Girls back to school after lockdowns - Angola. Webisode 5

 Our campaign girls back to school after lockdowns is live in Angola

Angola reopened schools Oct. 5, six months after they were closed to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. 

"There are proper awareness and regulation on personal hygiene, and how children, pupils both in boarding school and day school, will learn how to wash their hands very well and use their face masks. The school provided thermometer infrareds to check the temperature". 

Our today's guest is Meury. Do you remember her? she was with us in the previous campaign.

Meury went back to school and now she is ready to share with us her school observations.

Hello, my name is Meury Dala, I am 16 years old, studying in the 12 grade and I am Angolan. 

Now that the schools have reopened I went back to study. While staying there, I noticed that although my school did not distribute biosecurity material for the protection of students, they created conditions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, such as social distancing, marked places in the desks where students can or cannot sit and at the entrance of the school there is a school guard with a thermometer to measure our temperature if it is above 36 degrees, the student cannot enter the classroom, and that's all. 

For the moment, the majority of schools have reopened, and they will stay that way unless a new surge in coronavirus cases forces them to close again.  

Click here to see Meury's first interview in the first season when schools were closed.

https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/09/africa-educates-her-campaign-with_14.html

Big global study finds remdesivir doesn’t help Covid-19 patients

 In a study it described as both conclusive and disappointing, the World Health Organization said the antiviral drug remdesivir has “little or no effect on mortality” for patients hospitalized with coronavirus and it doesn’t seem to help patients recover any faster, either.

Until now, remdesivir has been the only drug that appeared to have specific effects for coronavirus. It was the only drug with an Emergency Use Authorization for Covid-19 from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Results of the WHO study have not been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. But WHO posted them to a pre-print server.

The WHO study reviewed remdesivir and three other repurposed drugs: hydroxychloroquine, the HIV combination of lopinavir and ritonavir and interferon. None of them helped patients live any longer or get out of the hospital any sooner, WHO said.

The trial was able to generate conclusive evidence on the impact the drugs had on mortality, the need for ventilation, and duration of hospital stay.

“For each drug in the study, the effect on mortality was disappointingly unpromising,” WHO said in a statement.

Several other studies had found that hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, was of no benefit to coronavirus patients, as had several studies looking at the HIV drug combination.

The study covered more than 11,000 coronavirus patients in 30 countries. “The protocol was designed to involve hundreds of potentially over-stressed hospitals in dozens of countries,” the international team of researchers wrote. They said they have submitted their findings to a medical journal.

Prior to the WHO study, a large controlled study of remdesivir in the US found that it shortens recovery time by about a third in severely ill, hospitalized adults with Covid-19, but does little to help those with milder cases.

Gilead Sciences, the drug’s maker, said the findings did not mean the drug, sold under the brand name Veklury, is of no benefit.

“The emerging data appear inconsistent with more robust evidence from multiple randomized, controlled studies published in peer-reviewed journals validating the clinical benefit of Veklury (remdesivir). We are concerned that the data from this open- label global trial have not undergone the rigorous review required to allow for constructive scientific discussion,” Gilead said in a statement.

“The benefits of Veklury have been demonstrated in three randomized, controlled clinical trials, including a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial — the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy and safety of investigational drugs.”

The WHO-led researchers say their trial, called the Solidarity trial, will continue. “Newer antiviral drugs, immunomodulators and anti-SARS COV-2 monoclonal antibodies are now being considered for evaluation via the Solidarity Therapeutics trial,” WHO said.

Monoclonal antibody treatments include Regeneron’s dual antibody cocktail and Eli Lilly and Co’s double antibody therapy.

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Source: CNN

Angola: Campaign to vaccinate over 90,000 children against polio

 At least 97,919 children from zero to five years of age are expected to be vaccinated during an integral campaign against polio to take place in eastern Lunda Sul province on October 23 to 31, a World Health Organization?s official in the region, Armando Aspirante, said on Thursday.

The campaign also includes the administration of vitamin A in children from six months to five years, being the first phase to cover the provinces of Cabinda, Bengo, Malanje, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico and Uíge.

A total of 105,000 doses of polio vaccines (injectable and oral) and 91,500 vitamin A capsules have been made available for this campaign to be supported by 55 teams.

Covid-19: Angola reports 247 new cases, five deaths, 79 recoveries

 The Angolan health authorities announced Friday the registration of 247 new infections, five deaths and 79 recovered patients.

HEALTH MINISTER, SÍLVIA LUTUCUTA