Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika on Thursday expressed great sorrow at reports that his “dear brother and friend” Zambian President Levi Mwanawasa, aged 59, had died at a French military hospital in Paris on Tuesday.
Mwanawasa’s death had robbed Zambia, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the entire African continent of a man who believed in and fought for unity and solidarity among all Africans, Mutharika said.
“In addition, he worked hard to promote friendship and cooperation between the people of Zambia and Malawi. His legacy will live forever,” he said.
The government and people of Malawi send their deepest condolences to the Zambian first lady Madam Maureen Mwanawasa, children, relatives and the entire nation of Zambia, he concluded.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Malawi launches climate change project
Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD), an international body aimed at educating future leaders whose actions will influence decisions on environment, has launched a climate change project called Building Capacity for Adaptation in West and Southern Africa in southern Malawi’s former capital of Zomba, APA learnt here Thursday.
The project will encompass Malawi, Mali and Senegal, according to LEAD Regional Director Sosten Chiotha.
Chiotha said the project aimed at interacting with communities on climate change and then come up with a training package on how local communities in these three countries could adapt to climate change.
"We would like to compile all the information, including findings from elsewhere, and then will come up with a training package," he said, adding that the project would find out what the communities already know about climate change and how they understood and what they were doing to stop the phenomenon.
The project which is based at the University of Malawi (UNIMA)’s main campus of Chancellor College will run for three years from 2008 to 2010 with support from UK Department for International Development (DFID).
The project will encompass Malawi, Mali and Senegal, according to LEAD Regional Director Sosten Chiotha.
Chiotha said the project aimed at interacting with communities on climate change and then come up with a training package on how local communities in these three countries could adapt to climate change.
"We would like to compile all the information, including findings from elsewhere, and then will come up with a training package," he said, adding that the project would find out what the communities already know about climate change and how they understood and what they were doing to stop the phenomenon.
The project which is based at the University of Malawi (UNIMA)’s main campus of Chancellor College will run for three years from 2008 to 2010 with support from UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Malawian lesbians to use female condoms
Chairperson for the committee, Ruth, said today in an interview on the sidelines of a female condom presentation by a gay rights delegation from the United States of America, who are on a five-day visit to appraise Malawian gays with rights advocacy skills. The event took place in Malawi's commercial city, Blantyre.
The US delegation donated 15 cartons of female condoms for members of the newly-formed association to protect themselves with, where they feel sex without them may put them at risk.
Ruth said time had now come for Malawians to realise that homosexuals were normal people who could use use their minds responsibly, especially in the face of HIV and AIDS. The country is one of those in sub-Saharan Africa hard-hit by the scourge to the extent that over 800 000 people have already died from HIV-related illnesses.
The country has also seen the rise in the number of orphans, currently at over 600 000, raising fears the formation of a gay-rights association could trigger the spread even further.
"We will use condoms where necessary. People have the wrong conception that whatever homosexuals do is associated with HIV and AIDS,but that is due to ignorance because there are a lot of things gays and lesbians do that do not expose one to the risk of contracting HIV and AIDS," said Ruth.
Ruth, an indigenous Malawian, also dispelled notions that only foreigners were perpetuating homosexual behaviour in Malawi, saying, as it were, both she and the movement's chairperson were indigenous Malawians.
"As it is at the moment, all our members are people born and bred in Malawi. We are all indigenous Malawians at the moment but are looking foward to welcoming everybody. Practicing gays from outside the country are especially asked to come forward so that we may learn from their experience. This we say because we are bracing for tough times ahead, where people and various government officials will try to frustrate us,"said Ruth, emphasizing that condom use and other forms of protection will be at the top of their agenda.
This, she said, will help in avoiding the US scenario, where HIV and AIDS begun rampaging the population before spiraling state-wide.
She said the movement expects more gay rights delegations to come to Malawi, to impart their knowledge and share experiences about how such movements work.
"We even know that we will contribute positively towards sustainable social-economic development; and that people will come to appreciate us. These things take time," she said.
The US delegation donated 15 cartons of female condoms for members of the newly-formed association to protect themselves with, where they feel sex without them may put them at risk.
Ruth said time had now come for Malawians to realise that homosexuals were normal people who could use use their minds responsibly, especially in the face of HIV and AIDS. The country is one of those in sub-Saharan Africa hard-hit by the scourge to the extent that over 800 000 people have already died from HIV-related illnesses.
The country has also seen the rise in the number of orphans, currently at over 600 000, raising fears the formation of a gay-rights association could trigger the spread even further.
"We will use condoms where necessary. People have the wrong conception that whatever homosexuals do is associated with HIV and AIDS,but that is due to ignorance because there are a lot of things gays and lesbians do that do not expose one to the risk of contracting HIV and AIDS," said Ruth.
Ruth, an indigenous Malawian, also dispelled notions that only foreigners were perpetuating homosexual behaviour in Malawi, saying, as it were, both she and the movement's chairperson were indigenous Malawians.
"As it is at the moment, all our members are people born and bred in Malawi. We are all indigenous Malawians at the moment but are looking foward to welcoming everybody. Practicing gays from outside the country are especially asked to come forward so that we may learn from their experience. This we say because we are bracing for tough times ahead, where people and various government officials will try to frustrate us,"said Ruth, emphasizing that condom use and other forms of protection will be at the top of their agenda.
This, she said, will help in avoiding the US scenario, where HIV and AIDS begun rampaging the population before spiraling state-wide.
She said the movement expects more gay rights delegations to come to Malawi, to impart their knowledge and share experiences about how such movements work.
"We even know that we will contribute positively towards sustainable social-economic development; and that people will come to appreciate us. These things take time," she said.
Superdoctors - one small step
Steve Mannion divides his time between the UK and working abroad
You could call him the Indiana Jones of surgery. Steve Mannion, an orthopaedic surgeon, has devoted his life to working in far-flung and under-resourced corners of the world.
"Part of my reason for going into medicine was to work overseas. I was a bit of an adventurer. As a student, I did an elective on the Afghan-Pakistan border."
His sense of adventure led him into working as a trauma and war surgeon for the Red Cross and medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers.
Nowadays, Mr Mannion spends two weeks of every month at his job in Blackpool; and the other two weeks working for charities in countries like Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone.
He features in the last film in a three-part series called SuperDoctors which looks at the progress being made in medicine.
Medicine
The first two programmes focus on high-tech medicine in the form of surgical robots and costly stem cell therapy.
In contrast, presenter Robert Winston follows the surgeon to Malawi, one of the poorest countries on earth where the life expectancy is around 40 years.
Mr Mannion's human ingenuity in treating people in places that have no technology or money has seen him cross over a medical frontier.
"It may not immediately be apparent that working in war zones or developing countries is somewhere you can push back medical frontiers or be very innovative, but I feel it's even more important in these situations," he said.
He maintains his mantra that "necessity is the mother of invention."
Around Malawi, the surgeon has several clinics for children and adults with clubfeet.
Like Britain, somewhere between one to two children per 1,000 are born with this deformity.
Until recently the treatment in Britain has been extensive surgery, and when the treated child grows up they are often still in pain and scarred from the procedure.
In Malawi, however, Mr Mannion was one of only two surgeons for seven million people in the northern area of the country.
Demand
To keep up with demand, he had to come up with a new and non-surgical solution which he could train staff in the country to perform as well.
The surgeon found a little known and scarcely used physiotherapy treatment, called the Ponseti treatment, which proved to be successful.
It involves gentle manipulation of the bones and stretching of the skin through casting, followed by the child wearing a particular type of boots.
Quickly Mr Mannion spread the practice through clinics all over the country and soon evidence based on hundreds of cases showed that the treatment was excellent.
Not only that - it was better than the British treatment of surgery. He had stumbled across something big.
The programme follows the Ponseti treatment - both in Africa and Britain - and tells the story of Steve's struggle to overcome deep-set traditions and practices to eventually cross a new medical frontier.
Yet, for the cost of one advanced surgical robot - around £12 million - a quarter of a million children can be treated and given the ability to walk again.
Unlike expensive high-tech surgery, Mr Mannion found a simple solution within the reach of more than a small percentage of the world's population.
The first of three Superdoctors programmes in the series is scheduled to run on Thursday 21 August on BBC One at 2100BST.
You could call him the Indiana Jones of surgery. Steve Mannion, an orthopaedic surgeon, has devoted his life to working in far-flung and under-resourced corners of the world.
"Part of my reason for going into medicine was to work overseas. I was a bit of an adventurer. As a student, I did an elective on the Afghan-Pakistan border."
His sense of adventure led him into working as a trauma and war surgeon for the Red Cross and medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers.
Nowadays, Mr Mannion spends two weeks of every month at his job in Blackpool; and the other two weeks working for charities in countries like Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone.
He features in the last film in a three-part series called SuperDoctors which looks at the progress being made in medicine.
Medicine
The first two programmes focus on high-tech medicine in the form of surgical robots and costly stem cell therapy.
In contrast, presenter Robert Winston follows the surgeon to Malawi, one of the poorest countries on earth where the life expectancy is around 40 years.
Mr Mannion's human ingenuity in treating people in places that have no technology or money has seen him cross over a medical frontier.
"It may not immediately be apparent that working in war zones or developing countries is somewhere you can push back medical frontiers or be very innovative, but I feel it's even more important in these situations," he said.
He maintains his mantra that "necessity is the mother of invention."
Around Malawi, the surgeon has several clinics for children and adults with clubfeet.
Like Britain, somewhere between one to two children per 1,000 are born with this deformity.
Until recently the treatment in Britain has been extensive surgery, and when the treated child grows up they are often still in pain and scarred from the procedure.
In Malawi, however, Mr Mannion was one of only two surgeons for seven million people in the northern area of the country.
Demand
To keep up with demand, he had to come up with a new and non-surgical solution which he could train staff in the country to perform as well.
The surgeon found a little known and scarcely used physiotherapy treatment, called the Ponseti treatment, which proved to be successful.
It involves gentle manipulation of the bones and stretching of the skin through casting, followed by the child wearing a particular type of boots.
Quickly Mr Mannion spread the practice through clinics all over the country and soon evidence based on hundreds of cases showed that the treatment was excellent.
Not only that - it was better than the British treatment of surgery. He had stumbled across something big.
The programme follows the Ponseti treatment - both in Africa and Britain - and tells the story of Steve's struggle to overcome deep-set traditions and practices to eventually cross a new medical frontier.
Yet, for the cost of one advanced surgical robot - around £12 million - a quarter of a million children can be treated and given the ability to walk again.
Unlike expensive high-tech surgery, Mr Mannion found a simple solution within the reach of more than a small percentage of the world's population.
The first of three Superdoctors programmes in the series is scheduled to run on Thursday 21 August on BBC One at 2100BST.
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