Tag Archives: caribbean

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Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams’ Address to Mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 07, 2021) — The following is an address by Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, Junior Minister of Health in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) on the occasion of Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021:

“Since 1985 the Month of October is being observed as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and each year at this time we make a special effort to highlight the devastating impact Breast Cancer has on millions of women throughout the globe

During this month all efforts are being made to raise awareness about Breast Cancer, the inherent risks, and early signs and symptoms of breast health.

In 2020 2.30 million women were diagnosed with Breast Cancer and approximately 685,000 deaths. This cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of deaths in women.

Here in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis the incidence of Breast Cancer continues to increase, and younger and younger women are becoming affected. Data shows that in 2019 there were 25 new cases of Breast Cancer and 16 new cases recorded in 2020 ranging from age 30 to 90 years old.

Studies have shown that Breast Cancer can be detected early and treated effectively. It has also shown that breast self-examination and mammograms have led to early diagnosis and effective treatment, and it is also evident that early interventions have led to a reduction in premature deaths associated with breast cancer.

The Ministry over the years has supported women by helping them to access education, screening and the support they need.

The Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs encourages you to join with us as we RISE together to help women in need. Help us to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and support women to reduce their Breast Cancer risks.

Let us encourage all women of child bearing age or who have a family history of Breast Cancer to be screened annually, but most importantly to check their breast regularly for signs of any changes.

This year Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been dubbed Pinktober.  Our activities include the lighting of the Ministry of Tourism #NevisNice sign in pink. A podcast on Breast Cancer: Sexuality and Intimacy, with special guests Dr. Merisa Grant Tate and Mrs. Camara Lee-Prentice. There will also be a Workplace Lump Detection session with Dr. Essien and this will be conducted at selected business places.​

It is time to RISE! We rise with the courageous women and men who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and are fighting this dreaded disease daily. We rise and continue fighting for a cure but most importantly let us rise and continue to fight for access to universal quality health care for all.”

The post Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams’ Address to Mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021 appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Biden Pressure: Moderna Plans to Build Vaccine Plant in Africa for Lower-Income Nations

Biotechnology company Moderna, under intense pressure to send more of its coronavirus vaccine to lower-income countries, announced Thursday it would build a manufacturing plant in Africa capable of producing 500 million doses of messenger RNA vaccines a year.

The announcement follows tensions between the Biden administration and Moderna that boiled over in the last week, including at a contentious meeting Friday, as the U.S. government urges the biotechnology company to send more coronavirus vaccines to lower-income countries, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private conversations.

For months, the U.S. government has pleaded with Moderna to boost its domestic and international production so it can ramp up donations to low- and middle-income countries. But in two meetings during the last week, Biden administration officials have grown exasperated over the biotechnology company’s refusal to commit to doing so, the people said.

One senior U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the government pushed Moderna to commit to 1 billion doses for low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2022. But Moderna responded with a proposal that did not meet the Biden administration’s expectations, as the company said it does not have the capacity to ramp up production immediately.

The manufacturing facility Moderna pledged on Thursday to build in Africa will not have an immediate impact on the coronavirus pandemic because it will take two to four years to build. The new facility comes after the Biden administration asked Moderna months ago to boost its international production in Africa, the U.S. official said.

The Biden administration’s frustration with Moderna in recent months stems in part from the recognition that the company partnered with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to invent its vaccine, and that the U.S. government gave Moderna billions of taxpayer dollars to underwrite research and development of the vaccines, and for purchase of doses.

“We look forward to seeing exactly what they will do,” the senior Biden administration official said. “We are in intense discussions to expand capacity to increase the number of doses they are providing to low- and middle-income countries in the shorter term.”

U.S. officials feel the company has not done enough to boost production to send doses overseas, and instead, prioritized its own profits.

The White House declined to comment.

Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment about tensions with the Biden administration.

Just this week, three people associated with Moderna were among the 44 new billionaires on Forbes’s list of the 400 richest Americans. Making their debut on this year’s list: Moderna’s chairman, Noubar Afeyan, one of the U.S. biotech company’s founders; board member Robert S. Langer, also a co-founder; and early investor Timothy A. Springer.

“We played a lot of scenarios over the last couple of months and decided we should do something big in Africa. The only way to do it right, if you take a 5-to-10-year view, was to build our own plant like we’ve done in America, so that’s exactly the model,” Moderna chief executive Stéphane Bancel said in an interview.

Creating manufacturing capabilities in underserved areas of the world has become a major goal for public health advocates amid stark inequities in global access to coronavirus vaccines. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that nearly two-thirds of people in wealthy countries have received at least one dose of a vaccine, compared with 2 percent in low-income countries.

The United States has already committed to donating more than 1.1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine to the world, including two purchases of 500 million doses each of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Last month, President Biden convened a virtual global summit focused on vaccinating the world’s population. The president called on global leaders to fully vaccinate 70 percent of the world’s population by next September.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck crisis,” Biden said. “And the good news is, we know how to beat this pandemic: vaccines, public health measures and collective action.”

Moving manufacturing into less-wealthy countries is one possible solution to the lack of global supply, but many advocates favor transferring the technology to local companies to ensure that countries have the ability to respond to new threats, and to ensure their doses do not end up exported elsewhere in the world.

“There’s this monopolistic grip of a few countries that really controls the narrative, and the availability and the access of lifesaving medical resources — and there’s enormous global resentment about that,” said Lawrence O. Gostin, a global health law expert at Georgetown Law. “Donations always seem to come too late, and be insufficient. … Opening up manufacturing plants in other countries is certainly a step forward, but it doesn’t really change the dynamic.”

Bancel said the company has not decided where the factory will be, but that the doses made there would remain in Africa, and Moderna would recruit and train a local workforce. He said the factory would manufacture the mRNA that goes into the vaccines and encase it in the protective lipid bubble that delivers the vaccine and keeps it stable. He said details were still being worked out about where the vaccines would go into vials.

Moderna has a large pipeline of mRNA vaccines in development beyond covid-19, including to protect against respiratory viruses, tropical viruses and HIV.

“We really want to get all the know-how and so on in Africa, so they can make vaccines, if there is an Ebola outbreak, they can use the plant for things like that,” Bancel said.

Gostin said building plants in lower-income countries was a step forward but emphasized that local control, ownership and expertise matters. He drew a comparison to China’s “belt and road initiative” in which the Chinese government built infrastructure in other countries.

“It’s helpful to have the shiny hospital or the shiny manufacturing plant or the shiny clinic, but what you really want is to have the infrastructure that belongs to the country, with trained, capable people running that infrastructure,” Gostin said.

Other efforts to create homegrown mRNA vaccines are already taking place.

University of Pennsylvania researcher Drew Weissman, one of the scientists whose work undergirds the coronavirus vaccines, has worked with Thailand to help design a mRNA vaccine.

GreenLight Biosciences, a start-up company that has been making RNA for agricultural applications, is working toward making mRNA vaccines with a different manufacturing process that could be easier to scale up. GreenLight plans to launch a clinical trial in Africa next year.

The post Biden Pressure: Moderna Plans to Build Vaccine Plant in Africa for Lower-Income Nations appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Nevis Ranks No. 2 in Condé Nast Traveler 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS — Condé Nast Traveler announced the results of its 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards on October 05, 2021, with Nevis recognised as the no. 2 Top Island in all of the Caribbean and the Atlantic.

Two resorts in the destination were also ranked among the Top 40 Resorts in the Caribbean Islands. The luxurious Four Seasons Resort Nevis ranked no. 13, and the elegant boutique hotel, Montpelier Plantation & Beach ranked no. 32.

Responding to the high recognition for the destination by readers of the prominent international tourism magazine, Ms. Jadine Yarde, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the Nevis Tourism Authority (NTA) expressed gratitude.

“This has been a difficult time for tourism worldwide for obvious reasons. Receiving the Readers’ Choice Award is especially meaningful now, as we’ve used the last 18 months to further enhance the island’s tourism offerings in anticipation of the return of international travellers to this piece of paradise, we call home.

“We thank the readers of Condé Nast Traveler for sharing their travel experiences and placing Nevis amongst the very best,” she said.

According to a press release from the NTA, The Readers’ Choice Awards are the longest-running and most respected recognition of excellence within the travel industry.

This year, more than 800,000 readers rated their travel experiences across the globe, clearly identifying those destinations they love most and can’t wait to return to.

The complete list of 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards can be found on Condé Nast Traveler’s website, cntraveller.com/gallery/readers-choice-winners-2021, and in the November issue available on newsstands.

The recognition comes after the recent launch of the new destination website. The newly revamped website is lively, dynamic and practical, offering a modernised design and easy navigation, sure to inspire travel to Nevis.

To encourage consumers to explore the new website, the Nevis Tourism Authority is giving away a Nevis vacation for one lucky traveller via its Mango Mania competition. Visitors can enter the giveaway at https://nevisisland.com/.

The post Nevis Ranks No. 2 in Condé Nast Traveler 2021 Readers’ Choice Awards appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Last Frontier Last to Have COVID Surge, Pandemic Summary, World Stats

TANACROSS, Alaska (AP) — One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic — the Spanish flu.

It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River.

But the battle against the coronavirus isn’t over. The highly contagious delta variant is spreading across Alaska, driving one of the nation’s sharpest upticks in infections and posing risks for remote outposts like Tanacross where the closest hospital is hours away.

The COVID-19 surge is worsened by Alaska’s limited health care system that largely relies on hospitals in Anchorage, the biggest city. It’s where the state’s largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center, is overwhelmed with patients and was the first weeks ago to declare crisis-of-care protocols, meaning doctors are sometimes prioritizing care based on who has the best odds of survival.

Since then, 19 other health care facilities in Alaska, including Anchorage’s two other hospitals and Fairbanks Memorial, have also entered crisis care mode, something overtaxed facilities in other states have had to do, including Idaho and Wyoming.

“Even though we live here, we’re concerned about Anchorage and Fairbanks,” said Alfred Jonathan, a Tanacross elder. “If somebody gets sick around there, there’s no place to take them.”

Alfred Jonathan looks at the trees Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska."If somebody gets sick around there, there's no place to take them," said 78-year-old Alfred Jonathan. He tells people that COVID is here."This one is pretty scary," said Jonathan, who encouraged people to get vaccinated if for nothing else, for the sake of their children and grandchildren. "And the other people that didn't get vaccinated?" he said. "Gosh, we're afraid for them."(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Alfred Jonathan looks at the trees Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A welcome to Tok Mainstreet Alaska sign is shown Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The state is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)A welcome to Tok Mainstreet Alaska sign is shown Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ice and snow covers the Alaska Highway Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The state is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Ice and snow covers the Alaska Highway Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

While Alaska has contracted with nearly 500 medical professionals to help over the next few months, the ramifications are dire for those in rural Alaska if they need higher levels of care — for COVID-19 or otherwise — but no beds are available.

Sometimes those patients get lucky and get transferred to Fairbanks or Anchorage. Other times, health care staff are on the phones — in some cases, for hours — looking for a bed or facility that can provide specialty treatments like dialysis.

One patient who couldn’t get dialysis at Providence died, hospital spokesperson Mikal Canfield said. Dr. Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, the hospital’s chief of staff, said she knew a patient in an outlying community who needed cardiac catheterization and died waiting.

Options in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, also are being overloaded. One rural clinic finally found a spot for a patient from interior Alaska in Colorado.

Health officials blame the hospital crunch on limited staffing, rising COVID-19 infections and low vaccination rates in Alaska, where 61% of eligible residents in the conservative state are fully vaccinated. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, one in every 84 people in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29, the nation’s worst diagnosis rate in recent days.

Samantha Ervin, left, a pharmacist at the Upper Tanana Health Center, administers the second COVID-19 vaccine shot to Maggie Roach Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Roach was at first hesitant to get the vaccine but changed her mind after contracting COVID-19 and nearly dying from it last summer. She now encourages other to consider getting vaccinated if they haven't. That's what she and her husband did. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Samantha Ervin, left, a pharmacist at the Upper Tanana Health Center, administers the second COVID-19 vaccine shot to Maggie Roach Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Officials say medical workers are exhausted and frustrated with what feels like a no-win effort to combat misinformation about COVID-19 being overblown and vaccines being unsafe. Some say it could have long-term effects — further shaking confidence in vaccines and treatments for other illnesses and making the longstanding pre-pandemic challenge of recruiting health care workers to the remote state more difficult.

Medical workers “describe the emotions of: ‘You hear a code is happening, someone is passing away,’” said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. “That is devastating. You never want to lose a patient. But in the back of your mind, you’re thinking, ‘OK, another bed is now available that is critically needed.’ And how do you balance those emotions? It’s gut-wrenching.”

Arthur John, 82, a retired trapper, and his wife of 62 years, 99-year-old Isabel pose for a photograph at their home Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Arthur John spent nearly 30 days at in the hospital with COVID, dropping about 40 pounds during his stay. "It makes me weak and can't work like before," the village elder said. "There's so much it took off me and I just wish for working." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Arthur John, 82, a retired trapper, and his wife of 62 years, 99-year-old Isabel pose for a photograph at their home Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Marilyn Paul stands in front of her home Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Marilyn Paul stands in front of her home Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In Tanacross, elders are encouraging people to get vaccinated, especially with facilities strained. The village is in a sprawling, sparsely populated region of eastern Alaska where the vaccination rate is under 50%.

Jonathan, 78, tells villagers that COVID-19 is here, and like the delta variant, is going to develop in other ways.

Those who “didn’t get vaccinated? Gosh, we’re afraid for them,” said Jonathan, who recently led a crew clearing dead and dying trees to reduce wildfire fuel and provide wood to heat homes.

His wife, Mildred, helped guard the gate into the community this year. Those restrictions ended this summer as the pandemic seemed to be improving. Now, she says she’s tired of outsiders calling their friends in Tanacross to scare them, claiming there are problems with the vaccines.

Angelique Ramirez, chief medical officer at Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks, poses for a photograph in front of the emergency entrance at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ramirez, said the facility has paused certain elective procedures, converted some meeting space for patient beds if needed and is hiring temporary non-licensed positions to take some duties off the hands of nurses, such as taking calls and stocking carts with personal protective gear. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Angelique Ramirez, chief medical officer at Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks, poses for a photograph in front of the emergency entrance at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, in Fairbanks, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

“I got both my shots, I’m alive and nothing’s wrong with me,” she said before piling bags of sanitizer, masks and nitrile gloves into her Prius to deliver throughout town.

Alaska, hailed early in the pandemic for working with tribal health organizations to distribute vaccines widely and quickly, was 25th in the U.S. for the percentage of its total population inoculated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

At hospitals, care “has shifted,” said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer.

“The same standard of care that was previously there is no longer able to be given on a regular basis,” she said. “This has been happening for weeks.”

In rural Alaska, six Indigenous villages, including Tanacross, rely on the new Upper Tanana Health Center in the hub community of Tok, about a two-hour drive from the Canadian border. The staff treats who they can and moves those with more serious needs to Anchorage or Fairbanks, said Jacoline Bergstrom, executive director of health services for the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of 42 Athabascan villages spread over an area of interior Alaska nearly the size of Texas.

Emergency plans are in place to house people overnight if hospital beds aren’t available right away, clinic director Joni Young said. They’re usually flown because it’s a three-hour drive from Tok to Fairbanks and about seven to Anchorage.

“If for some reason, we can’t medevac out, we’ve been preparing since the beginning to help our patients if we need to,” Young said. “We’ve got cots before, stored here, and we have another building that we lease that we could use to separate COVID patients.”

The staff is putting in overtime, with nurses taking COVID-19 questions from callers and working weekends. They need to hire two urgent care registered nurses, but few have applied.

Joyce Johnson-Albert looks on as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Joyce Johnson-Albert looks on as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Joyce Johnson-Albert receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Joyce Johnson-Albert receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Angie Cleary, a registered nurse, cares for Joyce Johnson-Albert as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Angie Cleary, a registered nurse, cares for Joyce Johnson-Albert as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Joyce Johnson-Albert lay on a bed at the health center with an IV in her arm. She was vaccinated but got a breakthrough infection, she suspects from a hunting camp.

“I just hope the next few days, I’ll be getting a little better than now,” Johnson-Albert said as she received a monoclonal antibody infusion, given at the onset of COVID-19 to lessen symptoms. “It’s just hard to say. You can go either way.”

Registered nurse Angie Cleary is grateful the clinic offers the infusion treatment.

“However, I feel worried some days where we’re not sure when we’ll get more,” Cleary said. “For example, we’re down to, I think, five doses right now, and we could get more tomorrow or it might not be until next week. That’s one of the concerns we have living out here, is like, when are we going to get our next shipment?”

They’re also battling misinformation about the pandemic.

 

Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has faced criticism for not mandating masks and not endorsing vaccines as fully as some would like. He has encouraged people to get shots but said it is a personal choice. Others have accused him of pushing vaccines and peddling fear.

Providence hospital employees are having a hard time with the harsh rhetoric, Solana Walkinshaw said. One staffer got spit at leaving work, the chief of staff said.

“We still have people who are COVID-denying as they’re being intubated, or family members who are COVID-denying as they’re saying on an iPad, saying goodbye to their loved one,” she said.

Daisy Northway of the Tok Native Association knows how hard it is to advocate for vaccinations, saying she’s “talked till I’m blue in the face” trying to convince one of her sons.

The Athabascan elder said she urges people to get the shots but in a way that lowers the political fervor.

“We need to say, ‘Get vaccinated’ in such a manner that it’s helpful and not being criticizing for their beliefs,” she said.

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Pfizer applies for COVID-19 vaccine authorization in children 5-11

 

© Getty Images

There’s a potential light at the end of the tunnel for parents worried about their children under 12.Pfizer said Thursday that it had submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11.

The application has been highly anticipated, as millions of parents are eager to vaccinate their kids. No vaccine is currently available for children under 12.

The FDA has previously said it would move quickly to review the application, “likely in a matter of weeks rather than months.”

An FDA advisory committee is meeting to discuss the application on Oct. 26, and the agency will decide whether to accept the recommendation. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel will meet shortly after.

Children generally do not get severely ill with COVID-19 as much as older people do, but there were still almost 175,000 cases among children in the week ending Sept. 30, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Between 0.1 percent and 1.9 percent of COVID-19 cases in children resulted in hospitalization, according to AAP.

Pfizer has tested a dose for children that is one-third the amount used in adults. Late last month, it announced positive results from its studies, pointing to a “favorable safety profile and robust neutralizing antibody responses.”

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Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* Sweden and Denmark are pausing the use of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for younger age groups after reports of possible rare cardiovascular side effects.

* The European Union’s public health agency is proposing a revision of COVID-19 rules which could ease travel for vaccinated people. read more

* Britain dropped its advice against all but essential travel for 32 countries and territories on Wednesday. read more

AMERICAS

* More than 840,000 children under the age of four have contracted COVID-19 in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* The Brazilian agency that regulates health insurance plans has opened an investigation into allegations that a hospital chain tested unproven drugs on elderly COVID-19 patients without their knowledge. read more

* Canada will place unvaccinated federal employees on unpaid leave and require COVID-19 shots for air, train and ship passengers.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Malaysia has struck a deal with U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co to buy 150,000 courses of its experimental antiviral pill, the health ministry said. read more

* Restrictions will be eased further in Sydney from Monday, as Australia’s largest city looks set to exit a nearly four-month lockdown after hitting its 70% full vaccination target. read more

* Air New Zealand is operating less than one-third of its usual domestic capacity due to tough restrictions in Auckland and doubts whether a travel bubble with Australia will reopen. read more

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Sudan has received more than 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer, the first batch of a U.S. donation of 1.27 million doses through the COVAX facility.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Moderna plans to invest about $500 million to build a factory in Africa to make up to 500 million doses of mRNA vaccines each year.

* French healthcare company Sanofi said it had found positive results from the first study into a high-dose influenza vaccine with an mRNA booster. read more

* A booster shot improves the immune response of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, while post-COVID depression can be treated with widely used drugs, new studies show.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

237,595,393

Deaths:

4,850,151

Recovered:

214,677,829
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

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Latest News

October 8 (GMT)

Updates

  • 972 new cases and 37 new deaths in Japan [source]
  • 100 new cases and 2 new deaths in S

 

 

 

The post Last Frontier Last to Have COVID Surge, Pandemic Summary, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams delivers address to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021

NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 07, 2021) — The following is an address by Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams, Junior Minister of Health in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) on the occasion of Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021.

Since 1985 the Month of October is being observed as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and each year at this time we make a special effort to highlight the devastating impact Breast Cancer has on millions of women throughout the globe.

During this month all efforts are being made to raise awareness about Breast Cancer, the inherent risks, and early signs and symptoms of breast health.

In 2020 2.30 million women were diagnosed with Breast Cancer and approximately 685,000 deaths. This cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of deaths in women.

Here in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis the incidence of Breast Cancer continues to increase, and younger and younger women are becoming affected. Data shows that in 2019 there were 25 new cases of

Breast Cancer and 16 new cases recorded in 2020 ranging from age 30 to 90 years old.

Studies have shown that Breast Cancer can be detected early and treated effectively. It has also shown that breast self-examination and mammograms have led to early diagnosis and effective treatment, and it is also evident that early interventions have led to a reduction in premature deaths associated with breast cancer.

The Ministry over the years has supported women by helping them to access education, screening and the support they need.

The Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs encourages you to join with us as we RISE together to help women in need. Help us to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and support women to reduce their Breast Cancer risks.

Let us encourage all women of child bearing age or who have a family history of Breast Cancer to be screened annually, but most importantly to check their breast regularly for signs of any changes.

This year Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been dubbed Pinktober. Our activities include the lighting of the Ministry of Tourism #NevisNice sign in pink. A podcast on Breast Cancer: Sexuality and Intimacy, with special guests Dr. Merisa Grant Tate and Mrs. Camara Lee-Prentice. There will also be a Workplace Lump Detection session with Dr. Essien and this will be conducted at selected business places.​

It is time to RISE! We rise with the courageous women and men who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and are fighting this dreaded disease daily. We rise and continue fighting for a cure but most importantly let us rise and continue to fight for access to universal quality health care for all.

The post Hon. Hazel Brandy-Williams delivers address to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2021 appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Wife of Slain Haiti President ‘Won’t Stop’ Until Killers Brought to Justice

By
Demonstrators hold signs reading "Justice for Jovenel" outside a judicial hearing into the assassination of President Jovenel Moise attended by former first lady Martine Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 6, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol
Demonstrators hold signs reading "Justice for Jovenel" outside a judicial hearing into the assassination of President Jovenel Moise attended by former first lady Martine Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 6, 2021. REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 6 (Reuters) – The wife of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise said on Wednesday after a judicial hearing into his murder that she would not rest until his killers were brought to justice.

Martine Moise went to meet with the judge in charge of the investigation of Moise’s death in July and said she answered questions for several hours.

In an impromptu statement from the courthouse, she urged anyone with information to come forward.

“Everybody says that in my country we won’t get justice. Even if people are telling me this. That’s where I’ll start to seek justice,” Moise said. “We’ll ask for justice in the morning, in the afternoon, at night, because I won’t stop until I get justice.”

More than 40 people have been arrested in connection with the murder, Haitian authorities have said, but it remains unclear who masterminded the operation and how they were able to gain access the president’s residence. Moise was gunned down at home by a group consisting mostly of Colombian mercenaries.

A crowd gathered outside of the courthouse in Moise’s support, chanting slogans against current acting head of state Ariel Henry. Later, a fight broke out between supporters of Moise and detractors.

Moise recently completed a small tour of her home country after a prolonged absence in the wake of the murder.

“I don’t wish this upon anyone,” Moise said. She said she had been married to the former banana importer for 25 years.

Reporting by Gessika Thomas; Writing by Jake Kincaid; editing by Grant McCool

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COVID Delta Detected in Tobago

Rishard Khan

The more infectious and deadly Delta coronavirus variant has now been detected in Tobago.

The news came from Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan PArasram during Wednesday’s virtual press conference where he indicated that six additional people were confirmed as being infected with the variant.

“Of the cases we have five of the Delta cases in Trinidad and we now have our first confirmed Delta case in Tobago,” he said.

“The data is being collected right now by the CMOHs as well as Dr Hinds and we’d present later on a full summary of what we found.

“This brings the total number of people confirmed with the Delta variant locally up to 32. He said the Ministry of Health received confirmation of the variant’s detection on Tuesday night.

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Bahamas: 2 Women Legislators Make History as New Parliamentary Leaders

History was created today in the Bahamas when Senator J Lashell Adderley and Patricia Deveaux were appointed to lead both arms of Parliament.

This is the first time that two women will lead the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament at the same time.

Adderley will serve as the President of the Senate while Deveaux, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bamboo Town, will be the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

Adderley is the fifth woman to be appointed to lead the Upper House while Deveaux is the second woman to oversee sittings of the Lower House.

Adderley told Senators that her main goal is to ensure the business of Bahamians is addressed.

Senate President J Lashell Adderley receiving her instrument of appointment from Governor-General Cornelius A Smith on October 4. Photo: BIS/Letisha Henderson

 

“Be assured, I intend to go about this job impartially and without fear or favour,” she remarked.

Deveaux expressed similar sentiments as she said that was “eternally grateful” for the opportunity to be the second woman to oversee the business of the House of Assembly.

“I shall endeavour to continue the tradition of dignity and honour that have marked this office,” Deveaux said as she urged her colleagues not to abuse the rights and privileges afforded to them as Members of Parliament.

North Eleuthera Member of Parliament Sylvanus Petty will serve as Deputy of the Speaker of the House of Assembly and Senator Barry Griffin Jr will serve as Vice President of the Senate.

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World View: Judge Suspends Texas Anti-Abortion Law, Taliban War on Drugs, US-China Leaders to Talk Soon, More

Oct 07, 2021

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The Associated Press

Advancing the Power of Facts

The Rundown

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge ordered Texas to suspend the most restrictive abortion law in the U.S., calling it an “offensive deprivation” of a constitutional right by banning most abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state since…Read More

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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Now the uncontested rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban have set their sights on stamping out the scourge of narcotics addiction, even if by force. At nightfall, the battle-hardened fighters-turned-policemen scour the capi…Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic leaders edged back Wednesday from a perilous standoff over lifting the nation’s borrowing cap, with Democratic senators signaling they were receptive to an offer from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell th…Read More

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HONOLULU (AP) — At first, he was just a boyfriend. He gave Ashley Maha’a gifts and attention. But then he gave her drugs and became controlling and abusive. He would punish her for breaking ambiguous, undefined “rules,” only to later say he was so…Read More

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NEW YORK (AP) — The number of U.S. children orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic may be larger than previously estimated, and the toll has been far greater among Black and Hispanic Americans, a new study suggests. …Read More

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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A massive cargo ship made a series of unusual movements while anchored in the closest spot to a Southern California oil pipeline that ruptured …Read More

ZURICH (AP) — With tensions rising between the global powers, President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual meeting before year’s end, accor…Read More

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Saudi Arabia upheld a 20-year prison term imposed on a Saudi aid worker who had criticized the government on Twitter, drawing a r…Read More

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The 2021 Nobel Prize for literature is being announced Thursday, an award that has in the past honored poets, novelists and even a songwriter, Bob Dylan….Read More

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