আমার বয়স যথেষ্ট হয়েছে এবং অনেক বছর ধরে অধ্যাপনা করে আসছি। বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের শিক্ষার্থীদের ক্ষোভে ফেটে পড়ার অনেক ঘটনা আমি দেখেছি। ধর্মান্ধ জর্জ ওয়ালেসের প্রেসিডেন্ট নির্বাচনে অংশ নিতে চাওয়া, ভিয়েতনাম যুদ্ধের ভয়াবহতা ও মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতা খর্ব করার মতো ঘটনায় প্রতিবাদ হতে আমি দেখেছি।
এসব প্রতিবাদের অনেকগুলোই ছিল জোরালো। কিছু প্রতিবাদের সময় ঝামেলাও হয়েছে। কিছু প্রতিবাদের সময় প্রতিবাদকারীরা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ভবনের নিয়ন্ত্রণ নিতে দেখেছি। কিন্তু বেশির ভাগ ক্ষেত্রেই তাঁরা ছিলেন অহিংস।
কোনো একজন ছাত্রের ক্ষতি করা ও নিপীড়ন করার মতো ঘটনা সেখানে ঘটেনি। কিন্তু বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় প্রশাসন যখন পুলিশ ডেকে এনেছে, শিক্ষার্থীদের গ্রেপ্তার ও বহিষ্কার করেছে, তখন সব শিক্ষা কার্যক্রম বন্ধ হয়ে যায়। ক্যাম্পাসে মুক্তচিন্তাচর্চাকে সুরক্ষা দেওয়ার ক্ষেত্রে শিক্ষকদের কেন্দ্রীয় ভূমিকা রয়েছে বলে আমি মনে করি।
বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় শিক্ষকদের সেই ভূমিকা পালন করা এখন কঠিন হয়ে পড়েছে। বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়গুলোর প্রেসিডেন্ট ও ট্রাস্টিদের কাজ অবনমন হতে হতে মূলত তহবিল সংগ্রহকারীর পর্যায়ে নেমে গেছে। সম্পদশালী সাবেক শিক্ষার্থীদের কাছ থেকে সেই তহবিল সংগ্রহ করতে হয়। বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে কোন কথা বলা যাবে আর কোন কথা বলা যাবে না, সেটা নিয়ন্ত্রণ করেন তাঁরাই।
কলাম্বিয়া বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে শান্তিপূর্ণভাবে মুক্তচিন্তার চর্চাকে সুরক্ষা দেওয়ার অধিকার বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়টির শিক্ষকদের আছে। আমি মনে করি, এটা তাদের দায়িত্ব। শাফিকের নেতৃত্বের প্রতি অনাস্থা জানানোর অধিকার ও দায়িত্ব তাদের রয়েছে।
ইয়েল, নিউইয়র্ক ইউনিভার্সিটিসহ অন্যান্য ক্যাম্পাসে গাজার গণহত্যার প্রতিবাদে যে আন্দোলন ছড়িয়ে পড়েছে, বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়গুলোর উচিত দমন না করে সেই আন্দোলন থেকে শেখা।
● রবার্ট রাইশ যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সাবেক শ্রমমন্ত্রী এবং ক্যালিফোর্নিয়ার বার্কলে বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের জননীতি বিষয়ে অধ্যাপক
দ্য গার্ডিয়ান থেকে নেওয়া, ইংরেজি থেকে অনুবাদ মনোজ দে
The WHO’s Africa office has published research in 25 peer-reviewed journals in attempt to address the imbalance of research as part of the 2030 SDG agenda, which is to ‘leave no-one behind,’ and a move toward universal health coverage. Credit: WHO
by Maina Waruru (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Apr 29 (IPS) – The World Health Organization’s African regional office and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research and ensure that Africa was better represented in the production of health research academic literature, a new report shows.
The office, through its Universal Health Coverage, Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases (UCN) Cluster, published on a range of health challenges and diseases, including the risk of zoonotic disease in countries ranging from Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria, investigating infectious and non-infectious diseases, and public health approaches to ease Africa’s disease burden.
This research is critical to the continent, says Africa’s Regional Director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti.
“The WHO African Region arguably bears one of the greatest burdens of disease globally. This has always been exacerbated by poverty, which, in the decade prior to COVID-19, was on the decline. Now, however, these gains have been reversed, not only by COVID-19 but by a series of severe shocks during the 2020–2022 period,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the Regional Director for Africa,” she told IPS.
“Major threats include climate change, global instability, slowing economic growth, and conflict. This makes it ever more important that we at the WHO Regional Office for Africa focus on the central promise of the 2030 SDG agenda, which is to ‘leave no one behind’, using a health systems strengthening approach to move towards universal health coverage.”
According to the Ending Disease in Africa: Responding to Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases 2023 reportreleased in April, WHO scientists were able to publish their work in reputable journals, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Open, supporting Africa’s efforts to raise her scientific research production, estimated at only 2 percent of the world’s total.
The works also found homes in open access journals, including America’s Public Library of Science (PLOS), where they are accessible for free by the scientific community and the general public.
Besides Africa-based scientific publications such as the Nigerian Journal of Parasitology, highlighting the need to support the role local publications can play in elevating African science and, by extension, helping address imbalances in global research.
“A country’s ability to create, acquire, translate, and apply scientific and technological advancements is a major determinant of its socioeconomic and industrial development. Many of Africa’s current and future health challenges can only be addressed by conducting research on population-based approaches towards effective disease prevention and control, which are then translated into policy and practice,” the report noted in introducing the work.
“Despite Africa’s disproportionate burden of disease, the region produced 0.7 percent of global research in 2000, 1.3 percent in 2014 and an estimated 2 percent more recently. In response, the UCN Cluster and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research, and ensure regional representation in academic literature.”
According to the Ending Disease in Africa: Responding to Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO scientists were able to publish their work in reputable journals, supporting Africa’s efforts to raise her scientific research production, which is estimated at only 2 percent of the world’s total. Credit: WHO
In Ghana, the WHO team conducted a “community-based cross-sectional study” to investigate occurrences of skin ulcers, whose findings showed the importance of integrating multiple skin diseases on a common research platform in findings published by PLOS One, while in Tanzania, a “spatio-temporal modelling” of routine health facility data to better guide community-based malaria interventions on the mainland was done.
Some of the papers the WHO-Africa says were examples of “operational and implementation research,” conducted to identify and ensure the successful adoption and adaptation of evidence-based interventions in both clinical and public health on the continent.
They include findings from an impact assessment of a school-based preventive chemotherapy programme for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminth control in Angola, where used drugs were found to have little impact in controlling the diseases. These findings were published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
“This highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of individual, community, and environmental factors associated with transmission and consideration for a community-wide control programme,” it concluded.
The Springer Nature’s Malaria Journal published the team’s research on treatment-seeking behavior among parents of children with malaria-related fever in Malawi. It captured the need for targeted health interventions among communities in low socioeconomic settings and those living far from health facilities.
In Nigeria, an article based on experiences in Nigeria using a novel schistosomiasis community data analysis tool, developed by the UCN Cluster, emphasized the usefulness of the tool for strategic planning purposes, allowing the tool to be deployed around Africa for the management of the disease. Blood flukes (trematode worms) from the genus Schistosoma are the primary cause of the acute and chronic parasitic disease schistosomiasis.
Research on health policy and systems, the aim being to better understand how “collective health goals” are reached. This was done through a range of disciplines, including economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, and public health.
One such journal article was published by Elsevier’s Social Sciences and Humanities Open, looking at five decades of infectious disease outbreaks on the continent and recommending that concerted public health action may help reduce outbreaks, as well as drawing important conclusions for disease preparedness and prevention activities.
Quite critically, the experts undertook “knowledge translation” work, the application of knowledge by various actors to deliver the benefits of global and local innovations in strengthening health systems and improving health.
“In the African context, knowledge translation generally includes an aspect of localization, considering local perspectives and approaches and the effects of the social, cultural, political, environmental, and health system context on an intervention’s impact,” the experts explain.
In 2023, the UCN Cluster translated and localized several global knowledge products for use in Africa, including one on oral diseases, a malady suffered by about 44 percent of the population in the region.
Africa, the document observes, has experienced the “steepest rise globally in oral diseases over the last three decades,” even as spending on treatment costs remains “extremely low,” thus the need to share the newest information on their management.
Away from scientific research, the report reveals that Mauritius became the first country in Africa to fully implement WHO’s package of tobacco control measures, while at the same time WHO-Africa launched an initiative to support better access to breast and cervical cancer detection, treatment, and care services in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.
Equally important, WHO Africa, in collaboration with Nigerian authorities, introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into routine immunization schedules, targeting more than 7 million girls, the largest number in a single round of HPV vaccination in Africa.
Success stories emerged in Algeria, which successfully ‘interrupted’ the transmission of schistosomiasis after reporting zero indigenous cases for the past three years, in January 2024, and in Cape Verde, which became the third country to be certified as malaria-free.
Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.
MADRID (AP) — About 50 migrants were missing after their boat overturned some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Spain’s Canary Island of El Hierro in the Atlantic Ocean, Spanish media reported Monday.
The national marine rescue service said one of its helicopters rescued nine people who were found clinging to the boat Monday morning following a warning call from a merchant vessel in the area.
State news agency Efe said that once transferred to El Hierro airport, the rescued migrants reported that 60 of them had set sail nine days ago and that the open-topped wooden boat ran into problems Saturday.
The rescue service was unable to say how many people may have been on the boat and no one was available to comment at Civil Guard police offices in the Canary Island capital of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Efe said the migrants were of sub-Saharan origin. There were no details on which country they had sailed from.
Tens of thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan countries fleeing poverty, conflict and instability in West Africa try to reach Spain each year by boat. Most go in large open vessels to the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, while others from Morocco, Algeria and Middle Eastern countries try to cross the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to mainland Spain. Several thousand die making the hazardous journey.
The Interior Ministry says 16,621 migrants arrived in Spain by boat between Jan. 1 and April 15, up by 11,681 in the same period last year. The vast majority arrived on the Canary Island route.
MADRID: Spain‘s Pedro Sanchez on Monday said he would stay on as prime minister after threatening to stand down over what he has denounced as a campaign of political harassment by the right. “I have decided to stay,” he said in a highly-anticipated public address that drew a line under days of political uncertainty that had gripped the country for the past five days. In office since 2018, the 52-year-old Socialist leader had on Wednesday written a letter to the public saying he was taking time out to mull his possible resignation after a Madrid court confirmed a preliminary probe into his wife Begona Gomez for suspected influence peddling and corruption. Denying the move was a “political calculation”, Sanchez said he needed “to stop and reflect” on the growing polarisation within politics which he said was increasingly being driven by “deliberate disinformation”. “For too long we’ve let this filth corrupt our political and public life with toxic methods that were unimaginable just a few years ago… Do we really want this for Spain?” he asked. “I have acted out of a clear conviction: either we say ‘enough is enough’ or this degradation of public life will define our future and condemn us as a country.” He said his decision to stay on had been “decisively influenced” by the mass show of support outside the Madrid headquarters of his Socialist party, where thousands of emotional supporters had chanted: “Pedro, stay!” The public prosecutor’s office on Thursday asked that the investigation into Begona Gomez be closed but Sanchez, an expert in political survival who has made a career out of taking political gambles, held his silence. He had been due to launch his party’s campaign on Thursday for the May 12 Catalonia regional elections in which his Socialists are hoping to oust the pro-independence forces from power. The court opened its investigation into Sanchez’s wife in response to a complaint by anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), whose leader is linked to the far right. Shortly after Sanchez’s bombshell letter went out on X, the group, which has presented a litany of unsuccessful lawsuits against politicians in the past, said it had based its complaint on media reports and could not vouch for their veracity. While the court did not give details of the case, online news site El Confidencial said it was related to her ties to several private companies that received government funding or won public contracts. Sanchez has been vilified by right-wing opponents and media because his minority government relies on the support of the hard left and Catalan and Basque separatist parties to pass laws. They have been especially angered by his decision to grant an amnesty to hundreds of Catalan separatists facing legal action over their roles in the northeastern region’s failed push for independence in 2017. That amnesty, in exchange for the support of Catalan separatist parties, still needs final approval in parliament. The opposition has since Wednesday mocked Sanchez’s decision to withdraw from his public duties as an attempt to rally his supporters. “A head of government can’t make a show of himself like a teenager and have everyone running after him, begging him not to leave and not to get angry,” said right-wing opposition leader and Popular Party head Alberto Nunez Feijoo on Thursday.
Mexican journalists held a vigil and protest Saturday a day after one of their colleagues was slain in the southern state of Morelos. They demanded a transparent investigation into the case and vented anger over the dangers news workers face in Mexico, which is one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists.
Dozens joined in the demonstration over the killing of Roberto Figueroa, who covered local politics and gained a social media following through satirical videos. After disappearing Friday morning, he was found dead inside a car in his hometown of Huitzilac in Morelos, a state south of Mexico City where drug-fueled violence runs rampant.
He was the first journalist to be killed this year in Mexico, which is the most dangerous country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere and has the highest number of missing journalists in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom watchdog.
In a tweet, press freedom organization Article 19 demanded that officials investigate and also called for protective measures for Figueroa’s family and coworkers.
Hoy, periodistas de Morelos protestaron para exigir el esclarecimiento del asesinato de Roberto Carlos Figueroa.
Nos sumamos a su exigencia y recordamos a @Fiscalia_Mor que debe investigar tomando como prioridad la labor periodística.
Mexican prosecutors promised a serious investigation, and the Morelos state government strongly condemned the killing.
But in a country where press activists say pervasive corruption and impunity long have endangered reporters, Figueroa’s colleagues carrying signs saying “Investigation now!” and chanting outside government offices in Morelos said they were losing patience with authorities.
“Neither the state government nor the attorney general do anything to stop the crimes that are multiplying,” Jaime Luis Brito, a correspondent for left-wing magazine Proceso wrote in a statement of protest. “No one in Morelos is safe. … Every day we count victims.”
Mexican media said Figueroa was abducted by gunmen after taking his daughters to school in Huitzilac, which is about 43 miles from Mexico City. The kidnappers called his family demanding a ransom in exchange for his life, but he was killed even though Figueroa’s wife delivered the payment, the reports said.
Police discovered Figueroa’s body along a dirt road Friday night. Prosecutors declined to discuss details or the case or speculate on who killed him and why.
Media workers are regularly targeted in Mexico, often in direct reprisal for their work covering topics like corruption and the country’s notoriously violent drug traffickers.
Figueroa focused his reporting in recent months on the upcoming Mexican elections. His colleagues described him as critical of governance in Morelos.
Since 2000, 141 Mexican journalists and other media workers have been slain, at least 61 of them in apparent retaliation for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists says. 2022 was one of the deadliest years ever for journalists in Mexico, with at least 15 killed.
At least 15 journalists killed in Mexico so far in 2022
03:45
All but a handful of the killings and abductions remain unsolved.
“Impunity is the norm in crimes against the press,” the group said in its report on Mexico last month.
“On the rare occasions when authorities do secure convictions, they tend to be against those who carried out the attacks but not those who ordered them,” the report said.
Mexico has also seen a spate of violence targeting politicians this year ahead of the June 2 elections. Earlier this month, a candidate for mayor in norther Mexico was killed just as she began campaigning. At least 14 candidates have been killed since the start of 2024.
Police moved in to clear dozens of protesters who had camped out in a courtyard in Sorbonne University in Paris on Monday to demand an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
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About 100 demonstrators took part in the protest near the prestigious university, waving a giant Palestinian flag and chanting slogans in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
The demonstration took place three days after protests at the French capital’s elite Sciences Po university and as pro-Palestinian rallies sweep college campuses across the United States.
“There were around fifty of us when the police came running into the courtyard,” said Rémi, a 20-year-old student who took part in the Sorbonne protest.
“The evacuation was quite brutal, with around ten people being dragged to the ground, but no arrests were made,” he added.
“We have every reason, like at Yale, Columbia, Sciences Po (…) to condemn what we can see is happening,” said another student, who gave his name as Leonard, outside the university gates.
University authorities said the Sorbonne’s amphitheatres were “evacuated around noon” and the main campus was closed for the afternoon.
Several French politicians, including senior members of the hard-left party La France Insoumise (LFI, or France Unbowed), had earlier urged supporters on social media to join the Sorbonne protests.
Tense standoff at elite university
The Sorbonne occupies a unique place at the heart of French public and intellectual life. Last week, President Emmanuel Macron chose it as the venue to deliver a speech on his vison of Europe ahead of elections for the European Parliament in June.
Last week, protests broke out at the elite Sciences Po university in Paris, which counts Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal among its many famous alumni.
Students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza had staged several days of sit-ins and protests at the Sciences Po campus in central Paris, some setting up tents in the central courtyard.
But police moved in on Friday amid a tense standoff between protesters and a group of about 50 pro-Israeli demonstrators who arrived at the scene.
The protest ended peacefully, when students agreed to evacuate the building. The head of Sciences Po said an agreement with students had been reached.
খাগড়াছড়ির রামগড়ে ফসলি জমির উপরিভাগের মাটি (টপসয়েল) কাটার অপরাধে আব্দুল্লাহ আল মামুন নামের এক ব্যক্তিকে চার লাখ টাকা জরিমানা করেছেন ভ্রাম্যমাণ আদালত।
সোমবার (২৯ এপ্রিল) বিকালের দিকে রামগড়ের রুপাইছড়ি এলাকায় অভিযান পরিচালনা করা হয়।
দণ্ডিত মাটি ব্যবসায়ী আবদুল্লাহ আল মামুন রামগড় পৌরসভার বাগানটিলা এলাকার বাসিন্দা আবদুল জলিলের ছেলে।
রামগড় উপজেলা নির্বাহী কর্মকর্তা (ইউএনও) মমতা আফরিন ভ্রামম্যাণ আদালত পরিচালনা করেন। অভিযানকালে রামগড় থানার উপপরিদর্শক (এসআই) ফারুক উপস্থিত ছিলেন।
ভ্রাম্যমাণ আদালত সূত্রে জানা গেছে, বেশ কিছুদিন ধরে একটি মহল অবৈধভাবে ফসলি জমির উপরিভাগের মাটি কেটে আসছিল। গোপন সংবাদ পেয়ে সেখানে অভিযান পরিচালনা করা হয়। এসময় বালু ও মাটি ব্যবস্থাপনা আইনে অপরাধ করায় দোষী ব্যক্তিকে চার লাখ টাকা অর্থদণ্ডে দন্ডিত করা হয়।
এ বিষয়ে মমতা আফরিন জাগো নিউজকে বলেন, রামগড়ের কোথাও অবৈধ উপায়ে খননযন্ত্রের সাহায্যে মাটি বা বালু উত্তোলন করে কেউ বিক্রি করতে পারবে না। উপজেলা প্রশাসন এ ব্যাপারে কঠোর অবস্থানে রয়েছে। এ ধরনের অভিযান ভবিষ্যতেও অব্যাহত থাকবে।
Vasily Lomachenko has arrived in Australia ahead of his May 12th fight against hometown fighter, former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. in their battle at the RAC Arena in Perth.
The vacant IBF lightweight title will be at stake for the Lomachenko-Kambosos fight and that makes it more interesting.
Can Kambosos Pull Off a Hometown Miracle?
It might take a miracle for Kambosos to win this fight against the more accomplished, and talented former three-division world champion Lomachenko. However, Kambosos Jr. is certainly fighting in the right place to win a decision.
You have to figure that if the fight goes to the cards, Kambosos Jr. will likely have his hand raised.
Kambosos’ last three fights:
Maxi Hughes: A highly criticized 12-round majority decision win for Kambosos in a fight that a lot of fans saw him losing.
Devin Haney (x 2): Two consecutive defeats.
Some boxing fans see Kambosos as unworthy of fighting for another world title, given that he’s lost two out of his last three fights and is coming off a questionable 12-round majority decision over Maxi Hughes last July.
Ideally, Kambosos should have given Hughes a rematch to show the boxing public that he was truly the better man and not just someone who got lucky with the scoring.
Instead of doing that, Kambosos moves on and goes into his fight with Lomachenko, looking tarnished in the eyes of the fans who saw his fight with Hughes and watched his consecutive defeats against Devin Haney.
I think it’s fair to say that the former unified lightweight champion Kambosos (21-2, 10 KOs) should have lost to Hughes, which would have finished his career as a world-level fighter. That would have been Kambosos’ third straight loss.
Kambosos, 30, looked terrible against a fighter that William Zepeda had just destroyed in four rounds last May, which shows how far away Kambosos is from being true top-level.
Lomachenko Focused on the Task Ahead
“I’m very excited. I want to win this fight, and I hope I’ll be able to do it,” said Vasily Lomachenko to the media upon arrival to Australia for his May 12th fight against George Kambosos Jr.
“We have one week of training. It’ll be our last week of training camp. It’s competition and I think the best man will win,” said Lomachenko when asked if he has a message for Kambosos.
Did you miss the debut of UFC 301 “Countdown” or just want to watch it again? Check out the main event preview now.
The segment takes a special look at the flyweight title fight between champion Alexandre Pantoja (27-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and challenger Steve Erceg (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC).
UFC 301 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro. “Countdown” goes behind the scenes with the two fighters, and you can watch the full segment above. And don’t miss the entire episode in the video below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 301.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
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