Spot The Difference. If You Can

What is the difference between the Taliban and Boko Haram on the one hand and senior functionaries in Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation on the other?

Well, for one thing, the Taliban and Boko Haram have a thing against immunizing children for diseases that maim and kill. They espouse a hopeless cause. For them, immunizing children holds not only doctrinal risks (against religion) but is also a plot hatched by western medicine to sterilize and infect with HIV in order to reduce the world’s population of believers.

It is difficult to wrap this sort of nonsense around the head, especially for something in which the science is so clear. The record of how polio has been virtually eliminated in the developed world is there for all to see, and it is something that sensible people would like to replicate everywhere. And smallpox too, that millennial scourge, has been eradicated. Before, if you had smallpox, it either killed you dead or disfigured you for the rest of your life. Now, you just don’t get it. The responsible virus has been wiped out. End of story. The list of other diseases which have been controlled by vaccination is long: Diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, pneumonia, meningitis, yellow fever and even TB, killers all. And every day, new triumphs are recorded... Hepatitis, cervical cancer...

The record is without parallel in the saving of lives and the reduction of human suffering, but GAVI reckons that there are still 22 million children worldwide who do not have access to such lifesaving and life-enhancing prophylaxis. GAVI is a global alliance for vaccines and immunization that works towards reducing this access gap. It is a private-public partnership that provides vaccines at low cost and even at no cost at all to poor countries. They even give cash-money for infra-structure so that the vaccination process can proceed smoothly. They have had a big presence in Sierra Leone over the last decade and deploy their largesse through NGO’s and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).

That ministry is staffed by a large number of professionals grounded in medicine, statistics, public health, economics, etc. You name it, they have the scientist for it. So, you would expect that the vaccine programme will be a breeze. But hold on a minute. Just in the last couple of days, we hear that ten senior officials in that ministry have been suspended from duty over allegations that money for infra-structure provided by GAVI has gone missing and that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) are determined to get to the bottom of these allegations. The charge list includes the highest-ranking bureaucrat in the ministry, the Chief Medical Officer, whose professional oath requires him to “First, do no harm…"

Mind you, these are just allegations and we must wait for the findings of the ACC. But if confirmed, I ask you, “What is the difference between Sierra Leone Ministry of Health officials and the Taleban? And Boko Haram?”

Tell Fren Tru

Decisions, decisions...

New Year is the time for resolutions and the making of decisions that could, with some luck, improve your life.

Which Cup??

It is the time, supposedly, for a new beginning. But one eventually reaches the age when there may not be much room or time left for self-improvement. “Been there, seen it, done it...” is the kind of sentiment that runs through the mind. So one might be left wondering what more is there to be done. “But there has to be something,” the subconscious nags. “Try and decide before the year becomes too old and stale and the opportunity for self-betterment is lost for ever.”

So, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking about potential projects to embark on to make 2013, personally, a better year.  I have identified parameters within which such self-improvement schemes might operate: There should be nothing too strenuous or inconvenient, such as exercising more or cutting down on the foods and beverages that I enjoy eating and drinking. However, I reckon that whatever I might decide on will definitely not be too onerous, because the appetite for immoderate or excessive indulgence has waned somewhat, rendering a major course-correction unnecessary. In any case, when I was in full-time employment we used to talk about CQI, continuous quality improvement, that is, meaning that you should regard every action, every day, as an opportunity to make service-delivery better. CQI has followed me to these more leisurely times, so, even though I don’t have to deliver anything now, I do wake up every morning thinking of the little ways in which I can do better.  

I hope I am not sounding too perfect for some tastes, but incremental steps have been my guiding principle to the point that now, at the beginning of another year, I am completely unable to set myself a meaningful target.

But wait, there is something on which I need to make a decision: That is, whether or not to get myself some new wheels. My current motor is now 18 years old and alas, has not been subject to CQI. When I bought it in 1994, it was an elegant, sleek animal that purred, no -sighed- like the wind from the desert. But now, after only 100,000 km, it has become tired and exhausted, with an engine noise that is nearer to that of an attack of acute bronchitis than to the rustling of the desert breeze. It has a sorry hesitancy in traffic, exuding thick clouds of black smoke. And its fuel consumption. Well... that amounts to a regrettable massive, massive carbon footprint.

I hear you: “Get it fixed.” But there is not a mechanic in this town who has not had his chance (usually a “he.” Only one “she,” so far…) at assessing, fondling or otherwise tinkering with its innermost parts. But all to no avail. So, a decision now has to be made to get some new transport. But we love this car, and the two-car family is not an option. For now, we are stuck.

Tell Fren Tru

Steps To A Perfect Christmas

The trouble about childhood Christmases is that they feel so much better in retrospect, even though memory tends to be unreliable as the years pass, just as it was the case for Dylan Thomas, who could never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when he was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when he was six.* Of course, it never snowed in the country where I spent my childhood Christmases but, not intending a pun, you get my drift.

            Although my childhood was a tropical one, December is usually a month of cool temperatures, sometimes cold enough to require blankets at night and flannel during the day. So, I am sure I remember correctly when, early one cold, dark Christmas morning I woke up to my father playing the carol, “Christians, awake!” on a tin whistle which, as it turned out, was one of the stocking-fillers destined for me that day. A thrill, impossible to forget, ran through my entire body, and all Christmases thence have had to be measured against that high. 

            Since then, I have had Christmases in many lands on three other continents and in various circumstances. I even spent the entire day of one at an airport once. But I am happy to say, though, that many of those Christmases have equalled, if not exceeded the rapture on that Christmas morning all those years ago when I was six or seven. That old memory thing again. Gifts there have been aplenty, given and received, and the thrill endures, especially when we, too, in turn had young children.

But Christmas is also a time for a retro look at and reflection on the year just ending. In our case, the credit side has been more than enough to balance those minor annoyances on the debit side that sometimes look so formidable. One event in particular has been the cause of much joy when, in May, our son, Steve, married Carla Jacobson.

We have reason to be satisfied also because the Sierra Leone Sickle Cell Disease Society, of which we are foundation members, continues to bring relief to people who are, unfortunately, born with that disease. Their well-being is assured by donations from people like you. 
I haven’t had cause to source a tin whistle recently, but the cost of a common garden one could help make a difference to those who suffer from this disease for which a simple cure has, so far, been elusive. So, when you consider where to put your Christmas money this year, spare a thought for the Society and head for their website at www.sleonesickle.org and you will be taken through easy steps to the many ways in which you can donate. Perfect.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, if you celebrate, and also, and for others as well, that the coming year will be a glorious and healthy one.

Tell Fren Tru

*A Child’s Christmas in Wales