Memory and African identity are of primordial importance to Jean Pierre Bekolo, who through his films, highlights the desire to “write from a particular place and not for an audience” because one can be easily manipulated by the expectations of an audience. Bekolo spends time in Europe, US and Africa. Travelling becomes a substantial part of his creative process.
Each of his movies stands out as a phase or the break with a phase of his artistic development: Quartier Mozart symbolises origins, family and identity, Aristotle’s Plot represents the identity of an African cineaste, while Les Saignantes is speculation or science fiction. Despite his numerous sojourns, Bekolo’s energy is always focused on Africa and Cameroon in particular, where he believes cinema has to go beyond representation and shed more light on questions which will lead to change, a concept noticeable in his latest movie Le President. Bloke, who describes himself as not just an artist but ‘a radiologist of the society’ emphasises the role that film and fiction has to play in affecting change, ‘we must not forget the aesthetic dimension, because the beauty and the real have a link: aesthetic and ethics.’
Values, Policies and Rights
In this study, researchers investigated the prevalence, patterns and associated factors of intimate partner violence against women in Western Ethiopia. A cross-sectional, population based household survey was conducted from January to April 2011, using the World Health Organisation’s standard multi-country study questionnaire. A sample of 1,540 ever married/cohabited women aged 15-49 years was randomly selected from urban and rural settings of East Wollega Zone, Western Ethiopia. Results indicated that lifetime and past 12 months prevalence of intimate partner violence against women stood at 76.5% and 72.5%, respectively. The overlap of psychological, physical and sexual violence was 56.9%. Abduction, polygamy, spousal alcoholic consumption, spousal hostility and previous witnesses of parental violence were factors associated with an increased likelihood of lifetime intimate partner violence against women. The authors of the study call for immediate action at all levels of societal hierarchy, including policymakers, stakeholders and professionals, to alleviate these extremely high levels of domestic violence.
According to this study, there have been few studies on domestic violence and women in developing countries, including South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the world. The study examined the association between physical intimate partner violence and physical health outcomes and behaviours among South African women. Using data from the cross-sectional, nationally representative South Africa Stress and Health Study, the study assessed exposure to intimate partner violence, health-risk behaviours, health-seeking behaviours and chronic physical illness among a sample of 1,229 married and cohabiting women. It found the prevalence of reported violence was 31%. This correlated with several health-risk behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of non-medical sedatives, analgesics and cannabis) and health-seeking behaviours (recent visits to a medical doctor or healer). Intimate partner violence was not significantly associated with chronic physical illness, although rates of headache, heart attack and high blood pressure reached near-significance. The study recommends that public health programmes in South Africa should incorporate interventions to mitigate the impact of violence on victims and reduce the risk of negative behavioural outcomes. Further investigation of the pathways between violence exposure and health behaviours is needed to inform the design of such programming.
The post-2015 development agenda will have at its core the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a set of universal goals covering a range of sustainable development issues. The challenge for the international community will be to match this agenda with adequate means to implement it. This translates into large financing needs. In its report issued in August 2014, the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing estimated the investment requirements in different sectors. More recently, a group of multilateral development banks and the IMF have coined the term 'from billions to trillions' to characterise the financing demand. Globally, they estimate that achieving the proposed SDGs will require US$ 135 billion in ODA, and nearly 1 trillion in philanthropy, remittances, South-South flows and other official assistance, and foreign direct investment that needs to be used effectively for the SDGs.
In the clinical situation it is difficult to know whether gender differences in management reflect physicians' gender bias or male and female patients' different needs or different ways of expressing their needs. To shed some light on these possibilities this study investigated to what extent it was possible to identify patients' sex when reading their blinded illness narratives, i.e., do male and female patients express themselves differently enough to be recognised as men and women without being categorised beforehand? Eighty-one authentic letters about being diseased by cancer were blinded regarding sex and read by 130 students of medicine and psychology. For each letter the participants were asked to give the author's sex and to explain their choice. The students' explanations for their choice of sex agreed with common gender stereotypes implying that such stereotypes correspond, at least on a group level, to differences in male and female patients' illness descriptions. However, it was also obvious that preconceptions about gender obstructed and biased the interpretations, a finding with implications for the understanding of gender bias in clinical practice.
After years of relative neglect, the World Health Organization has recently given strategic prominence to the development of primary health care. This year sees the 30th anniversary of the declaration of Alma Ata. Primary health care 'based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible through people’s full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford' was to be the key to delivering health for all by the year 2000. Primary health care in this context includes both primary medical care and activities tackling determinants of ill health.
The Joint Meeting of SADC Ministers responsible for Youth and Ministers Responsible for Vulnerable Children was held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 1-3 June 2011. The meeting was attended by delegates from all SADC Member States, except Seychelles. It was convened to discuss common ways of addressing the increasing problems and concerns of vulnerable children and youth in the SADC Region which include diseases such as HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; poverty; hunger and malnutrition; social and political conflicts; disability among children and youth; and the growing problems of pregnancy among teenagers and unemployment among the youth. Ministers adopted common plans and actions for the region that will help to accelerate the delivery of basic services and needs for vulnerable children and youth such as the provision of safe drinking water, health care, education and skills that enable youth to earn income and to create jobs for themselves, protection from abuse, and the provision of housing and family care. Other basic services include those relating to improving the capacity of children and youth to cope with the stresses of life, and to be able to live in harmony with others in society. Ministers agreed to set up the necessary structures required to fully implement their decisions and improve the lives of children and youth in the region. In order to address issues more effectively, they agreed that in future they would meet separately as Ministers responsible for children, and those responsible for youths. Before ending their meeting, Ministers agreed to meet again in 2012 to follow up progress on the implementation of their decisions.
The Kenyan government is drafting new regulations to stop fraudulent herbalists claiming to be able to treat diseases, including HIV, from practising. Anybody found selling untested herbal products will face legal action for ‘endangering people's lives,’ said Jayesh Pandit, head of pharmacovigilance at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board. The Pharmacy and Poisons Board has registered 300 legitimate herbalists, but thousands more are practising outside the law, often selling useless or even harmful products to desperate patients. According to the World Health Organization, up to 80% of Africans use traditional medicine. The government is planning to introduce a ‘Traditional Medicines Practitioners Bill’, which will regulate the use of herbal medicines and define the punishment to be handed down to herbalists practising illegally.
The Kenyan government has created the first ever tribunal to handle legal issues relating to HIV, including discrimination against people living with HIV and protecting the confidentiality of medical records. The new tribunal, under the office of the Attorney General, has the status of a subordinate court, with the right to summon witnesses and take evidence. It will handle issues relating to the transmission of HIV, confidentiality, testing, access to healthcare services, discriminatory acts and policies, and HIV-related research. Networks of people living with HIV have welcomed the formation of the new court. 'Setting up the tribunal is the clearest indication by the government that it is ready to entrench the rights of people living with HIV,' said Nelson Otuoma, chairperson of the Network Empowerment of People Living with AIDS. 'It is, however, important to let people know that the tribunal exists and further educate them on the roles and mandates of it.' Those living with HIV hope the tribunal will be an effective tool in ending discrimination, and groups like Otuoma's are already compiling lists of grievances to present to it.
In the absence of clear regulation, the practice of surrogacy in Kenya grows as an unchecked and unsupervised industry with no policy or law to fall back on if anything goes wrong during the treatment, says the author of this article. South Africa is the only country on the African continent to have surrogacy laws and policies. The growing use of commercial surrogacy, where a woman is paid to carry a child for a couple wanting to adopt, points to an urgent need to develop appropriate legislation, the author argues. She refers to the practice in India, which disproportionately affects the poor girls and women, who use surrogacy as a means of income. But these women are not protected by the law. She makes a number of recommendations for proposed legislation, covering various areas such as the interests of the surrogate mother and commissioning parents, ethical and moral aspects, financial support, dispute mechanisms and regulatory bodies, termination of a surrogate pregnancy, more lenient adoption laws and rights of both parties.