U.S. SUBMITS TO TALIBAN: United States
As the chaos in Afghanistan continues, the Taliban have issued an order on the evacuation, and it would appear that the U.S. – superior in every regard in military might – is going to submit to that order and bend the knee.
The Biden Administration has announced that it would do its best to adhere to an Aug. 31 deadline for all American troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan. This comes as the evacuation of U.S. citizens and supporters have been desperately trying to flee in fear for their lives should they be subjected to Taliban rule. The evacuation has been so hasty that billions of dollars in U.S. resources are being left behind – for the Taliban to claim.
All of this is a far cry from when the United States went into Afghanistan in 2001 to root out 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda terror network, after the Taliban refuse to hand them over. After the Taliban was ousted, Hamid Karzai, whom the Kabul airport is named after, was installed as its new president.
Since then, the fighting has not stopped, with the Taliban somehow growing stronger despite being forced out of power. Now, as the world approaches the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the group that harbored those responsible are back, and even more formidable than before. Soldiers who fought in the war and lost brothers and sisters in combat are left to wonder, what happened?
With the mandatory evacuation being carried out to the Taliban’s liking, it looks as if the United States lost the war in Afghanistan.
APPEAL MADE FOR HAITI: CARIBBEAN
The UN and partners have launched a $187.3 million appeal to support half a million people affected by the deadly earthquake in southwestern Haiti nearly two weeks ago.
This funding will be used to provide shelter, water and sanitation, emergency healthcare, food, protection and early recovery.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Aug. 14 killed more than 2,200 people and injured over 12,000 others. More than 130,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, along with other infrastructure such as roads.
The tragedy was followed by Tropical Storm Grace just two days later, which dumped extremely heavy rains in affected areas, causing flash floods and mudslides.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, aid partners, under the leadership of the Haitian Government, began a massive relief operation. Search and rescue, and medical teams, are working to find survivors and provide urgent medical care in hard-to-reach areas.
The earthquake impacted some 800,000 Haitians. The appeal targets 500,000 of the most vulnerable people of the 650,000 identified to be in need of assistance.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who travelled to Haiti last week, witnessed firsthand the disastrous humanitarian situation, and the pain and suffering of those who lived through the earthquake.
“The UN and our international partners need the support of the international community in providing vital supplies to help us build back better from this catastrophe. We cannot and must not leave the people of Haiti behind,” she said in a video message shared on Twitter.
Meanwhile, a surge in gang-related violence in recent months has displaced roughly 19,000 people in areas near the Haitian capital, which has made it difficult to reach the areas affected by the earthquake.
VACCINE APPROVED FOR AGES 12-17: EUROPE
An extension to the current UK approval of the Spikevax vaccine (formerly COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna) that allows its use in 12- to 17-year-olds has been authorized by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
This Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA) extension granted by the MHRA is valid in Great Britain only and was approved via the European Commission (EC) Decision Reliance Route. This is when the marketing authorization application made by the company references the decision made by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).
Spikevax is authorized in children aged 12-17 years in Northern Ireland under the CMA extension granted by the European Medicines Agency on July 23, 2021.
Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive said: “I am pleased to confirm that that the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna has now been authorized in 12-17 year olds. The vaccine is safe and effective in this age group.
“We have in place a comprehensive safety surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all UK-approved COVID-19 vaccines and this surveillance will include the 12- to 17-year age group.
“It is for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) to advise on whether this age group should be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna as part of the deployment program.”
The Spikevax vaccine is already authorized in adults aged 18 years and over. No new side effects were identified and the safety data in children was comparable with that seen in young adults. As in young adults, the majority of adverse events were mild to moderate and relating to reactogenicity, such as a sore arm or tiredness.
TENSION OVER HYPERTENSION: WORLD
The vast majority of people with hypertension (high blood pressure) – a serious medical condition that significantly increases the risks of heart, brain, kidney and other diseases – live in low and middle-incomes countries, a World Health Organization (WHO) report released on Aug. 25 has revealed.
The study, which was co-led by Imperial College London, found that 82 percent of all people with hypertension, around one billion, live in low and middle-income countries.
Researchers found that Canada, Peru and Switzerland had among the lowest prevalence of hypertension in the world in 2019, while some of the highest rates were seen in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Paraguay for women and Hungary, Paraguay and Poland for men.
Although it is straightforward to diagnose hypertension and relatively easy to treat the condition with low-cost drugs, the study revealed significant gaps in diagnosis and treatment. About 580 million people with hypertension were unaware of their condition because they were never diagnosed. The study also indicated that more than half of people with hypertension, or a total of 720 million people, were not receiving the treatment that they needed.
Men and women in Canada, Iceland and the Republic of Korea were most likely to receive medication to treat and control their hypertension, with more than 70 percent of those with the condition receiving treatment in 2019. In comparison, men and women in sub-Saharan Africa, central, south and southeast Asia, and Pacific Island nations are the least likely to be receiving medication.
Professor Majid Ezzati, senior author of the study and Professor of Global Environmental Health at the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said, “Nearly half a century after we started treating hypertension, which is easy to diagnose and treat with low-cost medicines, it is a public health failure that so many of the people with high blood pressure in the world are still not getting the treatment they need.”
The overall number of adults aged 30-79 years with hypertension has doubled from 650 million to 1.28 billion. However, this is primarily down to population growth and ageing, and the percentage of people who have hypertension has changed little since 1990.
