Issue #1

Welcome to our first newsletter!
We are excited to announce our monthly newsletter series, bringing you updates on our upcoming events, a segment on stories from the field as experienced by Public Health practitioners, planned webinars and podcasts in the pipeline as well as happenings in Africa, as regards public health.

We are writing to you in unprecedented times. Navigating through a pandemic, attending classes exclusively online, witnessing a very polarized election season. In Africa, despite the pandemic the youths have taken to the streets and organized activities in a way that has not been seen in recent times.

In Nigeria, the protests are about police brutality and ending a Police Unit — SARS (#EndSars), as it has been accused of many human rights abuses, and state sponsored extortion and killings. The people have had enough and have turned out in unprecedented numbers, mothers are marching for their sons, millenials are marching for their future. (#EndSARS Protest pictured above).

In Namibia the women are protesting for lives to be valued as full human beings — fighting for their autonomy. #ShutItAllDownNamibia #ShutItAllDown They are protesting against the high rates of gender based violence against women, the Femicide, the lack of prosecution for many cases of rape, intimidation against and murder of women.

If you would like to lend your voices to our fight, you can start by learning more using the hashtags and links below.

#EndSARS

#ShutItAllDownNamibia

#EndPoliceBrutalitynow

If you would like to donate to the #Endsars protest efforts you can do so here: https://donatebtc.feministcoalition2020.com/

We look forward to continuing the conversation via our social media pages, our upcoming podcasts, panels and speaker series. We are excited to spend the next year together, developing amazing friendships and fostering new partnerships. Should you have any interests to contact us please use any of our communication platforms.

Happenings

COVID-19 Situation Update

The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the WHO African Region is now at 1 201 111 with 26 475 deaths. As of 6 October 2020, a cumulative total of 1 201 111 COVID-19 cases was reported in the region, including 1 201 110 confirmed, with one probable case reported in Democratic Republic of the Congo. South Africa has consistently registered more than half, 57% (683 242), of all reported confirmed cases in the region.. The total number of deaths reported in the region is 26 475, reported in 45 countries, giving an overall case fatality ratio (CFR) of 2.2%. Two countries, including Eritrea and Seychelles, have not registered any COVID- 19 related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. The current figures in the region represent 3.4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2.6% of deaths reported worldwide. South Africa remains the hardest hit country on the African continent and is ranked tenth globally, although with relatively low numbers of deaths.

The number of health worker infections continue to increase gradually with 43 868 (3.6%) infections reported in 43 countries since the beginning of the outbreak. South Africa remains the most affected, with 27 360 (63%) health workers infected, followed by Algeria (2 300), Nigeria (2 175), Ghana (2 065), Ethiopia (1 506), Kenya (1 029), Cameroon (808), Uganda (592), Guinea (513), Mozambique (484), Namibia (464), Equatorial Guinea (363), Senegal (349), Eswatini (291), Guinea-Bissau (282) and Malawi (280). Diverse transmission patterns continue to be observed across the region, with established community transmission seen in 39 (83%) countries, five (11%) countries have clusters of cases and three (6%) with sporadic cases. (culled from COVID-19 situation update for WHO African Region. Available at: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10 665/335916/SITREP_COVID- 19_WHOAFRO_20201007-eng.pdf).

Podcast Launch in Nov!

We will be launching our podcast in November, and we are super excited about it. It will be a mix of interview panels and monologues all focused on preventive medicine and public health in Africa and in the diaspora. We hope this podcast will be a platform for educating, and engaging students and faculty in needed conversations with experts in the field.

Stories From the Field

Maisoon’s Experience while volunteering in Sudan

Maisoon Abderahman, currently an MSC student was in Darfur, Sudan when the civil war started in 2002–2003. As a Sudanese citizen from Darfur, she and a group of other young persons decided to volunteer with NGOs working in the IDPs and refugee camps. They volunteered to support in a food distribution program funded by WFP. Every day about 500–1000 newly displaced persons arrive and are taken to the different camps. The first step is for Maisoon and other volunteers to organise and register the arrivals and ensure that they receive a plastic sheet to build small tents and settle down immediately because they usually have been walking for days and have been exposed to dangerous situations. Each camp had two to three food distribution centers, one of which would be designated for the new arrivals.

On this day, there were rumors of some families complaining about the amount of food been distributed, and they planned to attack the volunteers and destroy the center of the new arrivals if they were not given what they were entitled to. This was initially not taken seriously until a group of youth approached one of the centers to protest. Within a few minutes, another angry group had gathered at the other center where Maisoon was volunteering at. Fortunately, there were two local community members who were also supporting the center as translators and could understand the local dialect. They got into a peaceful dialogue and the volunteers were given some minutes to pack up and leave the camp before an attack would erupt. The center was destroyed and burnt down by the protesters due to the false assumption that the volunteers were hoarding food meant for distribution. Maisoon and the group she worked with took some days off until the situation stabilized, and the organization intervened to create more awareness on how the program works. They were soon able to resume volunteering and continue to contribute to the alleviation of hunger in the camp.