{"id":197086,"date":"2021-10-11T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=197086"},"modified":"2021-10-08T09:22:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T08:22:02","slug":"what-went-right-this-week-historic-malaria-vaccine-for-africa-gets-go-ahead-plus-more-positive-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/10\/what-went-right-this-week-historic-malaria-vaccine-for-africa-gets-go-ahead-plus-more-positive-news\/","title":{"rendered":"What Went Right This Week: Historic Malaria Vaccine for Africa Gets Go-Ahead, plus more Positive News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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7 Oct 2021 – The WHO gave the nod for a malaria vaccine to be rolled out to much of Africa, an indigenous group officially named a new species for the first time, and a global citizens’ assembly was announced for Cop26, plus more positive news.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Malaria vaccine was given the green light for Africa<\/span><\/h3>\n

Inoculation has been a hot topic for the last 18 months or so, but this time it\u2019s a malaria vaccine, not Covid-19, that\u2019s making headlines.<\/p>\n

Although proven effective six years ago, the World Health Organization is now recommending that the vaccine, called\u00a0RTS,S, be administered across much of Africa. The move comes after pilot immunisation programmes conducted in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi proved a success.<\/p>\n

With 94 per cent of the global 229m cases per year being in Africa, the new jab has been widely welcomed by experts, particularly as children are disproportionately affected. More than 260,000 children died from malaria in 2019.<\/p>\n

A vaccine for the disease, which is caused by a parasite far more sophisticated than the one that causes Covid-19, (it\u2019s \u201clike comparing a person and a cabbage,\u201d reported the BBC<\/a>), has evaded the medical community for over a century.<\/p>\n

Being able to roll out the vaccine on a mass scale is thus \u201ca historic moment\u201d, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO.<\/p>\n

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Birmingham announced plans to radically reduce car traffic<\/h3>\n

Headed up by the city\u2019s transport minister, self-confessed former petrolhead Waseem Zaffar, a new plan<\/a> will see Birmingham transformed into a large-scale low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN).<\/p>\n

Roads will be closed to motor traffic, zero-emission buses will whiz across the city, and cycleways in the Midlands metropolis will be upgraded.<\/p>\n

It could prove a stark change for the UK\u2019s second largest city: \u201cOther places have a love-hate relationship with the car. With Brum, it\u2019s just love,\u201d said Jonathan Meades in a 1998 documentary about Birmingham<\/a>. Undaunted by the \u00a0controversy that often meets LTNs, the city council is pushing forward with the plan as a response to the climate emergency.<\/p>\n

Additional measures will include pedestrianising parts of the city centre and reducing car parking spots.<\/p>\n

An indigenous group named a new species for the first time<\/h3>\n

A newly discovered, candy-coloured pygmy pipehorse \u2013 a species closely related to the seahorse \u2013\u00a0made the news<\/a> this week after it was given a M\u0101ori name by a New Zealand indigenous group.<\/p>\n

Christened\u00a0Cylix tupareomanaia\u00a0<\/em>by the Ng\u0101tiwai tribe \u2013 who live mostly around the\u00a0Wh\u0101ng\u0101rei region in New Zealand\u2019s North Island \u2013 the pink and white, 6cm tall creature is the first pygmy pipehorse to be discovered in the country.<\/p>\n

Dr Thomas Trnski, one of the biodiversity scientists who worked with the tribe on the naming, told the Guardian: \u201cAs far as we know, this is the first animal in the world to have the naming authority include a tribal name. It is overdue recognition of traditional knowledge that can contribute to the discovery of new species.\u201d<\/p>\n

0% doom and gloom By reading Positive News magazine you can stay up to date with all the most important stories about what\u2019s going right in the world, with zero risk of bad news ruining your mood. 100% uplifting. Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n

An electrical brain implant was used to treat depression<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen I first received stimulation I felt the most intensely joyous sensation and my depression was a distant nightmare for a moment,\u201d said Sarah, a patient who being treated for depression.<\/p>\n

This week it emerged<\/a> that Sarah has had a device that delivers tiny pulses of electrical stimulation implanted into her brain \u2013 with impressive results. The experimental procedure conducted by Professor Edward Chang of the University of California San Francisco\u00a0is being hailed as hugely promising for those with severe depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just laughed out loud. It\u2019s the first time I had spontaneously laughed or smiled\u2026 in five years,\u201d the elated patient told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

Black writers are being showcased at Canary Wharf<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re one of the thousands of people who pass through Canary Wharf in London\u2019s docklands every day, this month, you may want to take a pause to check out the area\u2019s Short Story Stations. These literature-dispensing vending machines offer bitesize works: one-, three- and five-minute stories, and will feature pieces from up-and-coming black writers, to mark Black History Month.<\/p>\n

The Booker prize winning author Bernardine Evaristo has spearheaded the project<\/a>, together with the owners of Canary Wharf, in a bid to provide a platform for black writers in the UK.<\/p>\n

Evaristo said<\/a>: \u201cThis is such an innovative opportunity at Canary Wharf to shine the spotlight on black authors I admire and are deserving of a wider readership.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five writers selected include Paul Mendez, Irenosen Okojie, Nicola Williams, Judith Bryan and S.I. Martin.<\/p>\n

A global citizens\u2019 assembly will be chosen for Cop26<\/h3>\n

Attended by high-level government delegates and representatives from carefully selected NGOs, most ordinary folk wouldn\u2019t dream of having a place at the UN\u2019s annual climate summit.<\/p>\n

But this year, that\u2019s exactly who is being invited: 100 individuals from across the globe. In a first for the Conference of the Parties, a group of demographically representative people will be chosen to contribute to online discussions held during the summit, which takes place between 31 October and 12 November.<\/p>\n

A lottery system is being used to select them. Sixty will hail from Asia, 17 from Africa, and those who earn less than $10 (\u00a37.35) a day will comprise 70 of the 100. Half will be women.<\/p>\n

In order to ensure all have equal access, a stipend will be offered, as well as communications and technical assistance, plus translation services.<\/p>\n

At the online launch of the assembly this week, Bob Watson,\u00a0\u00a0chair of one of the group\u2019s governing committees, said<\/a>: \u201cYour voices represent the people of the world, and it is vital that governments and the business community hear your concerns \u2013 they need to listen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for climate science work<\/h3>\n

Three scientists have received the Nobel prize in physics for influential work that, according to Paul Hardaker, the chief executive of the Institute of Physics,\u00a0\u201clays the foundation for our understanding of the Earth\u2019s system[s]\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One half of the prize was shared between Syukuro Manabe, a senior meteorologist at Princeton University, and Klaus Hasselmann, a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany. Both work on physical climate modelling, which has helped to reliably predict global heating.<\/p>\n

The second half of the prize was given to Giorgio Parisi, a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome.\u00a0His work centres around identifying patterns in disordered complex materials known as spin glasses. This in turn has made it possible to better understand a huge array of other different materials and phenomena.<\/p>\n

Dr Martin Juckes, head of atmospheric science and research and deputy head of the UK\u2019s Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA), told the BBC: \u201cIt is fantastic to see the work of climate scientists rewarded with the Nobel prize in physics \u2026 The problems of complexity in climate systems, compounded by threats of the climate crisis, continue to challenge climate scientists today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original – positive.news<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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