Bill, Melinda Gates help to fight malarial scourgeThis is very good newsBy INQUIRER staff: Tuesday 14 December 2004, 10:58Tyan Tomcat i7221 Server boardWE NOTICE this morning that CNN is reporting that Bill and Melinda Gates are plunging $42.6 million to fund research into the horrible ailment known as malaria.According to the web site, the money will be used to fund traditional remedies based on wormwood.The female of the species is deadlier than the male, and the insect that passes on the fluke needs to feed on human blood to generate eggs. So it's not really the mosquito's fault.But the fluke carried in the female mosquito's saliva remain a scourge in many parts of the world still, bringing people down and killing them in a dreadful manner.So the Gates Family is to be applauded for this move, big time.In certain parts of Gujarat, India, another species of mosquito passes on the dreadful disease elephantiasis, so named because it can turn a leg into a terrible thick misshapen thing.
Waging War in Iraq - - Against PolioFeb 24- Health workers fanned out across Iraq this month to immunize more than 4 million Iraqi children against polio. The effort is an extension of ongoing immunization programs led by the Iraqi Ministry of Health and supported by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the Red Crescent. Although Iraq suffered a major outbreak of polio in 1999, increased assistance from UNICEF and WHO has led to zero cases since January 2000.UNICEF said the polio campaign is crucial to protecting not only Iraqi children from the disease but also to preventing polio outbreaks elsewhere in the region. “This is a disease that crosses borders easily,” said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, “so it is essential that we complete this year's immunization and reach every child.”“The situation of Iraqi children has been very difficult for more than 15 years,” said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF. “No matter what the global situation, we cannot shrink from the ongoing work of reaching out to help them. We must do everything we can to protect them.”More than 14,000 health workers went door to door making sure each child is vaccinated.Bellamy said that for many people, this campaign is an act of hope and faith in the future. “And it's a major achievement for a country that has been devastated by two major wars and 12 years of sanctions.”Inspiration Point:The heart has reasons that reason does not understand. -Jacques Benigne Bossuet, (1627-1704), French bishop, writer, orator.
Simple Solutions Feed Hungry PeopleFarmers in eastern Africa gave up pulling weeds. Now they plant weeds along with their crops and, as a result, harvest 60 to 70 percent more food than before. The idea was developed at the Mbita Point research station in Kenya. The logic of this technique is simple: give the insects something to eat so they don't need to graze on valuable maize.Mexican farms raise their yield by planting squash and beans in with the maize. When crops are combined there is less damage from insects and more efficient use of water.In Bangladesh rice paddies double as fisheries, with results so successful they are being implemented in other countries.British researcher Jules Pretty of the University of Essex studied the use of sustainable agricultural solutions in 52 countries where the cost of high tech solutions is too expensive for most farmers. His analysis of more than 200 projects has shown that innovations like the above have increased average crop yields by 73 percent, with no peripheral damage to people or the environment. He notes that such projects are “cheap, use locally available technology and often improve the environment. The solutions most help the people who need help the most -- poor farmers and their families, who make up the majority of the world's hungry people.” - Jane Hersey, Pure Facts newsletter, The Feingold Association.
Tribes turn to charter schools to help troubled studentsTuesday, December 21, 2004 Posted: 12:33 PM EST (1733 GMT) TRIBAL CHARTER SCHOOLSCHARTING EDUCATION: Tribal officials are turning to charter schools -- publicly funded schools that are free of many rules and restrictions -- to reach a generation of students who've dropped out or drifted through traditional public schools.HOW MANY ARE THERE?: At least 30 Indian charter schools operate in the country. Arizona has the most, with 12, followed by California with six. More are in the planning stages.ARE THEY WORKING?: Some have achieved results in a short time, with improved test scores. Others face the same kinds of organizational problems that many kinds of charter schools do. Disciplinary problems are a common concern; even students admit that part needs some work.YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSSchoolsEducationor Create your ownManage alerts | What is this?MISSION, Oregon (AP) -- There were no teachers in a room at the Nixyaawii Charter School, just a dozen or so teenagers gathered for their last class of the day.Slouched low in their seats, baseball caps pulled down, they talked about how to behave in school.\"We have to learn how to govern ourselves,\" said the group's de facto leader, 20-year-old Jess Stone. \"You guys are leading by example. You have to lead yourself before you lead others.\"In the first few months at Nixyaawii (pronounced Nick-yah-we), the group has emerged as a linchpin, helping to hold together a school on which the hopes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation rest.Throughout Indian country, tribal officials are turning to charter schools as their best opportunity to reach a generation of Indian students who've dropped out or drifted through traditional public schools.Charter schools receive public money, but are free from many of the rules and restrictions that apply to other public schools. The idea is to encourage experimentation in education.The Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Reform, which tracks charter schools, counts at least 30 Indian charter schools in the country. Arizona has the most, with 12, followed by California with six. Indian charters have also opened in Minnesota and Michigan.Some have achieved results in a short time. The San Diego-area Barona Indian Charter School, for example, posted big gains in student performance on standardized test scores in the 2003-2004 school year, besting the state average.But a tribal charter school was recently shut down after authorities had trouble with federal special education requirements and an audit, said Onnie Shekerjian, who sits on the Arizona State Board for charter schools.Still, more Indian charter schools are in the planning stages, including a school in Alaska. Besides the standard curriculum it would offer \"hunting, harvesting, building canoes, berry-picking -- all different activities to reinforce native culture,\" said Sharon McConnell Gillis, executive director for the Doyon Foundation, one of the groups working on the proposal.In Oregon, the idea for Nixyaawii had floated among the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation for more than a decade before the tribe decided this year to seek charter status.Principal Annie Tester was brought on board in July and hired her three teachers in August, only a month before the start of school, housed in a community center. Forty-eight students showed up for the first day of class.Some come from high poverty families and have relatives who have battled with alcoholism and drugs, Tester said. Others have been tuning school out since junior high, one reason officials are hoping to eventually add seventh and eighth grades.The school emphasizes Indian culture. Students learn traditional beadwork and basketry in art classes, discuss native fables in English and, instead of Spanish or German, are getting instruction in the almost-lost Indian languages spoken by their ancestors.Teachers are trying to emphasize learning through group projects, rather than the more traditional method of a teacher lecturing while students take notes.But teachers say there are too many times when students doze off in class, leave to get a drink of water and don't come back, or turn in an assignment weeks late.\"We are doing a lot of unlearning before we learn,\" said Tre Luna, who teaches social studies at Nixyaawii, his first full-time job.Even some students say classroom behavior needs more work.But Eddie Simpson, an 18-year-old born on the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, reservation said he's determined to get his remaining high school credits and graduate. He wants to train to be an EMT and sees Nixwaayii as his last, best chance.\"If I don't do this, what's there for me?\" Simpson asked.Tester and others said Nixyaawii's first year is a work-in-progress. After this year, she said, staff will know where their students stand and where they need to improve.At the start and end of each day, students and teachers gather in a circle for announcements and to talk about the day ahead or the day gone by.There's a perceptible weariness among students and teachers at the end of the day.\"Even with the chaos today, it was a good day,\" teacher Luna told the students. \"To those of you who had patience and stuck it out, thank you.\"
