Uganda is to administer an experimental Ebola vaccine for health workers in high-risk areas bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The vaccination programme launches on Wednesday with support from the World Health Organization, targeting 2,000 frontline workers in districts close to DRC’s North Kivu province, which is currently experiencing an outbreak of the deadly virus.

Uganda is the first country in the world to give the vaccine without an active outbreak of the disease, but is judged to be at very high risk. “In previous [Ebola] outbreaks, Uganda lost health workers, including the renowned Dr Matthew Lukwiya, as they cared for patients,” said Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, WHO’s Uganda representative. “Scientists believe such invaluable lives would have been saved had a vaccine been in existence then.” In December 2000, Lukwiya, a medical superintendent of Lacor Hospital in the northern district of Gulu, died along with 12 nurses after contracting the highly contagious disease, which is transmitted through contact with body fluids.(theguardian)…[+]

Six people linked to the far right have been detained in connection with a “violent” plot against the French president, Emmanuel Macron, officials said. The six, who were not identified, were picked up by anti-terrorism units in the eastern French regions of Moselle and Isère and the north-west region of Ille-et-Vilaine, officials added.

A source close to the investigation said the arrests came after reports of a possible plot involving “violent action” aimed at the president. Prosecutors have launched an investigation into a “criminal terrorist association”, a judicial source said. Another official said: “This investigation is looking into a plot, vague and ill-defined at this stage, involving violent action against the president of the republic.” In July 2017, a 23-year-old far-right extremist was charged with plotting to assassinate Macron at France’s Bastille Day military parade, which the French leader attended with the US president, Donald Trump.(theguardian)…[+]

Port of Spain – The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) in collaboration with the Green Economy Coalition (GEC) today released the Eastern Caribbean Green Economy Barometer 2018. A major finding from this ground-breaking document is that the traditional approach of a one-dimensional focus on development through a narrow profit or GDP only “bottom line” has not worked for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Overall, the status of the transition to a truly green and fair economy in the Eastern Caribbean is below average.

The Barometer is based on a study by renowned Saint Lucian economist McHale Andrew, prepared by CANARI in collaboration with the OECS Commission.

Since 2010, CANARI has been engaging Caribbean stakeholders in dialogues to explore principles and pathways for transformation of Caribbean economic development to be more environmentally sustainable, inclusive and resilient. These ideas are reflected in the global models of “green economy” and “blue economy”, with the latter reflecting a specific focus on economic development through use of coastal and marine resources.

But the Eastern Caribbean Green Economy Barometer 2018 notes that, “a Caribbean response cannot be simply a reaction to externally imposed concepts or models – the new economy needs to be based on the region’s reality, innate attributes, indigenous talents and specific conditions.” In the Caribbean, a Green-Blue economy is one which creates better well-being and social equity, while at the same time reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. So, it is a means to creating a resilient economy which provides a better quality of life within established ecological limits.

The study notes that there is already consensus that a new approach is needed to redress the creeping environmental degradation, general economic and social malaise in the OECS and the high vulnerabilities to natural hazards revealed by the monster 2017 hurricanes. It suggests opportunities to build on “green shoots” of positive initiatives in the OECS by: including the value of nature in national economic decision-making; greening key sectors, including energy, tourism and agriculture; enhancing support to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to provide economic opportunities, including for poor and vulnerable groups; reforming fiscal policy to support a new approach to development; and mobilising public and private financing…[+]