No ‘human-to-human infection’ of bird flu in Cambodia

02/03/2023 0 Comments read Health & Science

A man with his rooster in Battambang, Cambodia. Photo Credit ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 02.03.2023 (SciDev.Net): Cambodian health authorities have confirmed that the two avian flu cases last week in Prey Veng province were “infected from birds in their village” and that “no transmission between father and daughter has been found”.

“As of today [1 March], there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission in Cambodia and the response is still ongoing,” Ailan Li, WHO Representative to Cambodia, told SciDev.Net following the death of an 11-year-old girl from the virus. “While there have been a few infections in humans globally, so far, the virus is not known to spread from person to person easily.”

The infection, which largely affects birds and animals, has a 50 per cent mortality rate in humans. Globally, 873 human cases of H5N1 and 458 deaths have been reported in 21 countries since 2003, according to the UN health agency.

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Women, youth are ‘unseen leaders’ in rural Indonesia

24/02/2023 0 Comments read Gender, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 24.02.2023 (SciDev.Net): Women and young farmers can spur others to implement new sustainability and development initiatives, even though they are less likely to be seen as opinion leaders in their local communities, according to a study.

Women make up 43 per cent of the global agricultural labour force, but face significant discrimination when it comes to land ownership, access to credit and financial services, and participation in decision-making, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

For the study, published this month in the journal Agriculture and Human Values, researchers surveyed about 2,000 farmers on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia and asked them to identify leaders they would consult for advice and information in their smallholder farming communities. These leaders, largely older men, were then asked to convince other farmers to use pruning scissors to improve the health of their cocoa trees.

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Towards Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Global Nuclear Disarmament

23/02/2023 0 Comments read Features, Nuclear Disarmament

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 23.02.2023 (IDN – InDepthNews): Australia and Indonesia have committed to strengthening the global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime and cooperating in building practical nuclear safeguard capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, even as concerns remain over Australia’s push to acquire the nuclear-powered submarines.

An enhanced trilateral security pact, AUKUS, between Australia, the UK and the US signed in September 2021 will enable Australia to become the first non-nuclear country to have nuclear-powered submarines.

“These submarines set a terrible precedent, enabling transfer and/or acquisition of weapons grade highly enriched uranium by non-nuclear weapons states,” says Dr Margaret Beavis, Co-Chair of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Australia. “Safeguards are almost impossible to enforce on a stealth platform such as a submarine”.

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