Talk about favourite parks

4TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 Views

Editor: Tusika Martin News Hotline: 231-8063 Editorial: 231-0544, 223-7230, 223-7231, 225-7761 Marketing: 231-8064 Accounts: 225-6707 Mailing address: Queens Atlantic Investment Estate Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown Email: news@guyanatimesgy.com, marketing@guyanatimesgy.com

Child deaths and the pandemic

The number of global under-five deaths dropped to its lowest point on record in 2019 – down to 5.2 million from 12.5 million in 1990, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF; the World Health Organisation (WHO); the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank Group.

Since then, however, surveys by UNICEF and WHO reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in major disruptions to health services that threaten to undo decades of hard-won progress, WHO has reported.

According to UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, the global community has come too far towards eliminating preventable child deaths to allow the COVID-19 pandemic to stop us in our tracks. She noted: “When children are denied access to health services, because the system is overrun, and when women are afraid to give birth at the hospital for fear of infection, they, too, may become casualties of COVID-19.”

Fore argued that without urgent investments to re-start disrupted health systems and services, millions of children under five, especially newborns, could die.

WHO has explained that over the past 30 years, health services to prevent or treat causes of child death such as pre-term birth, low birthweight, complications during birth, neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, as well as vaccination, have played a large role in saving millions of lives.

It said now countries worldwide are experiencing disruptions in child and maternal health services, such as health check-ups, vaccinations, and prenatal and post-natal care, due to resource constraints and a general uneasiness with using health services due to a fear of getting COVID-19.

WHO cited a UNICEF survey conducted recently across 77 countries which found that almost 68 per cent of countries reported at least some disruption in health checks for children and immunisation services. In addition, 63 per cent of countries reported disruptions in antenatal check-ups and 59 per cent in post-natal care.

Further, a recent WHO survey, based on responses from 105 countries, revealed that 52 per cent of countries reported disruptions in health services for sick children and 51 per cent in services for management of malnutrition.

According to WHO, health interventions such as these are critical for stopping preventable newborn and child deaths. For example, women who receive care by professional midwives trained according to international standards are 16 per cent less likely to lose their baby and 24 per cent less likely to experience pre-term birth.

Based on the responses from countries that participated in the UNICEF and WHO surveys, the most commonly cited reasons for health service disruptions included parents avoiding health centres for fear of infection; transport restrictions; suspension or closure of services and facilities; fewer healthcare workers due to diversions or fear of infection due to shortages in personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves; and greater financial difficulties. Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Libya, Madagascar, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen are among the hardest-hit countries.

According to WHO, with severe disruptions in essential health services, newborn babies could be at much higher risk of dying.

WHO has pointed to an initial modelling by Johns Hopkins University which showed that almost 6000 additional children could die per day due to disruptions as a result of COVID-19.

These reports and surveys, according to WHO, highlight the need for urgent action to restore and improve childbirth services and antenatal and postnatal care for mothers and babies, including having skilled health workers to care for them at birth. Working with parents to assuage their fears and reassure them is also important.

WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out: “The fact that today more children live to see their first birthday than any time in history is a true mark of what can be achieved when the world puts health and well-being at the centre of our response.”

All countries, including Guyana, must take the necessary action urgently to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from turning back remarkable progress for our children and future generations. The WHO Head has urged that it is time to use what we know works to save lives and keep investing in stronger, resilient health systems.

Region One (Barima-Waini) Commander, Superintendent Jairam Ramlakhan met with residents during a meet-and-greet exercise over the weekend

The PPP/C has to repair and replace the loss created by the PNCR

Dear Editor,

As the mutilated bodies of the Henry cousins were laid to rest last Sunday, the parting ceremony was conducted in a sordid environment, far from being conducive with the sanctity of a peaceful and sacred farewell and invaded with the racial diatribes of some merciless politicians. Guyana prays that the departed souls find their restful places within the softness of the eyes of that forgiving Almighty and that, all who are guilty of orchestrating this heinous crime, be swiftly brought to justice.

Guyana is waking up to another piece of disturbing news that 56 persons have died because of COVID-19 and, who knows exactly how many more have become affected since the gathering of protesters, rioters and looters who chose to listen to the dastard advice of heartless and selfish manipulators, exposing themselves to the deadly danger rather than being conscious and calculative of the risk factor involved. Worry not why the infected number keeps increasing, thanks to the preachers and teachers from Georgetown.

Has any one of the Berbice “protesters” thought about getting tested? But some of us are either too gullible, naïve, carefree, irrational, nonjudgmental, illiterate, silly, passionate, emotional, apathetic, influential or one of a thousand other terminologies that may fittingly describe us, if we are guilty as a participant in one or more of the sadistic tragedies that caused death, pain, suffering, damages and loss in the atrocious fiasco that occurred last week in the Berbice madness.

The callousness of the PNC leaders continues to endanger the entire nation in many forms and shapes and in variable degrees, quality and quantity. The sad part about this degrading affair is that APNU/ AFC party members and associates continue to allow themselves to be used and fooled by these mischief makers who are determined to still seize power, one way or the other at the expense of their followers, despite acknowledging that the PNC party has a history of propagating violence since the days of 1960s to currently. Hello, has anyone seen or heard again from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Hide and seek is a favourite pastime game in Guyana. He is still hoping to sneak in through the back door!

It was reported that the political poison providers “tried a thing” in Buxton and attempted Scene 2, trying to proliferate incitement, but, the Buxtonians were well prepared for this inducement and promptly rebuked and refused, quite rightly, to be deceived again and drawn into any monstrosity. Kudos to the smart and intelligent, quick-thinking people who smelled the hunters from afar and did not allow themselves to become ensnared in the trap. Too long has vulgarity and hooliganism pervaded openly in society and it is time that the decency of moral dignity envelope our lifestyle and we become compatible with socially distancing ourselves from corruption of the mind, whereby, we do not become vulnerably susceptible to volatility. The time is ripe and right for us to engage our conscience so that as we kneel, let us meditate on empathy to cleanse our hearts from guilt and shame so that we can see the light of being remorseful.

Gladston Henry is not only a figurehead, hero and teacher, but also, a gentleman and scholar, a healer and mediator who has created a precedent for refined sincerity, laying a cornerstone to catapult Guyana towards uniting from a raw division of racial animosity to a peaceful cohesion of love and respect for all ethnicities. Guyana should feel proud that such a “Gandhi follower” exists and the honour of respect should be bestowed on him. It was Martin Luther King Jr who pensively philosophised, “Judge not a man by the skin of his colour but by the content of his character.” The President should enlist him on his award roaster. In the USA, following the death of George Floyd, riots have continued in some cities and other deaths and shootings during interactions with Police. It is estimated that in Portland, they have seen some US$23 million in damages and in Minneapolis, the city had to endure about US$500 million worth of destruction. Will someone guestimate the unnecessary loss in Berbice? The present generation should pay attention to three lines that were printed back in 1882 and credited as “Motto on the walls of a school in Germany”: When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; When health is lost, something is lost; When character is lost, all is lost.

Think about it Guyana, every time the PNC doesn’t get their way, then it’s the highway to mayhem and destruction. Guess who has to repair and replace the loss? Yes, of course, you’re right. Good, old PPP/C is always the sucker, waiting outside after being sidelined and then to become the babysitter.

They had to clean up the diapers when the PNC was ousted in 1992 and then again, in 2020, they have to clean up another lump of poo. Is this country not blessed to go forward on a straight path without incurring all the terrible trauma, tragedies, terror, torment, trials, tribulations, trepidations, trouble, torture, tension and an endless list of torrential trivialities?

Guyana had to jump the hurdles of slaveryship, indentureship, dictatorship, colonialism, racism, hooliganism, Burnhamism, looting, stealing, burning, food ban, prejudice, nationalisation, dollar devaluation, migration, victimisation, discrimination, corruption, collusion, scandals, propaganda, sabotage, closures, rigging, frauds, perks, drugs, crime, killings, mismanagement, embezzlement, COVID-19 and now to crown them all, the grand selling-out of the oil contracts! What next Guyana?

Seems as if every time Guyana is on the road to recovery, blockage surfaces, materialising in its devilish propensity to dispense its diabolic attributes and to catapult Guyanese back to the starting point. Leaving a trail of greater negativity to challenge a resilience, inculcating a culture of discipline, honesty, astute stewardship, something that is sadly lacking in those who favour a state of bankruptcy, the fight is always championed by those who propose, preach and practice peace, progress and prosperity.