Category: Society & Culture

MFDA shuts down Billabong International School’s canteen

The Maldives Food and Drugs Authority (MFDA) has shutdown Billabong International High School’s canteen after the authority’s inspectors determined that it did not meet hygiene regulations.

Media Coordinator of the MFDA Jameela Adam said the authority would not close an eatery if the condition of the place was “not that poor.’”

“Our first priority is to suggest the improvement of the hygiene condition without forcing them to shut down their business,’’ said Jameela. ‘’But there is this certain criteria that all food outlets are required to have, which is the minimum standard. If any food outlet’s condition is poorer than those standards, we ask them to close the place immediately.’’

The MFDA has ceased providing reasons for the closures after complaints from outlet owners. Prior to that details for closures were disclosed – in one instance, a teashop was shut after inspectors discovered a live goat in the toilet.

‘’I can confirm that the hygiene condition of Billabong’s canteen was very poor,’’ she said. ‘’We took pictures and showed them what we found, and they also agreed that they had to correct those issues.’’

‘’Issues such as finding live animals, cockroaches, house flies and other foreign materials inside the food outlets are normally the major issues,’’ she said.

Jameela also noted that food inspectors had observed that a lot of expatriate food outlets in Hulhumale’ had been operating without the authorisation of the MFDA.

‘’We have closed many expat food outlets in Hulhumale’ for operating without MFDA permission,’’ she said.

She also said it was not the aim of the MFDA to shut down food outlets.

‘’Our goal is to ensure that safe food provided to customers in all food outlets,’’ she added.

Recently, famous restaurants such as West Park, Raaveriya and Alfresco Café were closed by the MFDA. Most reopened after addressing the authority’s complaints.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Police investigating apparent torture and murder of Bangladeshi man on Fuvahmulah

A 25 year-old Bangladeshi man has been found dead in a ditch in Fuvahmulah, with signs suggesting he had been tortured prior to death.

The body of the man, identified by island authorities as ‘Shareef’ who worked as a carpenter in Dhoodigamu ward, was found with his hands tied behind his back and with wire around his neck.

Fuvamulah Island Councillor Ahmed Shareef told Minivan News that the Bangladeshi man was last seen alive two days ago on June 28 at 8:00pm.

”He was with his colleagues at work and left late that night,” Councillor Shareef said. ”Because he was late for work [the next day], his colleagues went to his house and noted that he was missing.”

Councillor Shareef said the body of the carpenter was discovered yesterday by a farmer near his property.

“He had severe injuries to his head, neck and wounds all over his body,” the councillor said. ”He had lots of cash with him and he was about to leave to Bangladesh for vacation. It seems someone robbed him of the money and attacked him.”

Vice President of Fuvahmulah Atoll Council Ali Fazad told newspaper Haveeru that Shareef had injuries around his ears from a sharp object, and appeared to have bled profusely from a blow to the head.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said it was too early in the investigation to confirm motives for the attack, but said that two Bangladeshi nationals had been arrested in connection with the incident, based on information obtained by Fuvahmulah police.

“The body was not far decomposed so [the attack] may have happened recently. We are waiting on the medical report,” Shiyam said.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Four children dead in two days from dengue fever complications

A fourth dengue fever fatality in just two days has prompted meetings between Male’ City Council and the Ministry of Health to discuss “immediate steps” to reduce the number of mosquito breeding grounds in the capital.

The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said cabinet had also launched a program to counter the dengue outbreak and appointed a committee to oversee mosquito reduction efforts.

Haveeru reported that a four year old child from Muraidhoo in Haa Alif Atoll became the fourth death in two days, dying this morning while in transit to Kulhudhuffushi Regional Hospital.

The cause of the death was dengue hemorrhagic fever, the newspaper reported.

A two year old infant died at 3:00am this morning while being treated in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male’. Haveeru reported a relative as claiming that the infant had to be transferred from ADK due to lack of availability of a blood transfusion machine.

A six year-old girl and a nine month-old baby died yesterday after being transferred to Male’ from Meemu Atoll.

Health Minister Dr Aminath Jameel, replying to a question from MDP MP Ali Waheed during yesterday’s parliament session, said the ministry was providing information to islands through teleconferencing and stressed that controlling mosquito breeding grounds was key to combating the rise in dengue fever across the country.

“Mosquitoes don’t travel very far,” she explained. “Therefore, it’s mosquitoes from nearby areas that are spreading it. Controlling mosquito [breeding] is needed from the public and individuals as well. We are working together with island councils and the Male’ city council.”

She added that the Addu City council had taken initiative and organised activities to combat the spread of the disease.

“An additional problem that we encounter is the quick turnover of doctors in the country’s hospitals and health centres,” she said. “So they are not very familiar with the protocol here. We are facing that problem as well. But as I’ve said, this can’t solved without controlling mosquito [breeding].”

When People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla asked if she was considering resignation “since based on what is being said here your sector has very much failed,” Dr Jameel replied that she did not believe that was the case.

The Maldives has been battling a growing epidemic of dengue fever this year, with 300 cases and five deaths reported in just the first two months of the year.

There has been a spike in the number of cases reported in Male’, however most of the fatalities have been islanders who died in transit to regional hospitals. Many of the most serious cases have affected children.

Early symptoms of virus include fever, joint paint and a distinctive rash and headache, although it can be difficult to distinguish from the milder Chikungunya disease which can last for up to five days. Even healthy adults can be left immobile by dengue for several weeks while the disease runs its course.

The government and health authorities have expressed concern about mosquito breeding grounds developing in stagnant water in the city’s many construction sites.

“The boom in the construction industry has created a huge number of mosquito breeding grounds,” former head of the Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC), Dr Ahmed Jamsheed, told Minivan News in April.

“In Male’ when the Council gives planning permission it requires management of mosquito breeding grounds, but have so far failed to enforce it or conduct inspections. My experience in Male’ was that when our teams visited construction sites there was often nobody at the site to communicate with in Dhivehi or English.”

While the teams might be contact with the construction company responsible for the building, often those working at the site were employed under layers of subcontracting which made it difficult to place responsibility, he added.

Zuhair told Minivan News today that the problem was exacerbated by the large number of unfinished buildings where construction had ceased.

“For example, one proposed seven storey-building has [ceased construction] at four storeys, and has pools of stagnant water on top,” he said, adding that it was sometimes difficult to pinpoint who was responsible for the building site due to the layers of subcontractors involved.

Many islands had sought to combat the problem by borrowing fogging equipment and expertise from nearby resorts to kill their mosquito populations, but this also killed beneficial insects, he said.

“It is common for resorts to loan fogging equipment and technical assistance to local islands, but this has negative side effects: it kills all the other insects, which prevents pollination and impacts agricultural activity,” Zuhair explained, adding that human intervention and the elimination of breeding sites was the main priority.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President asks for compassion towards heroin addicts

Translated extract of President Mohamed Nasheed’s speech on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

“Two or three days ago, police seized a large amount of hard drugs; heroin or brown sugar. It happened, as you know, while 800 packets were being sealed in a house called Henveiru Fashan. Today and tomorrow, a lot of young people will become sick.

These 800 packets, according to our information, were the drugs meant to be used by at least 50 percent of hard drug users in Male’. What we are trying to do with the police operation is seize these drugs. [But] when the drugs are seized, the youth addicted to these hard drugs leave their normal state. When that happens, they don’t have any sense of the wrong they do; they don’t have any sense, any inkling or knowledge of anything they do.

I am glad today and pleased by the fact that they can call the 1410 number. I would say that a lot of youngsters should keep the 1410 in mind. […] I urge very strongly that everyone, all who use drugs, keep the 1410 in your memory, in your recollection, at all times.

We can seize the hard drugs that enter the country. We can find out how it enters, too. And as I envision it we can stop [the trafficking]. While undertaking these efforts, it is now becoming very much certain to me…for example, what happened the other day was the sort of thing I find quite shocking. 800 packets of heroin a night were getting sealed in the house of an honourable member of parliament. 800 packets of heroin were being distributed in the ground floor of this house. True, there might be no connection between the MP and his house to the people doing [the drug dealing]. But what I know is, in my home, in my own home…the laws of the country definitely say this. That I should know what happens in my own home, under my own shelter.

What the government will continue investigating now will be the money transactions. And to find out what A.J Enterprises is and who owns that enterprise; whether it was through this enterprise that all that money was transferred out of the country. What I am trying to reveal is that even if it turns out that the [trail] ends with my own parents I will not back down in the least. Whether it’s the People’s Majlis, the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, any Majlis – God willing we will not leave a single stone unturned to discover who is involved in this.

Using hard drugs, running the existing network, involves large sums of money. The profit of Henveiru Fashan was at least Rf160,000. That is the profit of only one night. We do not doubt any more that on a good night Rf200,000 will be made as profit. A hardware store makes a profit of Rf150,000 a night. A normal general store, a big, big store in Male’ – the profit of one of those big stores would not reach Rf100,000. The business profit in this is not a truth that we will let slide from our minds.

It is not only drug dealing that occurs in this business. There are a number of other illegal businesses related to it. Now we are especially noting the business of selling humans from one country to another.  That is, bringing workers into the country illegally in the name of labour as well as bringing them to transit here before being sent to other countries – this has become big business in the Maldives.

The drug business is widespread in the whole international community. It is not just the Maldives that was shocked. We do get shocked when we get this kind of information; we would get shocked when we get it suddenly. It is not just the Maldives that is shocked by this. I have come here today after finding out how shocked the whole region is because of this. [We know] how many kilos we have found and that it is a small amount. With this network in the entire [South Asian] region and reaching the Middle East, it is no small shock. I would think all of us are very shocked.

There are truths we know while we attempt to stop this network and the trafficking of hard drugs into the country. That is the fact that we have to show compassion to the youth at this time. When we don’t provide care for them, they take off with the box cutter and steal money from the mother’s drawers. [They] need it. They need to use. They must use. We have to come to know and understand this. We shouldn’t try talking about this politically or with the intention of hiding behind a nice veil, without using the real terms and words. I won’t do it. I will talk about how thing stand from A to Z. That is, regardless of whatever anyone says about me – the bitterness involved in this, how much our society has been destroyed by this, the obstacles it places on our country’s development, how we cannot achieve our desired ‘Other Maldives’ because of this will become very much clear.

Closing the doors to hard drugs is a policy of this government, a pledge of this government. God willing, this government will do it. The government will find those who smuggle hard drugs into the country. They will be detained. We will ask the Prosecutor General to take them to trial. That is the extent of what the government can do. We are not trying to meddle with trials illegally even now. However, we will [send] all the cases with all the evidence to the Prosecutor General’s Office – that is along with everyone else involved in this business, this network. Among them include using cycles, cars and lorries; providing places for packing; private companies facilitating business transactions – no one should be doing any of this. God willing, this government will give those involved the just punishment.

A detox centre was opened in Male’ last year. And a detox centre was opened last year in Addu Atoll Meedhoo. This detox centre is not a rehabilitation centre. So when you go there and nothing but [detoxification] comes of it, don’t complain about that. The place is intended for a particular purpose. That is what the place can do. Additionally, God willing we will be able to open a new detox centre for women I think today or tomorrow. Helping girls with this is absolutely necessary.

It has become very clear to us that the gang violence in the country is also very much tied to drugs. I think the connection between Red Light City and their affiliated gangs to this business was seen beyond doubt the other day [at the police briefing]. In the past, “our peaceful protest was disrupted by this gang, the gang leader was this person, that person calls such and such a politician” – we heard of this a lot. However, we did not go into it back then. And we haven’t gone into it after taking over government even up to this day.

Based on the evidence gathered, the government is only requesting the Prosecutor General to take the case to trial. From judges we request that they deliver a verdict based on what was said and the evidence presented. We don’t ask for more than that from anyone. We will not ask for more.

Our goal is to assure for our youth a better, more prosperous, much happier tomorrow than today. My prayer is for us the blessings of both worlds.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Masked men rob Marble Hotel of Rf100,000

Police are investigating the theft of Rf100,000 (US$$6485) from Marble Hotel, after a group of masked men broke into the building and threatened the receptionist with an axe early this morning.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the men entered the hotel’s lobby around 4:00am this morning, threatened staff and took the money from a small safe in the hotel.

Shiyam said police were investigating the possibility than the men knew about the safe and its contents prior to the robbery.

A staff member at the hotel told newspaper Haveeru that the thieves broke the lock on the main door.

“One forced an axe to the neck of the receptionist while another person had his knife pressed against the other side of his neck. The group also robbed the receptionist’s wristwatch,” Haveeru reported the staff member as saying.

Police are currently investigating CCTV footage of the incident, but have yet to make any arrests.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Comment: Spread of dengue fever should be alarming

Malaria still maintains its respect as the leading killer disease in sub-Saharan Africa, surpassing the 20th century wave of HIV infections that rocked the continent. Malaria is spread by a mosquito known as CULEX.

The Maldives and many other South East Asian countries are infested with a mosquito species known as AEDES AEGYPTI, the carrier of Dengue Fever and Chikungunya that have claimed lives of many young and old. In population comparison with neighboring countries, the deaths and spread of dengue in Maldives is and should be considered as alarming.

A visit to health centers or hospitals in islands and Male reveals panic among parents with infants or small kids. Four deaths in two days, the youngest being a nine month-old baby has sent shockwaves in many households and I hope the World Health Organisation (WHO) has intervened. It ultimately raises the suspicion and doubt on the management of public health in a country where health and health education is inadequate, and not an immediate priority in the eyes of the lawmakers.

I support the government health insurance policy which we have enrolled and I have seen benefits in the past year. But think of a person with similar insurance facility but lives in an island village 600 miles from Male’, which cannot provide urgent medical assistance. It’s not acceptable; it’s just immoral, and unfair.

Each Maldivian citizen deserves the right to standard medical facilities, and I ask the Ministry of Health to explain why many atolls/islands still have inadequate facilities. Why a heart patient has to wait for two weeks to use a treadmill in IGMH, or cannot do ECG because the equipment is broken down, why desperate parents of sick children have to wait for days for an appointment, and why Maldivians have to depend on doctors who visit once every six weeks.

Ironically, Male’ is mushrooming with high tech clinics, specialty doctors, and a sequence of tests that leave you broke for a whole month. Most victims are from islands where basic medical facilities sometimes cease to exist.

In December of 2005, WHO Epidemiologist Dr Shalini Pooransingh and the Maldivian government had a fact finding, training and knowledge awareness program on Communicable Diseases, and dengue was well addressed.

Since then, many other workshops and programs followed partly sponsored by international organisations and the local health authorities. Looking at statistics (weekly dengue cases 2009-2011) published on line, it is appalling to see the magnitude of the spread especially in other islands all over the country. What happened to all the training and expertise?

It is nearly a year ago when an article by Aishath Shazra and A. R. Abdulla was published online: “Maldives hit by dengue fever in global epidemic”.

It is a simple straightforward report that is alarming to any parent who reads it, and at the same time it exposes loopholes which law makers and health ministry should look at.

Unbelievably, just 14 persons made comments, and as you can read them, most were abusive, political and out of context. Exactly at the same time of this dengue infestation last year, the streets of Male were crowded every night with demonstrations, ironically not concerned over the outbreak, but keen to unseat the then Education Minister [Dr Mustafa Luthfy] out of office… at which they succeeded.

These street scenarios were well documented and covered by most media outlets. The Maldives has not seen a meaningful demonstration against inadequate health services, deteriorating or lack of
equipment or lack of simple medicines. The Maldives has not demonstrated effectively against pedophiles, abuse of women and children, crime or the bleak and uncertain future of the youth.

But it’s a common thing to have live meetings, street demonstrations, and special TV and radio programs on topics that will not move the country one step forward but lead it to an uncivilised world. Why not use these funds to help the needy?

I do not need to bore you repeating facts and statistics on dengue that you can easily find from the Department of Public Health and WHO websites. My objective was to openly voice my personal concern based on day to day events and to answer the most disturbing simple question: “Who is to blame?”

In sequence, responsibility lies heavily with the Ministry of Health (in charge of public health), lawmakers (who decide laws), municipalities/councils (who manage day to day issues), politicians (who represent the people’s voices) and the public (for not focusing on life-threatening grievances).

I really hope that somewhere, a Good Samaritan in the authorities will seriously look at the four deaths in these two days, the daily grievances of desperate people far away in need of health facilities, and use it as a platform to start a campaign to try manage this outbreak.

The government alone cannot, we need a combined effort from everyone, or each day we would have a new headline of yet another death.

It is time the President, the Minister of Health, politicians and the media take time-off from the daily politics that have slowed our development and taken us nowhere. Better to concentrate on what is affecting the country right now. Public Health is at stake!

Not long ago Male’ had illicit drug problems which were visible on the streets. Boys and girls turned into zombies, but today I also salute the NGO Journey, the government (police, army, NGOs) for helping these kids off the street. It has been successful and many have been rehabilitated, and openly talked about it on TV. Why not temporarily close Majlis sessions, use all available resources and let MPs, health coordinators and doctors go out to the islands and help those in need? Thinaadhoo continues to suffer from a strange unexplainable fever, and sooner or later it will spread to other islands. By the time it reaches the concern of authorities, many will have buried their loved ones.

We had a great laugh last evening watching the match between MDP and the government. So much money was collected, some of it for charity. The night closed with a very tearful yet important program on MNBC (My Way). Hishko and her husband, my very good friends, have done so much in so short a time, for the health of many kids. 192 kids today who have had their Tiny Hearts examined, operated or diagnosed with heart cardio problems, will forever remember this couple for their entire lives. This is just an example of how simple people can make a change in the lives of many.

To MNBC: Congrats, My Way is the greatest program watched by over 80 percent of households and Maldivians abroad. Through such great ideas, I believe you could have similar programs on health, education, computer and drug addiction, career guidance, etc. Not to forget, you guys Minivan, continue publishing the truth. With information, we can partly control this outbreak that is claiming a child per day.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldives remains on US State Department’s human trafficking watch list for second year

The Maldives remains on the US State Department’s Tier 2 Watch List for human trafficking, a list signifying an increasing number of victims and little evidence of increased efforts to tackle the problem.

The report comes days after the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) was called to temporarily take over the front line work of the Immigration Department and Human Resources Ministry pending an investigation into corruption and falsification of work permits.

Migrant workers from Bangladesh and to a lesser extent, India, are being subjected to forced labour in the Maldives, primarily in the construction and service sectors, while women and girls are also being subjected to sex trafficking, the report said.

An unknown number of the up to 110,000 foreign workers in the country – a third of the population – “face conditions indicative of forced labor: fraudulent recruitment practices, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or nonpayment of wages, or debt bondage,” the report noted, adding that 30,000 workers had no legal status in the country.

Bangladeshi nationals were especially vulnerable to labour trafficking, the report stated, citing “diplomatic sources” as claiming that half the Bangladeshi workers in the country had arrived illegally, having paid between US$1000 and US$4000 in ‘recruitment fees’.

“In addition to Bangladeshis and Indians, some migrants from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Nepal reportedly experienced recruitment fraud before arriving in the Maldives,” the report noted.

“Trafficking offenders in the Maldives usually fall into three groups: families that subject domestic servants to forced labor; employment agents who bring low-skilled migrant workers to the Maldives under false terms of employment and upon payment of high fees for purposes of forced labor; and employers who subject the migrants to conditions of forced labor upon arrival,” the report revealed.

The State Department reiterated claims from the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) that female migrant workers were also being trapped by employers who were using threats and intimidation to prevent them from leaving.

More commonly, “Recruitment agents collude with employers and agents in the Maldives to facilitate fraudulent recruitment and forced labor of migrant workers.”

Domestic trafficking was also observed, whereby “some underage Maldivian children are transported to Male’ from other islands for forced domestic service, and a small number sexually abused by the families with whom they stayed. This is a corruption of the widely acknowledged practice where families send Maldivian children to live with a host family in Male for educational purposes.”

The US State Department’s report was critical of the Maldives for human trafficking enforcement in the country over the reporting period, and noted that it had not investigated or prosecuted any trafficking-related offences despite the scale of the problem.

“The government did not investigate or prosecute any labor trafficking cases, but is reportedly investigating two child prostitution cases,” it noted.

It was especially critical of the government’s treatment of those found to be victims of trafficking: “The Maldivian government did not ensure that victims of trafficking received access to necessary assistance during the reporting period. The government did not develop or implement formal procedures for proactively identifying victims, and did not identify any specific cases of trafficking. The Maldives did not provide access to services such as shelter, counseling, medical care, or legal aid to foreign or Maldivian victims of trafficking. The government did not conduct any anti-trafficking or educational campaigns, nor did it take any measures to reduce demand for forced labor within the country.”

The report noted that the Maldives’ general policy for dealing with trafficking victims “was to deport them.”

“Authorities did not encourage victims to participate in the investigation or prosecution of trafficking offenders. Due to a lack of comprehensive victim identification procedures, the Maldives may not have ensured that expatriates subjected to forced labor and prostitution were not inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalised for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked.”

The report also observed that while the Maldivian Constitution outlawed forced labour and slavery, a person legally married to a minor was exempt from the heavy penalties of the Child Sexual Abuse Act passed in 2009, and that “none of the offences specified in the legislation, including child prostitution, would be considered a crime.”

Positives

The report did highlight the ratification by cabinet by a Human Trafficking Plan in February 2011, but observed that this had no law enforcement component, and failed to distinguish people smuggling from trafficking.

Furthermore, a blacklist of 16 employment agencies and private companies by the Labour Relations Authority (LRA) showed no sign of being enforce.

A “rapid assessment” on human trafficking commissioned by HRCM in 2010 had not been finalised, the State Department report observed.

The report urged the government to develop procedures whereby government officials could identify victims of trafficking, and provide them with access to services for victims – particularly translators. It also urged greater efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offences.

The final recommendation was “take steps to ensure that employers and labor brokers are not abusing labor recruitment or sponsorship processes in order to subject migrant workers to forced labor” – one that appears to have been preempted by this week’s corruption probe of Immigration Department and Human Resources Ministry.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Health authorities focus on mosquito controls as hospital confirms infant dengue fatality

Male’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) has confirmed that a nine-month old child died today from dengue fever as health officials look to combat further spread of the virus through attempts to control mosquito numbers.

Hospital spokesperson Zeenath Ali confirmed that the child was pronounced dead at 12:27am after being admitted with suspected dengue fever two days earlier.  Ali added that she was unable to give any further details of the specific strain of the virus that the child was thought to have suffered from or any additional details about the death without the consent of the infant’s family.

According to figures supplied by the Male’ Health Services Corporation Limited, a total of 59 people have been admitted to hospital between June 1 and June 20 this year suffering from the virus. Of these cases, six were admitted on suspicion of catching dengue fever, 50 were hospitalised with the dengue hemorrhagic variant of the virus and three others were diagnosed with dengue shock syndrome – where blood pressure drops so low that organs cannot function properly. Over the same period, 25 people were diagnosed by the hospital of having dengue fever and were treated as outpatients.

Early symptoms of virus are said to include fever, joint paint and a distinctive rash and headache, although it can be difficult to distinguish from the milder Chikungunya disease which can last for up to five days. However, even healthy adults can be left immobile by dengue for several weeks while the disease runs its course.

More than 300 cases of dengue fever in the Maldives were reported during the first two months of 2011, compared with 737 cases and two fatalities reported over the course of last year. While many of these cases were reported in Male’, most of the fatalities have been islanders, with the more serious cases thought to have disproportionately affected children.

Amidst these concerns, health authorities in the country have claimed that they are committed to a programme of working to control mosquito populations to try and combat the spread of the virus, particularly in island areas.

Geela Ali, Permanent Secretary for the Health Ministry, told Minivan News that while officials had not received any official reports of recent fatalities linked to dengue as of yesterday, there was concern in the ministry about outbreaks of the virus across the country of late.

Ali claimed that under present government health strategies, clinicians were being put at the forefront of efforts to try and provide local people with the best means to prevent potential infection of the virus, particularly in its more prominent forms like the type 1 strain.

“The main challenge is working with clinicians to pass on case management strategies to local clinics,” she said. “One of things we are trying to do is control [mosquito populations] and we are consulting with local councils and even the media in trying to do this.”

According to Ali, the hones for trying to combat dengue in the country remained on encouraging the public to locate and destroy mosquito breeding areas as to reduce incidences of the virus as effectively as possible.

While accepting that additional chemical spraying around various islands was one possibility being considered by the government  to stem the problem, she added this was strictly to be used only after clean ups of breeding grounds particularly on private property had taken place to ensure long-term effectiveness.

Earlier this year, the Centre for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) conducted spraying of mosquito breeding sites in Male’ and the surrounding islands, but reported difficulty obtaining access to residential and construction sites.

Virus management

Back in April, Minivan News reported that health experts believed fears over a growing number of dengue fatalities was potentially related to lapses in managing the disease, particularly due to the high turnover of foreign doctors on islands.

Dr Ahmed Jamsheed, a former head of the CCHDC, observed that January and February 2011 had seen higher instances of suspected dengue shock syndrome occurring in the country.

“Our initial theory was that this was a new strain of dengue,” he said. “There are four different strains, and strains one and three have been most prevalent. We took samples and sent them abroad but I had left the office by the time the results came back. I’m told out of the samples we sent a few tested positive for dengue one, which means no new strain.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Climate change and “practical” development among talking points as Gayoom visits Bangladesh

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has called on members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to be more realistic in their aims for collaborative development during a visit to Bangladesh this week.

Gayoom, who was invited to the country by the University of Science and Technology of Chittagong (USTC) to attend a convocation scheduled for tomorrow (June 29), was reported to have asked SAARC leaders to be “practical” and outline more achievable developments in the region, according to the local Daily Star newspaper.

While unaware of the exact purpose of Gayoom’s visit, which has included meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, parliamentary supporters of the former president claimed that the apparent statesman-like nature of his comments did not signify a return to active politics beyond attempts to try and settle divides within the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) that he helped found.

Outside of the domestic political sphere, the 73-year old former head of state has this week been speaking to local media about his own concerns on the importance of addressing issues like climate change and higher education, along with outlining what he perceives as the main challenges facing SAARC nations.

Gayoom said he believed that technical limitations and issues of resources had set SAARC members back in the “very high goals” set by each nation, though he said he believed the organisation had not failed in its plans and had great potential – particularly from regional enterprise.

“There must be more cooperation among the private sector of the SAARC countries,” the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

A spokesperson for President Mohamed Nasheed, who in 2008 successfully unseated Gayoom after 30 years in power during the country’s first ever democratic general elections, was not available for comment at the time of going to press on the visit.

Gayoom retired from active politics in early 2010, appointing  MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali as leader of the country’s main opposition party.

The former president remains a divisive figure in Maldivian life and politics following 30 years of autocratic rule that has inspired fierce support and criticism in equal measure depending  on individual political persuasion in the country.

However, MP DRP Ahmed Mahlouf, who along with Gayoom has been linked to the factional Z-DRP movement that now opposes incumbent party leader Thasmeen, said the former president remained a popular figure among SAARC member states for his work in the field of regional development.

“He has done a lot for the region and I wouldn’t be surprised if SAARC leaders praise him for his efforts,” he said.

Despite his reputation, Mahlouf said that the visit to Bangladesh should not be seen as an indication that Gayoom would run for president in 2013, adding that the former president had shown no interest to change his mind on retiring from front line politics.

“[Gayoom] has not really been commenting much on the current government despite concerns he has.  Right now he is working to try his best and solve disputes within the DRP, something Thasmeen is trying to prevent,” he claimed.

“I would like to see him form a new party under his own image.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)