Disabled Burundians no longer need to buy foreign prosthesis that are often very expensive. The Patrick Ngoga foundation manufactures splints, and other orthopaedic support devices.
A revolution is underway for disabled people in Burundi. In this building housing the Patrick Ngoga foundation, anyone can find crutches, splints, prosthesis and other orthopaedic support devices.
Founder Mr Ngoga suffered an accident during his childhood that impacted his sciatic nerve and left him handicapped.
After three years spent in Japan to study prosthetics and Orthotics, he is back in Burundi. His goal is to help fellow disabled citizens: "Before I completed my training, we had to go abroad to find prosthesis. Nowadays, we don’t need to travel to find affordable ones any more. Many people need prosthesis. Today, prosthetic feet are manufactured in Burundi and patients can buy them at lower prices."
It is fitting day for Chartier Bimenyimana. The man suffered a car accident. He is one of the many people who’ve had their lives transformed by the work of the foundation. "I am very happy. For the past four years, I have been walking with crutches and no pants on. Thanks to this, I can start wearing pants again."
On the national level, associations gathering disabled people have witnessed the positive impact of the foundation. Eugene Nsabayezu, the president of the National Paralympic Committee explains: "Most disabled people come from poor families and they cannot afford prosthesis or any orthopaedic support. If you try to estimate a price, it cost about 1 million or 1 million and a half franc. I can testify that the Ngoga Foundation helps hundreds of people to finally get orthopaedic implants that improve their mobility."
Only one rehabilitation center existed before the Patrick Ngoga foundation was launched. The few people who could afford the prosthesis had to pay out some five thousand US dollars.
If the exact number of disabled people in the Southern African country isn’t known, the prostheses made in Burundi have already been life-changing for many. - By Rédaction Africanews with Francine Sinarinzi
KAMPALA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Wednesday announced that it has stopped the mandatory COVID-19 testing of travelers coming into the country.
The Ministry of Health in a statement issued here said the move which takes immediate effect follows a cabinet decision on Feb. 14.
The ministry stressed in the statement, however, that the mandatory testing of 72 hours before boarding for both incoming and exiting travelers remains in effect.
The suspension is based on a decline in positive COVID-19 cases identified at the airport (the country's Entebbe International Airport), said the ministry, noting the other reason is the reduction in the global threat of new variants of concern and therefore reduced risk of importing new variants.
Uganda in October last year started mandatory COVID-19 testing for all incoming travelers in an effort to curb a further importation of the deadly Coronavirus variants into the country.
The Ministry of Health data suggested that tests done on Feb. 14 showed 63 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases out of 4,010 samples taken.
The country as of Feb. 14 had registered 162,865 positive COVID-19 cases since the country registered the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020. - Xinhua
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 20 countries or situation (including one region) - called hunger hotspots - during the outlook period from February to May 2022.
Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen remain at the highest alert level from the previous edition of this report. In their last available assessments, these countries all had parts of populations identified or projected to experience starvation and death (Catastrophe, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification [IPC] Phase 5), requiring the most urgent attention.
The lack of updated assessment data for Ethiopia is a major concern. Acute food insecurity levels are likely to have increased and could rise further beyond the Emergency and Catastrophic levels (IPC Phase 4 and 5) already identified in the last report. These included a projection of famine-like conditions for 401 000 people for July to September 2021 in the Tigray region. A risk that famine would occur in Tigray region by end of 2021 was identified by the IPC Famine Review Committee, conditional on the conflict worsening, humanitarian access shrinking and private sector and supply lines becoming non-functional. While an updated assessment of the situation is not available, according to the Famine Review Committee's worst case scenario, there would be a high Risk of Famine, if conflict was to resume in Tigray.
In Nigeria, while some populations in conflict-affected areas in the northeast are now projected to slide into catastrophic food insecurity at the peak of the lean season, from June 2022 onwards, it cannot be excluded that some may start to experience this even earlier, in the next months, and that the magnitude may be higher than what projections anticipate.
Across South Sudan, the magnitude and severity of already very high levels of acute food insecurity is likely to increase further. Food insecurity has likely further deteriorated beyond the latest available IPC projections and is expected to continue increasing. Preliminary results of the sectoral analysis undertaken in November 2021 identified 11 counties of extreme concern for food insecurity in 2022 as compared to 6 in 2021. In Pibor County, Jonglei State, the IPC FRC had alerted in December 2020 that several payams were in famine likely or at risk of famine for the projected period from December to July 2021.
In Yemen, the latest available IPC analysis, issued in December 2020, projected rising Catastrophic levels of food insecurity in three governorates and deteriorating Emergency levels in other parts by June 2021. While increased humanitarian assistance by July 2021 contributed to a stabilization of food insecurity, recent data across the north and south of Yemen gives indicative evidence of a deteriorating trend in the food insecurity situation while underlying drivers of food insecurity continue to deteriorate.
Compared to the previous edition of this report, the situation in Madagascar is no longer at the highest alert level as the risk of a catastrophic food insecurity situation – 28 000 people were previously projected to face Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) by October– December 2021 has been averted for now as a result of the broad coverage of humanitarian food assistance. Nonetheless, Madagascar remains a hunger hotspot due to persisting high levels of acute food insecurity.
Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Honduras, the Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic remain countries of particular concern, as in the previous edition of this report. This is due to the high numbers of people in critical food insecurity coupled with worsening drivers expected to further intensify life-threatening conditions. Afghanistan in particular is projected to face a record high of people in critical food insecurity and there is a serious risk that parts of the population will face starvation and death (IPC Phase 5) if the crisis is not contained. Sahel, as a region, is the new entry for this category of countries of particular concern, likely to reach the highest number of acutely food-insecure people in the past eight years under the combined effects of erratic rainfall, record high food prices and – for Central Sahel – further security deterioration. Mauritania has been added in the list of hotspots countries compared to the July 2021 edition of the report.
Organized violence or conflict remains the primary drivers, actual or potential, for acute hunger in the hunger hotspots and globally. Weather extremes such as heavy rains, tropical storms, hurricanes, flooding, drought and climate variability remain significant drivers in some countries and regions. The ongoing La Niña conditions additionally lead to an elevated risk of a two-year sequence of dry conditions, particularly in East Africa and Central Asia. Almost two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, global and national economic disruptions caused by several contagion waves have escalated while new variants bring new uncertainties and might negatively affect their economies. Overall, high food prices and low household purchasing power are major economic concerns for further increasing acute food insecurity.
Targeted humanitarian action is urgently needed to save lives and livelihoods in the 20 hunger hotspots. Moreover, in four of these hotspots – Ethiopia, Nigeria South Sudan and Yemen – humanitarian actions are critical to preventing starvation and death. The report provides country-specific recommendations on priorities for emergency response as well as anticipatory action to address existing humanitarian needs and ensure short-term protective interventions before new needs materialize. - OCHA/ReliefWeb
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