Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti High quality water, in the right quantity at the right place at the right time, is essential to health, recreation, and economic growth. “Better access to clean water, sanitation services and water management creates tremendous opportunity for the poor and is a progressive strategy for economic growth,” the World Health Organisation says. The United Nations public health agency added, “The poor gain directly from high quality water, improved access to basic water as well as sanitation services through improved health, averted health care costs and time saved.” While concerns over water conservation, access and hygiene feature high on the news agenda, the problem of water loss in the Southern African Development Community often gets overlooked. Yet this vital issue affects millions of lives. In recent times, the inability of vulnerable populations in SADC countries to access safe water and basic sanitation due to water losses has seen frequent diarrhor

Lazarus Sauti Tuberculosis, second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent, is making a serious comeback and cementing its position as a major public health concern. “In 2013, 9 million people fell ill with TB, almost half a million of whom have a multi-drug resistant disease which is far harder to treat,” noted the World Health Organisation director-general, Dr Margaret Chan. Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director, says over 95 per cent of TB deaths occur in developing states, and countries in Africa remain with the uppermost tuberculosis deaths. “(The) African region remains with the highest TB. Sadly, the poor are vulnerable and at most risk; especially homeless persons as well as individuals living in densely populated communities,” she said. Countries in Africa must, therefore, take necessary steps to combat the disease, and effectively realise an Africa without tuberculosis. Timur Abdullaev, a human rights expert,

Lazarus Sauti The provision of information services in Zimbabwe is discrete, and as a result access to various information services is more difficult. Sadly, the main victims of these developments are people living in rural parts of the country. “Rural communities in the country compose the larger percentage of the population whose information and developmental needs are not adequately met. As a result, they are crippled to productively participate in national development processes,” affirmed Collence Chisita, an information specialist. As information is key to development, Chisita said citizens in rural communities should be empowered with free-for-all access to information.   “Unfettered access to information relevant to survival and for community building can enable people to participate in developmental issues. Accordingly, rural communities must be sanctioned with access to information,” he asserted. The United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Orga

Lazarus Sauti Intra-Africa trade is crucial to the continent’s progress, but sadly, it is very low between African countries. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in its 2013 report on Intra-Africa trade, noted that between 2007 and 2011, the average share of intra-African exports in total merchandise exports in the continent was 11 per cent, compared to 50 per cent in developing Asia, 21 per cent in Latin America and 70 per cent in Europe. Stanley Subramoney, PricewaterhouseCoopers South Africa agrees that Africa is a continent on the move, but its tragedy is that nations export wealth and import poverty. “Intra-Africa trade, if you look at the sub-Saharan region, is a mere 7 per cent, so as Africans we do not trade amongst ourselves. If you compare the intra-European trade, it is an excess of 70 per cent, intra-Asia trade is an excess of 55 per cent,” concurred Stanley He went on to say the problem is heightened by the fact that nations in Afric

Lazarus Sauti Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation’s Regional Director for Africa says unsafe food is linked to the deaths of an estimated 2 million people annually and the African region is not an exception. She added that infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with an underlying illness are particularly vulnerable. Dr Moeti also explained that food contaminated by harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances can lead to a wide range of health problems. “Contaminated food is responsible for more than 200 diseases, including typhoid fever, diarrhoea and cancers, among others,” she asserted. According to the World Health Organisation food can become contaminated at any point of production and distribution. “This food poses major economic risks as it impedes socio-economic progress by straining health care systems as well as harming national economies, tourism plus trade,” added the World Health Organisation. Dr

Lazarus Sauti Like it or not, science and technology are part and parcel of almost every aspect of human lives. They make extraordinary things possible – when people are ill, science and technology help them to get better. Further, science and technology tell people about the past, help them with the present, on top of creating avenues to advance their future. The place of science and technology in society, therefore, is of vital importance as it is crucial for sustainable socio-economic development, and now more than ever, African countries should engage with science and technology if the continent is to transform economically and compete globally. “African countries should use science and technology to research on new sources of food and resolve the socio-economic and environmental challenges that hinder sustainable development,” Zimbabwe’s Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Oppah Muchinguri, told delegates at the recently two-day United Nations Educational, Scient

Lazarus Sauti Africa is endowed with a hodgepodge of natural resources from an immeasurable assortment of minerals that have the potential of positively transforming the continent if correct approaches are championed. Because of natural resources, the continent is literally wealthy, but practically its citizens are amongst the poorest in the world. Africans are living in abject poverty. The question is, therefore, why Africans are so wretched yet the continent is resource endowed? The answer needs no effort to unravel as it is simple and straight-forward. Africa is shamefully selling her innate resources in unprocessed form. Minister of Industry and Commerce in Zimbabwe, Mike Bimha, concurs. He thinks Africa is in extreme poverty largely because it exports its vast natural resources – mainly minerals – in raw form cheaply, and re-imports finished products made from these at high cost. “It is partly due to this that in 2013, the 19-member Comesa group recorded

Lazarus Sauti Oral health is essential to general health and quality of life. It is a state of being free from mouth and facial pain, oral and throat cancer, oral infection and sores, periodontal (gum) disease, tooth decay, tooth loss, and other diseases and disorders that limit an individual’s capacity in biting, chewing, smiling, speaking, and psychosocial wellbeing. “Sadly, in most African states, 60 to 90 per cent of children and nearly 100 per cent of adults suffer from oral diseases,” noted the South African Dental Association (SADA) – an organisation that represents the vast majority of active dentists in the private and public sectors in South Africa. The common oral diseases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), are dental cavities, periodontal (gum) disease, oral cancer, oral infectious diseases, trauma from injuries, and hereditary lesions. FDI World Dental Federation, the world’s leading organisation representing the dental profession, said the