Black Immigrant Daily News

Against the background of much speculation in the public domain regarding recent polling in Antigua and Barbuda, CADRES has secured permission from our client to release limited details of polling conducted by us during the course of 2022.

Two rounds of polling were conducted by CADRES in constituencies which were selected to render a reliable appreciation of the national political mood at this time.

It should be noted that constituencies where the ABLP was strongest in the 2018 election were not polled on either occasion for obvious reasons.

The first round of polling was conducted during April/May of 2022 and our assessment was that the ABLP would have prevailed if an election were called at the time of polling.

Notwithstanding, Antiguans were very anxious about the water situation and were equally concerned about the ability of the country to recover from the impact of COVID, especially in the economic and educational realms.

Leadership preferences were considered in each constituency; however, the options were restricted to the leaders of the three active political parties (ABLP, UPP and DNA) and PM Browne was preferred to the UPP’s leader, Harold Lovell and the DNA’s leader Joanne Massiah, in a majority of cases.

The second round of polling was conducted during October and restricted to some of the same constituencies, along with two that were not polled in April/May.

On this more recent occasion, the ABLP was either leading or competitive in all constituencies polled, suggesting that it would prevail as a government if an election were called at that the time.

Notwithstanding, Antiguans remain concerned about several issues, not least of which is the availability and cost of Water and Electricity, along with Employment and several infrastructural issues, including roads.

The issue of water was fully explored and while some Antiguans agreed that the situation had improved, several were still of the opinion that it was unsatisfactory.

On this occasion, the leadership preference scenario was also tested and persons in all but one constituency preferred PM Browne.

In that one, the majority was unsure or preferred not to say which leader they preferred.

There has been keen interest in the St Peter’s constituency where former ABLP Minister Asot Michael is contesting as an independent, therefore this riding was specially included in the constituency analysis.

CADRES projected that if an election were called at the time of polling, the ABLP’s Turner would have emerged with the single largest block of support, while the UPP’s Harriette was likely to gain the second most support and independent Asot Michael, the least support from prospective voters.

CADRES considered comparative cases across the region where independent candidates contested and noted that an independent would need to gain the support of no less than 20% of voters to be viable and Michael did not attain that threshold.

The other significant finding relates to the DNA, which did not appear viable in any of the constituencies surveyed, which was also the case in the April/May surveys when the DNA did not have its slate of candidates in place.

CADRES is therefore of the opinion that the coming election will be a contest between the two traditional parties, with the ABLP leading in a majority of constituencies at this time.

CADRES, 29/10/2022 07:30

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Black Immigrant Daily News

President Dr Irfaan Ali said the art of giving must not be seasonal but must be a way of life as he appealed to Guyanese to contribute to the Salvation Army’s Annual Kettle.

During the launch of the event on Friday at the Georgetown Club, President Ali led by example and made the first contribution of $1.5 million.

“Giving is about moving someone positively. So, it is not based only on material things… and that is what is good about the work of the Salvation Army; it is not only about the Christmas Kettle; it is a way of life; it is giving every single day in different ways; it is lifting humanity in different ways, and that is why giving is an art and giving is a way of life.”

BRIDGING THE GAPS

The President noted that a small contribution can be a big help to people who are in need.

“What you do here today is not a simplistic thing as just putting a donation into the kettle… what you do is an important part in bridging the gaps that exist in our society. What you do today requires a societal approach.”

Organisations like the Salvation Army, the President added, help to bring the “societal approach” to the way things are done. He said that stakeholders, including the Government; corporate entities, religious and civil societies; communities and families have to play their part in bridging the gaps.

The annual Christmas Appeal helps to meet the needs of the less fortunate through the provision of food, shelter, rehabilitation and much more.

Joining the President were representatives from the Salvation Army, including the Chair of its Advisory Board, Mr Edward Boyer, as well as students from several high schools.

The Christmas Kettle is a traditional initiative to raise funds to keep the Salvation Army’s humanitarian work going. It is done annually throughout the world at Christmas, having first started in 1891 to assist those in need.

Divisional Commander of the Salvation Army, Major Matignol Saint-Lot expressed that the Christmas Appeal is even more needed at this time, having seen an increasing demand to help people. This has been a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in grave economic hardship across the world.

“After the severe hit of COVID-19 in the past two years, the demand to help others has been rising daily. The Salvation Army is seeing an increased demand from people in need due to the scars of COVID-19 and the rise of the cost of living in the whole world. The Christmas Kettle Appeal 2022 is now more important,” the Divisional Commander relayed.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Guyanese men are on a mission to reposition the role of the male population in society by tackling issues such as violence against women and children, and taking on a more responsible role.

The ‘Men on Mission’ (MOM) initiative was launched on Friday evening by President Dr Irfaan Ali in the presence of hundreds of men from various section of society who will be leading this movement.

According to the Head of State, men have dropped the ball in families and societies but through the MOM initiative, Guyanese males are going to pick up that ball to support women and equally shoulder responsibilities.

“That is what mission is about, it is about shouldering that responsibility. It is about demonstrating a collective will to act. It is about demonstrating a collective understanding of the problem and it’s about demonstrating a collective idea or creating a new system – an institution that supports a modern society…” the Head of State said to the men gathered at the Guyana Defence Force Sports Ground, Camp Ayanganna.

“We are the root cause of much problems in society. It is now our time to be the root of solution, to be the root of positivity, to be the root that makes a difference, to be a root that builds a support system. Men on Mission will be the foundation to remove violence against women and children. This is not the responsibility for women, this is the responsibility for us to work with each other. We must make the change. We must drive the change. We must lead the movement of respect, we must lead the movement of dignity, we must lead the movement of pride,” he asserted.

Reversing societal failure

President Ali pointed out that MOM will focus on reversing the societal failure to confront critical issues affecting the male population and finding permanent solutions that will lay the foundation for better men in communities.

President Dr Irfaan Ali

These complexities that this movement is seeking to address include the high school dropout rates among boys. Globally, more than half of the out of school youth population are boys.

In Guyana, the President disclosed that males also account for the largest cohort of school dropouts from the nursery to secondary levels.

Moreover, he pointed to the alarming figures at the University of Guyana, where over the past five years, only a mere 16,294 of the over 45,000 student population are males.According to the Guyanese Leader, while Guyana is basking in its achievement of being placed 35 out of 146 countries in the recently published Global Gender Gap Report 2022, these trends involving the country’s male population are showing that something is wrong.

“We as men will be failing our societies and failing our communities if we believe that education is not important, if we believe that we don’t have a responsibility to educate ourselves… We need to address this as an urgent matter… That is why an important part of Men on Mission is to work with boys all across the country – and girls also – to ensure that we do coaching, mentoring, motivation to get back our boys and girls but especially our boys in school, in a learning environment and build back tehir positivity towards education and learning,” he contended.

Life expectancy

The Head of State went onto share that the life expectancy of men in Guyana, as well as around the world, is decreasing and this is solely due to their reckless actions and irresponsible lifestyle.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has pegged the male life expectancy rate in Guyana as 65 years. In fact, global data shows that men mortality rate is four times greater due to external factors such as homicide. The male species also have a 75 per cent probability of dying from cardiac diseases.

Further, men worldwide account for approximately 73 per cent of the over one million people to die each year of traffic accidents. Similar trends are observed in Guyana where accidents are mostly caused by men and they too account for the highest road fatalities here. This is reflected in recent data gathered from the new electronic ticketing system set up along the Mandela Avenue Highway, which shows that some 95 per cent of the daily traffic offences were committed by male drivers.

With data showing that some 36 per cent of deaths among the male population being preventable, the Men on Mission will place emphasis on having this cohort adopt a more responsible and healthier lifestyle.

“If we all want to live at least 10 years beyond 60, we have to take action now. If you want to you’re your grandchildren grow up, you need to take action now. If you want to see the beauty and transformation of Guyana, you need to live to see it. We need to take action [and] we need to address this,” the president stressed.

He went onto highlight that men globally are more likely to die by suicide but still many males are not willing to accept that that they suffer from serious mental health issues. To this end, President Ali noted that the MOM movement is radical in its approach and will touch every male across Guyana.

“We are building a network that will reach you. We are mobilising from every field. We using the institutional structure of the regions – the health system, the army, the police, the Fire and Prisons Services, the religious community, civil society, the school system – all of these institutions will be unleased to match the systemic approach in addressing this issues,” the Guyanese Leader stated.

Forefront of changes

According to the Head of State, men need to be on the forefront of making these changes in society and through the MOM movement, he is hoping that Guyana becomes a global example in coming together to end injustices to women and be more responsible members of the community.

“We can postpone this problem to next generation or we can take the responsibility now. We can deny our sisters and mothers and wife and women in society, young girls, the opportunity of seeing a change now by our inaction or we can let them live and see these changes by our positive action. It is all up to us… We can only pave the way with good examples, good systems and if we do what is right. Today is our chance to do what is right, our chance to assume our role individually and collectively… Let us make our mark in creating a different Guyana…,” President Ali posited.

This Men on Mission initiative will involve one thousand men from various segment of society including the Joint Services, the sport fraternity, the entertainment industry, community workers, the religious fraternity, the business sector, etc.

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An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) in 2021, an increase of 4.5% from 2020, and 1.6 million people died from TB (including 187 000 among HIV positive people), according to the World Health Organization’s 2022 Global TB report.

The burden of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) also increased by 3% between 2020 and 2021, with 450 000 new cases of rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) in 2021.

This is the first time in many years an increase has been reported in the number of people falling ill with TB and drug resistant TB.

TB services are among many others disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, but its impact on the TB response has been particularly severe.

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Ongoing conflicts across Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East have further exacerbated the situation for vulnerable populations.

“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that with solidarity, determination, innovation and the equitable use of tools, we can overcome severe health threats. Let’s apply those lessons to tuberculosis. It is time to put a stop to this long-time killer. Working together, we can end TB,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Continued challenges with providing and accessing essential TB services have meant that many people with TB were not diagnosed and treated.

The reported number of people newly diagnosed with TB fell from 7.1 million in 2019 to 5.8 million in 2020. There was a partial recovery to 6.4 million in 2021, but this was still well below pre-pandemic levels.

SOURCE: Pan American Health Organization

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