Wistar-Led Team Awarded More Than $12 Million Grant from the NCI to Investigate Link Between Epstein-Barr Virus and Carcinomas

PHILADELPHIA, PA, July 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — It's been known since the 1960s that Epstein–Barr Virus (EBV) causes a variety of cancers, but research has overwhelmingly focused on its connection to lymphomas. Now, a multidisciplinary team of scientists led by The Wistar Institute has been awarded a more than $12 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) Program Project Grant (P01), a highly competitive five–year grant that includes a crosssection of researchers from various disciplines and institutions throughout the country. The multidisciplinary team led by Wistar scientists is exploring the role of Epstein–Barr Virus in epithelial cancers. Epithethelial cells form functional structures in organ tissue throughout the human body; they are often the site for solid organ cancers, including the most common cancers, which are known as carcinomas.

The new research will focus on basic questions about how EBV infection of normal epithelial cells transforms them into cancer–cells. Scientists also intend to build on this research to identify better and more selective therapeutic targets.

"We are investigating unexplored aspects of EBV and malignancies, potentially uncovering unique characteristics or pathways that can be targeted for therapeutic intervention," said Italo Tempera, Ph.D., associate professor of the Gene Expression & Regulation Program of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center at The Wistar Institute. "This fresh perspective could lead to groundbreaking discoveries and innovative treatment strategies for EBV and epithelial malignancies."

The project brings together scientists from The Wistar Institute and Harvard University, including experts in epigenetics, metabolomics and drug discovery. It's the first time researchers from this variety of disciplines have combined their efforts to focus entirely on the EBV–epithelial cancer link.

"We've put together a new strategy, a new way of attacking the problem," said Paul Lieberman, Ph.D., Hilary Koprowski, M.D., Endowed Professor and director of the Center for Chemical Biology and Translational Medicine at Wistar. "By working together across different modalities, there's an opportunity for each of us to learn from the synergy and expertise of the other investigators."

EBV is one of the most common human viruses, infecting an estimated 95% of people by the time they reach adulthood. Symptoms are usually mild, and most people recover within a few weeks. However, the virus can remain latent in the human body for years or even decades, and it causes some people to develop cancer later in life.

While research has historically focused on lymphomas, EBV–linked epithelial cancers are both more common and more deadly. Epithelial cancers represent 75% of the 200,000 EBV–related cancer cases diagnosed each year, and these cancers also have higher mortality rates and treatment failures.

"This grant put together a team that is now focused on this type of cancer that has been neglected, even though it's the most common form of EBV cancers," Lieberman said. The grant will fund three main research projects. The first will look at how EBV establishes a long–term infection within epithelial cells. The second will study how it causes genetic and metabolic changes to trigger cancer growth. Finally, researchers will use these findings to investigate new therapeutic strategies.

The research builds on past work by Lieberman's lab, which has focused on developing small molecule inhibitors targeting EBV. He said the new project would focus on studying drugs that are already in development, and looking for ways to make them more targeted or use them in combination with other therapies.

Tempera said the group's integrated approach sets it apart."Our project will study both metabolic and epigenetic vulnerabilities simultaneously," he said. "Combining these two aspects can provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of EBV infection in cancer and its underlying mechanisms, leading to unique insights and therapeutic opportunities."

Co–authors: Ben Gewurz of Harvard; Joseph Salvino, Samantha Soldan, Andrew Kossenkov, Louise Showe, and Qin Liu of Wistar.


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8881269)

ChainSys Corporation Achieves SELECT Partner Status with Snowflake

ROCKLIN, Calif., July 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ChainSys Corporation, a leading global data management platform provider, announced today that it has achieved SELECT LEVEL tier partner status from Snowflake, the Data Cloud company. This partnership enables ChainSys to offer joint customers accelerated digital transformation, leveraging Snowflake's performance, flexibility, and near–infinite scalability of the Snowflake Data Cloud.

ChainSys offers over 80% acceleration to data migration journeys to Snowflake Data Cloud from Hadoop, SQL, Oracle, and other legacy data warehouse solutions. With over 10,000+ readymade Smart Adapters, ChainSys can help customers migrate all types of data, including structured, unstructured, videos, audio, sensor data, and more. ChainSys and Snowflake can help customers analyze and curate data using the best AI/ML techniques, enabling organizations to become data–driven and mobilize the world's data with Snowflake's Data Cloud.

ChainSys offers several great benefits, including accelerating data extraction from all sources, migrating source data into the Snowflake Data Cloud with the highest speed, curating data to ensure its cleanliness and completeness, cataloging data to create active metadata management, analyzing and predicting useful facts for business growth, and monetizing data with high security and data governance in place.

"ChainSys combined with Snowflake's Data Cloud comprise a powerful combination of capabilities to streamline the entire Data Fabric and Data Mesh processes and mobilize data in the service of the enterprise."

"" Sundu Rathinam,
CEO "" ChainSys

ChainSys and Snowflake Use Case:

  • ChainSys and Snowflake offer a joint solution for data migration from various ERP systems (SAP), Oracle, Microsoft, etc.) into a common data model in Snowflake.
  • The solution includes an out–of–the–box option for the effortless transfer of legacy data warehouses like Hadoop, SQL, Oracle, and others to the Snowflake Data Cloud.
  • The migration process covers metadata, data, and ETL pipelines transfer.
  • Customers can apply data quality rules to harmonize master and transactional data as it reaches Snowflake schemas.
  • The solution provides an out–of–the–box option for active metadata management and capturing data lineage.
  • Data governance policies for data monetization and data exchange creation are also available.
  • ChainSys and Snowflake offer the best data engineering solution suitable for any enterprise.

The Snowflake Partner Network unlocks the potential of the Data Cloud with a broad array of tools and partners. Certified partnerships and integrations enable customers to leverage Snowflake's flexibility, performance, and ease of use to deliver more meaningful data insights. To become a Snowflake partner and get access to Snowflake's self–service partner resources, please click here.

"Partners, like ChainSys bring the needed acceleration to our customers, for data migration, data quality and data governance, and enable our customers to benefit from leading–edge technologies with valuable industry and business experience on Snowflake's single, integrated platform. We are eager to closely collaborate with ChainSys to bring newer innovations together and ensure our customers get even more value from Snowflake's Data Cloud."

"" Tarik Dwiek,
Head of Technology Alliances – Snowflake

ChainSys Corporation, founded in 1998 in Michigan, USA, currently has operations in the USA, Canada, Netherlands, UK, Middle East, India, and Singapore to support its global clients. The company's flagship Smart Data Platform provides a NO–CODE platform for end–to–end data management needs.

ChainSys Data Management Platform:

ChainSys trains end–users for productivity improvement continuously, manages and maintains the enterprise data migration and data quality platform accommodating scalability and repeatability, offers high flexibility to accommodate all expectations, adheres to the SLA, and all security processes strictly.

ChainSys offers the best product, best processes, and best people for data migration and data quality projects. The company commits to the best practices in data migration and data quality management, delivering the best efficiency in data operations with simplified and complete closed–loop processes using data migration and data quality as the foundation, and implementing the best–of–breed solution for data migration and data quality requirements.

Customers Leveraging the Smart Data Platform:

ChainSys is excited to become a Snowflake partner and offer customers a trusted data partner for all their data migration and data quality needs. Don't miss the opportunity to experience the power of ChainSys and Snowflake's joint solution. Read More about ChainSys and Snowflake here!

"Together, ChainSys and Snowflake can provide every data leader in an organization with a unified data platform, as opposed to relying on the capabilities of multiple data systems and mastering the nuances of each."

"" Amarpal Singh Nanda,
President Enterprise Data Management – ChainSys

Contact information:

Caroline Anand, Senior Marketing Manager
+1–517–208–0069
caroline.rajkumarsamuel@chainsys.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bd4919b3–79b4–40f9–8574–192befeb034c
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8e6544e–2e24–4b18–9e7d–ea278b47171f


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8880966)

Exchange Rate Movements Due to Interest Rates, Speculation, Not Fundamentals

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jul 26 2023 – Currency values and foreign exchange rates change for many reasons, largely following market perceptions, regardless of fundamentals. Market speculation has worsened volatility, instability and fragility in most economies, especially of small, open, developing countries.

US Fed pushing up interest rates
For no analytical rhyme or reason, US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell insists on raising interest rates until inflation is brought under 2% yearly. Obliged to follow the US Fed, most central banks have raised interest rates, especially since early 2022.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The US dollar or greenback’s strengthening has been largely due to aggressive Fed interest rate hikes. Undoubtedly, inflation has been rising, especially since last year. But there are different types of inflation, with different implications, which should be differentiated by nature and cause.

Typically, inflationary episodes are due to either demand pull or supply push. With rentier behaviour better recognized, there is now more attention to asset price and profit-driven inflation, e.g., ‘sellers inflation’ due to price-fixing in monopolistic and oligopolistic conditions.

Recent international price increases are widely seen as due to new Cold War measures since Obama, Trump presidency initiatives, COVID-19 pandemic responses, as well as Ukraine War economic sanctions.

These are all supply-side constraints, rather than demand-side or other causes of inflation.

The Fed chair’s pretext for raising interest rates is to get inflation down to 2%. But bringing inflation under 2% – the fetishized, but nonetheless arbitrary Fed and almost universal central bank inflation target – only reduces demand, without addressing supply-side inflation.

But there is no analytical – theoretical or empirical – justification for this completely arbitrary 2% inflation limit fetish. Thus, raising interest rates to address supply-side inflation is akin to prescribing and taking the wrong medicine for an ailment.

Fed driving world to stagnation
Thus, raising interest rates to suppress demand cannot be expected to address such supply-side driven inflation. Instead, tighter credit is likely to further depress economic growth and employment, worsening living conditions.

Increasing interest rates is expected to reduce expenditure for consumption or investment. Thus, raising the costs of funds is supposed to reduce demand as well as ensuing price increases.

Earlier research – e.g., by then World Bank chief economist Michael Bruno, with William Easterly, and by Stan Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – found even low double-digit inflation to be growth-enhancing.

The Milton Friedman-inspired notion of a ‘non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment’ (NAIRU) also implies Fed interest rate hikes inappropriate and unnecessarily contractionary when inflation is not accelerating. US consumer price increases have decelerated since mid-2022, meaning inflation has not been accelerating for over a year.

At least two conservative monetary economists with Nobel laureates have reminded the world how such Fed interventions triggered US contractions, abruptly ending economic recoveries. Although not discussed by them, the same Fed interventions also triggered international recessions.

Friedman showed how the Fed ended the US recovery from 1937 at the start of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second presidential term. Recent US Fed chair Ben Bernanke and his colleagues also showed how similar Fed policies caused stagflation after the 1970s’ oil price hikes.

De-dollarization?
However, the US dollar has not been strengthening much in recent months. The greenback has been slipping since mid-2023 despite continuing Fed interest rate hikes a full year after consumer price increases stopped accelerating in mid-2022.

Many blame recent greenback depreciation on ‘de-dollarization’, ironically accelerated by US sanctions against its rivals. Such illegal sanctions have disrupted financial payments, investment flows, dispute settlement mechanisms and other longstanding economic processes and arrangements authorized by the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and UN charters.

Even the ‘rule of law’ – long favouring the US, other rich countries and transnational corporate interests – has been ‘suspended’ for ‘reasons of state’ due to economic warfare which continues to escalate. Unilateral asset and technology expropriation has been justified as necessary to ‘de-risk’ for ‘national security’ and other such considerations.

Horns of currency dilemma
For many monetary authorities, the choice is between a weak currency and higher interest rates. With growing financialization over recent decades, big finance has become much more influential, typically demanding higher interest income and stronger currencies.

Central bank independence – from the political executive and legislative processes – has enabled financial lobbies to influence policymaking even more. For example, Malaysia’s household debt share of national output rose from 47% in 2000 to over four-fifths before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 81% in 2022.

There is little reason to believe recent exchange rates have been due to ‘economic fundamentals’. Currencies of countries with persistent trade and current account deficits have strengthened, while others with sustained surpluses have declined. Instead, relative interest rate changes recently appear to explain more.

Thus, both the Japanese yen and Chinese renminbi depreciated by at least six per cent against the US dollar, at least before its recent tumble. By contrast, British pound sterling has appreciated against the greenback despite the dismal state of its real economy.

IPS UN Bureau

 


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Airshare poursuit sa croissance et prévoit de doubler sa flotte d’avions Challenger en multipropriété par une nouvelle entente portant sur des avions Challenger 3500 de Bombardier

  • Airshare s'engage commander jusqu' 20 autres1 avions superintermdiaires Challenger 3500
  • La commande vient s'ajouter l'engagement antrieur portant sur jusqu' 20 avions Challenger, annonc initialement en mai 2021
  • Le trs populaire avion Challenger 3500 continue d'impressionner par sa combinaison ultime d'exprience raffine en cabine, de fiabilit prouve et de performances suprieures
  • Socit d'aviation prive comptant parmi celles qui croissent le plus rapidement aux tats–Unis, Airshare a connu une trs forte demande pour la plateforme Challenger par les clients en multiproprit, rpondant leur besoin de voyager d'un ocan l'autre dans un confort de premier ordre

MONTRÉAL, 26 juill. 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bombardier a annonc aujourd'hui que la socit d'aviation prive Airshare, de Kansas City, s'est engage commander jusqu' 20 autres avions Challenger 3500. Grce cette nouvelle entente, Airshare prvoit de doubler la taille de sa flotte d'avions Challenger, soutenant la demande considrable enregistre ds l'intgration initiale de cet avion dans son programme de multiproprit.

En mai 2021, Airshare a introduit sa flotte le segment superintermdiaire par une commande allant jusqu' 20 avions Challenger. Alors que l'entreprise d'aviation prive croissance rapide continue exercer les options prvues dans cette commande initiale, ce nouvel engagement supplmentaire portant sur des avions Challenger 3500 souligne que l'exprience client en douceur, efficace et fiable que procure l'aviation prive continue de susciter un grand intrt auprs du public voyageur.

L'accueil reu par l'entre des avions Challenger dans notre programme de multiproprit a t formidable, tant chez les nouveaux clients que chez les clients existants , a indiqu John Owen, prsident et chef de la direction d'Airshare. Nous sommes ravis d'tendre notre engagement avec Bombardier et nous sommes impatients d'ajouter plusieurs autres Challenger 3500 notre flotte. La force de notre partenariat a permis d'acclrer nos projets visant commander plus de ces avions pour satisfaire la demande des clients.

Toute l'quipe est extrmement fire qu'Airshare continue se fier Bombardier pour accrotre sa flotte , a dclar ric Martel, prsident et chef de la direction de Bombardier. Airshare et Bombardier partagent plusieurs valeurs communes : la qute de l'excellence et un travail inlassable pour offrir une exprience exceptionnelle nos clients. Avec cette nouvelle commande, notre prcieuse relation ne fait que se renforcer, alors que l'avion prim Challenger 3500 continue de rehausser l'exprience de vol d'Airshare grce sa combinaison ultime de performances et de confort.

Le programme de multiproprit d'Airshare offre chaque propritaire de 1/16e de part d'Avion avec 20 journes et des heures de vol illimites (selon l'attribution de journes par client avec une journe maximale de 14 heures de service d'quipage). Lorsque les dtenteurs de part d'Airshare commencent et finissent leur voyage au mme endroit, tout en gardant l'avion et l'quipage avec eux lorsqu'ils en ont besoin, ils conomisent 25 pour cent de leur taux horaire. Conserver les mmes pilotes et le mme avion procure aux dtenteurs de part en voyage une flexibilit ultime, car ils peuvent alors effectuer plusieurs escales et ajuster leur horaire rapidement. Airshare offre galement son propre programme de carte avion, EMBARK, ainsi que des services de gestion d'avions, de nolisement la demande et de maintenance.

Dernier–n de la plateforme superintermdiaire Challenger, l'avion Challenger 3500 offre un confort et une fiabilit ingals, tout en procurant des performances suprieures et le vol en douceur emblmatique de Bombardier. Ce plus rcent ajout au portefeuille de Bombardier rehausse l'exprience des passagers en intgrant bon nombre des caractristiques de la gamme d'avions Global de Bombardier, dont le fauteuil exclusif et rvolutionnaire Nuage de Bombardier. Les passagers peuvent galement profiter de l'exprience ultime en cabine, o technologie et design s'allient pour maximiser la productivit tout en offrant un environnement raffin et relaxant.

Le Challenger 3500 est l'avion d'affaires la conception la plus coresponsable de sa catgorie. Il s'agit du premier avion d'affaires du segment des superintermdiaires dont une dclaration environnementale de produit a t publie, attestant de l'empreinte environnementale de l'avion sur tout son cycle de vie.

La gamme d'avions Challenger a une rputation de premier ordre dans l'industrie pour la fiabilit et la scurit. Avec plus de 900 avions d'affaires de la srie Challenger 300"en service dans le monde entier, l'avion Challenger 3500 tire parti de l'excellente feuille de route de la gamme Challenger et affiche une ponctualit technique impressionnante de 99,8 %.

propos d'Airshare

Airshare s'adapte votre faon de voyager par avion. Fonde en 2000 et tablie Lenexa (Kansas), l'entreprise offre une srie holistique de solutions d'aviation prive : multiproprit, cartes avion, services complets de gestion d'avions, nolisement et services de maintenance pour des avions de tierces parties. Airshare exploite une flotte d'avions superintermdiaires et lgers dans le cadre de ses programmes de multiproprit et de carte d'avion EMBARK pour des clients du centre des tats–Unis et de Floride. Elle fournit galement des services complets de gestion d'avions et de nolisement l'chelle nationale, tout en fournissant des services de maintenance complets pour des avions de tierces parties. Airshare a reu l'accrditation de niveau 3 de l'IS–BAO et la cote de scurit ARGUS Platine, rpondant aux normes internationales d'oprations ariennes les plus leves. Pour en savoir plus, visitez le site www.flyairshare.com.

propos de Bombardier

Bombardier (BBD–B.TO) est un leader mondial en aviation, ax sur la conception et la construction d'avions d'affaires exceptionnels et sur les services connexes. Les avions des gammes Challenger et Global de Bombardier sont reconnus pour les innovations de pointe qu'ils offrent, la conception de leur cabine, leurs performances et leur fiabilit. La flotte mondiale d'avions Bombardier compte environ 5 000 avions en service auprs d'un large ventail de multinationales, de fournisseurs de vols noliss et de programmes de multiproprit, de gouvernements ou de particuliers. Les avions Bombardier sont aussi utiliss dans le monde entier dans le cadre de missions gouvernementales et militaires spciales faisant appel l'expertise prouve de Bombardier Dfense.

Bombardier, dont le sige social est situ dans la rgion mtropolitaine de Montral, au Qubec, exploite des installations d'activits lies aux arostructures, l'assemblage ou la finition au Canada, aux tats–Unis et au Mexique. Le solide rseau de soutien la clientle de l'entreprise comprend des centres de service pour avions Learjet, Challenger et Global, situs stratgiquement aux tats–Unis et au Canada, ainsi qu'au Royaume–Uni, en Allemagne, en France, en Suisse, en Italie, en Autriche, aux mirats arabes unis, Singapour, en Chine et en Australie.

On trouvera des nouvelles et des renseignements sur l'entreprise, y compris le rapport de Bombardier sur les aspects environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance, ainsi que les plans de l'entreprise pour couvrir la totalit de ses oprations ariennes avec du carburant d'aviation durable en utilisant le systme Rserver et rclamer, sur le site bombardier.com. Pour en savoir plus sur les produits de Bombardier et son rseau de service clientle l'avant–garde de l'industrie, consultez le site businessaircraft.bombardier.com/fr. Suivez–nous sur Twitter @Bombardier."

Bombardier, Challenger, Challenger 3500, Global et Nuage sont des marques dposes ou non dposes de Bombardier Inc. ou de ses filiales.

Information
Bombardier
Christina Lemyre McCraw
Chef de service, Relations publiques et communications
+1 514–497–4928
christina.lemyremccraw@aero.bombardier.com

Airshare
Andy Tretiak
Chef du Marketing
816–410–8135
atretiak@flyairshare.com

1 L'entente prvoit une commande ferme de 4 avions d'affaires Challenger 3500 et des options sur 16 autres avions Challenger 3500.

Une photo accompagnant ce communiqu est disponible au https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dbdeecf6–fa80–49c2–bcee–aa1e622c9e0a/fr


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8880965)

Airshare Continues Growth, Plans to Double Fractional Challenger Fleet with New Agreement Featuring Bombardier’s Challenger 3500 Aircraft

  • Airshare commits to ordering up to 20 additional1 Challenger 3500 super–midsize jets
  • Order builds on previous commitment for up to 20 Challenger aircraft initially announced in May 2021
  • The best–selling Challenger 3500 aircraft continues to impress with its ultimate combination of refined cabin experience, proven reliability and top performance
  • One of the fastest–growing private aviation companies in the United States, Airshare has experienced heavy demand for the Challenger platform among fractional customers, fulfilling their need to travel coast–to–coast while enjoying best–in–class comfort

MONTREAL, July 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bombardier today announced that Kansas City–based private aviation company Airshare has committed to ordering up to 20 additional Challenger 3500 aircraft. Through this new agreement, Airshare plans to double the size of their Challenger fleet, supporting the considerable demand they have experienced from the outset of launching the aircraft within their fractional program.

In May 2021, Airshare entered the super–midsize segment with an order for up to 20 Challenger aircraft. As the fast–growing private aviation company moves to exercise all options as part of that original order, this new incremental commitment to Challenger 3500 jets underscores that the smooth, efficient and reliable customer experience that private aviation provides continues to garner significant market interest among the travelling public.

"The response we have received to the Challenger entering our fractional program has been tremendous, from both new and existing customers," said John Owen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Airshare. "We are thrilled to extend our commitment with Bombardier and look forward to adding several more Challenger 3500s to our fleet. The strength of our partnership made it easy for us to accelerate our plans to order more of these aircraft to meet customer demand."

"The entire team is immensely proud that Airshare continues to trust Bombardier to grow its fleet," said Eric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier. "Airshare and Bombardier share several values ""in common: we strive for excellence and work tirelessly to offer an exceptional experience to our clients. With this new order, our valued relationship continues to grow stronger, as the award–winning Challenger 3500 aircraft keeps elevating Airshare's flight experience with its ultimate combination of performance and comfort."

Airshare's fractional program provides each owner of a 1/16th"share with 20 days and unlimited flight time (based on a customer's allocation of days with a maximum 14–hour crew duty day). When Airshare shareowners begin and end in the same location, while keeping the aircraft and crew with them when they need it, they save up to 25 per cent off their hourly rate. Having the pilots and aircraft stay with shareowners as they travel provides the ultimate in flexibility as they are able to visit multiple locations and adjust their schedules at a moment's notice. Airshare also offers its own jet card program, EMBARK, as well as aircraft management, on–demand charter and maintenance services.

Built on the iconic Challenger super mid–size platform, the Challenger 3500 aircraft offers unrivalled comfort and reliability, while boasting top performance and delivering Bombardier's signature smooth ride. The latest addition to Bombardier's portfolio elevates the passengers' experience by integrating many of the features from Bombardier's Global family of aircraft, including Bombardier's exclusive and revolutionary Nuage seat. Passengers can also benefit from the ultimate cabin experience, where technology and design come together to maximize productivity while offering a refined and relaxing environment.

The"Challenger 3500"aircraft is also the most sustainably designed business jet in its class. It is the first business jet in the super mid–size segment to have an Environmental Product Declaration published, documenting the aircraft's environmental footprint over its lifecycle.

The"Challenger"aircraft family is known for its industry–leading reliability and safety. With over 900 business jets of the"Challenger 300"series in service worldwide, the Challenger 3500 aircraft builds on the excellent track record of the Challenger family and boasts an impressive 99.8% dispatch reliability.

About Airshare

Airshare fits the way you fly. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Lenexa, Kan., the company offers a holistic suite of private aviation solutions including fractional ownership, jet cards, whole aircraft management charter services and third–party maintenance. Airshare operates a fleet of super–midsize and light jets within their fractional and EMBARK jet card programs to customers across the central United States and Florida. The company provides whole aircraft management and charter services nationwide, while also performing comprehensive maintenance services for third–party aircraft. Airshare has received IS–BAO Stage 3 and ARGUS Platinum designations, meeting the highest international standards for safe flight operations. For more information visit www.flyairshare.com.

About Bombardier

Bombardier (BBD–B.TO) is a global leader in aviation, focused on designing, manufacturing, and servicing the world's most exceptional business jets. Bombardier's Challenger and Global aircraft families are renowned for their cutting–edge innovation, cabin design, performance, and reliability. Bombardier has a worldwide fleet of approximately 5,000 aircraft in service with a wide variety of multinational corporations, charter and fractional ownership providers, governments, and private individuals. Bombardier aircraft are also trusted around the world in government and military special–mission roles leveraging Bombardier Defense's proven expertise.

Headquartered in Greater Montral, Qubec, Bombardier operates aerostructure, assembly and completion facilities in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The company's robust customer support network services the Learjet, Challenger and Global families of aircraft, and includes facilities in strategic locations in the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the UAE, Singapore, China and Australia.

For corporate news and information, including Bombardier's Environmental, Social and Governance report, as well as the company's plans to cover all its flight operations with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) utilizing the Book and Claim system visit bombardier.com. Learn more about Bombardier's industry–leading products and customer service network at businessaircraft.bombardier.com. Follow us on Twitter @Bombardier."

Bombardier, Challenger, Challenger 3500, Global and Nuage, are registered or unregistered trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.

For information
Bombardier
Christina Lemyre McCraw
Manager, Public Relations and Communications
+1 514 497–4928
christina.lemyremccraw@aero.bombardier.com

Airshare
Andy Tretiak
Chief Marketing Officer
816–410–8135
atretiak@flyairshare.com

1 The agreement includes a firm order for 4 Challenger 3500 aircraft and an option for 16 additional Challenger 3500 business jets.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dbdeecf6–fa80–49c2–bcee–aa1e622c9e0a


GLOBENEWSWIRE (Distribution ID 8880965)

TB Preventive Treatment: the Need for Choice

The progress made in HIV prevention is nothing short of a global success story. It is time that TB caught up to HIV. Medicine is simply too advanced for us to tolerate how one disease can be beaten back yet another continues to flourish. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS. - The world needs to adapt to embrace choice if we are to meet the globally agreed-upon goal of reducing Tuberculosis deaths by 90% by 2030—referred to as the “End TB targets”

The progress made in HIV prevention is nothing short of a global success story. It is time that TB caught up to HIV. Medicine is simply too advanced for us to tolerate how one disease can be beaten back yet another continues to flourish. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS.

By Violet Chihota
JOHANNESBURG, Jul 26 2023 – Before COVID-19 came along, the two most lethal infectious diseases were HIV and tuberculosis (TB). Even though HIV still lingers, with 1.5 million people contracting the infection every year, epidemiologists point to the availability of many HIV prevention options as a primary reason for the decreasing caseload.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over the past two decades, new HIV infections decreased by 49%, HIV-related deaths decreased by 61% and an estimated 18.6 million lives were saved because of new treatments that minimise the infection and prevent its spread.

We have so many options for HIV prevention at our disposal, including the dapivirine vaginal ring, oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), harm reduction for people who use drugs, condoms for both men and women, voluntary medical male circumcision and the recently approved long-acting cabotegravir, with other options in development.

We have a suite of prevention tools because everyone is different, and people need to be able to choose their methods according to the way they live their lives. We observe a similar abundance of choice within family planning with oral pills, a variety of injectables, intra-uterine devices and condoms—we share this prevention method with HIV programs.

The urgency of the need is clear: an estimated 1.6 million people lost their lives to the disease in 2021, the second consecutive year the death toll went up after 14 years of progress. In Africa, an estimated 2.5 million people contracted the disease in 2021, one million of which were never diagnosed and treated

We do not have this many options for TB prevention, but the world needs to adapt to embrace choice if we are to meet the globally agreed-upon goal of reducing TB deaths by 90% by 2030—referred to as the “End TB targets.”

The urgency of the need is clear: an estimated 1.6 million people lost their lives to the disease in 2021, the second consecutive year the death toll went up after 14 years of progress. In Africa, an estimated 2.5 million people contracted the disease in 2021, one million of which were never diagnosed and treated.

Yet there are glimmers of good news. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, estimates of TB incidence have slowly declined over the past few years in Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia—all countries with high burdens of TB.

Of these countries, Zambia has also had success in finding and diagnosing an increasing number of these infections; the pandemic impacted the surveillance efforts of the other governments.

As for HIV, there is no effective vaccine to prevent TB in adults: the BCG vaccine only prevents severe TB in children. However, there are ways to prevent TB when someone is potentially exposed to an infected person. In the workplace or when a family member at home becomes sick, for example, prevention starts with masking, which was traditionally used in clinical care settings. The other ways work through prophylactic regimens. For TB, we initially only had isoniazid that could be taken for six, nine, 12 or 36 months depending on country guidelines, but now we have shorter regimens that allow for patient choice.

These options include regimens lasting one (1HP) and three months (3HP), with different combinations of the antibiotic drugs rifapentine and isoniazid, all with vitamin B6 supplements to help counter some of the side effects of treatment. There is also a three-month regimen of rifampicin and isoniazid (often given to children and adolescents) and a four-month regimen of rifampicin alone. Longer courses of isoniazid taken for 6–36 months also remain options, though most people are eligible to take a shorter rifapentine- or rifampicin-based regimen and should be given the choice to do so.

We need to do a better job of making sure that people at risk of TB have access to the full range of prevention options. A recent peer-reviewed study underlines this point, estimating that tracing the personal contacts of people diagnosed with TB and providing them with prevention treatment would save the lives of 700,000 children under the age of 15 and 150,000 adults by 2035.

Even the financial benefits of the prevention program, in terms of increased economic productivity, would outweigh the costs. Nobody questions the need to have options for HIV prevention or family planning, but questions arise when trying to roll out a one-month TB prevention regimen when there’s already a three-month regimen available. We need them all. We also need to collect more data to differentiate which prevention regimens are best for each patient type to ensure success.

The WHO guidelines for preventive TB treatment create the possibility of choice among TB preventive treatments by not ranking the regimens by preference or effectiveness. But health care facilities and outreach programs need to embrace that range of options and make sure that a choice exists in practice. Supply chains may limit choice initially, but if there is no demand for more options from providers, there is no impetus to expand the supply chains.

The progress made in HIV prevention is nothing short of a global success story. It took a combination of scientific ingenuity and innovation, combined with an intensive dedication of resources that made a range of preventive options available around the world.

It is time that TB caught up to HIV. Medicine is simply too advanced for us to tolerate how one disease can be beaten back yet another continues to flourish.

Violet Chihota is an Adjunct Associate Professor and Chief Specialist Scientist at the Aurum Institute. She has been a researcher in global health for over 10 years, designing and managing the conduct of clinical research studies in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cameroon, Georgia, India and Malaysia.

Hitachi Energy selected as preferred technology provider for the longest HVDC link in the UK

Zurich, Switzerland, July 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all, today announced it has been selected as preferred technology provider of SSEN Transmission and National Grid, to supply two high–voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations to interconnect the Scottish and English power grids.

The energy transition requires a collaborative effort that can only be achieved with advanced technologies and new ways of working. In appointing Hitachi Energy as their preferred technology provider, SSEN Transmission and National Grid secure best–in–class technology and future production capacity in a rapidly growing market. For Hitachi Energy, this enables investment in new production capacity and to undertake large–scale recruitment drives. It also strengthens collaboration, standardization of solutions, and synergies between projects.

The integration of renewables requires solutions that make the grid resilient, stable, and flexible. Hitachi Energy's innovation and long development of voltage sourced converter (VSC) power electronics and control and protection (MACH) technologies meet the requirements alongside many other landmark grid integration projects.

Eastern Green Link 2 will consist of two 525–kilovolt (kV) bipole VSC converter stations connected by 440 kilometers of subsea cable and 70 kilometers of underground cable, making it the longest HVDC link in the UK. The link will efficiently supply a total of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, which is enough to power around two million UK homes.1

The link will help to secure power transmission in the northern UK and support the integration of new renewable electricity generation in Scotland, as part of the UK's Net Zero Strategy.2 As much as 11,000 MW of offshore wind capacity is possible in Scottish waters by 20303, and HVDC transmission will play a large part in bringing this vast amount of renewable power to shore and south, to communities across the country.

"The UK's Net Zero Strategy has ambitious targets which will require vast amounts of new renewable generation. Electricity will be the backbone of the entire energy system," said Niklas Persson, Managing Director at Hitachi Energy's Grid Integration business. “Our pioneering HVDC technology will ensure that this electricity will reliably and efficiently get where it's needed most."

"This is another important milestone for EGL2 which is part of the new network infrastructure required to help the UK meet its net zero and energy security ambitions," said Sarah Sale, Deputy Project Director of National Grid. "Along with cabling bidder and formal joint venture announcements, this is another key part of the project which is now in place and ready for the delivery phase. We look forward to working in collaboration with Hitachi Energy and BAM as the project continues to progress."

"The converter stations at either end of the cable will play a crucial role in making the power transported subsea suitable for transportation around the onshore transmission network – getting Hitachi Energy and BAM in place to deliver that technology is great for the project," said Ricky Saez, the EGL2 Project Director from SSEN Transmission.

"BAM is delighted to work in collaboration with Hitachi Energy on this vital renewable energy project for National Grid and SSEN Transmission," said Huw Jones, Executive Director of BAM Nuttall. "The converter stations will enable the transmission of green energy from areas of offshore wind generation to centers of population, supporting the UK's net zero ambitions and providing better energy security. We look forward to engaging with local communities and suppliers in Aberdeenshire and North Yorkshire, supporting BAM's vision to deliver sustainable infrastructure for our clients, stakeholders, and the communities in which we work."

Hitachi Energy is collaborating with BAM, a construction company that designs, builds, and maintains sustainable buildings and infrastructure, to provide the civil and installation scope for the project. The collaboration with BAM will leverage the core competencies of the two companies to deliver a best–in–class solution for the project.

Hitachi Energy pioneered commercial HVDC technology almost 70 years ago and has delivered more than half of the world's HVDC projects.

1 https://www.nationalgrid.com/electricity–transmission/network–and–infrastructure/segl2
2 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net–zero–strategy
3 https://www.gov.scot/publications/offshore–wind–policy–statement/
4 Modular Advanced Control for HVDC (MACH)

HVDC website:

https://www.hitachienergy.com/offering/product–and–system/hvdc

Photo captions:

North Sea Link Blyth Converter Station UK

Eastern Green Link 2

–END–

About Hitachi Energy
Hitachi Energy is a global technology leader that is advancing a sustainable energy future for all. We serve customers in the utility, industry and infrastructure sectors with innovative solutions and services across the value chain. Together with customers and partners, we pioneer technologies and enable the digital transformation required to accelerate the energy transition towards a carbon–neutral future. We are advancing the world's energy system to become more sustainable, flexible and secure whilst balancing social, environmental and economic value. Hitachi Energy has a proven track record and unparalleled installed base in more than 140 countries. Headquartered in Switzerland, we employ around 40,000 people in 90 countries and generate business volumes of over $10 billion USD.
https://www.hitachienergy.com
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hitachienergy
https://twitter.com/HitachiEnergy

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi drives Social Innovation Business, creating a sustainable society through the use of data and technology. We solve customers' and society's challenges with Lumada solutions leveraging IT, OT (Operational Technology) and products. Hitachi operates under the business structure of "Digital Systems & Services" – supporting our customers' digital transformation; "Green Energy & Mobility" – contributing to a decarbonized society through energy and railway systems, and "Connective Industries" – connecting products through digital technology to provide solutions in various industries. Driven by Digital, Green, and Innovation, we aim for growth through co–creation with our customers. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2022 (ended March 31, 2023) totaled 10,881.1 billion yen, with 696 consolidated subsidiaries and approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.

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A Shot in the Arm Can Prevent Cervical Cancer

Afshan Bhurgri, a cancer survivor, advises women to listen to their bodies and be aware of the symptoms of cervical cancer. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Afshan Bhurgri, a cancer survivor, advises women to listen to their bodies and be aware of the symptoms of cervical cancer. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Jul 26 2023 – “Listen to your body, and if there is anything strange happening, do not ignore it,” is the advice of 57-year-old Afshan Bhurgri, a cancer survivor.

Eight years ago, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at a time when she was “in a good place” in life. Her kids were grown up, and she had more time to herself. A fitness freak, the schoolteacher’s daily routine included going to the gym daily. “I joined a creative writing class as I loved penning my thoughts!” she reminisced.

But then everything changed when she found out she had cancer.

Cancer of the cervix uteri is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide, with an estimated 604,127 new cases and causing the death of 341,831 in 2020.

In Pakistan, an estimated 73.8 million women over the age of 15 are at risk of developing cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Cervical cancer in Pakistan. Credit: Shahzad Ahmed

Cervical cancer in Pakistan, according to the WHO. Credit: Shahzeb Ahmed

In the absence of complete data, it is estimated that of the 5,000 women diagnosed with this cancer in Pakistan, some 3,000 lose their lives every year due to lack of access to prevention, screening and treatment, thus making it the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women of the reproductive age group in the country, after breast and ovarian cancers. Up to 88 percent of cervical cancer cases are due to human papillomavirus (HPV) serotypes 16 and 18, as reported by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

“We are short on authentic data on the prevalence of the disease burden,” said Dr Arshad Chandio, who works at Jhpiego Pakistan as an immunisation lead. His organisation, which has supported HPV vaccine introduction in seven countries with Gavi support, is partnering with the federal and provincial governments, along with WHO, UNICEF, and USAID, to implement a roadmap for cervical cancer prevention and introduction of HPV vaccine in Pakistan. Cervical cancer is the only cancer that is preventable by a vaccine.

Cervical cancer worldwide.

Cervical cancer worldwide, according to the WHO. Credit: Shahzeb Ahmed

“Without authentic data, our plan to eradicate this disease will not be watertight,” admitted Dr Irshad Memon, the director general of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in Sindh.

Dr Shahid Pervez, senior consultant histopathologist at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), co-chair of the country’s newly established National Cancer Registry, recommends legislation to make reporting of cancer mandatory. “This will be one way of collecting basic data, at one place, which is expected by international agencies to roll out an effective cancer control programme in Pakistan,” he added.

Cervical cancer warning signs. Credit: Shahzeb

Cervical cancer warning signs. Credit: Shahzeb Ahmed

Although Bhurgri had knowledge about cancer of the cervix and went for regular health checkups and screenings, her doctors did not carry out full examinations, which led to the infection turning cancerous. It all started in 2009, five years prior to being diagnosed with cancer when she started noticing a “foul smell emanating from my vagina” after her period became “heavier” than usual.

“Let alone screening and testing for the cancer, many healthcare professionals do not even know of the disease, or how women get infected,” pointed out Chandio.

“I am an educated person, I could afford to get the best medical help, and I went to three of the city’s top gynaecologists, got pap smears done on their requests over the years, and I was only sent for HPV test when it was too late,” rued Bhurgri. In 2014, a doctor suggested an ultrasound which gave a true picture. A biopsy confirmed she had cervical cancer.

After her biopsy, Bhurgri started reading up on cervical cancer, and one of the indications was the foul vaginal smell.

“It could have been nipped in the bud if only the doctors had carried out a thorough examination,” said gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Azra Ahsan, president of the Association for Mothers and Newborns, blaming “sheer negligence” on the part of her fraternity.

“A gynaecological consultation must not only be limited to a conversation across the table,” said Ahsan, but should include an “examination on the couch including a proper internal examination, ideally a pap smear and visual inspection,” especially if, like Bhurgri, a patient was complaining of heavy bleeding and a foul smell.

Bhurgri’s journey towards wellness was tough. A radical hysterectomy was recommended, and her cervix, her uterus and her ovaries were removed. Twenty-eight radiations and five chemos later, over a five-month period, she was given a clean chit by her oncologist. The cost of treatment, back in 2014 at a private hospital, was a whopping Rs30,000,000 (USD 1,097) back then.

Screening Can Save Lives

Although Bhurgri’s cancer may have remained under the radar despite regular screening via pap smears, doctors say HPV and pap smear tests are the best way to screen a woman for cervical cancer. They can identify patients who are at high risk of developing pre-cancerous changes on the cervix as well as pick up those who have already developed these changes.

These precancerous lesions can be treated before they turn into cancer. Sadly, in Pakistan, the uptake of pap smears is negligible and estimated to be as low as 2 percent.

According to Dr Uzma Chishti, assistant professor and consultant gynecologic oncologist, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AKUH, Pakistan’s health system is so financially stretched that it cannot afford to provide screening of women by these expensive tests. Instead, she recommends WHO’s recommendations of performing a visual inspection of the cervix by acetic acid (VIA) to screen women to help reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. “VIA is an alternative screening test for low-and-middle-income countries like ours,” she said.

Vaccinations the Best Option

The WHO triple intervention recommendation to eliminate cervical cancer in countries like Pakistan includes scaling up HPV vaccination to 90 percent for girls aged between 9 to 14, twice-lifetime cervical screening to 70 percent and treatment of pre-invasive lesions and invasive cancer to 90 percent by 2030. “All three are essential if we want to eliminate cervical cancer completely,” emphasised said Ahsan.

HPV vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer are the way forward as it provides primary prevention, said Chishti, in the absence of VIA, screenings and pap smear tests. Almost 60 per cent of cervical cancer cases occur in countries that have not yet introduced HPV vaccination. Pakistan is one of them.

Once up and about, the first thing Bhurgri did was get her 14-year-old daughter vaccinated for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. “My older daughter remains unvaccinated as she was 21 then and studying abroad. She needed three shots and could not make it to that timeline,” she said.

In Pakistan, two globally licensed HPV vaccines – Cervarix (protective against HPV serotypes 16 and 18) and Gardasil (against 6, 11, 16, and 18) were available till a few years ago, but very few doctors, even in the private sector, were prescribing them.

“We made it available in our clinic and counselled any and everyone, but it mostly fell on deaf ears, and very few people actually got vaccinated. As a result, huge amounts of vaccines expired in the warehouses, and the pharmaceutical firms decided to not make it available in Pakistan,” explained Ahsan.

In 2021, medical students at the AKUH interviewed 384 women attending outpatient clinics between the ages of 15 to 50 to find out their knowledge about cervical cancer. They found that of the 61.2 percent of women who had heard about cervical cancer, 47.0 percent knew about pap smear tests, and among them, 73 percent had gotten a pap test. A total of 25.5 percent of women, out of the 61.2 percent, knew that a vaccine existed for prevention, but only 9.8 percent had been vaccinated against human papillomavirus. The study concluded that a majority of the women interviewed for the study belonged to a higher socioeconomic class and were mostly educated, yet their knowledge regarding the prevention and screening of cervical cancer was poor. “This reflects that the knowledge levels as a whole would be considerably lower in the city’s general population,” the study concluded.

Shamsi highlighted the challenges of discussing HPV in a conservative society where sexual health topics are hardly discussed due to the embarrassment and taboo associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This communication conundrum has resulted in a general lack of information about the disease. “There is a total lack of information about HPV, cervical cancer, and its prevention among the masses,” she said.

But this may change if Pakistan introduces the HPV vaccine at a national level, utilising routine effective and established immunisation delivery strategies. According to Dr Uzma Shamsi, a cancer epidemiologist at the AKUH, implementing the HPV vaccine at a national level in Pakistan could save hundreds of thousands of lives annually.

The benefits are enormous, and hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved each year, she emphasised.

Pakistan is in talks with Gavi the vaccine alliance, to support the country in including the single-dose HPV (two covers four strains) vaccine in its routine immunisation programme. “It will probably take another two years and USD 16 million before we can roll out the vaccine, but when it happens, it will be a country-wide campaign,” confirmed Memon.

Shamsi predicted some tribulation because the primary target group for vaccination is pre-adolescent girls. “A new vaccine for a new target age group comes with its own set of challenges in a society where conspiracy theories about vaccination programmes, stigma and misinformation about cancer and sexual health persist,” she said. And so before the actual rollout,  Shamsi emphasised, it was important to increase awareness about the HPV virus, cervical cancer causes, and vaccine’s safety and usage among the general public, patients, and healthcare professionals while actively dispelling misinformation.

Memon agreed that “conversation around the vaccine must begin”. For its part, the Sindh government set aside Rs 100 million ($365,884) for advocacy of HPV vaccine uptake in its current budget. “We will initiate a dissemination campaign once we know when the HPV vaccination programme is to begin,” he said. The Sindh province was also the first to initiate the typhoid conjugate virus vaccine after an extensively drug-resistant virus was found in the province. He was hopeful there would be less resistance to the HPV vaccine after the successful administration of measles and rubella and the pediatric Covid-19 vaccines earlier.

However, said Memon, “We will need more women vaccinators this time as young girls are shy of rolling their shirt sleeves up for male vaccinators.” With up to 125,000 female health workers across Pakistan, who were earlier trained by Gavi for MR immunisation, which is a much more difficult vaccine to administer (being subcutaneous) as opposed to the HPV one (which is muscular), he said, this workforce can be engaged to get trained for this vaccination campaign too.

In the end, however, according to Chandio, “without a strong political will and leadership, a national HPV vaccination programme cannot become a reality in Pakistan to eliminate this largely preventable cancer among women”.

Fighting her cancer has changed Bhurgri in more ways than one. Her message to women is to “not put yourself aside; make yourself a priority.” While she continues to lead a healthy life – going to the gym, eating healthy, resting, she said, “You cannot go on and pick up where you left off”.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 


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Health, Nutrition & Heroes in Rural Afghanistan

Credit: UNICEF/UNI403619/Karimi

By James Elder
KABUL, Afghanistan, Jul 26 2023 – The needs of Afghanistan’s children and families are immense. So are the efforts of those supporting them: teams of community workers made up of family members, teachers in community-based schools, vaccinators, and health workers working around the clock to bring life-saving services in the face of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

I recently traveled to eastern Afghanistan to meet some of the inspiring heroes who, this year already, helped UNICEF reach around 19 million children and their families with health and nutrition services.

UNICEF’s incredible health and nutrition response is supported by people across Afghan society. One of them is Mangal, a hero on two wheels. Every morning, Mangal picks up vaccines at a UNICEF-supported district hospital.

He carefully packs them in a cooler, which he straps to his motorbike before setting off to remote villages. Mangal braves rough, narrow roads, the scorching heat, and genuine security risks.

“I ride for nine kilometres every day to bring these vaccines to the people who need them,” he tells me. “They understand how important it is to protect their children from diseases. They don’t need any persuasion to come here. They greet me with gratitude and hope.” 

A doctor prescribes medicine for mothers and children during a UNICEF-supported mobile health and nutrition team visit. Credit: Karim / UNICEF

Some of Mangal’s supplies land here, with a UNICEF-supported mobile health and nutrition team providing services straight to the communities who need them most and who have no other way to access health care.

Like so much of UNICEF’s health and nutrition work across Afghanistan, these programmes are game-changers.

But these teams have their work cut out for them.

“Nearly half of all children under five in Afghanistan are malnourished, a truly devastating number,” UNICEF’s head of nutrition, Melanie Galvin, tells me. “Some 875,000 of them are expected to need treatment for severe acute malnutrition, the most lethal form of undernutrition and one of the top threats to child survival across the globe.”

Ramping up the response means staffing up the response, too. UNICEF has more than doubled the number of places where a child can be treated.

“Last year we put more nutrition nurses and nutrition counsellors into overflowing hospitals,” Melanie says. “We put them directly into communities where people live. We put them into mobile clinics that reach very small and isolated populations. We put them into day care centre spaces in poor urban areas.”

A child receives RUTF during a visit by a UNICEF-supported mobile health and nutrition team. Credit Karim/UNICEF

Mobile health and nutrition teams are critical in reaching rural areas with basic services like pre-natal checkups, vaccinations, psycho-social counselling, and ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). It’s a heartbreaking condition to see up close. In this photo, little Zarmina receives an RUTF sachet from Melanie.

RUTF really is a magical paste – energy dense and full of micronutrients. Used to treat severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, RUTF is made using peanuts, sugar, milk powder, oil, vitamins and minerals, and has helped treat millions of children in Afghanistan.

As we tour a hospital, Dr. Fouzia Shafique, UNICEF Afghanistan’s Principal Health Advisor, explains how UNICEF has managed to support so many children, despite all the challenges.

“Health clinics, family teams of community workers, community-based schools, vaccinators, and trained female health workers,” she tells me. Donors such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have also been critical partners, helping UNICEF provide care even in difficult-to-reach areas of the country.

So many of the life-saving interventions I encountered on my mission are made possible by the tireless work of UNICEF staff such as Dr. Shafique and Dr. Nafi Kakar, who fill a multitude of roles, including inspecting vaccines and parts of the cold chain system that is used to store them.

Helping families access quality primary and secondary health care means supporting thousands of health facilities, covering operating costs, paying the salaries of tens of thousands of health workers, and procuring and distributing medical supplies.

Together, these efforts are helping UNICEF reach many of the more than 15 million children in Afghanistan who need support. It’s a difficult number to comprehend, but easier to appreciate when you meet some of those very same children.

There’s the baby fighting for her life in an incubator; the children working for their families in fields of unexploded mines; the children grappling with the anxieties and pressures of poverty; or the girls deprived of their greatest hope – education. Each child is like my own. Unique. Each child is special.

The smiles say it all: For Dr. Shafique and young girls in Afghanistan, it’s been a good day. But there remains so much to do. Supporting the health and well-being of people in Afghanistan isn’t only about access to health services, it’s also about the protection of rights – notably, ensuring rights and freedoms for women and girls.

Given the enormity of UNICEF’s role in the health and nutrition sector, it’s critical for UNICEF – and for children in Afghanistan – that funding is maintained. So that the country’s children can grow up safe, healthy and be the heroes in their own stories.

Source: UNICEF Blog
The UNICEF Blog promotes children’s rights and well-being, and ideas about ways to improve their lives and the lives of their families. It also brings insights and opinions from the world’s leading child rights experts and accounts from UNICEF’s staff on the ground in more than 190 countries and territories. The opinions expressed on the UNICEF Blog are those of the author(s) and may not necessarily reflect UNICEF’s official position.

James Elder is UNICEF Spokesperson in Afghanistan.

IPS UN Bureau