Maternal and Child Health
Threats to life in early childhood and to women during child birth have dropped in Ghana, according to preliminary reports released by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).The Maternal Health Survey 2017, which sought to collect data at the national level to enable an assessment of the level of maternal mortality in Ghana, indicated that under-five-years-of-age mortality had declined to 52 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2017 compared with 155 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1988.
Presenting the report, Peter Takyi Peprah, head of Field Operations and Coordinator for the Maternal Health Survey at GSS, noted that the improvements in the indicators had been significant, expressing hope that if measures put in place by health authorities to eradicate these challenges were implemented efficiently, the cases would drop further to negligible limits.
The country’s 40-year development plan currently being developed by the National Development Planning Commission paid much attention to eradicating maternal mortality or, at least, reducing it to the barest minimum.
Wang Yi
Minister of Foreign Affairs of China
As we work together for a community with a shared future for humanity, African brothers and sisters are welcome to get on board China’s fast train of development.
Kenya
Fighting Cancer
Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta launched a second strategic plan for her campaign dubbed “Beyond Zero,” and vowed to fight cancer and reduce maternal and child mortality.
Kenyatta said besides strengthening the maternal healthcare and HIV/AIDS awareness, which were the main focus in the last four years, the new plan now includes new health challenges that commonly affect women.
The First Lady noted that the new framework will build on the first 2013-17 action plan, which was aimed at HIV control and promotion of maternal and child health, and addressing health challenges from childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
ChINA
6G Networks
China is promoting research on the next-generation mobile communication standard, 6G, said Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology.
Research on 6G technology is connected to the “Internet of Things” concept, Miao said, adding that 5G technology is now playing a key role in the service sector.
“The popular unmanned vehicles, for example, need not only information from sensors, but also information links between vehicles and vehicles, as well as vehicles and roads. So high-quality Internet service is very necessary,” said Miao.
The GAMBIAEliminating Tuberculosis and Malaria
The Gambia’s Information and Communication Infrastructure Minister Demba Ali Jawo said on March 7 that his country is on track in eliminating tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. “The national TB treatment has a success rate of 85 percent, meeting the global target of 85 percent, and the management of Drug Resistant TB in The Gambia has been strengthened over the years,” he said at a press conference in Kanifing.
Jawo, who is also the spokesperson of the government, added that the National Malaria Control Program in 2017 conducted a visibility event to fight against the tropical disease.
He said residual spraying was used as a strategy which was implemented in the Central River Region and Upper River Region of the country to control malaria.
ChINA
Protecting Marine Ecology
China has initiated a pilot mechanism of appointing gulf chiefs to tackle pollution on coastlines and offshore areas.
The protection mechanism for maritime pollution control outlined by the State Oceanic Administration is similar to the approaches of river chiefs and lake chiefs which have been widely adopted nationwide since 2016 and have achieved visible results in combatting pollution.
Under the mechanism, top officials at levels of province, city, county, and township are appointed as gulf chiefs, accountable for the effects of water pollution control.
In 2017, some 2,000 gulf chiefs were appointed in the pilot project in east China’s Zhejiang Province. The province has almost 6,500 km of coastline.
Gulf chiefs have helped clear and block off 117 outlets discharging sewage into the sea. Thanks to these efforts, the water quality of four estuaries in the city now meets the national standard.