November 26, 2022

The world’s youth talk of making a difference

BEIJING, Nov. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — “We must do our part by finding our passion, dreaming big, then starting small, and loving others along the way, and we can absolutely take our impact on the world to a whole another level,” said Geresu Dagmawit Mesfin in the final of the fourth China Daily Belt and Road Youth English Speaking Competition, held online from Nov 26 to 27.

Mesfin, 24, of Ethiopia and Wang Zhisheng, 21, of China, and Gabriella Madombwe, 19, of South Africa, were the three winners among six contestants who reached the final. Nearly 40 young people in more than 30 countries and regions had taken part in the semi-final.

Speaking on the topic “Youth making a difference”, all finalists talked of how young people can contribute to making the world a better place by proposing and making positive changes.

In Wang’s speech, he calls on young people from every inch and crevice of the world to contribute to a better future for this planet for all human beings to share. “I believe, there is a huge difference youth can and should make.”

“Youth is seeing the world through your own lens, an unperturbed lens which has not been smudged by the restrictions of reality,” Madombwe said. “Optimism, hope, courage, idealism, energy – that is how I see youth.”

Concluding the final competition, one of the judges, Mark Levine, a professor at Minzu University of China, spoke highly of the event and the contestants.

“This was a very unique competition, extremely interesting and informative. People came from all over the world. ”

The China Daily Belt and Road Youth English Speaking Competition, first held three years ago, has been an important public platform for young people from all over the world to exchange ideas, deepen mutual understanding and polish their communications skills. The annual event has attracted participants from 51 countries and regions.

This year’s event began in January. Preliminary rounds were held offline in Malaysia, Russia, Serbia and South Africa, and nine universities in China. With this year’s event over, contestants will get the chance to take part in more activities so they can gain a deeper understanding of China linguistically and culturally.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1957782/image_5019985_51485758.jpg

November 26, 2022

One year since the emergence of COVID-19 virus variant Omicron

It was 26 November 2021 that WHO declared that the world was facing a new variant of concern: Omicron. It would go on to change the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emerging evidence was quickly shared by scientists from Botswana, Hong Kong and South Africa and discussed in a special meeting of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group for Virus Evolution (TAG-VE).

Experts at the meeting worried about the large number of mutations present in this variant, which differed greatly from the other variants that had been detected so far. Early data showed Omicron’s rapid spread in some provinces in South Africa and an increased risk of reinfection compared to the previously circulating variants.

Just hours later, WHO declared this new variant a variant of concern: we were dealing with something new, something different, and something that the world had to quickly prepare for.

The Omicron effect

Omicron was quickly identified as being significantly more transmissible than Delta, the preceding variant of concern. Within 4 weeks, as the Omicron wave travelled around the world, it replaced Delta as the dominant variant.

Countries which had so far been successful in keeping COVID-19 at bay through public health and social measures now found themselves struggling. For individuals, the greatest price was paid by those who were at risk of severe disease but not vaccinated, and we saw hospitalizations and deaths rise in a number of places around the world.

By March 2022, WHO and partners estimate that almost 90% of the global population had antibodies against the COVID-19 virus, whether through vaccination or infection.

Overall, though, this new variant caused less severe disease than Delta on average. Scientists worked to understand why this was so. A number of factors likely played a role. For example, the virus replicated more efficiently in the upper airway, and population immunity had been steadily increasing worldwide due to vaccination and infections.

While vaccines reduced the impact of Omicron, they themselves were impacted: studies have shown that vaccine effectiveness against infection, disease, hospitalization and death waned (though at different rates) over time. However, protection against hospitalization and death have remained high, preventing millions of people from dying.

The next variant of concern?

Since the emergence of Omicron, the virus has continued to evolve. Today, there are over 500 sublineages of this variant circulating, but not one has been designated as a new variant of concern.

So far, these sublineages of Omicron have much in common: they are all highly transmissible, replicate in the upper respiratory tract and tend to cause less severe disease compared to previous variants of concern, and they all have mutations that make them escape built-up immunity more easily. This means that they are similar in their impact on public health, and the response that is needed to deal with them.

If the virus were to change significantly – like if a new variant caused more severe disease, or if vaccines no longer prevented severe disease and death – the world would need to reconsider its response. In that case, we would have a new variant of concern, and with it, new recommendations and strategy from WHO.

WHO, together with scientists and public health professionals around the world, continues to monitor the circulating variants for signs of the next variant of concern. However, there is apprehension because testing and sequencing are declining globally and the sequences that are available aren’t globally representative (most sequences are shared from high-income countries).

WHO and partners also remain concerned that surveillance at the human-animal interface is limited, where the next variant of concern could come from.

While it might be difficult to stop a new variant from emerging, quick detection and information sharing means its impact on our lives can be minimized.

Source: World Health Organization

November 26, 2022

DRC: helping children stay in school in conflict-torn Kivu

Humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the highest in the world. People in the DRC have been facing persistent conflict and violence for decades.

There are currently over 5.6 million displaced people within the country – the highest number in Africa. More than 1 million Congolese refugees live in neighbouring countries. Due to the conflict, children cannot stay in school or go back to it.

Raphaële, who works for EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, recently visited the South Kivu province in the DRC. Here, the EU and partners are running projects to support the construction and renovation of primary schools. Our funding also helps provide educational kits for children. Read her first-hand account.

Our convoy reaches the small village of Lemera, in the South Kivu province of the DRC, after a long drive on a bumpy dirt road running along a steep mountainside.

Physical access constraints and frequent clashes between local armed groups explain why remote communities in the Hauts and Moyens Plateaux of South Kivu receive few visitors.

The humanitarians in charge of the MERCI project (Multisector Emergency Response for Conflict Impacted populations) are among the exceptions. The project is funded by the EU and implemented by OXFAM Belgium and Street Child.

The goal of MERCI is to make a positive impact on the lives of more than 3,000 men, women and children heavily affected by the conflict, whether they are internally displaced populations, members of host communities, or returnees.

Education in emergencies

We stop in front of the village’s primary school. Immediately, dozens of children gather around the cars, welcoming us with curious eyes and shy smiles.

Many are wearing very simple uniforms and carrying brightly coloured backpacks: they form part of the educational kits that OXFAM and Street Child distributed to the young pupils at the start of the school year.

The project, launched a few months ago, includes the construction and renovation of 20 primary schools in 10 local communities.

Here, work has already started on one of the buildings: inside, the new cement floor is smooth and clean, and a large blackboard hangs on the wall.

Desks are still lacking in the classroom where far too many pupils are sitting together, but it is a decisive first step towards improving the learning conditions of children.

Caring for the environment

A few metres away from the school buildings, we visit the nursery garden.

The children have sown seeds which are already starting to grow. The small trees will later be planted around the school.

South Kivu’s forests are threatened by slash-and-burn farming as well as by the intensive use of wood as fuel to fire mud bricks and cook food. The project helps to raise community awareness about the need for reforestation.

Schools are the focal point of the MERCI intervention, which aims to protect vulnerable populations by creating a safer and more prosperous environment.

The smiling children who surround us are the promise of a better future for this conflict-torn community.

Story by Raphaële Magoni, Desk Officer DRC, EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Source: European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations