world's worst humanitarian crisis

I've been starting this entry for weeks now. Each time I begin to think about what is happening in Darfur, my blood curdles, my insides convulse with anger, the tears well up, and the thoughts paralyse my brain. And so I can't think of what to say. How do you write about such inhumanity when you feel so helpless to do anything about it?

Millions have been forced out of their villages, and hundreds of thousands are dying. The Sudanese government are complicit in this genocide which is fast becoming a repeat of Rwanda. The Janjaweed militia have massacred men, women and children, and those left; the refugees in Darfur, are starving to death, encircled by these gunmen who kill any men and rape any women who dare to venture out to forage for food. MSF report that they see at least five girls every week who have been raped, some as young as 12. Given the cultural reluctance to report rape, the actual figure is thought to be much much higher.

1 million will die of starvation unless they get the billions of dollars of aid that they so desperately need. With the monsoons drawing closer, many more will be cut off from aid. In the capital, Khartoum, the foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, told the Guardian: "In Darfur there is no hunger, no malnutrition, no epidemic diseases."

1 in 4 children in southern Sudan do not reach their 5th birthday. Women have a 1 in 9 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth. Healthcare is provided almost solely by outsiders. In rebel-controlled areas there are a measly 1500 hospital beds to service a population of eight million.

The biggest cause of death of children in Darfur is pneumonia in which malnutrition is a contributing factor. Last month saw a Sudanese outbreak of the lethal Ebola virus, Malaria is common, as are diarrhoeal, sexually-transmitted, and respiratory infections. There is an, as yet, unidentified disease that is killing and paralysing scores of children. I could go on and on. The UN describes the situation in Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

I don't know what I can do, other than support the charities appealing for funds to assist people affected by the fighting in Sudan. Here they are: Care International, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, Save the Children (UK), Unicef, UNHCR, World Food Programme.

Bush Goes Mental

It's official. Bush has unveiled an ambitious plan that aims to screen the whole US population for mental illness, and to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing services in the community, rather than institutions according to a recent progress report.
Bush set up a New Freedom Commission in mental health in 2002 which found, unsurprisingly, that mental disorders often go undiagnosed, and recommended screening for consumers of all ages. This included even pre-school children.

The commission recommended linkage [of screening] with treatment including state-of-the-art treatments using specific medications for specific conditions. The commission commended a Texas Medication Algorithm Project as a model medication treatment plan.

Sounds like Bush is finally doing something for his people? Something worthwhile, good and right? Think again.

The Texas project promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs; which have not been shown to be superior in efficacy to older, cheaper drugs, verified by studies in the US and UK which suggested that it makes more sense for older drugs to be used first. Key officials with influence over the medication plan in one state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm.

There's more:
Olanzapine (sorry, I only use generic names), one of the atypical antipsychotic drugs recommended as a first line drug in the Texas algorithm, grossed $4.28bn worldwide in 2003 and is Eli Lilly's top selling drug. So what? Well, George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000 — 82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.

And also:
The companies that helped to start up the Texas project have been, and still are, big contributors to the election funds of George W Bush. Bush is the clear front runner when it comes to drug company contributions. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, manufacturers of drug products have contributed $764 274 to the 2004 Bush campaign through their political action committees and employees, far outstripping the $149 400 given to his chief rival, John Kerry, by 26 April.

Well we find, unsurprisingly, that Corruption and Backscratching, though often undiagnosed, are still prevalent and thriving in Bush's newest plan.

ASRWU - part twelve

So after a heavy dose of M launching into a breakfast homily on the difference between ownership and possession, as metaphorically displayed in some Indian movie he was harping on about, we felt ready, almost keen, to embrace the freezing Boston air.

The T-trolley, or “T” as it is commonly known, is a subway that facilitated our escape from suburbia. Apparently it is the oldest subway in the country and thought to be one of the best.

First stop for us was the Glass flowers exhibit at HMNH (Harvard Museum of Natural History) $7.50
The Glass Flowers are a unique collection of over 3,000 models of
plants painstakingly crafted in glass by Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka, father and son. The project spanned five decades from 1886 to 1936. Looking at them, it’s difficult to get your head around – you have to keep reminding yourself that the flowers are actually made of glass. You simply have to marvel at the sheer skill these Blaschka guys had.

fingers in his ears, singing LaLaLa

I voted for Blair in the last general elections. Perhaps I was being naive when I thought that he wasn't like the usual lying, cheating politicians. It turned out that I was a silly little girl who was wrong. Blair let me down (and the millions of others who voted him in) over Iraq. I don't make the same mistake twice.

In the face of strong public opposition, Blair has continued his unapologetic stance on Iraq on the basis that we, the electorate, have no real alternative. If you look closely, it's funny how much New Labour resemble old Tories. What a profound effect America has had on us (practically speaking, we all know there are hardly any differences between Republicans and Democrats).

June 10th saw the European Parliament elections here in Scotland, and additionally the local elections in England and Wales. Although the EU election results won't be known till Sunday, in local elections Labour have suffered an unprecedented defeat. It is the first time a party in government has finished third (behind Tories then Liberal Democrats) in terms of national share of the vote in local elections.

Are you listening yet, Mr Blair?

Transit of Venus

This is a bit special. I'm even going to get up early tomorrow. And I really don't do mornings, whenever possible. But, as Walsh said in Saturday's Guardian, for once the astrogeeks are right.

The last transit visible from the UK in it's entirety was 700 years ago, so I repeat: this is a bit special. Even worth missing the Tuesday lie-in for.

ASRWU - part eleven

It seems I may have been a bit quick to judge Boston as the cosmopolitan, liberal city I’d initially thought it to be. I’m referring, of course, to the recent arrest of Joseph Previtera, a 21 year-old Boston student who donned a black hood and shawl and ascended a milk crate, outside a military recruitment office to protest at the Abu Ghraib abuse.

It was clear from the dangling stereo wires attached to each arm that he was dressed as the Iraqi prisoner who was allegedly forced to balance on a cardboard box lest he be electrocuted. He was arrested after an hour and is facing charges more serious than any US soldier is facing for their role in the actual prison abuse in Iraq.

Isn’t it wonderful this “Land of the Free”?

Frontiers for Médecins Sans Frontières

A BMJ article this week details how the Israeli army have obstructed medical access to civilians in Rafah.
Dr Butin, local medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières states
our teams, though officially authorised to travel, are having guns pointed at them and their path blocked by tanks....
...I myself was with a group that was shot at, in a tent where we were holding a clinic. The only people there were MSF workers and mothers and their children. Our car was outside, clearly marked, and we had the flag showing. Bullets started coming through the tent and we all lay on the ground. I telephoned the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] and the fire stopped immediately. The army told us we could leave, but said once we were gone they would continue to fire on the Palestinians.

At least 43 Palestinians were killed during Israeli incursions into the refugee camp on the Egyptian border. In one incident, 10 demonstrators, mostly children, were killed when tank shells were fired into a crowd protesting at the incursion.

DIY daddy

An Italian businessman has sparked controversy by selling do-it-yourself paternity testing kits, with which men can check their children's DNA without telling their wives.
The kit is on sale for 700Euros (£470:$840)and allows suspicious fathers to take a mouth swab from their child, and send it along with their own swab to a laboratory for genetic analysis. The results are posted or emailed back a week later.

The ethical implications of this are still being debated in Italy, and restrictions on their sale are few. France on the other hand, has banned the kits, amid concerns about potential invasions of privacy. Belgium imposes strict regulations, obliging both parents to consent to the test.

(As an aside, I noticed my (British) keyboard doesn't have a Euro symbol key. Do newer keyboards come with these in place?)