Venezuela government accused of Zika virus cover-up
Venezuelan opposition legislator José Manuel Olivares has added his voice to claims that the country has under-reported hundreds of thousands of cases of the Zika virus currently sweeping the region.
Olivares assertion joins similar concerns shared by everyone from members of the local medical fraternity to the health minister of neighbouring Colombia.
“I hope that President Nicolas Maduro will not continue putting policy and ideology before the health and life of Venezuelans,” said Olivares, who also claims that the socialist country lacks the necessary supplies to effectively combat the outbreak.
Olivares, chair of the subcommittee on health in Venezuela’s National Assembly, estimates that between 400,000 and 500,000 Venezuelans have contracted the Zika virus.
He recently visited Washington to appeal for aid from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“What we did was provide continuity to the declaration of the humanitarian health crisis that the Venezuelan Parliament made,” he told Infobae.
“This declaration seeks to solve the health crisis in the country, marking a roadmap to seek solutions to the deep crisis of health, lack of medicines, increases in the levels of maternal mortality, cancer mortality, and child mortality.”
Last month, Venezuela’s Pharmaceutical Federation declared a “humanitarian emergency,” announcing that 150 drugs were completely unavailable nationwide.
Some pharmacies had even resorted to selling veterinary medications to people as a last resort, they said.
On February 12, the government confirmed three deaths related to Zika while also noting an increase in the rare Guillain-Barré syndrome.
President Maduro said officials only confirmed 319 cases of Zika, but doctors have monitored 5,221 suspected cases since February 8. At that time, doctors documented 21 deaths related to the syndrome.
“In its first statement about Zika, the government says it has only 3,000 suspected cases and acknowledges 255 cases of the Guillain-Barré syndrome,” he said.
“When one reviews the literature, you realize that one in 1,000 to 2,000 cases of Zika developed the syndrome. That is the statistic.
“This means the numbers don’t add up. This is a big lie from the government because if you have 255 Guillain-Barré cases you cannot have 3,000 suspected cases of Zika. You have to have at least 250,000…
“From November to the first week of February there were almost 360,000 cases of fever. We do not know why. They are extras and different from those expected these months. We maintain that there are 400,000 to 500,000 cases of Zika in Venezuela.”
His statements echoed concerns expressed by Colombian Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria, who claimed that Venezuela has hidden hundreds of thousands of Zika cases, which could cause major problems for the other South and Central American countries fighting the disease.
Gaviria insists the socialist country is the weakest link in the fight because officials have “no systematic reporting of the data.” The lack of data worries Colombian officials because the countries share borders.
The Norte de Santandar province of Colombia, which shares a border with Venezuela, has the highest number of Zika cases in Colombia. It also has the largest amount of pregnant women with the virus.
“This is a serious problem,” Gaviria said.
In Venezuela, the local medical community has demanded that officials publish all statistics on the Zika virus. The publication of epidemic lists ceased last year.
“The Ministry of Health must be the first to issue warnings about the existence of a public health threat; they cannot be the last one to speak,” said Jose Oletta, former health minister who now works with the Network to Defend National Epidemiology.
“We already have a weakened health care system, which tends to make these problems spread more rapidly. Add to that the lack of information and it’s a perfect storm.”
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Society of Public Health claimed surveys from non-governmental organizations discovered “a rise of acute fever in the past six months that could correspond to 400,000 cases of Zika.”
China recently confirmed its first Zika case after a 34-year-old man returned from Venezuela.
Abu Bakr’s son to take legal action against Trinidad police
Fuad Abu Bakr, son of Muslim leader Yasin Abu Bakr, says he plans to take legal action against the Trinidad and Tobago and Police Service after being wrongfully detained for seven hours on Wednesday.
Bakr, who is political leader of the New National Vision (NNV) party, was taken into custody on suspicion of being in possession of a stolen vehicle. He was released without charge, when it was discovered that he was in fact driving his own vehicle.
But he does not intend to let the matter end there, noting that it’s the first time that he has ever been arrested and calling it a very embarrassing situation.
Bakr told the media that he and his wife were travelling in the car on the way home around 5:30 p.m. when police pulled over the Nissan Navara pickup he was driving. He said he was asked to step out of the vehicle and both he and his wife were taken to the police station.
CDB Urges Regional Governments to DECIDE
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has pointed to an urgent need for broad policy initiatives, including labour market reform and investment in developing the skills of potential workers to move regional economies forward.
In a presentation at the Bank's Annual Review and Forecast titled, 'Time to D.E.C.I.D.E,' Director of Economics, Dr. Justin Ram said governments must aim to become Dynamic, Export-oriented, Competitive, Inclusive, Diverse and Environmentally-resilient economies. This would require, he said, private sector-led growth, an educated and flexible labour force, and better regional integration, with governments acting as business facilitator and efficient regulator.
"We need a strategy that will allow us to take advantage of technological innovation to identify and encourage higher productivity activity. At the same time, we need to improve the investment climate, making it easier for the private sector to thrive," Dr. Ram added.
Against the background of continuing high unemployment in many countries, he cited the imperatives of labour market reforms to include greater flexibility, freedom of movement, participation, and productivity. In relation to the development of human capital, he said there must also be investment in quality education for all, with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
With respect to specific policy actions, Dr. Ram said regional governments must place greater emphasis on fiscal consolidation by increasing the efficiency of revenue collection and expenditure, and prioritising capital investment, among other measures.
Other areas identified for reform were the energy and financial sectors.
"Although we currently have low fuel prices, we still need energy reform that provides the regulatory environment to increase the use of renewable energy in energy mix, as well as energy efficiency," said Dr. Ram.
Financial policy should be further adjusted to encourage greater access to affordable credit by micro, small and medium size enterprises. He also identified the need to maximise regional integration and take advantage of free trade agreements such as the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, as well as to seek new agreements.
Regional transport and logistics also need to be addressed by increasing efficiency of movement of people and goods across the region.
According to Dr. Ram, physical and social infrastructure should not be ignored. CDB is proposing that governments mandate building and infrastructure codes to improve resilience and that measures are implemented to minimise the spread of new diseases.
There should also be a push to improve the level of national savings to support investment and fiscal buffers to take Caribbean economies to a higher level, Dr. Ram said.
Salt Cay will be the venue for a Stress Prevention and Management in Disasters and Emergencies workshop
The tranquil island of Salt Cay will be the venue for a Stress Prevention and Management in Disasters and Emergencies workshop next week. The workshop will be run by the National Health Emergency Management Unit in partnership with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence and Emergency Medical Services.
The National Health Emergency Management Unit (NHEMU) within the Ministry of Health, Agriculture and Human Services is responsible for the coordination of activities designed to prepare for, monitor, mitigate and respond to natural and manmade disasters and emergency situations that could overwhelm the health sector.
The unit, working in partnership with other organizations, aims to prevent diseases and disasters, to reduce the vulnerability of the population to any disaster, to respond effectively and efficiently to the actual occurrence of disasters and to provide for recovery in the aftermath of any emergency involving debilitating influence on the normal pattern of life within the community. Systems are put in place to evaluate the level of risk, vulnerability, available resources including human, financial, material and equipment and other factors relating to preparation and response to an emergency/ disaster.
It is against this background, that the Stress Prevention and Management in Disasters and Emergencies workshop will be held.
This workshop will be conducted as part of the National Health Emergency Management Unit’s preparedness for the hurricane season and other emergency situations that essential services and emergency workers may have to deal with.
The target audience for the workshop at this time includes our health care professionals, District Administration, Fire, Police, Public Works Department and Key Community persons. The workshop will take place in Salt Cay on Monday 29 February, 2016 at 10:00am.
The Objectives of the Workshop are as follows:
1. To increase the knowledge level of emergency responders on Stress management in Disasters and Emergencies.
2. To provide strategies that will help to promote the prevention and management of Stress during Disasters and emergencies.
Our facilitators are Dr Patrick Prince, Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence and Mr Delwin Ferguson the Director of Medical Emergency Services.
Taking into consideration that the World Health Organization has declared the ZIKA virus a Public Health Emergency of International concern, we will also have a special presentation on Mosquito Borne Diseases by the Environmental Health department during this workshop.
Trump Looks for Momentum Boost on Super Tuesday
Republican front-runner Donald Trump is on a roll, and the Super Tuesday contests on March 1 could turn the GOP presidential nomination race into a rout.
Polls show Trump ahead in most of the 12 Republican contests on Super Tuesday. The exception is Texas, where home-state Senator Ted Cruz holds a lead. A stumble by Cruz there on Tuesday could end his White House hopes.
Some recent surveys have Trump leading by 9 percentage points in Georgia, 34 points in Massachusetts and 15 points in Vermont. In Florida, which holds its primary March 15, Trump leads home-state Senator Marco Rubio 44 percent to 28 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. A Rubio loss in Florida could doom his presidential hopes, even though he has emerged as the favorite of the Republican establishment.
Republican strategist Karl Rove argued in his weekly Wall Street Journal column that “there is still time for the non-Trump majority to coalesce around a single candidate, but not much.” Rove, who was former President George W. Bush’s chief political adviser, cautioned that unless the party establishment united behind one alternative by the middle of March, the bid to stop Trump would fail.
Trump has long criticized Rove as a creature of the Republican establishment and lashed out at him this week, asserting on Twitter that Rove was “belittling” his Nevada victory. He called Rove "dopey" and said, "He should be fired!"
Rubio has gotten several endorsements in recent days and still hopes to line up the support of his one-time political mentor, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who abandoned his presidential bid after a poor finish in South Carolina. Rubio claims to be the best hope for denying Trump the nomination.
“You have a very hard-core majority of Republicans that do not want Donald Trump as the nominee, and as long as they are being divided up by three or four people, it’s good for Donald. But that’s not going to continue,” Rubio told reporters in Nevada this week.
Trump is focused on a making a big showing on Super Tuesday and told supporters after his win in Nevada that his appeal was spreading to various groups in the Republican Party.
“We won the evangelicals, we won with young, we won with old, we won with highly educated, we won with poorly educated, and I love the poorly educated!” he said.
There are four rivals dividing the anti-Trump vote: Rubio, Ohio Governor John Kasich, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Cruz, who urged his supporters to stay motivated after his third-place finish in Nevada.
“The only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump and the only campaign that can beat Donald Trump is this campaign,” Cruz said.
Source-VOA
Turks and Caicos Financial Services Working Group Relaunched
Minister of Finance, Hon. Washington Misick today announced the re-launch of the TCI Financial Services Working Group. Comprising of senior government representatives, leading members of the private sector, and the CEO of Invest TCI.
The Group has been formed for the purpose of creating and implementing a strategy to grow the financial services industry in the Turks and Caicos by sponsoring and helping to implement new legislation, new products, and better regulation to support the growth and development of an international financial services industry.
Hon. Misick stated; "With the recent welcome modernization of our Trusts law, we have begun our work to create the legislative support for a thriving financial services industry in the Turks and Caicos. TCIG, supported by the Group, is about to embark on a substantial exercise to update our Companies and Insolvency legislation in consultation with the private sector, and we are actively pursuing a number of initiatives with the goal of creating a thriving financial services industry that can provide Government revenue, and good quality, professional careers for Turks and Caicos Islanders."
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION TO HOST YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP WORKSHOP
The Ministry of Education, through the Department of Youth Affairs will partner with Invest Turks and Caicos, The Center for Economic Development and the Young Corporate Alliance, to host the first ever Entrepreneurship Workshop. The workshop will take place on Friday, 4th March at 6:30pm-9:30pm at the Regant Palms on Providenciales, under the theme "Seize the Opportunity, Capture the Business!"
The Honourable Akierra Missick, Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for Youth commented that, "As the Minister with the great responsibility of promoting the growth of our youth, my Ministry continues to find ways to provide our young people with sustainable and high quality training that support their entry into entrepreneurship throughout the Islands. It is time for us to move from just training persons to become employees, and now jointly create an environment that will develop employers and sustainable businesses."
The purpose of the workshop is to provide persons (ages 17-45) in our communities resources and information on the role of the newly established Invest Turks and Caicos, the recently passed Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Ordinance 2015 which contains many offerings to provide support for Micro and Small businesses and to learn the various business programs available through the newly establish agency Invest TCI.
Small business owners who are interested in setting up a display of their products and services at the workshop are invited to do so, are ask to register with Mr Nixon Dickenson by Tuesday 12:00pm March 1st 2014.
Interested entrepreneurs are strongly encouraged to support the Entrepreneurship Workshop as the Department of Youth Affairs in collaboration with the Invest TCI, The Center for Economic Development and the Young Corporate Alliance, make strides to cultivate an environment through programme development and community partnership to equip and empower persons in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
New Deputy Commissioner and confirmed Assistant Commissioner of Police in the TCI
After much concerns and complaints, the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force has made some moves at the top to better curb the challenges of crimes and robberies in the Turks & Caicos.
Joining the force is Marc Callaghan, he has over 37 years of Policing experience in the United Kingdom. We are told he has a strong operational background and in 2002, he was promoted to Detective Superintendent in West Yorkshire where he was working on reducing crime and disorder.
Marc was promoted to Chief Superintendent in 2005 and was posted to Chapeltown in Leeds. During his time, he introduced Neighborhood Policing Teams and by working with partners and the community significantly reduced the incidences of robbery, gun crimes, and drug dealings.
In 2007, Marc became the Police Commander at Wakefield where he was recognized nationally for his innovative methods of involving and engaging his community and his work in significantly reducing anti-social behavior and reducing crime by over 20%.
Later that year, he took command of the Force’s Professional Standards and Anti- Corruption Unit. He was responsible for the investigation of complaints against the Police and conducting targeted anti-corruption investigations. He was also responsible for security and management of Police information and the Force Criminal Records Bureau.
Marc is a qualified Public Order Commander and has also had responsibility for the planning and command of the operations involving the Police use of firearms. He has since worked with her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary as an Associate Inspector conducting inspections of Police Forces in the United Kingdom in relation to their effectiveness and legitimacy.
Being confirmed to his position is the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Wayne Jones. Mr. Jones enlisted in the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Force on 1st March 1980 and received his initial training at the Regional Police Training Centre in Barbados.
He is a highly experienced officer and has attended professional development course in TCI and abroad to improve his effectiveness including the International Commander’s Programme at the NPIA in the United Kingdom in 2007. While there he was attached to Gloucestershire Constabulary, Stockholm County Police Authority in Sweden and Guernsey Police.
In addition to fulfilling the role of Divisional Commander for “A” Division in 2010, he accepted the additional responsibilities as the Commandant of the Royal Turks & Caicos Islands Police Training School.
In June 2013 he was promoted to act in the capacity of Deputy Commissioner of Police and on the 8th December 2014 he acted in the capacity of Assistant Commissioner of Police until he was confirmed in the rank on 15th February 2016 following a competitive interview process.
Both officers are operating in there respective positions now.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION EXCITED BY EDUCATION WEEK THEME
"During the week of February 28th to March 4th the Ministry will celebrate Education Week. This year, I am especially pleased at the theme that was chosen for the week long observances: 'Success for Every learner'. Education Officials and partners will know that this theme underlies our five year strategic plan and many of the key initiatives implemented in our Ministry."
"Success for every learner means that we provide various opportunities to ensure that each child, from the time they enter our system is given the opportunity to excel according to their special abilities. Whether a child is good academically, prefers to work within the skills area, excels in sports or is an all-rounder."
"Success is ensuring that on leaving our system, all children are able to leave with some form of certification. The Ministry believes the curriculum must be reviewed, that Technical and Vocational teaching and learning must be enhanced, that children with special learning considerations must be given opportunity for inclusion and resources must be in place to ensure all of this takes place."
"This week, you the public will get an opportunity to see 'Every learner' on display. I am sure the various schools will put on displays, invite you in to witness learning and teaching in action. I do hope you support it. I do hope that you see beyond what else needs to be done, to what is being achieved by our teachers, students, parents and partners."
"I am looking forward to joining in on all the National Events and to celebrating with all my Education officials at the Department and School level. I am going to shout Success to Every Learning! Success to Every Learner!"
Man found guilty for Bribery
It was on Tuesday 30th December 2014 at around 2 pm when the Traffic Officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force were conducting vehicle checks and stopped a Honda Accord car driven by Mosset Calixte of Haiti.
His driver’s licence was found to be up to date but the insurance was expired. The officer warned him of Intended Prosecution for not having his vehicle insured. After hearing this from the officer Mr. Calixte then offered to pay him. The officer informed him of the offence and arrested him.
On Monday 22nd February 2016 at the Magistrate’s Court, he was found guilty of the charged and was ordered to pay a penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) forthwith or four months imprisonment.
The money was paid.