| San Pedro Daily |  |
Friday, October 23,
2009 Belize's Daily- 7 Days a Week |
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WOMEN IN POLITICS PROJECT INTRODUCED
The political history of a fledgling nation
such as Belize has
seen
very few women at the forefront of electoral politics. Sure there are
the familiar names Floss Cassasola, Jane Usher, Sylvia Flores and most
recently Zenaida Moya. Over the past twenty-five years the number of
women who’ve held ministerial positions has only been six; a figure
which pales in comparison to the number of men in leadership positions
within government. Since the induction of the National Women’s
Commission in mid-December of last year an initiative has been taken to
launch a six month training project on Women In Politics. WIP, as
it
is called, is as much a 101 in political science as it is a platform
for Belizean women to learn more about their function and role in the
highest level of decision making and administration of the country.
After several months of preparation, the WIP Project has been launched
and it’s participants, ranging in age from seventeen through
fifty-nine, were formally introduced. Executive Director of the
National Women’s Commission is Ann Marie Williams.
Ann Marie Williams: Executive Director, National Women’s Commission “If we can be at the forefront of everything else, in education, in business, in law, in the home; why can’t we take part in the political process and be at the highest decision making level of politics in our country?” The involvement of women both in the political process and in representational leadership is vital to social development. According to Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation, Peter Eden Martinez, Belize joins several other Caribbean nations in empowering women through politics. Peter Eden Martinez: Minister of Human Development and Social Transformation “Over the years we find we find out that women have just been involved in the political campaigns, giving support and what have you. And even though we have had women in high positions for example permanent secretaries and [other] executive positions the time has come for more women to be engaged at the decision making level. So that is one of the reasons why we in Belize are supporting this initiative and we are not only alone in this because there are other countries that have recognized this and have taken that bold step in the involvement of women.” Of the fifty-three candidates introduced this morning the resounding echo was the need for more women to take their rightful places at the decision making table. Nehanda Higinio shares her interest. Nehanda Higinio: Participant “I’ve been in politics unofficially for about ten years helping my mom when she was campaigning for mayor of Dangriga in the 1990s, early 2000s and it really intrigued me to see the level of importance of positive female leadership in this country. So that was my first hands on experience with it [and] I really enjoyed it and being an active participant in developing my community in Cayo I really decided that I think it’s a really good idea for myself and just for young women to have someone that they can look up to.” It is obvious that a move to actively include women in electoral politics is also a step in the right direction where it concerns gender parity. Ann Marie Williams: Executive Director, National Women’s Commission “Belize has signed on to Millennium Development Goals, the MDG, MDG three reminds us that we need to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by the year 2015. This is one of the perfect examples of trying to attain gender equality because the men are in front and the women are not there.” The training session is officially slated to begin on October 31st. Love FM Influenza cases rises after
independence celebrations
 The swine flu scare has dissipated, but
that does not mean that the
cases have reduced. In the private sector, the numbers were up in
September. News Five’s Jose Sanchez has a report.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting The Influenza A H1N1 continues to spread across the globe and all indications are that it will continue to be a part of the regular flu cycle. Doctor Fernando Cuellar of the Belize Medical Associates believes the public needs to keep informed about the disease. Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Intensivist/Internist “By no means we think that the numbers are dwindling. We still see a lot of patients who are exhibiting signs and symptoms of the A H1N1, just to keep the fire burning, so to speak, so that people aware because we haven’t’ heard much coming out from official people in terms of keeping our Belizean populace informed. I think that we should all participate, everybody should do their part in informing the Belizean public.” Cuellar said most of the cases of Influenza cases screened at BMA since May, came after the tenth of September. That is, after Carnival and nationwide mass gatherings that led up to Independence Day. Dr. Fernando Cuellar “May we had ten screens ten tests being done, fifteen in June, eighteen in July, August five again. But come September we had two hundred and eleven, definitely that spike has been seen since September, which is a month ago. More interesting is that it looks, and this isn’t anything conclusive or scientific, just by looking at it we see everything started after the tenth of September. So interestingly we had our national holidays and partying and gatherings and so on. We did see a big increase in numbers. Already in October we have eighty-two being done up to the tenth of October as we see here. Then we see numbers where the positivity also increase from less than five percent, meaning that five percent of the tests being done were positive before—this is for influenza A—before September, but in September those positivity rose up to fifty percent.” Jose Sanchez “When it comes to the actual symptoms you are seeing at BMA, are you seeing more mild or serious symptoms?” Dr. Fernando Cuellar “What we are seeing in our adult population definitely is patients with very bad flu-like syndrome. They come to us when they realize that the flu-like symptoms or respiratory illnesses that they are having is like none before. They come because they say doc, I feel really bad. I’ve had flu in the past, I’ve had a little cold in the past but a day or two after taking over the counter medication or home remedies I feel better. But over the past or past two days this is really bad and I know something may be different so I’ve come to recheck.” The rapidly changing disease has forced temporary closure of schools in Caye Caulker and in Belize City many students were sent home because of the spread. Cuellar says even the guidelines are morphing. Dr. Fernando Cuellar “I have experienced over the past two months, and I'm seeing the same trend in the literature we read in the U.S., they themselves are changing as they go along. Treatment is starting much earlier. We don’t wait for the persons to become seriously ill. One of the guidelines have always been saying that unless the person develops respiratory distress or unless they have shortness of breath, then you would consider using Tami-flu. I think that’s a little bit too late. I wouldn’t want to wait until somebody develops respiratory distress or have problem breathing to start because then the disease process had already advanced.” Though there are changes, the protocol such as using hand sanitizers and washing hands remain the same. CH5 Dengue still sending patients to
hospital
The other illness that is creating havoc is
dengue. If it weren’t
for the H1N1, it would make the news more often. While many have fallen
sick from H1N1, no deaths are related to it. But there have been deaths
this year so far attributed to dengue. Doctor Fernando Cuellar, an
Intensivist and Internist, says that the disease which is transmitted
from mosquito bites has been sending more people to receive treatment
at the Belize Medical Associates.
Dr. Fernando Cuellar “The numbers are not seeing to be going down in any big way; we’re still seeing a lot of patients with dengue. What is more concerning is that we see quite a bit of patients with the hemorrhagic dengue in mild forms and unfortunately, even serious forms of the hemorrhagic dengue where persons will develop a problem with their platelet count, which is basically the problem. That would lead to complications such as excessive bleeding. What makes it a bit more frightening, and I want to chose that word carefully, is that to treat that complication is very difficult in Belize because we don’t have the resources to treat the hemorrhagic dengue per se. We have availability of plasma and that is limited because our blood bank system works on replacement. So unless you can come up with certain amount of donors many times, then our access to plasma resources is limited. We do get a lot of understanding from the blood bank. Remember dengue is a viral entity transmitted by mosquitoes and when it comes to something viral, the symptoms are non-specific we call it, meaning that we would have the person complain of general symptoms such as headaches and joint pains and muscles pains. There's always headache seems to be one of the biggest ones, fever of course, and we’ve actually had cases without fever. You can have mild respirator illness, little bit of sore throat and coughing. Dry cough is usually non-productive meaning that you’re not bringing up a lot of phlegm. Lack of appetite, that’s one of the big ones also. People will say my appetite has dropped, I don’t have any taste in my mouth, I don’t want to eat and I have to force myself to be drinking stuff. Of course, the lack of energy, it just seems to turn off a switch when it comes to the energy and they get so tired so easily. So those are the more common symptoms.” Jose Sanchez “I understand there have been a couple deaths related to dengue at least in this year alone. You have any cases here related?” Dr. Fernando Cuellar “In this institution we haven’t had any individuals passing away but I do know of both of public and private setting there have been indeed fatalities from Dengue.” CH5 LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
MEXICO DAYLIGHT
SAVING TIME
FINISHED ON 25 OCTOBER · In Mexico, clocks go backward one hour on Sunday 25 October. · Mexico and Belize will have again the same local time. We would love to see
you at the dedication of the San Pedro Town
Library's new Paul Hooker Media Center on October 24th at 6:00 p.m.The
Paul Hooker Media Center has been made possible by the kind
patronage of Mrs. Pam Hooker in loving memory of her husband. Mrs.
Hooker donated the funds to purchase six new computers, a movie
projector, and a movie screen. The movie, The Planet Earth will be
shown at the Esmeralda Park adjacent to the San Pedro Library starting
at 6:30 p.m., following the dedication. Please join us for this
exciting evening.
Irecela Acosta, Librarian San Pedro Library Committee *Ambergris Caye
Elementary School* (A.C.E.S.) welcomes the San Pedro Community to
our
Halloween Bazaar Fundraiser. It’s on Saturday, 24 October from 6pm to
10pm on our campus
located just behind Paz Villas. There are great prizes for the best
costume for a male and female in
the following categories: Adult, child - scariest, child - most
original,
and baby.
We have an amazing raffle, $5 per chance. 1st prize – Smart cell phone, 2nd prize – Smart cell phone, 3rd prize - 24 hr golf cart rental from Captain G’s, 4th prize – Wood carving from Graniels, 5th prize - $50 gift certificate from Remax. We will have a Spooky House, a Fun House, Fish pond, and Tombola for the children and the young at heart. For the adults, there will be a Texas Hold’em tournament. Food and a variety of wonderful pastries will be available for sale. Admission: Children $2 and Adults $3. Come and join us for a night of family fun and start off the Halloween Season with a Bang!
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© SAN PEDRO DAILY, PO Box 45, San Pedro Town, Belize. Inquiries to editor@sanpedrodaily.com |
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