 57 times above the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum on Sunday evening.
They stood around 39 times above warning limits at dawn on Monday, with a dense grey and acrid smog smothering the city.
The city is blanketed in acrid smog each year, primarily blamed on stubble burning by farmers in neighbouring regions to clear their fields for ploughing, as well as factories and traffic fumes.
The restrictions were put in place by city authorities "in an effort to prevent further deterioration" of the air quality.
Authorities hope by keeping children at home, traffic will be significantly reduced.
"Physical classes shall be discontinued for all students, apart from Class 10 and 12," Chief Minister Atishi, who uses one name, said in a statement late Sunday.
Primary schools were already ordered to cease in-person classes on Thursday, with a raft of further restrictions imposed on Monday, including limiting diesel-powered trucks and construction.
The government urged children and the elderly, as well as those with lung or heart issues "to stay indoors as much as possible".
Many in the city cannot afford air filters, nor do they have homes they can effectively seal from the misery of foul-smelling air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.
The orders came into force on Monday morning.
New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to more than 30 million people, consistently tops world rankings for air pollution in winter.
Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants each winter, stretching from mid-October until at least January.
India's Supreme Court last month ruled that clean air was a fundamental human right, ordering both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.
pjm/fox

dengue

Fifth of dengue cases due to climate change: researchers

BY DANIEL LAWLER

  • - More than 12.7 million dengue cases were recorded worldwide this year as of September, nearly double 2023's total record, according to World Health Organization figures.
  • Climate change is responsible for nearly a fifth of the record number of dengue cases worldwide this year, US researchers said on Saturday, seeking to shine a light on how rising temperatures help spread disease.
  • - More than 12.7 million dengue cases were recorded worldwide this year as of September, nearly double 2023's total record, according to World Health Organization figures.
Climate change is responsible for nearly a fifth of the record number of dengue cases worldwide this year, US researchers said on Saturday, seeking to shine a light on how rising temperatures help spread disease.
Researchers have been working to swiftly demonstrate how human-driven climate change directly contributes to individual extreme weather events such as the hurricanes, fires, droughts and floods that have battered the world this year.
But linking how global warming affects health -- such as driving outbreaks or spreading disease -- remains a new field.
"Dengue is a really good first disease to focus on because it's very climate sensitive," Erin Mordecai, an infectious disease ecologist at Stanford University, told AFP.
The viral disease, which is transmitted via bites from infected mosquitoes, causes fever and body aches and can, in some cases, be deadly.
It has typically been confined to tropical and sub-tropical areas but rising temperatures have led to mosquitoes encroaching on new areas, taking dengue with them.
For the new study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, a US team of researchers looked at how hotter temperatures were linked to dengue infections in 21 countries across Asia and the Americas.
On average, around 19 percent of current dengue cases around the world are "attributable to climate warming that has already happened", said Mordecai, the senior author of the pre-print study.
Temperatures between 20-29 degrees Celsius (68-84 degrees Fahrenheit) are ideal for spreading dengue, Mordecai said.
Elevated areas of Peru, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil that will warm into this temperature range could see dengue cases rising by as much as 200 percent in the next 25 years, the researchers found.
The analysis estimated that at least 257 million people are currently living in areas where global heating could double the rate of dengue during that period.
This danger is just "another reason you should care about climate change", Mordecai said.

Bacteria to the rescue?

More than 12.7 million dengue cases were recorded worldwide this year as of September, nearly double 2023's total record, according to World Health Organization figures.
But Mordecai said a "massive amount of under-reporting" meant the real number was likely to be closer to 100 million.
The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans.
Another set of research, also not peer-reviewed, raised hopes of a potential tool to help fight the rise of dengue.
It involves breeding mosquitoes infected with a common bacteria called Wolbachia that can block the insect's ability to transmit dengue.
Five years ago, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes were introduced across most of the Brazilian city of Niteroi.
When Brazil endured its worst-ever dengue outbreak this year, there was only a small increase in dengue in Niteroi, they found.
The number of cases was also 90-percent lower than before the Wolbachia mosquitoes were deployed -- and "nothing like what was happening in the rest of Brazil", said Katie Anders of the World Mosquito Program.
That the city fared so well showed that "Wolbachia can provide long-term protection for communities against the increasingly frequent surges in dengue that we're seeing globally", Anders said.
The researchers said they have partnered with the Brazilian government to build a Wolbachia mosquitoes production facility, in the hope of protecting millions of people.
dl/gil

fire

10 newborns killed in India hospital fire

  • "I pray to Lord Shri Ram to provide salvation to the departed souls and speedy recovery to the injured," he posted on X. Friday's fire comes six months after a similar blaze at a children's hospital in New Delhi that killed six newborns.
  • A fire at the neonatal unit of an Indian hospital killed 10 newborns, authorities said Saturday, with another 39 rescued from a blaze blamed on a faulty oxygen machine.
  • "I pray to Lord Shri Ram to provide salvation to the departed souls and speedy recovery to the injured," he posted on X. Friday's fire comes six months after a similar blaze at a children's hospital in New Delhi that killed six newborns.
A fire at the neonatal unit of an Indian hospital killed 10 newborns, authorities said Saturday, with another 39 rescued from a blaze blamed on a faulty oxygen machine.
Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and a routine disregard for safety regulations.
The fire broke out at about 10:30 pm (1700 GMT) on Friday night at the Maharani Lakshmibai Medical College in Jhansi, around 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of the capital New Delhi.
Footage from the scene showed charred beds and walls inside the ward as a crowd of anguished families waited outside.
"My child has gone forever," one mother wailed as she clutched her head in grief.
Babies rescued from the fire, all only days old, were moved to a new unit inside the hospital where staff were caring for them.
"Ten infants have unfortunately died despite our best efforts," doctor Narendra Sengar, the principal of a medical college attached to the hospital, told AFP.
Sengar said all 39 other babies in the ward had been rescued and were in good health, contradicting earlier media reports that 16 had been critically injured.
"The postmortem examinations of the babies are being carried out. The 39 infants who have been rescued are unscathed," he added.
Doctors and staff on duty had rushed to the rescue of the babies "without caring for their own lives", he said.
"Thanks to them we could save 39 babies. They are the real heroes."
Police superintendent Gyanendra Kumar Singh said the fire likely started in a piece of machinery used to enrich the oxygen level in the atmosphere.
"All children rescued are safe and getting medical attention," Singh told AFP.

'Heart-wrenching'

Deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Brajesh Pathak met the parents and relatives of the infants Saturday and assured them of a thorough probe.
Pathak said a safety audit of the hospital was carried out in February followed by a fire drill three months later.
"The cause of the fire will be probed," he added. "If any lapses are found, strict action will be taken against those responsible and no one will be spared."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the deaths "heart-wrenching" in a post on X.
"My deepest condolences to those who have lost their innocent children in this. I pray to God to give them the strength to bear this immense loss," he wrote.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a compensation of 500,000 rupees ($5,900) each to the bereaved families.
"I pray to Lord Shri Ram to provide salvation to the departed souls and speedy recovery to the injured," he posted on X.
Friday's fire comes six months after a similar blaze at a children's hospital in New Delhi that killed six newborns.
Authorities said that the hospital was not properly licensed and lacked proper fire exits, and police arrested a doctor and the facility's owner in the aftermath.
The May blaze occurred just hours after at least 27 people were killed, including several children, when a fire broke out at a packed amusement park arcade in another part of the country.
str-abh/gle/dhw

smog

Pakistan's policies hazy as it fights smog

BY MUHAMMED SOHAIL ABBAS WITH SHROUQ TARIQ IN ISLAMABAD

  • Children are often hardest hit, with UNICEF noting that "prior to these record-breaking levels of air pollution, about 12 percent of deaths in children under five in Pakistan were due to air pollution". 
  • From banning tuk-tuks and barbecues to demolishing old brick kilns, Pakistan's government is pushing a series of measures to fight record-breaking smog. 
  • Children are often hardest hit, with UNICEF noting that "prior to these record-breaking levels of air pollution, about 12 percent of deaths in children under five in Pakistan were due to air pollution". 
From banning tuk-tuks and barbecues to demolishing old brick kilns, Pakistan's government is pushing a series of measures to fight record-breaking smog. 
But environmental activists and experts warn that the efforts hardly begin to fix a problem that leaves the country choking every winter, with Punjab, a region of almost 130 million people bordering India, bearing the brunt of it.
A mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by agricultural stubble burning, blanket the city each winter, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds. 
The UN food agency FAO pinpoints transport as the main source of air pollutant emissions, followed by industry and agriculture. 
Punjab minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, who has declared a "war against smog", has deployed police to fine farmers who use the slash-and-burn technique. 
Officials are also targeting companies that fail to comply with orders to modernise their infrastructure. 
"It is a good starting point", the Pakistan Air Quality Experts (PAQx) group, a coalition of 27 professionals spanning public health, environmental science, law, and economics, wrote in a letter to the government.
But more urgent action was necessary against the worst polluters, the group said, suggesting immediate curbs on heavy vehicles circulating at certain hours or a nation-wide shutdown of all brick kilns, old and new.
Ahmad Rafay Alam, one of Pakistan's leading environment lawyers, said the government has "not understood the problem completely".
"It should (improve the quality of) petrol, move to renewables, improve the industry, otherwise, we're just showing something for the sake of showing it," he said.

Cost hurdle

More than 24 million vehicles ply the streets in Punjab, a province served by a weak public transportation infrastructure.
"We need to upgrade the vehicle fleet," Alam said.
But many Pakistanis are also unable to afford more modern and less-polluting options in a country where the World Bank reports 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
In the brick-making industry, one of Pakistan's biggest sectors, employers and employees have shown incomprehension at the government's actions.
Officials have shut down 700 of the country's 25,000 brick kilns because they have not switched to more energy-efficient versions touted to reduce air particle output. 
Employer Sajid Ali Shah told AFP that the government "replaced the old technology that we worked with for over 50 years with a new one, but many do not even know how to use the new technology". 
Worker Muhammad Imran, 40, said the old kilns "used to cost us almost $1000, the new one is almost $6000". 
A similar picture emerged in the farming sector. 
Officials want the agriculture sector to switch to fertilisers instead of the slash-and-burn technique, but farmers say that is too costly.
"We plough, burn and then water (the fields) for good results. There's no other way," Fida Hussain, a 35-year-old farmer told AFP, after he finished burning his rice fields.
Deforestation also continues to gather pace to make way for new bridges and roads. 
Every year, Pakistan loses almost 27,000 hectares (270 square kilometres) of natural forest area, according to the World Bank.

Children paying price

With the smog far from lifting, doctors are reporting a health emergency. 
Air pollution can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). 
More than 35,000 patients have been reported in the five major public hospitals of Lahore during the past week, Pakistan's official news agency APP reported. 
Children are often hardest hit, with UNICEF noting that "prior to these record-breaking levels of air pollution, about 12 percent of deaths in children under five in Pakistan were due to air pollution". 
To limit the damage, the provincial government shut down schools and public spaces in Punjab's major cities till 17 November, disrupting the learning of almost 16 million children. 
"It's unfortunate that the children are paying the price when it should be industry, energy production and automobile use that should be upgraded or shut down," Alam said.
But Aurangzeb warned: "Even if we enforce our smog mitigation plan... it will not bring an overnight change".
str-stm/hmn/cwl

appointment

Climate crusader to vaccine skeptic RFK Jr to 'Make America Healthy Again'

BY LUCIE AUBOURG AND ISSAM AHMED

  • - MAHA - The pair then hit the trail together to promote the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) movement, a play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan.
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime conspiracy theorist and vaccine opponent, now has the ear of President-elect Donald Trump to promote what he's calling the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.
  • - MAHA - The pair then hit the trail together to promote the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) movement, a play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime conspiracy theorist and vaccine opponent, now has the ear of President-elect Donald Trump to promote what he's calling the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.
It's an unlikely alliance between the Kennedy family scion, once a celebrated environmental champion who called for prosecuting climate change deniers, and the returning Republican leader.
What they share, however, is a profound distrust of institutions.
Trump announced Thursday he would nominate Kennedy to become the next secretary of Health and Human Services, fulfilling a campaign promise to award the 70-year-old a "big role in healthcare" that raised alarm in public health circles.
Not long ago Kennedy was a high-powered climate attorney and was even in the mix to become former president Barack Obama's first environment chief.
This makes him a complex figure, some experts say. 
In recent days, he's tried to allay fears, telling NPR, "We're not going to take vaccines away from anybody," while adding, "We are going to make sure that Americans have good information."

A whale, a worm and a bear cub

But Kennedy has spent two decades promoting vaccine conspiracy theories, especially around Covid-19 shots -- the vaccines developed in record time under Trump's first administration.
He also suggested the coronavirus itself was "ethnically targeted" to harm Black and white people while sparing "Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."
Running initially as an independent candidate, the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy set the campaign ablaze with a string of bizarre revelations.
His claim to have recovered from a parasitic brain worm, made during a divorce deposition, was resurfaced by the New York Times. 
He released a video admitting that a decade earlier he had placed a dead six-month-old bear cub in  Central Park after initially planning to skin it for meat. 
And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reportedly opened an investigation that Kennedy used a chainsaw to decapitate a dead whale two decades ago to take to his home, as recounted by his daughter Kathleen to Town and Country magazine in 2012.
In August, he withdrew to endorse Trump, a decision denounced by five of his siblings who called it a "betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear."

MAHA

The pair then hit the trail together to promote the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) movement, a play on Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) slogan.
"Our big priority will be to clean up the public health agencies," he declared in a video, echoing progressive critiques that these agencies have become entangled with the very industries they are meant to regulate.
He has also stirred controversy by suggesting he would stop the addition of fluoride to tap water -- a practice aimed at preventing cavities that the CDC considers one of the top 10 health achievements of the 20th century.
But some experts saw merit. "It's not an entirely crazy idea," physician Leana Wen wrote in the Washington Post, noting that, since more and more fluoride comes from toothpaste, the Public Health Service in 2015 recommended lowering its levels in water. 
Some studies have linked it to interfering with early brain development and the CDC urges parents of young children to guard against excessive toothpaste use.

Reproductive rights and more

If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy could face pressure from conservative quarters to undo stringent privacy protections for women seeking abortions out-of-state put in place by President Joe Biden's health secretary, Xavier Becerra.
Yet RFK Jr.'s stance on reproductive rights defies easy categorization. Earlier this year, he defended a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy at any stage, saying, "Ultimately, I don't trust government to have jurisdiction over people's bodies."
He later revised his position, favoring a ban after fetal viability, around 24 weeks -- the limit set by a Supreme Court ruling that held sway for half a century before it was overturned in 2022, thanks to Trump-appointed justices.
Kennedy will also tackle the nation's food health, a curious task considering Trump's well-known affection for McDonald's.
He also insists America must curb its chronic disease epidemic, with a particular focus on obesity. But he's also a fan of raw milk, a practice health experts strongly discourage.
la-ia/adp

overdoses

Biden administration touts record drop in overdose deaths

  • "When President Biden and Vice President Harris first took office, the number of drug overdose deaths was increasing 31 percent year-over-year," said Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
  • President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday celebrated new data showing the largest recorded year-over-year drop in US overdose deaths, attributing the success to its policies including expanding naloxone access and intensifying efforts against illicit fentanyl.
  • "When President Biden and Vice President Harris first took office, the number of drug overdose deaths was increasing 31 percent year-over-year," said Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday celebrated new data showing the largest recorded year-over-year drop in US overdose deaths, attributing the success to its policies including expanding naloxone access and intensifying efforts against illicit fentanyl.
The latest provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a 14.5 percent predicted reduction in the 12-months ending June 2024, from 113,154 to 96,801. 
"When President Biden and Vice President Harris first took office, the number of drug overdose deaths was increasing 31 percent year-over-year," said Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
Gupta highlighted that the Biden-Harris government had removed barriers to treatment, made life-saving opioid overdose reversal medications like naloxone more accessible and affordable, and "invested historic levels of funding to crack down on the supply of illicit fentanyl at the border."
Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, is now more accessible in public spaces including schools, workplaces and airports, and is available for over-the-counter purchase at pharmacies nationwide.
America's opioid crisis can be traced back to the 1990s, fueled by the aggressive marketing and widespread prescription of opioid painkillers like OxyContin. 
In recent years, overdose deaths have surged, largely due to illicitly manufactured fentanyl -- primarily produced in China and trafficked into the United States through Mexico -- often mixed with stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine.
ia/bfm

EMA

European watchdog partially approves new Alzheimer's drug

BY JAN HENNOP

  • "After re-examining its initial opinion, the EMA... has recommended granting marketing authorisation to Leqembi (lecanemab) for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease," the European Medicines Agency said, adding treatment would only apply to a certain group of patients.
  • Europe's medicines watchdog on Thursday partially approved a marketing request for a long-awaited new treatment for Alzheimer's disease, reversing an earlier decision not to give it the green light.
  • "After re-examining its initial opinion, the EMA... has recommended granting marketing authorisation to Leqembi (lecanemab) for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease," the European Medicines Agency said, adding treatment would only apply to a certain group of patients.
Europe's medicines watchdog on Thursday partially approved a marketing request for a long-awaited new treatment for Alzheimer's disease, reversing an earlier decision not to give it the green light.
"After re-examining its initial opinion, the EMA... has recommended granting marketing authorisation to Leqembi (lecanemab) for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease," the European Medicines Agency said, adding treatment would only apply to a certain group of patients.
Leqembi, developed by US multinational Biogen and Japanese-based Eisai, is the brand name of an active substance called lecanemab that is used to treat adults with mild memory and cognitive problems resulting from the early stages of the common type of dementia.
The EMA in July rejected a marketing request, saying the side effects, including potential brain bleeding, outweighed the benefits.
The EMA now endorsed the treatment, but only for patients with a lower risk of potential brain bleeding -- those who had "only one copy or no copy of ApoE4", a type of gene know as an important risk factor for Alzheimer's.
Such patients are less likely to experience certain serious health problems than people with two copies of the gene, the Amsterdam-based EMA said.
The health problems in question, known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), include fluid on the brain and brain bleeding.
"The benefits of Leqembi outweigh the risks in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease with one or no copy of ApoE4."
This was "provided that risk minimisation measures are in place to reduce the risk of severe and symptomatic ARIA and monitor its consequences in the long term," it stressed.
Bringing down the risks included providing Leqembi through a "controlled access programme to ensure that the medicine is only used in the recommended patient population" and through MRI scans before and during treatment.
The Amsterdam-based EMA's approval will now be sent to the European Commission for a final decision to roll it out on the continent.
Pricing and reimbursement will be left up to member states, the EMA said.
Lecanemab has been hailed by Alzheimer's researchers and charities for being the first approved treatment which tackles the early stages of the disease, rather than managing the symptoms.
It works by using antibodies which bind to and clear the proteins that normally build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's, the most common type of dementia.
The treatment has been shown to decrease cognitive decline by a quarter in people in the early stages of the disease.
Britiain's medicines regulator approved lecanemab in August, making it the country's first such licensed treatment. 
Leqembi, together with another Alzheimer's drug called Aduhelm, received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration early last year.  
jhe/giv