Day: May 5, 2022

The World Health Organization says the COVID-19 pandemic directly or indirectly caused 14.9 million deaths worldwide from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

The number is called excess mortality and represents the number of people who died versus the number that probably would have died without the pandemic.

“These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general said in a press release.

“WHO is committed to working with all countries to strengthen their health information systems to generate better data for better decisions and better outcomes.”

WHO said 84% of the deaths were “concentrated in South-East Asia, Europe, and the Americas.”

The death toll for men was higher than for women by 57% to 43% WHO said. It was also higher for older people, it added.

Source: Voice of America

Unlike Shanghai, Beijing has yet to require that all its residents remain at home to contain the spread of COVID-19. Nevertheless, many people in its Chaoyang district and elsewhere are preparing for that possibility.

On Wednesday, city officials closed 60 subway stations, more than 10% of Beijing’s vast system. They did not say when service would be resumed, according to ABC News.

Beijing, a city of 21 million people, has been on high alert for the spread of COVID-19, as restaurants and bars pivot to takeout, gyms close and schools suspend classes indefinitely, according to CNBC.

People who live in “controlled” areas, neighborhoods where cases have been discovered, have been told to stay in the city, and all residents must test for the virus three times throughout the week, according to ABC.

Chinese authorities reported 5,489 cases nationwide on Wednesday, of which 4,982 were in Shanghai, which has been under a draconian lockdown for weeks.

Beijing reported 46 symptomatic cases and five asymptomatic on Wednesday. The city’s total since April 22, what it considers the start of its omicron outbreak, is 544.

Mr. Zhang, a Beijing resident, said he had bought extra food and water, even though he doesn’t think Beijing will be locked down like Shanghai. He asked that VOA not use his full name because he was afraid of attracting official attention.

“I have six bags of rice, two bags of noodles, and several boxes of water, instant noodles and (nutritionally dense) biscuits, and I haven’t stocked up too much,” Zhang told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview last week. He said he bought his groceries online because the supermarket was crowded.

Ms. Yao, who lives in the Chaoyang district, told VOA Mandarin that she had been stocking up on necessities since the beginning of this year, after the Ministry of Commerce recommended that everyone do so. She asked that VOA Mandarin not use her full name because she wanted to avoid official retribution.

“I have always maintained a good habit of reserving food. So I have a lot of rice, noodles and oil at home,” she said, adding that she figured her family would be fine even if Beijing locked down for a month.

And while Beijing has not yet closed the city, citizens’ lives have been disrupted.

On April 28, the Beijing Chaoyang District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital issued a notice that the outpatient and emergency departments of the hospital would suspend the admission of patients.

On the same day, Chaoyang Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Beijing, announced on its official Weibo account that its emergency department would also suspend the admission of patients. Weibo is China’s equivalent of Twitter.

Angry Chinese netizens left more than 800 messages under the official WeChat account “Beijing Headline.”

“Why do you stop the emergency room as soon as there is a new COVID case, and how many people will be killed due to the secondary disaster caused by the COVID?” a netizen asked in a Weibo post.

Some Beijing residents said they were not worried about a Shanghai-like lockdown.

“Basically, I’m not afraid,” said Mr. Wang, who asked VOA Mandarin to not use his full name so he could avoid attracting authorities’ attention. “The party, government and military are here, and the people are here.”

However, Wang told VOA Mandarin, in mid-October last year, after one person in his apartment building was diagnosed as positive, about 600 people from more than 200 families were forced into isolation at several hotels in the Changping district for 21 days.

Wang and his wife were not allowed to share a room at their hotel.

What particularly puzzled and annoyed Wang was that on the last day of the mandatory hotel quarantine, in addition to routine nasal and oral swabs during testing, authorities added anal swabs to the regimen.

Source: Voice of America

Plan International Laos in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), International Cooperation Department, Department of Education and Sports of Bokeo Province signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning “Promotion and Scale-up of the Summer Pre-primary Education Model (10 Weeks) in Phaoudom district, Bokeo Province of the Lao PDR”.

The project Implements at 15 target villages in Phaoudom district, to support the Ministry of Education and Sports to implement its 9th Education and Sports Sector Development Plan (ESSDP) 2021-2025 to roll out short summer pre-primary (10 weeks) reach the unreachable children between 3-5 years old, including children with disabilities in rural remote area of Pha-oudom district in Bokeo province and utilize results of feasibility analysis and documentation to support roll out SPP (10 weeks).

The project is funded by GPE KIX and Plan International Canada, to conduct research, analysis and documentation such as feasibility study, develop manuals or guidelines for scaling up Summer Pre-primary (10 Weeks).

To implement SPP (10 weeks course) and utilize results of documentation to support roll out SPP (10 weeks course). And support MoES and technical working group for meeting and ToT for trainers from national to roll out SPP (10 weeks course).

Recognizing the critical importance of ECE for the healthy development of all children which will have long-term implications for the human development of the country, the Government has set forth a clear medium-term goal in the Education and Sports Sector Development Plan (ESSDP) 2021-2025: creating affordable and expanded access to ECE, especially in poorer and educationally disadvantaged areas. This is reflected within the ESSDP that the number of learners from ECE to lower secondary M4 increases with a special focus on the disadvantages and ensuring gender equity. The Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) has prioritized the need to address key issues around participation rates for students at all levels including pre-primary/kindergarten.

Mr. Sengsantisith Sanasisane, the Interim Country Director of Plan International Laos said that “Implementing the Promotion and Scale-up of the Summer Pre-primary Education Model (10 Weeks) is necessary for children to prepare school readiness for children or primary school, to prepare their emotional and motor (physical) developments and to be able to learn effectively and enjoy their studying.”

Regarding to the project success of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Programme was the first to be established in the Sangthong district of Vientiane, with the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) being signed early in 2007.

The implementation partner was the Pre-Primary Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) and provincial and district education departments and offices respectively.

From 2008, implementation of education sector programmes commenced in Bokeo Province, first to Pha Oudom District and then expanding to Paktha and then Meung Districts. In 2009, the Basic Education Programmes expanded into 3 districts of Bokeo Province and 3 districts of Oudomxay Province, and has been funded by the European Union, Australian Aid, Plan Australia, Plan Canada, Plan Finland, Plan Switzerland, and Plan Japan.

From 2019, Education programme has expanded to Saravan Province with support from WFP and Plan Japan.

Research conducted in both developed and developing countries shows that ECE is one of the most cost-effective and equitable interventions in human development. ECE interventions have been shown to decrease dropout and repetition rates at the primary school level, increase graduation rates in post-secondary education and improve labour force productivity and wages. The project is building on a proven Summer Pre-primary Programme (10 week) implemented in LEARN project over the years of 2015-2019 and now included in current ESSDP 2021-2025. It will contribute to the implementation of 9th ESSDP and ensuring appropriate student learning outcomes are achieved through the additional focus on ECE.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Government of the Lao PDR and the European Union have cultivated a long-standing partnership since the two parties first established diplomatic relations in 1975.

Since then, the EU has consistently maintained its status as a key bilateral donor in the country, working with partners such as WHO and UNICEF across several areas of cooperation, such as education and nutrition for the benefit of Lao women and children, and helping to advance the Lao PDR’s socio-economic development and its sustainable growth agenda.

WHO and UNICEF have been working for more than 45 years in the country to deliver immunizations for children.

When the threat of a mass outbreak of COVID-19 in the Lao PDR emerged in early 2021, the EU and the Lao PDR’s partnership remained steadfast as ever.

Working with its member states in the Lao PDR as Team Europe side-by-side with WHO and UNICEF via the COVAX Facility, the EU delivered a whopping 1,454,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the Lao people by the end of 2021.

These vaccines arrived in the Lao PDR in late 2021and consisted of dose-sharing donations by individual EU member states.

They were comprised of two types of vaccines, which are the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine provided by France (192,000 doses), Finland (100,800 doses), Sweden (199,200 doses) and the Netherlands (199,200 doses), alongside the vaccines provided by Greece (302,400 doses) and the Netherlands (460,800 doses).

With these donations through the COVAX facility added to other bilateral deliveries from EU Member States, Team Europe has in total provided over 2 million vaccines to date to the Lao PDR and stands ready to respond to future requests.

Although the pandemic has forced families and the community to be apart for extended periods of time and has created a sense of isolation between countries due to limited global travel, this helping hand to the Lao PDR from continents away is a testament to the common spirit of solidarity shared between the people of Europe and the Lao people.

These vaccines arrived at a critical point for the Lao PDR as it was making its final push towards the target of 50 per cent vaccination coverage for the total population for 2021. The vaccines greatly helped those in the community who were most vulnerable, preventing either severe illness or death from the virus, especially for the elderly, pregnant women and immune compromised persons.

Thus, our early aspirations toward vaccinating Laos against COVID-19 no longer seemed that far out of reach.With every single dose of vaccination administered, we are reminded of the life-saving power of vaccines as deaths and cases of severe illness from the virus steadily declined in the country.

This week is an especially significant moment for vaccination as we observeWorld Immunization Week (WIW), which takes place in the last week of every April.

The international observance is meant to celebrate how vaccination connects us to the people, goals and moments that are the most precious to us. With the theme for this year being ‘Long Life for All’, WIW 2022 is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of immunization in securing our hopes and dreams and those of future generations.

As global discussions about vaccines today continue to be dominated by COVID-19, it is easy to lose sight of just how much good vaccines have done for humanity in the past decades: from the time the physician Edward Jenner administered the very first modern vaccine in 1796 to an eight year old boy named James Phipps against smallpox; to the development of the first polio vaccine by Jonas Salk and the development of a vaccine against yellow fever by Max Theiler; it is important to remember that vaccines have been instrumental in our efforts to lessen human suffering throughout the decades and recognise that our current COVID-19 vaccines exist as part of this long lineage of efforts.

Therefore, on the occasion of WIW 2022, the EU, WHO and UNICEF together celebrates the life-saving power of vaccines and those who have played a role in immunization through the years.

We celebrate the efforts of the Government of the Lao PDR, who are working day and night to handle the pandemic.

We celebrate the dedication of the health workers and volunteers on the ground who are ensuring that everyone in the country, from the young to the elderly, receive their vaccination.

Finally, if you have ever been vaccinated, or vaccinated your children, then know that you are also a part of the arm-to-arm chain that keeps all of humanity safe and ensuring a long life for all.

Source: Lao News Agency

The world faces huge challenges in overcoming the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity, the war in Ukraine, the accelerating climate crisis and biodiversity loss.

In response to these multiple global threats, we need solutions at scale that are cost-effective and equitable and can be implemented rapidly. Forests and trees offer such solutions and can help us recover, if we better recognize their value and their crucial role in building resilient and sustainable economies.

The latest report on the State of the World’s Forests from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to be presented at the XV World Forestry Congress under the theme “Building a Green, Healthy and Resilient Future with Forests”, clearly shows three ways in which we can step up action if we want to unlock their potential:

Halting deforestation and maintaining forests could avoid significant greenhouse-gas emissions – about 14 per cent of the reduction needed up to 2030 to keep planetary warming below 1.5 ºC. It could also safeguard more than half the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity, which is a key provider of ecosystem services for sustainable agriculture. Forests are the largest terrestrial pool of carbon and of biodiversity, yet they are shrinking.

Restoring degraded lands and expanding agroforestry: 1.5 billion hectares of degraded land – an area twice the size of Australia – would benefit from restoration, and increasing tree cover could boost agricultural productivity on another 1 billion hectares.

Restoring degraded land through afforestation and reforestation could cost-effectively remove CO2 from the atmosphere equivalent to eliminating 195-325 million gasoline-powered passenger cars from the road each year for 30 years.

Sustainably using existing forests and building green value chains would help meet future demand for more renewable materials. Considering that the global consumption of all natural resources is set to more than double from 92 billion tonnes in 2017 to 190 billion tonnes in 2060, using sustainable wood in construction, for example, can store carbon and address the climate crisis, while increasing resilience and sustainability.

There will be no healthy economy on an unhealthy planet. Environmental deterioration is contributing to climate change, biodiversity loss and the emergence of new diseases. Despite the crucial role forests and trees can play in addressing these crises, they are consistently undervalued in our economic systems. As a result, forests are given neither the attention nor the investment needed for their meaningful conservation and sustainable management.

We must substantially increase investment in these three interlinked forest-based pathways. There are a number of ways to do this:

It is essential to look at how to repurpose existing incentives for agricultural producers – worth about USD 540 billion per year – to help make the structures governing how our food is produced, distributed and consumed more sustainable. More than a quarter of the world’s population relies on wood to cook their food and even more use non-wood forest products for food, feed and medicines. Investments in forestry and agroforestry will build more diversified and resilient local economies.

New investment must also be scaled up in areas such as climate finance, green recovery programmes and private investment support.

Getting finance to small-scale producers is essential. We cannot rely on a “trickle down” effect. Instead, we need new solutions that meet their needs and reduce inequalities.

We will only achieve results if we stop working in silos. Agrifood systems transformation and forest protection, restoration and sustainable management must go hand in hand.

Today’s environmental, health and social crises call for urgent action for a sustainable recovery. Promoting a model where forests and agriculture mutually support each other requires increased political, financial and technical investment.

More than 20 developing countries have already shown that it is possible. Recent data confirms that deforestation has been successfully reduced in South America and Asia.

Among the means for achieving this are national policies that promote sustainable local markets, a green and circular economy; repurposed agricultural subsidies; setting clear national targets for sustainable agricultural development and forest protection and sustainable use; and secure land tenure and rights for farmers in agroforestry landscapes to use forests and trees.

FAO is dedicated to working towards more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agrifood systems and promotes the contribution of forests to this process, through conservation, restoration and sustainable use.

But we must do more to empower rural farmers, smallholders, women and youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities. They are the guardians of almost half of the world’s forests and farmlands.

This week, the World Forestry Congress, taking place in Seoul, Republic of Korea, brings together representatives from five continents and offers a unique opportunity to focus on impactful solutions towards building a green, healthy and resilient future with forests, and achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Scaling up solutions based on forests and trees can unlock their potential to help mitigate the economic disruptions and food insecurity affecting the most vulnerable. And it will contribute to realizing our core objectives of better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), with the support of Australia through the Basic Education Quality and Access in the Lao PDR programme (BEQUAL), is finalizing the production of teaching and learning resources for the new Grade 4 curriculum that will be implemented at the start of the next school year in September 2022.

English, along with Lao Language and Sciences and Environment, is one of the subjects taught in Grade 4 receiving full support from the Australian Government.

Lao students start English instruction in Grade 3. When students learn a new language, they need exposure to the language with multiple opportunities to listen to it. It can be challenging for teachers in Laos to provide the level of input students need, especially if they do not feel confident about their own English.

MoES, via BEQUAL, contacted Vientiane International School (VIS) to continue the collaboration on the production of audio materials for the English language textbooks. For the second year in a row, several students immediately volunteered to assist with the recording of the English audio tracks. After completing a voice casting, the curriculum writers from the Research Institute of Educational Sciences (RIES) selected seven girls and boys.

Today, Ajan Outhit Thipmany, Deputy Director General of RIES and Dan Heldon, Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy, handed over certificates of appreciation to those seven volunteer students. The ceremony was held at the school in the presence of their peer students and their teachers, with strong COVID-19 prevention measures in place.

“On behalf of the Australian Government, I would like to thank the students who volunteered to support education in the country they are living in. I heard they were very enthusiastic and professional; and that they also had of lot of fun with the recording,” said Dan Heldon.

“Primary teachers will use the audio materials for lesson preparation and will also play them directly in the classroom. Thanks to your participation, Lao students will be able to listen to native speakers and be exposed to a variety of accents in English language. Thanks for supporting Lao children education.” said Ajan Outhit Thipmany.

The students recorded simple monologues and dialogues and played a range of roles so the lessons would be lively. During their first session, the students met with curriculum writing experts and the BEQUAL team; roles were allocated, and students practiced the audio scripts. They also explored the new Grade 4 textbooks to get a better idea of the lessons linked to their scripts. The students were very impressed by the illustrations of the textbooks which are colorful, and very inclusive representing students with disabilities and from different backgrounds. During their second session, the students recorded the audio tracks in the RIES studio and met the sound specialists. The students did an excellent job reading their parts – focusing on slowing down their speech and pronouncing each word very clearly so that the Lao Grade 4 students are able to understand and follow the material. They also did a great job with ‘voice acting’ to make the materials realistic and engaging. They persevered and stayed motivated even when they had to record the same track several times. More audio tracks were also recorded by adult native English speakers.

There will be 105 audio tracks in total for Grade 4, including model pronunciation of the new phonics and the mini stories. The Grade 4 English teacher guide includes instructions about which audio tracks to use as well as transcripts of the audio tracks in both English and Lao. Using the audio materials will enable Lao teachers to give their students plenty of authentic language input, expose their students to a range of English accents and make lessons more active and entertaining.

The audio tracks will be available on a USB stick distributed to all Grade 4 teachers as well as on the YouTube Channel: ???????????????????????? Teacher Development Videos and the Ministry’s online platform Khang Panya Lao.

Source: Lao News Agency