Week in health

Officials in Rubavu district have called on both public and private institutions to prioritize workers’ safety in order to avoid occupational hazards. The pronouncement was made on Tuesday last week as Rwanda joined the rest of the world to celebrate the Occupational Safety and Health day (OSH) at Brasserie et Limonaderie du Rwanda. Basing on the increasing number of victims at workplaces in the country and at international level, Judith Uwizeye, the Minister for Public Service and Labour agitated for combined efforts to reverse this trend which costs lives and in turn affects the national economy. She also urged employers to ensure that employees know their rights. More concern also arose when figures from the International Labour Organization (ILO) indicated that 2.3 million people die due to occupational diseases whereas 1.6 million get sick due to hazards at the work place while 313 million get accidents. ILO also says that 4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent in caring for accidents and diseases as a result of work. In health education, female students have expressed appreciation for the ‘Keep Girls At School’ (KGAS) project for empowering them toward self-reliance and reducing rate of school dropout among girls. The students were last week speaking at the closing of dissemination of the KGAS project in Huye District. Research carried out by Care International in Southern Province in 2013 showed that 18 per cent of female students dropped out of lower secondary school due to socio-economic problems. However, girls no longer carry unwanted pregnancies because they are getting enough advice in the clubs according to most students in the Southern Province. Meanwhile in regional news, the government has scaled up relief services at the main reception point for thousands of fleeing Burundians who continue to pour into Rwanda. Over 23,000 Burundians crossed into Rwanda, mainly through the Kamabuye border in Bugesera District as pre-poll violence back home showed no signs of discontinuity. The drastic surge in numbers of the arrivals in Rwanda has now forced government to set up more facilities at the temporary holding centre in Gashora, Bugesera, including health services, and increasing the number of refugees transported each day from the transit centre to Mahama in Kirehe District to 1500, up from 600. The decision was taken during Sunday’s emergency meeting of members of the national disaster management and refugee affairs committee. Around the globe, three-quarters of countries do not have plans in place to preserve antimicrobial medicines, the World Health Organization said. Despite consistent warnings by the body that the globe is heading into a “post-antibiotic era” in which much of modern medicine becomes impossible, reports showed that” a lot more needs to be done” to prevent the rise of resistance in a range of infections. According to the experts, it is in the very nature of microbes to develop resistance to the drugs we use against them and if the drugs stop working, then common infections, such as TB will kill again. Surgery and cancer treatment are also reliant on the drugs to keep patients alive.