Rising temperatures could further reduce Singapore’s resident total fertility rate, which dipped below 1 – a record low – in 2023. The rate refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years.

Researchers from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine studied sperm samples from 818 men that were already stored at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) andrology section.

The scientists then traced the men’s exposure to extreme heat – or when a day’s average temperature exceeds 29.8 deg C – by looking at weather records 90 days before they provided semen samples at NUH.

The team found that those who were exposed to extreme heat during the three months had a 46 per cent higher risk of low sperm count, and a 40 per cent increased risk of low sperm concentration. The reproductive cells were also found to be less motile and more sluggish.

These findings were more pronounced for men between the ages of 25 and 35, who tend to be at the stage of entering fatherhood, said research fellow Samuel Gunther, one of the researchers in the team.

The fertility and heat research is part of Project HeatSafe, which brings together several studies and fieldwork by NUS researchers and partners over 3½ years to investigate how rising temperatures affect the health and productivity of people here and in the region – with a focus on outdoor workers.

“Conventionally, findings suggest that sperm quality decreases as one ages, but what we found in this study was that it was men in their (prime) reproductive time between 25 and 35 who were the most impacted by heat,” said Dr Gunther at a media briefing on March 18, where Project HeatSafe researchers gave a round-up of their projects.

“So just because you’re a young male, don’t think you’re invincible, and don’t think you’re not also vulnerable to these impacts. Moving forward, the climate is going to get hotter. And that is also something that we need to bear in mind in family planning.”

Given the low fertility rate in Singapore, the researchers advised men who are planning to conceive in one to three months to avoid going outdoors on extremely hot days and to sleep in cooler environments.

They should also avoid saunas, hot baths and tight underwear during that period.

The 818 sperm samples came from men who had issues with conceiving, and a small portion of them were patients undergoing chemotherapy who wanted to preserve their sperm.

Heat is known to affect reproductive cells – it can lower sperm count and motility, and affect women’s ovulation cycle and egg quality.

However, the links between extreme heat and fertility have not been well studied in tropical countries such as Singapore, added Dr Gunther.

While some may say the 818 men came from a biased group, the study was about linking sperm quality with heat exposure, said Associate Professor Chan Shiao-Yng from the medical school’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, who was also involved in the study. 

“We found that at certain periods of the sperm life cycle, heat had a little bit more adverse impact (on it) than others,” she added.

The fertility study also scanned the birth records of more than 31,000 women, showing that pregnant women tend to take more protective measures, such as ramping up air-conditioning.

Avoiding extreme heat during the third trimester of pregnancy was, therefore, associated with a lower risk of premature births.

Prof Chan added: “We need to identify in future work the specific behavioural changes that actually make a difference to clinical outcomes. Then we can come up with guidelines that can be implemented across the board (for pregnant women).”

Other HeatSafe projects involved profiling the heat strain risk of about 160 construction workers through temperature pills, chest straps, skin temperature buttons and smartwatches. Among the 160, four of them showed signs linked to heat strain. 

In mid-2023, the project visited a worksite to trial education and cooling interventions. These included enforcing breaks, carrying cool water in insulated bottle sleeves, and wearing new breathable uniforms. 

For the HeatSafe researchers – led by Associate Professor Jason Lee from NUS Medicine – one heat-related injury is one too many. To further protect workers at high risk of heat illnesses, the team is looking at monitoring them with the help of wearables, said Prof Lee, director of the Heat Resilience and Performance Centre at NUS Medicine.

Moving forward, the team is also hoping to look into the heat strain risk of gig workers, such as food delivery riders. 

Source : The Straits Times

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Women with HIV are one of the most discriminated groups in Tajikistan. The entire society, including their closest relatives, turns away from them; they can’t find work or get health care. Moreover, most often these women do not pose any risks to the health of others.

In honor of the international 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and World AIDS Day, Asia Plus talks about the discrimination they face.

In Tajikistan, there is a whole list of various laws and documents that directly or indirectly protect people living with HIV from discrimination.

Last year, another law “On Equality and the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination” was added to this list. It introduced, to the satisfaction of human rights activists, the concept of “indirect discrimination”, which is most often faced by vulnerable groups in Tajikistan. However, women living with HIV, this important description in the law, are not reassured, because it is this group of the population that faces direct discrimination every day.

“Despite the fact that HIV is not transmitted through everyday contact, and modern AVR therapy (therapy that slows down the development of the virus and the disease – ed.) reduces the viral load to a minimum, a woman with HIV is discriminated against at every step,” says Takhmina Khaidarova , head of the Network of Women Living with HIV. – First of all, within the family

As soon as it turns out that she has a positive status, her relatives reduce contact with her and avoid her. Over time, this attitude will accompany her wherever her status is known.”

Oddly enough, notes Takhmina, women living with HIV often complain of discrimination on the part of medical workers: dentists, surgeons, obstetricians, and gynecologists. Doctors refuse to provide assistance to women with HIV and they have to look for friendly specialists through friends.

“At the same time, modern medicine has removed all risks: HIV today is the same chronic disease as diabetes. With adequate AVR therapy and medical care, women with HIV become mothers of healthy children, but even medical workers do not have up-to-date information on this matter, explains Takhmina Khaidarova.

Local journalists also discriminate against women with HIV. Content dedicated to women with HIV often contains derogatory language, the media broadcast stereotypes, stigma and prejudice, and do not explain to the audience what HIV is today.

“To this day, in the materials of local journalists there are such expressions as “HIV/AIDS is the plague of the 21st century,” “HIV terror” and other statements that have nothing to do with reality,” says Khaidarova.

Journalists often use intimidating language when covering cases of criminal charges (Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan – ed.) against women with HIV who allegedly knowingly infect men.

Source: Asia Plus TJ

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Toronto, Alaska (16/11 – 50)

Our lives are being maneuvered and we are being manipulated by unelected, insidious forces, toward objectives not necessarily in the people’s interest.

Now that the so-called “pandemic”, declared by the mysterious self-appointed World Health Organization, and followed obediently by governments everywhere, has been decreed “finished”, we should devote a moment to introspection, considering who is running the show and for whose benefit, as governments gaily abdicated their vested responsibility to govern.

Pandemic is over? I hope they told those killer viruses who destroyed the population of Europe and North America. What? Oh, just 1% mortality? And that 1% mostly old, sick, fat folks riddled with comorbidities? How interesting. Get a booster.

Cui bono? Who benefited from the mammoth lockdowns, forced injections, prescription of powerful, deadly medications and jamming of lethal respirators down the throats of elderly, often demented patients? Have people forgotten already how hospitals became like prisons, and families often had to get a court order in order to force them to release a family member, or halt medications they did not approve of: “Remdesivir” (which nurses used to refer to as “Run! Death is near!”) causes kidney failure, and was being prescribed to patients already diagnosed with … kidney failure. Then, in mid-2022 the WHO suddenly did a volte-face and recommended against it.

Who is the WHO, and how have previously sovereign states obligingly sacrificed their independent judgment to it? Advertising itself as “Working with 194 Member States across 6 regions and on the ground in 150+ locations, the WHO team works to improve everyone’s ability to enjoy good health and well-being.” Founded in 1948 as an arm of the fledgling United Nations, like any unimpeded bureaucratic monster, the World Health Organization has swollen to gargantuan proportions, and has a gargantuan appetite, which can only be sated with a gargantuan budget … Do you see where this is going?

Our hidden masters who pull the strings of the governments and corporations adhere to the time-honored principle of “Never let a crisis go to waste” and if the crisis is a tempest in a teapot, well then, use the obedient media to whip up fear and panic among the buffaloed masses, so a flu variant becomes a humanity-destroying monster. Yes, I’m talking about the recent wave of flu infections – oh sorry, “Covid-19”. Give it a scary Hollywood name.

Do you, dear readers, recall those dramatic early-on videos of Wuhan citizens keeling over dead from the mystery virus (which many pranksters loved to tease the Chinese by calling it “Wu-Flu”)? Strangely enough, that horror movie never played out in the rest of the world, or am I mistaken? Are there videos of pedestrians strolling along in Düsseldorf, or Chicongo, or Osaka, and then toppling over kaput? No? I wonder why.

If you are a conspiracy theorist, you might well wonder whether total social control over the masses was not the real goal, from the outset. “Scare them half to death with a mystery medical panic – then sell them the potentially lethal poison to finish the job” may have been the motto of “Big Pharma”, whose money-glazed tentacles stretched through every aspect of medicine, academia, Government… turn on your computer; check out the video montages called “Brought to you by Pfizer” on YouTube, to see how money doesn’t just talk – it never shuts up. Billions were lathered around, so that many more billions could be squeezed from the public purse.

Big Pharma makes big billions – government does what government does: extend control over each and every citizen, with a “digital ID”. For your own good and public health! See how it works?

Yes, this is no “conspiracy theory”, no. Yes, it is a conspiracy by the World Economic Forum, with its 15-minute cities, no more automobile or steak for your family, Buster – shut up, sit still in your locked-down flat and eat those bugs.

The Critical Difference: “Dying from Covid-19” in that corner, vs. “Dying with Covid-19” in this corner. The first combatant? Miniscule. Around 1%, which statistically signifies “margin of error”. The second refers to those poor souls already riddled with comorbidities, obese, polluted by their junk food and smokes. They were 75% toward Death’s Door anyway – why not give them that “extra push” with Mengele-injections and forced intubation?

Note how the medical establishment, swimming in money from Big Pharma at this point, strongly discouraged any discussion of natural immunity, in their rush, their amazing rush to inject an experimental gene therapy into toddlers, teenagers, anybody within range – most of whom were more than willing to be lab rats for Big Pharma. Experimental Animals’R’Us!

Those not afflicted with memory loss will recall the Presidents and Prime Ministers and Health Poobahs guaranteeing that with the magical jabs we would not fall ill with the dreaded Covid. That story changed because it had to. Then it became “Oh yes, you can still get Covid but it is milder than if you’d not been injected”. The story shifted at each point, as celebs and politicos got their arms pumped with gene therapy on television while grinning … Or was it? Not saline solution perhaps, for those “in the know”?

Hey, look over there – it is American Defense Secretary Colin Powell – you know, the dude holding up the bag of yellow powder which was Saddam Hussein’s nuclear bomb instant mix. Colin Powell had been vaxxed out the kazoo, with multiple boosters, and Colin Powell is what cynical docs refer to as “room temperature”: he ain’t movin’, folks, that feller’s daid.

Early on, strange, unexpected, painful results were being reported from injections of the “vaccine”, which earned its “quotation marks” from being the beneficiary of a refreshened definition of what a vaccine was and was not. Rabies, smallpox, tetanus, polio and so on: prepared from weakened or dead viral matter. That’s what defines “vaccine”.

mRNA: experimental gene therapy, never submitted to proper double-blind trials to ascertain long-term effects. Thus, mysterious cases of athletes collapsing during play (and not infrequently dying on the spot), morticians reporting mysterious fibrous wads found in the blood vessels of autopsies, cases of myocardia and pericardia, conditions inflicting permanent and irreversible damage on the heart muscle, appearing in 15-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and being called “mild…”, “rare” or “…inconsequential”.

Astoundingly-low rates of Covid-19 infection reported from Africa (mostly by Japanese researchers, who were much less compromised or bought off by the global authorities). Was that linked to their steady use of Nobel Prize-winning Ivermectin? No, nothing to see here, move along now, forget about the horse dewormer. Such a propaganda campaign for the miracle jabs and against a cheap prophylactic.

Oh wait, a new variant has been reported, so you need a booster, Buster.

That never seemed to happen with traditional killers. There is not relentless “booster campaign” for tetanus or polio. (Rabies, yes, get your kitty her shots every six months.)

Who were these mysterious authorities to whom governments around the world were sacrificing their decision-making to? Let’s take a close look at WHO, and the sinister money-lubed forces behind it.

Money plays a role, from the git-go. Oh, you have heard those lyrics before?

Consider the “regulatory capture” factor, something the inconvenient Covid-heretic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about. In the much-trumpeted democratic republics, where vox populi is supposed to be championed and held up as a model, mass mandates, lockdowns, a fear campaign, media control, non-conforming physicians threatened with the loss of their careers – all played a part, singing a melody trumpeted by mass media, all crooning “Get the jab, safe and effective”.

Was that true? has a part, and last but not least, allowing unelected bodies that shouldn’t even exist at the federal levels, make decisions that negate our inalienable rights, also having “democracy” decide issues of science.

“Rest homes” for the elderly became extermination camps, with stratospherically-soaring death rates – and not from the effects of the coronavirus. Every death that could be attributed to this “flavor-of-the-month” disease yielded $13,500 to hospitals, often teetering on bankruptcy before the great money-spinner appeared on the scene (too many indigent patients – obese lazy smokers living on grease, sugar and preservatives – not able to pay their bills).

Apart from the millions suffering permanent damage or even-more-permanent death from the fancy, untested “vaccines”, there is the big issue of “truth decay”. Loss of trust in the medical establishment is no joke. When the customers start to balk at what the purported “experts” are prescribing for them, and going to court to fight the institutions, you know something is wrong.

1918 “Spanish Flu” death rate = 35%. 2019 “Wu-Flu” death rate = ~1%, and that includes many deeply-unhealthy citizens already at death’s door.

Vaccine injuries: oh let’s not talk about that. There isn’t time. All line up for your 43^rd booster now, before yet another profitable variant is screamed out over the TV, and that 43^rd turns out to be ineffective.

Actual scene in government hospital, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia: uncle is ailing, has been quite weak and sick for several years. Now he picks up the dreaded <tee hee> “Covid-19” virus, and how does that happen? With a PCP test the inventor of which claimed repeatedly cannot correctly diagnose this type of viral infection. Check out inventor Kary Mullis.

Uncle turns up his toes, buys the farm, checks out, leaves the building, is “lights out”, abandons this mortal realm.

Immediately after the family is told of his death, a smiling hospital employee in a white smock shows up and says “Hey, if you’ll sign right here on the dotted line – we’re going to give you sixty million Rupiah! [equivalent to US$ 4000 at the time of writing this essay]

The grieving family is bewildered at this. Money? For our dead uncle? No thanks, Hank. They edge away, suspicious, knowing full well that nobody gives away free money these days without expecting something in return.

In return? Oh yes: the hospital would have been paid Rp 180 million for that “certified death from Covid-19”, taking away a handsome Rp 120 million ( = US$ 8000) as a reward. What’s going on here? Families of patients dying from typhus, diabetes, heart failure, cancer – they’re not offered bribes to sign. Unless the above-mentioned illnesses can miraculously be re-diagnosed as the coronavirus.

Doesn’t something stink? Have we forgotten the Nürnberg Trials of 1947, where Nazi doctors were experimenting on hapless prisoners with all sorts of dangerous, even lethal, substances? The ultimate casualty is the trust of the public. Millions upon millions of citizens are backing away, avoiding hospitals, consulting with Dr. Google on the sly when their family physician smiles, frowns and dispenses medical wisdom.

Trust is lost. As any experienced businessman can assure you, that’s a big one, as trust is exceedingly difficult to ever repair again.

Follow the money. Be alert to the creeping control.

Who voted for WHO? Nobody did, that’s who. You’re being handled and WHOdwinked – and you’re paying for it.

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Dubai is calling for a united front to spur the development of generative artificial intelligence to maximise its potential and reap economic benefits, the chief executive of the Dubai Future Foundation has said.

Countries need to come together to prepare society for the innovation and to help bridge the gap between policies and the advancement of the emerging technology, which has a reported business opportunity of as much as $4.4 trillion, Khalfan Belhoul said at the Dubai Assembly for Generative AI conference on Wednesday.

Mr Khalfan Belhoul, chief executive of the Dubai Future Foundation, called for a united front as the foundation launched the Dubai Generative AI Alliance of global technology companies.

The industries with highest AI potential include banking, software and platforms, energy, communications and media, and health, according to the DFF.

Mr Belhoul made his remarks as the foundation launched the Dubai Generative AI Alliance of global technology companies, which aims to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies and build one of the world’s most advanced and effective tech-enabled governments in line with Dubai’s digital ambitions.

The collaborative effort should bring together key segments of society, which include policymakers, the private sector, entrepreneurs and students, Mr Belhoul said.

“Regulation is extremely important. We need to understand how can we regulate something as big as generative AI. But we need to get started now and look at the challenges [and] understand the risks,” he said.

“The idea is to come up with some kind of an alliance with different partners from all over the world with clear, tangible outcomes of what needs to be done. Our intention is to continue those conversations, but come up with an alliance that also produces tangible results.”

AI has long been used by businesses in their operations, but it has gained momentum with the advent of generative AI, made popular by Microsoft-backed Open AI’s ChatGPT, which became a sensation as it is capable of producing various kinds of data, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, 3D objects and videos.

Generative AI’s potential in regional economies has already been flagged. GCC countries, for instance, are expected to reap about $23.5 billion in economic benefits by 2030 as investments in generative AI continue to grow, PwC unit Strategy& Middle East said in a report last month.

For businesses, the potential is immense. Generative AI could generate value equivalent to anywhere between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion in global corporate profits annually in 63 use cases where the technology could raise productivity, a recent study from the McKinsey Global Institute said.

Verticals involved in this include interactions with customers, the generation of creative content for marketing and sales, and drafting software code based on natural-language prompts, among many other tasks, it said.

That would increase the value of productivity from AI and analytics by 15 per cent to 40 per cent compared to previous generations of the technology – an amount that would roughly double as generative AI spreads “more diffusely” across the global workplace, the global consultancy said.

Investors put more than $4.2 billion into generative AI start-ups in 2021 and 2022 through 215 deals after interest surged in 2019, recent data from CB Insights showed.

Globally, AI investments are projected to hit $200 billion by 2025 and could possibly have a bigger impact on gross domestic product, a recent study from Goldman Sachs Economic Research showed.

That study also indicated that AI investments will possibly take a few years to have a major impact on the economy, rising from a relatively slow starting point.

The technology could also raise global labour productivity growth by more than 1 percentage point per year in the next decade, according to Goldman Sachs.

The assembly also aims to support companies involved in generative AI, including by connecting them with investors and venture capitalists, as well as helping them work with government agencies, Mr Belhoul said.

“How can we accelerate their ideas so they can become something positive for AI? This is something maybe easier said than done, but entrepreneurs are very ambitious; they need to move fast,” he said.

“They have very high burn rates. They need investment and we need all those components to be the catalyst for them.”

Source

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Representatives from 53 countries gathered at the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe in Astana, Kazakhstan, have unanimously adopted a resolution in support of a Framework for action on the health and care workforce in the WHO European Region, covering the years 2023 to 2030. 

The framework comes at a critical time when all countries in the Region are struggling to retain and recruit sufficient numbers of health and care workers with the right mix of skills to meet the growing and changing needs of patients. The resolution acts as a foundation to help fix this health workforce crisis and will see WHO/Europe supporting governments in the Region as they implement it over the coming years.

“This is an important day for the millions of health and care workers living in our Region, as the unanimous adoption of this resolution demonstrates,” said WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge. “This high-level political commitment shows that countries are ready to put into action concrete measures that will tackle the health workforce crisis and build workplaces where health workers are valued, respected and protected.”

The new Framework sets out 5 key actions that countries can take to protect and support their health and care workers.

Retain and recruit.

This includes policy actions to improve the working conditions of health and care workers, including reducing heavy workloads and excessive working hours, providing more flexibility in contract arrangements and ensuring fair remuneration. These actions will help improve the mental health and well-being of health workers and increase the attractiveness of health jobs, including in rural areas, for existing health workers and for new generations of young students.

Build supply.

This means modernising health education and training, including building digital health competencies to create a fit-for-purpose health workforce for present and future health services demands and needs.

Optimize performance.

This includes measures to increase efficiency of the limited numbers of health workers available in the health system. It is about innovative reconfiguration of health services, using digital health technologies, and redefining teams and skill mix so that the actions they perform add value.

Plan.

Health workforce planning is essential for anticipating future needs of the health system and for taking actions to meet them now. Strengthening the capacity of human resources for health (HRH) units and improving HRH information systems can contribute to this.

Invest.

Increase public investment and optimize the use of funds, while making the economic and social case for investing in the health and care workforce.

Tackling one of the most pressing crises of our times

The adoption of this historic resolution is the culmination of a series of measures spearheaded by WHO/Europe to address the current health workforce crisis.

During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, WHO/Europe urged countries to do more to protect health and care workers on the frontlines, who often faced unprecedented levels of stress and burnout, as well as higher death rates due to COVID-19 infection.

Then, in September 2022, WHO/Europe launched a landmark report warning of a “ticking timebomb” threatening health systems, unless governments did more to invest in and protect their health and care workers, while learning lessons from the pandemic.

“Health and care workers are the pillars of our health systems — millions of women and men caring for the ill and the vulnerable, day and night. Supporting them, protecting them and ensuring they feel valued and appreciated is a moral imperative that we cannot ignore,” said Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat, WHO/Europe’s Director of Country Health Policies and Systems.

“We at WHO/Europe now hope that with the adoption of this historic framework countries will be able to tackle the health-care workforce crisis with concrete measures that support their mental health, improve working conditions and make workplaces more attractive for retaining staff, while also encouraging more young people to join the health sector.”

In March 2023, WHO/Europe convened a regional meeting in Bucharest, Romania, where more than 250 participants from 50 countries adopted the Bucharest Declaration. This called for action to improve the supply of health and care workers, measures to improve their retention and recruitment, better strategic health and care workforce planning, and greater and smarter public investment. Participants also committed to optimize the performance of the health and care workforce in their countries.

Source: World Health Organization

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An independent investigation done by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has found that the little-known daughter of Tajikistan’s president has built a medical empire that is generously supported by the state with finance and PR, and her husband, who is ambassador to Turkey, provides her with lobbying services.

Parvina Rakhmonova – fifth daughter of the president Emomali Rahmon. Many relatives of the head of Tajikistan became owners of large fortunes or took high government positions after he came to power more than thirty years ago. Unlike Emomali Rahmon’s other children, Parvina is almost unknown to the general public. She rarely appears in publicly available family photographs and is not mentioned in website of the Embassy of Tajikistan in Turkey where her husband has been working since 2021 Ashraf Gulov. We have not been able to determine her date of birth, but it is known that she has at least one adult daughter.

Parvina Rakhmonova controls a company that, with the help of administrative resources, has become the leader of the pharmaceutical market in Tajikistan in six years. Founded in 2017, Sifat Pharma receives multimillion-dollar government contracts and owns a network of nearly twenty pharmacies in the capital Dushanbe. When the Tajik government purchased imported ventilators and medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic, her company acted as an intermediary.

Parvina Rakhmonova’s business illuminated the country’s state television was exclusively complimentary, and representatives of the Ministry of Health were present at the company’s opening ceremony.

The fact that Parvina Rakhmonova is the sole owner of Sifat Pharma is not publicly broadcast either by government agencies or in the press, but is recognized behind closed doors.

A Tajik entrepreneur working in the healthcare sector told RFE/RL that at business meetings in Dushanbe, the director of one of the Sifat Pharma branches emphasizes that the company is owned by the president’s daughter.

We also managed to find out that: the director of Sifat Pharma, Sherali Kholov, owns shares in the International Bank of Tajikistan. As established by the previous investigation, this bank is associated with the brother of Ashraf Gulov, the husband of Parvina Rakhmonova.

The director of a subsidiary of Sifat Pharma advises competitors not to apply for government tenders in which his company is participating. Two entrepreneurs working in the same market sector reported that President Rahmon facilitated the business ties between his daughter’s company and a French pharmaceutical corporation; a subsidiary of Sifat Pharma owned by Parvina Rakhmonova’s daughter and they had received government contracts.

At the end of September 2017, the founding ceremony of Sifat Pharma took place in a building near the presidential residence in Dushanbe: in a solemn atmosphere, officials and guests walked through an arch of pink and white balloons. First Deputy Minister of Health Said Umarzoda in her speech then noted that the company would play “an outstanding role in providing the population with quality medicines” and “in the development of the country’s pharmaceutical sector,” the statement said. report on the ministry’s website. The event was also covered by national news outlets.

According to the Ministry of Health of Tajikistan, the company at that time had already signed contracts with “ministries of health and pharmaceutical manufacturers from Belarus, Iran and India to provide the population of Tajikistan with medicines that meet international standards.”

By that time, the company had only officially existed for five months. Sifat Pharma was registered on May 2, 2017, its sole owner is Parvina Rakhmonova, who owns a full stake in the company. However, Rakhmonova is not in photographs of the opening ceremony, and her name is not mentioned by ministry representatives. However, her father-in-law, former Minister of Industry and Energy Sherali Gul, was present at the ceremony.

The mention on the official website of the ministry is not the only assistance that Rakhmonova’s company received from the state.

From its inception until September 2023, Sifat Pharma has secured government contracts worth $5.5 million to supply medicines to the Ministry of Health and a few other government healthcare organizations. Two Sifat Pharma subsidiaries – medical clothing manufacturer Sifat Sanoat and healthcare provider Tibbi Tojik – won government tenders worth more than $326,000.

Determining the total value of Rakhmonova’s business empire is not easy. The Tajik government does not publish data on tax payments by companies and income and property declarations of officials (Rakhmonova’s husband would have to provide such data as an ambassador). In 2019, the head of the Civil Service Agency of Tajikistan said that Tajik society was “not ready” for the publication of mandatory declarations on the property and income of officials and their relatives. “As soon as the level of mentality and understanding of society becomes equal to the level of Western society, we will definitely offer this”, remark made by the head of the agency, Juma Davlatzoda at a press conference.

However, according to the Sifat Pharma website, the company owns 18 pharmacies in Tajikistan, 16 of which are located in Dushanbe.

Customs documents showed that Sifat Pharma has imported $3.2 million worth of goods (mostly medicines) since 2018; Data for the previous period were unavailable. The real amount is likely much higher, since many lots do not have a value listed.

In addition, Rakhmonova’s company received government support at the highest level. In November 2019, President Rahmon, during a trip to France met with investors and entrepreneurs to discuss “opportunities for expanding commercial and economic relations,” the presidential administration said in a report.

As a result of this meeting, at which Rahmon made a speech about investment opportunities in Tajikistan, Sifat Pharma, along with other Tajik companies, signed partnership agreements with the French pharmaceutical company Laboratoire Innotech.

A few months later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was Rakhmonova’s company that supplied imported ventilators and medicines to the Tajik government. In April 2020, the state paid 11 million somoni (about $1.1 million at the then exchange rate) for medicines and 27 ventilators produced by the German company Lowenstein Medical Technology. Sifat Pharma brokered the deal, according to the health ministry itself.

Lowenstein Medical Technology did not respond to our email with questions about the ventilators and their cost, and did not respond to telephone messages left with the company.

Released October 2021 official overview of investment opportunities in Tajikistan calls Sifat Pharma one of the three “key” companies in the country’s pharmaceutical market.

Since Emomali Rahmon took over the country in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, his children, their spouses and in-laws have owned vast fortunes and wielded great political influence in Tajikistan, which has a population of 10 million. Three of Rahmon’s nine children hold high government positions. In particular, 35-year-old Rustam Emomali, chairman of the upper house of parliament and mayor of Dushanbe, is considered Rahmon’s heir. In the event of his father’s resignation, it is he, as the speaker of the upper house of parliament, who will become the acting head of state.

The media resources controlled by Rustam Emomali also serve the business interests of Parvina Rakhmonova. For example, Dushanbe-TV released a complimentary 20-minute report on Sifat Sanoat, a subsidiary of Sifat Pharma, which also produces medical clothing. It particularly emphasized product quality and the company’s role as a job creator.

In this report, the director of Sifat Sanoat, Khokimsho Idiev, calls on entrepreneurs to create jobs in the country: “I believe that it is necessary to awaken the national feeling of all entrepreneurs so that they contribute to the implementation of the president’s policies. At least in the area of ​​job creation.” Two entrepreneurs working in the same sector of the economy told RFE/RL, on condition of anonymity, that it was Idiev who was putting pressure on competitors not to participate in government tenders for the purchase of medical clothing.

In a Dushanbe TV report, Idiev says that Sifat Sanoat “provides services to medical colleges and the Dushanbe road management.” Sifat Sanoat has received $142,500 in government contracts since March 2019, according to government procurement data reviewed by RFE/RL.

In addition, the interests of the Sifat Sanoat company are lobbied by the Ambassador of Tajikistan to Turkey Ashraf Gulov, who is also the husband of Parvina Rakhmonova.

In July 2022, the Tajik state news agency, Khovar reported a visit to the country by Turkish entrepreneurs “on the initiative and with the help of Ashraf Gulov,” whom Rahmon had appointed as ambassador to Turkey a year earlier.

According to the agency, this visit turned out to be fruitful for the business of Gulov’s wife: a memorandum of understanding was signed between Sifat Sanoat and the Turkish company Dundarlar. The agency’s report shows the Sifat Sanoat logo and shows a woman making medical clothing. Ashraf Gulov did not respond to our request sent to the Tajik Embassy in Turkey.
Gulov had previously used his official position to strengthen the commercial ties of his wife’s company.

In November 2021, Ashraf Gulov organized a webinar on “partnerships between Tajik and Turkish companies from the medical and pharmaceutical sectors,” according to a news note on the website of the Tajik Embassy in Turkey. The webinar discussed the “importance of developing collaboration” in these areas, but no video or minutes of the online meeting were published on the website. In the screenshot of the webinar participants, you can recognize the CEO of Sifat Pharma, Sherali Kholov. Kholov, who on the website of the President of Tajikistan is called a “patriotic entrepreneur” who built a kindergarten in Dushanbe, has business ties not only with Parvina Rakhmonova, but also with other relatives of Gulov. He is also the owner of the International Bank of Tajikistan, which in turn has partnerships relations with two companies of Gulov’s brother Jamshed.

The website of the Tajik Embassy in Turkey states that Ashraf Gulov is married and has five children. But at the same time, neither the name of his wife nor the fact that she is the daughter of President Rahmon is given there.

According to Tajikistan’s trade register, one of Gulov and Rakhmonova’s daughters joined her mother’s business empire: she founded a subsidiary, Sifat Pharma, which also receives government contracts. The company, Sifat Tabobat was founded in February 2018, and the sole owner is Ramzia Gulova, the daughter of Parvina Rakhmonova and Ashraf Gulov and at that time a first-year university student. The company was subsequently renamed Tibbi Tojik and is one of the four subsidiaries of Sifat Pharma.

Source : Sokal Info

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Reporters from Shanghai Securities News China Securities Network learned from the Shanghai Municipal Government press conference held today that the 2023 Shanghai International Biopharmaceutical Industry Week will be held from October 16 to October 20. This event will be held overseas for the first time at the same time activity.

Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, introduced at the meeting that the “International Science and Practice Conference and Central Asia-China High-end Biomedicine Exhibition” held in Kyrgyzstan will focus on biomedicine and high-end medical equipment, and bring together the latest scientific and technological achievements.

Academic research experience are shared overseas, helping Chinese companies set up locations in Central Asia for cooperation, promoting Chinese biopharmaceutical companies to go abroad, and gradually increasing the overseas influence of Shanghai International Biopharmaceutical Industry Week.

Source: CN Stock

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WHO/Europe asked youth activists and youth organizations from across Europe and central Asia what they see as the most pressing public health challenges of their time. Many mentioned climate change and the sustainability of health systems, while others expressed concern over the scourge of noncommunicable diseases and a rapidly ageing population.

“I believe the 3 greatest public health challenges of the next 25 years will be related to the changing climate and our destroying of ecosystems, increasing global and regional conflict, and avoidable health inequities and barriers to health care,” said Juliane Mirow, 22, from Germany.

“The greatest problem that humanity will face in the future is that which is posed by climate change and of course the health implications of that. Our greatest strength is technology, and particularly its ability to connect people in order to solve humanity’s most pertinent issues,” said Nadhira Samsudeen, 22, from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, member of the nongovernmental organization Student MedAid London.

Judita Perndrecaj, 26, from Albania, is concerned about new diseases: “One of the greatest public health challenges of the next 75 years are new infectious diseases as well as chronic conditions.”

To respond to these and other concerns and to increase engagement with youth representatives on pressing public health challenges, WHO/Europe has today formally launched Youth4Health, its first-ever youth network on health and well-being. The network already includes over 80 individual members and 18 youth organizations from 29 countries across Europe and central Asia.

Admissions to the network are rolling. All youth organizations, organizations working in the youth space, Member State youth delegates, youth activists, people with an interest and experience in health and well-being, and youth parliamentarians are encouraged to apply if they are:

• based in the WHO European Region; and
• between the ages of 10 and 30.

At the first Youth4Health forum held in 2022 in Tirana, Albania, WHO/Europe and youth representatives agreed on concrete action points for increased youth engagement, including the establishment of a WHO/Europe youth network. This key commitment has now been turned into reality with the launch of the network today.

The Youth4Health network will serve as a platform for meaningful youth engagement to ensure youth participation in all areas of WHO/Europe’s work. It will not only connect youth representatives with WHO/Europe, but also serve as a strong mechanism to connect young people who are passionate about health and well-being and want to accelerate change, including young people with fewer opportunities.

“Are young people being heard? Are their needs respected? Do they have access to health systems that are inclusive and equitable? We need to engage with them to discuss how we can do better. That’s why we’ve launched the Youth4Health network and that’s why this network will make a difference. Young people are the changemakers of tomorrow and of today. They need a seat at the table to express their opinions and ideas, and it’s our job to listen to them and deliver,” explained Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.

Juliane, Judita and Nadhira are among the first members. “I joined the Youth4Health network to be part of a young community that will drive change in the WHO European Region,” says Juliane. “I want to stand up for my beliefs and contribute to just, innovative and more sustainable health systems.”

Youth engagement at WHO/Europe

Since 2021, WHO/Europe has increased efforts to engage youth as equal partners in health and well-being decision-making. As highlighted below, youth representatives have influenced and led tangible changes across WHO/Europe’s work.

• Learning from the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO/Europe recognized that young people are critical agents in health emergency preparedness, response and recovery. Therefore, in 2023, WHO/Europe consulted youth to develop a tool for national and local health authorities, United Nations agencies, youth-serving organizations and other interested organizations on how to involve youth in all stages of emergencies.
• In November 2022, young members of the Pan-European Mental Health Coalition demanded that young people be supported to lead mental health system change. Since then, WHO/Europe and a youth working group have been jointly developing a framework that guides how the Coalition will achieve meaningful youth participation. The framework will be published on World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2023.
• At the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in Budapest, Hungary, in July 2023, a youth working group led youth consultations and presented a youth declaration including concrete asks for decision-makers. The European Environment and Health Process Partnership on Youth, which was launched at the conference, works with WHO/Europe on the implementation of the youth declaration, including how the youth statement will be brought to the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

What’s next?

WHO/Europe will engage the Youth4Health network across all its workstreams and is planning youth events, such as a youth event on immunization in December, as well as ensuring that youth representatives are engaged in events with high-level decision-makers. Together with the network, WHO/Europe also advocates for youth representatives to be included in delegations to the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee in Astana, Kazakhstan, in October, which brings together all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region.

Source: Reliefweb

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Frankfurt (11/09 – 20)

Two international human rights organizations have called on the Tajikistan government to immediately release jailed lawyer and human rights activist Manuchehr Kholiknazarov, as well as other activists and journalists.

The International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and the international non-profit organization CIVICUS, which bills itself as “a global alliance aimed at strengthening the action of citizens and civil society around the world,” in their message published specially on the eve of Independence Day, September 8, focus on the fact that Tajik human rights activist and civil society activist Manuchehr Kholiknazarov was falsely sentenced to a long prison term. “The government of Tajikistan, which is celebrating Independence Day, must immediately release him and everyone who has been unjustly imprisoned,” the appeal says.

The International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and the international non-profit organization CIVICUS, focus in their message on the fact that Tajik human rights activist and civil society activist Manuchehr Kholiknazarov was falsely sentenced to a long prison term and that the government of Tajikistan must immediately release him and everyone who has been unjustly imprisoned.

The head of the Pamir Lawyers Association, Manuchehr Kholiknazarov, was detained in May 2022 after protests by residents of Gorno-Badakhshan and sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of “collaboration with the criminal community and banned organizations.”

Kholiknazarov was a member of the “Commission 44,” which was created by GBAO activists for a joint investigation with investigators from the General Prosecutor’s Office of the murder of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, a resident of the Roshtkala district, and the November 2021 events in Khorog.

International human rights organizations criticized the fact that “the trial of Kholiknazarov took place behind closed doors and did not meet international standards of justice.”

They called the arrest and sentencing of Manuchehr Kholiknazarov a continuation of the Tajik government’s pressure on civil society activists, ranking Tajikistan among the most repressive countries in the world.

“The Tajik authorities, using fabricated charges, have repeatedly accused journalists, bloggers, activists and critics of the government of “extremism” and “terrorism.” – says the joint appeal of IPHR and CIVICUS.

Brigitte Dufour, director of IPHR, said Manuchehr Kholiknazarov has been in prison for 15 months simply because he defended people’s rights and fought injustice. “He’s not the only one. Tajikistan must immediately release Manuchehr and all other human rights defenders who have been imprisoned for defending people’s rights,” she said.

While human rights organizations have repeatedly demanded that the authorities release Badakhshan activists, calling them fighters for justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Supreme Court classify them as “members and leaders of criminal groups.”

How the Tajik authorities responded to the new appeal and demands of human rights organizations regarding the release of Manuchehr Kholiknazarov and other activists is unknown.

This year, the international organization CIVICUS Monitor in its review ranked Tajikistan, along with Turkmenistan, China and Syria, as a “closed country”. This was the worst rating for the country.

Over the past year and a half in Tajikistan, eight journalists and bloggers have been imprisoned for periods ranging from 7 to 21 years for collaborating with banned organizations. Charges that human rights activists and the prisoners themselves called fabricated.

Source

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AKIPRESS.COM – Deputy Head of Namangan region Okibjon Inomov and head of the EI Company (India) Mitesh Verma held a meeting in Delhi with the support of the Embassy of Uzbekistan, UzA reported.

The parties discussed the prospects for implementing the project to create a sanatorium and health complex in Chartak district.

The sides paid particular attention to organizational issues related to the construction of a new joint recreational facility.

They exchanged views on providing the facility with modern equipment, introducing new technologies and knowledge, and taking measures to improve the skills of specialists on a systematic basis.

To implement this project, the Indian company plans to invest $5 million.

Source: Akipress

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