Month: April 2017

Every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born prematurely. It’s believed 1 million children die around the world each year of complications of pre-term birth. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia may have developed a technology that could change that outlook. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Cervical cancer is preventable, yet it remains the most common type of cancer in Africa, the World Health Organization says. WHO data show that Senegal currently has one of the world’s highest rates of the disease, with over 1,400 new cases diagnosed each year. The country’s health officials have stepped up efforts against the disease with a nationwide campaign to vaccinate girls against the virus that causes cancer. On a recent day at the Philippe Maguilen Senghor health center on the outskirts of Dakar, women lined up for free breast and cervical cancer screenings. The event was run by young Senegalese volunteers from Junior Chamber International (JCI), a nonprofit organization. Sassy Ndiaye waited patiently for her turn. At age 60, this was only the second time she had been tested for the disease.   “Before we didn’t know about this,” she said. “I went through eight pregnancies and never did a cervical cancer screening with my gynecologist. I did it after my menopause.” For comparison, in the United States, it is common for women of all ages to be screened for abnormal cervical cells every three years. In Dakar, gynecologist Mouhamoudou Moustapha Yade said that by the time patients come to see him, their cervical cancer can be advanced. “At a later stage, recovery is painful and difficult. And more importantly, the prognosis is not good,” he said. “This is why screening is so important. When you catch the cancer early, treatment is easier and much less expensive.” But most …

Thousands rallied Saturday in Washington for the People’s Climate March. Organizers said they hoped the day’s events would send a clear message to the Trump administration and lawmakers in Washington about their climate policies. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more. …

Tens of thousands of environmental activists are expected to march in the U.S. capital city Saturday in an effort to draw support for climate-related causes. The event, dubbed the People’s Climate March, is meant to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, according to its organizers, who have condemned what they see as the administration’s lack of concern for environmental issues. “The Trump administration’s policies are a catastrophe for our climate and communities, especially low-income and communities of color who are on the front lines of this crisis,” the People’s Climate Movement, a collection of about 50 liberal activist groups, said in a statement. The group of partner organizations making up the event’s steering committee consists mainly of environmental groups, but also includes several trade unions, anti-war and minority advocacy groups, like the NAACP. The presence of so many non-climate-related sponsoring organizations is reflected in the group’s “platform,” which lists issues the activists find important, but don’t feel are being adequately addressed by the Trump administration. The platform blends the problems organizers say are created by climate change with economic and social justice issues, and calls for changes like increasing the national minimum wage to $15 an hour and fighting back against “the corporate trade-induced global race to the bottom.” “This is a moment to bring the range of progressive social change movements together,” the group says on its website. Protesters are expected to march from the U.S. Capitol building to the White House, where they will hold …

Thousands of environmental activists marched in the U.S. capital Saturday, and in about 300 other cities across the country, to try to draw support for climate-related causes. The People’s Climate March was meant to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, according to its organizers, who have condemned what they see as the administration’s lack of concern for environmental issues. They said they objected to Trump’s rollback of restrictions on mining, oil drilling and greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants, among other things. “The Trump administration’s policies are a catastrophe for our climate and communities, especially low-income and communities of color, who are on the front lines of this crisis,” the People’s Climate Movement, a collection of about 50 liberal activist groups, said in a statement. Protesters marched from the Capitol to the White House, where they held a rally. About 300 “sister” marches or rallies were held in cities from Seattle to Boston. In Washington, marchers braved temperatures in the 90s, while in Denver, it snowed on several hundred activists who had gathered. The partner organizations that made up the event’s steering committee consisted mainly of environmental groups but included several trade unions and anti-war and minority advocacy groups, such as the NAACP. The presence of so many non-climate-related sponsoring organizations was reflected in the group’s “platform,” which listed issues the activists said they found important but didn’t feel were being adequately addressed by the Trump administration. WATCH: People’s Climate March Brings Thousands to Washington The …

Later this year, two pilots in a sailplane will try to break the world altitude record for a glider, soaring more than 27 kilometers above sea level. But their primary mission will be to explore the little-known phenomenon called “mountain waves” and to carry a number of experiments designed by school students. VOA’s George Putic reports. …

U.S. health officials say the United States will run out of the vaccine for yellow fever as early as next month, and travelers who need a shot might have to wait. Officials say a manufacturing problem has created a shortage of the only version of the vaccine licensed in the United States. The vaccine is recommended for travelers to certain parts of South America and Africa, with more than a dozen countries requiring proof of vaccination in order to enter. The disease was eradicated in the United States more than 100 years ago, and the vaccine is not a part of routine inoculations. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they are bringing in another vaccine that is used in other countries to try to lessen the shortage. However, they say it will only be available in about 250 of the 4,000 U.S. clinics that administer the shot. Health officials are urging travelers to plan ahead, saying it will likely take longer to get the vaccine and people might to need to travel farther to get it. Yellow fever can cause jaundice, abdominal pain, vomiting, internal bleeding and organ failure. Most people improve after more mild symptoms of fever and chills, however, about 15 percent of infected people become seriously ill. The virus is spread by the same mosquito that transmits the Zika virus and other tropical diseases. Officials say there has recently been a global shortage of the vaccine. …

A group of experts meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend a promising experimental Ebola vaccine in future outbreaks of this fatal disease.  The 2013 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed 11,300 people, highlighting the need for a vaccine to control of the deadly virus.  Of 12 candidate vaccines, only one that was tested in Guinea reportedly has proven to be clinically effective. However, the Chair of SAGE and WHO senior health adviser, Alejandro Cravioto, notes the vaccine is not yet licensed and therefore should only be used under strict conditions, such as informed consent. “That means people have to sign saying that they want to take the vaccine and under the conditions that we call good clinical practices,” he said. “We still have something that could really be of help in case we have something that could happen in the near future.”  Cravioto tells VOA this vaccine could be a game-changer because it has demonstrated its effectiveness and its impact in a particular setting, with a particular species of Ebola. “It is important to keep in mind that we are not recommending or SAGE is not recommending currently, and there is no evidence to recommend wide-scale use of the vaccine and to again start to vaccinate before an occurrence of an outbreak,” he said. “We have no idea of the duration of protection that is afforded by the vaccine to start with.”  SAGE recommends the so-called ring strategy that was used in the 1970s to eradicate smallpox to …

United Nations officials say at least 11 people have died from a mysterious illness in Liberia, and tests have been negative for the Ebola virus. The World Health Organization said Friday that authorities are looking into whether the people were sickened by something they ate or were exposed to a chemical or bacteria. Five others remain hospitalized in Sinoe County, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) outside the capital, after complaining of abdominal pains. Two are critically ill. The cases over the past week have evoked painful memories in Liberia, where more than 4,800 people died during the Ebola epidemic. Those who fell sick this week all had attended a relative’s funeral. That was how many Ebola victims contracted the disease when they came in contact with victims’ corpses. …

A robot zaps and vacuums up venomous lionfish in Bermuda. A helicopter pelts Guam’s trees with poison-baited dead mice to fight the voracious brown tree snake. A special boat with giant winglike nets stuns and catches Asian carp in the U.S. Midwest. In the fight against alien animals that invade and overrun native species, the weird and wired wins. “Critters are smart – they survive,” said biologist Rob “Goose” Gosnell, head of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s wildlife services in Guam, where brown tree snakes have gobbled up nearly all the native birds. “Trying to outsmart them is hard to do.” Invasive species are plants and animals that thrive in areas where they don’t naturally live, usually brought there by humans, either accidentally or intentionally. Sometimes, with no natural predators, they multiply and take over, crowding out and at times killing native species. Now, new technology is being combined with the old methods – weed pulling, trapping and pesticides. Finding new weapons is crucial because invasive species are costly – $314 billion per year in damages in just the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, India and Brazil. It’s also one of the leading causes of extinction on islands, such as Guam, according to Piero Genovesi, an Italian scientist who chairs the invasive species task force for an international organization . “We have totally new tools that were just unthinkable a few years ago,” Genovesi said. Case in point: There are companies that now market traps for wild pigs that …

Another protest march will take place in Washington Saturday. The People’s Climate March targets President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo action on climate change. A movement that began with a few scientists has grown to include everyone from low-income people of color to major corporations. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more. …

Drug overdose deaths in the United States continue to rise. The majority of those deaths can be attributed to opioids, synthetic or natural drugs that when used correctly relieve pain. But, according to health authorities, nearly 100 Americans die every day from opioid abuse. While the nation tries to figure out ways to end the flood of opioids on U.S. streets, others are trying to help those who are trying to put opioid abuse behind them. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Think back to grade school. If you were sick, you stayed home. If you had a serious illness, you’d miss weeks, or even months of classes. Technology could change all this, with a robot attending school in place of the sick child. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti introduces us to a Baltimore girl who is homebound no more. …

New climate-change findings mean the Pacific Ocean off California may rise higher, and storms and high tides hit harder, than previously thought, officials said. The state’s Ocean Protection Council on Wednesday revised upward its predictions for how much water off California will rise as the climate warms. The forecast helps agencies in the nation’s most populous state plan for climate change as rising water seeps toward low-lying airports, highways and communities, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. Discoveries that ice sheets are melting increasingly fast in Antarctica, which holds nearly 90 percent of the world’s ice, largely spurred the change. Antarctic ice melting   As fossil-fuel emissions warm the Earth’s atmosphere, melting Antarctic ice is expected to raise the water off California’s 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers) of coastline even more than for the world as a whole.   “Emerging science is showing us a lot more than even five years ago,” council deputy director Jenn Eckerle said Thursday. Gov. Jerry Brown has mandated that state agencies take climate change into account in planning and budgeting. The council’s projections will guide everything from local decisions on zoning to state action on whether to elevate or abandon buildings near the coast and bays. In the best-case scenario, waters in the vulnerable San Francisco Bay, for example, likely would rise between 1 foot and 2.4 feet (one-third to three-fourths of a meter) by the end of this century, the ocean council said. Rising water alters weather patterns   However, that’s only if …