EPIDEMIC CONTROL VIA EDUCATION: SRI LANKA’S KIDNEY DISEASE CASE

Erle Frayne Argonza

 

Kidney diseases are potentially fatal, and I’d say this from out of experience. I suffered from nephritis at Age 8, and lucky was I to survive a two-year agony due to medication availability in my home town (it was almost a 4^th World town then!). That ailment ruined my chance to do athletics in grade school, it made me shrink in esteem, and the weak kidney (aside from weak tonsils) contributed to my sickliness since then.

 

So it pays not only to understand the ailment, its diagnostics and medication. It pays all the more to know the preventive side of the ailment or any ailment for that matter. If the diagnostics side shows some shades of grey, then that could surely baffle the experts (medical scientists) and specialists, as a case proves in Sri Lanka.

 

Read the news below about Sri Lanka. The ‘good’ news about it is that the ailment has provided some nice research problems for the public health experts and pharmacologists.

 

[28 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news. This expert/analyst was former Silver Medal, National Powerlifting Class A Competitions, Middleweight Division, early 90s, Philippines. He is also a yogi & health buff.]

 

 

Sri Lanka kidney disease epidemic leaves doctors baffled

Chesmal Siriwardhana

12 August 2008 | EN | 中文

Almost all those affected are men from farming families

Flickr/World Bank

Doctors and researchers are puzzled by a sharp rise in chronic kidney disease among farming communities in the North Central province of Sri Lanka.

The number of cases has been steadily rising since the disease first came to light around eight years ago. Over 18,000 cases have now been reported, with cases in Eastern and Uva provinces as well as North Central.

In 2003, almost 200 hundred patients died from renal failure in the North Central province and the figure is increasing every year. Over half the population there is engaged in agriculture.

Almost all those affected are men from farming families without pre-existing conditions than can lead to renal disease, such as hypertension or diabetes.

The absence of clinical symptoms until the late stages of renal failure is also puzzling researchers and making early diagnosis difficult, leading to many deaths.

Local researchers have come up with several possible risk factors for the disease, including high groundwater fluoride content in some affected areas, leaching of heavy metals such as cadmium from agricultural chemicals into water sources, exposure to inorganic pesticides and fertilisers, and usage of aluminium vessels to store drinking water.

Several studies conducted by local researchers have found a strong link between high cadmium concentrations in water sources and high disease prevalence.

A team of medical experts from the WHO visited Sri Lanka to assess the situation in May this year. They recommended that non-affected agricultural regions be used as control areas in studies to find the disease’s cause, and preventative measures such as using clay pots to store water are used.

A long-term clinical study was also proposed by the WHO but has yet to be implemented, Rohana Dayaratne, a geneticist and physician attached to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo, told SciDev.Net. 

He says local and international researchers should lead a combined effort to identify the causes and preventive measures, and that local researchers have a good knowledge about ground realities that should be combined with the financial and other resources of the international community.

The majority of the affected farming communities were settlers from different parts of the country, he says, meaning that there could be a genetic component to the disease.

The growing number of patients suffering from chronic renal disease is becoming a heavy burden on the health sector, as the treatments — dialysis and organ transplants — are costly procedures.

Efforts are underway to educate the public about risk factors, maximise early diagnosis with weekly clinics and field visits to vulnerable areas, and introduce preventive measures.

INDIA ACTION PLANS CLIMATE CHANGE

Erle Frayne Argonza

 

On a case to case basis, each country has taken certain forms of action regarding climate change. India had recently formulated its action plan for climate change, a plan that served well as input to its cooperative efforts with South Asian countries.

 

The report is shown below.

 

Happy reading!

 

[12 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

 

 

 

India launches climate change action plan

T. V. Padma

4 July 2008 | EN

India’s solar mission aims to make its solar energy industry as competitive as its fossil fuel industry

Flickr/z1zzy

[NEW DELHI] India released its national action plan on climate change this week (30 June) with a focus on harnessing renewable energy rather than stringent emissions targets.

India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh released the plan ahead of his attendance at next week’s (7–9 July) G8 summit in Japan where climate change is expected to be discussed.

The action plan spells out eight priority missions that will promote India’s development objectives, with the “co-benefit” of tackling climate change.

The eight missions are: solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, sustainable habitats, water conservation, sustaining the Himalayan ecosystem, developing a ‘green’ India, sustainable agriculture and building a strategic knowledge platform on climate change.

“Over a period of time, we must pioneer a graduated shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels, and from reliance on non-renewable and depleting sources of energy to renewable sources of energy,” Singh said.

The missions will be managed by the appropriate ministries, and specific programmes within the missions will be finalised by December.

Of these, solar energy will receive a big thrust. India receives the equivalent of about 5,000 trillion kilowatt hours of energy from the sun each year — 5.5 kilowatt hours per square metre each year — with most areas experiencing clear, sunny weather for 250 to 300 days. 

The solar mission aims to tap this natural resource and make the country’s solar energy industry as competitive as the fossil fuel industry by setting up a new research centre, entering into research collaborations and encouraging technology transfer.

The plan does not spell out greenhouse gas emission targets, but states that per capita emissions in India will not exceed levels in industrialised countries. India is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in absolute terms, but lies behind the US and Europe in terms of annual per capita emissions it (1.2 tonnes compared to 20 and 9.4 tonnes respectively).

The international environmental organisation Greenpeace, said in a statement that the plan is a “welcome first step” but has some weak areas that need to be addressed.

“The plan lacks clear policy prescriptions and targets for improving energy efficiency and reducing transportation emissions,” Srinivas Krishnaswamy, policy advisor for Greenpeace, India, told SciDev.Net.

“They should have placed more emphasis on mandatory emission standards,” he added. 

SOUTH ASIA ESCALATES CLIMATE CHANGE INTERVENTION

Erle Frayne Argonza

 

Good morning from Manila!

 

Climate change is among the world’s hottest environmental and developmental issues. Climate change alone has so many facets to it, and some issues are so contentious they border hoax.

 

Below is a news item from South Asia, concerning concerted efforts by stakeholders to address climate change.

 

Happy reading!

 

[13 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

 

South Asian nations join forces to tackle climate change

Source: IRIN

9 July 2008 | EN | 中文

The countries have pledged to improve monitoring and exchange of information on impacts such as rising sea levels

Flickr/Sumaiya Ahmed

South Asian nations have adopted a three-year environmental action plan to reduce the impact of climate change in the region.

Environmental ministers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — adopted the declaration in Dhaka, Bangladesh, last week (3 July) following a three-day summit.

The action plan covers 2009–2011, with countries pledging to improve monitoring and exchange of information on disaster preparedness and extreme events, meteorological data, information on climate change impacts such as increased sea levels, glacial melting and biodiversity, and capacity for clean development mechanism projects.

The ministers called for more technology to fight climate change and better technology and knowledge transfer between SAARC member states.

They also called for a South Asia fund on climate change, with further discussions scheduled for the next SAARC summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in July. 

ACCESS TO ENERGY INCREASED VIA RADICAL STOVE

Erle Frayne Argonza

England has launched an award system recently to innovators around the world who can revolutionize stove technology. The purpose of stove innovation is to increase access of people and market end-users to energy by utilizing fuel resources available in the locality, such as coconut and wood wastes.

Below is a heartwarming news about a stove innovation from South Asia that won the award. As reported, it surely has made energy available to many people in India which lacks sufficient energy due to the rapidly rising demand for fuel.

Enjoy your read!

[29 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

 

Stove projects stir up energy award success

Katherine Nightingale

20 June 2008 | EN | ES | 中文

A TIDE cooking stove in use

Ashden Awards/TIDE

Innovators bringing sustainable energy to communities in developing countries were recognised last night (19 June) at an awards ceremony held in London, United Kingdom.

Projects from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Tanzania and Uganda were all awarded prizes of £20,000 (around US$40,000) at the annual Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.

The Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) project, which designs safer and more efficient wood-burning stoves, was crowned the overall Energy Champion, winning a £40,000 prize.

These TIDE stoves are a boon for an estimated eight million people working in small industries in southern India — for example, in textile dying, spice drying and street food vendors.

Svati Bhogle, chief executive of TIDE, said the award “gives us the motivation to venture into uncharted terrain, to first break new ground and then develop it into a beaten track”.

The stoves can use waste material such as coconut shells as well as wood. Improved heat transfer, insulation and combustion creates less heat and smoke, resulting in improved working conditions. They were designed with each industry specifically in mind, with users contributing to the development.

Bhogle said 10,500 stoves are now in use in 12 industry sectors, saving 140,000 tonnes of fuel and 200,000 tonnes of emitted carbon dioxide.

“There is a serious energy crisis in rural India, but access to energy and its efficient use, accompanied by well-conceived and well-implemented enabling mechanisms, has the potential to transform rural areas.”

Other stoves were prominent among this year’s winners. The Kisangani Smith Group in Tanzania designed a stove that uses compressed waste sawdust or rice husks, rather than expensive charcoal.

The GAIA association has opted to use ethanol fuel produced from the waste molasses of the sugar industry in their stoves, which they have distributed to Somalian refugees living in a large camp in eastern Ethiopia.

Elsewhere, both the Aryavart Gramin Bank in India and Grameen Shakti in Bangladesh — a 2006 winner and recipient of this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award — provide affordable loans for people without access to the electricity grid to install solar power in their homes.

The Ugandan project, Fruits of the Nile, harnesses the power of the sun to dry fruit.  Simple solar dryers, constructed from a wooden frame covered with plastic, let the light in, keep insects out and use natural convection.

Ashden also published a report, commissioned by the UK Department for International Development, analysing ten previous winners. More ways must be found to provide financial and human resources for innovative research and development, it concluded, with clear national energy policies to guide projects.

NEPAL JACKRABBITS S&T FUNDING

Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang hapon! Good afternoon!

People around the world are still savoring today the euphoria of Nepal and South Asia over the victory of the nationalist forces there against the monarchy which they abolished recently. The hegemonic victory of the modernist-nationalist forces there signal the shift to a new order of things, which will be marked by the growth of S&T and its impact on the physical economy.

The good news for the people of Nepal and sympathizers across the globe is the decision of the state recently to jackrabbit S&T via massive funding. The news is contained in the summary below.

Enjoy your read!

[29 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to SciDev database news.]

Nepal planning 12-fold increase in science budget

Source: Science

16 June 2008 | EN | 中文

Maoist leader Prachandra

Wikipedia

Nepal’s new government is planning a US$125 million science budget for 2008 — a staggering 12-fold increase from last year.

The money will go to the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), with the budget set to be approved next month.

Shortly before the country’s April elections, the Maoist party — which has the largest share of seats in Nepal’s assembly — released a manifesto declaring, “Without science a country cannot develop.” Prachanda, the party’s leader, has a degree in agricultural science and also taught science in a prep school.

Biotechnology research will be a focus — primarily to exploit Nepal’s rich biological resources. A biotech lab in Kathmandu is due to be completed in 2009, while MEST plans to construct a national biotechnology research and development centre.

Nepal often experiences electricity and gasoline shortages, so the government will also devote a large part of the money to developing clean energy, including the use of a jatropha as a biofuel.

World Bank figures on science spending currently put Nepal behind Burundi, the country with the world’s lowest per capita gross domestic product.

CYCLONE PREDICTION BY AIRCRAFT FOR INDIA’S BENGAL REGION

Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang umaga! Good morning!

We all know how powerful and devastating are the cyclones in the Bengal region of India. As much as millions instantly become homeless whenever a powerful cyclone sweeps the area, bringing along flood waters that seem to stay forever in the affected zones.

It seems that an intervention area that could somehow alleviate problems regarding the cyclone would be better forecasting. Predicting cyclones will henceforth get a boost as state-of-the-art aircraft will be added to the list of precision equipment that will be utilized for the purpose.

Enjoy your read.

[25 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

India to employ aircraft in cyclone forecasting

T. V. Padma

2 June 2008 | EN

Meteorologists will fly aircraft into the centre of cyclones

National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration

[NEW DELHI] India is planning to fly aircraft into the centre of cyclones to gather data to predict where the storm will hit.

This is one of a series of measures to be undertaken by India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences to improve cyclone forecasting. These include increasing and enhancing space-based, land-based and ocean-based observation systems, as well as developing new forecast models.

The aircraft studies start this autumn in the Bay of Bengal as a cyclone-forecasting demonstration project, followed by a pilot phase in 2009–10 and an operational phase by 2011.

The project follows a workshop with the United States on tropical-storm forecasting, held in Delhi at the end of March 2008, where the two countries agreed to work together.

Scientists from the Indian Meteorological Department and other key institutes engaged in weather research will use aircraft reconnaissance to gather information at the cyclone’s ‘eye’ — a calm, cloudless area of 15–40 kilometres radius in the centre, where the pressure is lowest.

Data will also be collected from the surrounding ‘eyewall’, the most destructive part of the cyclone, a 16-kilometre-high belt of the strongest winds, typically exceeding 50 kilometre per hour.

These winds are driven by rapid pressure changes near the eye that dictate the movement of the storm.

In the United States, small helicopters release balloons fitted with sensors to measure wind speed, pressure and direction, and humidity in the eye and the eyewall. These data are fed into forecast models to predict the track, direction and speed of hurricanes — the Atlantic equivalent of cyclones.

But US aircraft may not be available for the Bay of Bengal project in October–November as that is the season for US hurricanes. In this case, Indian Air Force aircraft will be used.

“India currently uses data on winds outside the eye region to estimate the conditions inside and run forecast models,” says Dev Raj Sikka, chairman of the scientific advisory committee for the project. 

But 48-hour forecasts can only indicate a 250–300-kilometre belt of land where the cyclone is likely to hit. “It is difficult to evacuate such a big area in 48 hours. We need to narrow down to 100 kilometres at least,” he says.

Aircraft reconnaissance in the United States over the past 20 years has narrowed prediction of a hurricane’s path from to within 300 kilometres to within 150 kilometres. 

NANOTECHNOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE (FROM INDIA)

NANOTECHNOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE (FROM INDIA)

 

Erle Frayne Argonza

 

Putting together nanotechnology, biotechnology and bio-informatics is a new challenging area of R&D in the field of agriculture.

 

The experts of India, with the co-sponsorship by the state, are now into the next exciting phase of developing food production via this new integration methodology and practice. The implications of the new practice on quality control are legion, to say the least.

 

Happy reading.

 

[21 July 2003, Quezon City, MetroManila. Via SciDev update reports.]

=================================================

 

India looks to nanotechnology to boost agriculture

M. Sreelata

16 May 2008 | EN

Nanotechnology could help water delivery systems for farming

Flickr/IRRI

The Indian government is looking towards nanotechnology as a means of boosting agricultural productivity in the country.

In a report released in April, the Planning Commission of India recommends nanotechnology research and development (R&D) should become one of six areas for investment.

The commission recommends policies to and carries out financial planning for government departments. The report was written by a subgroup of the commission, and will be incorporated into India’s eleventh five-year plan, for 2007–2012.

The authors recommend ways to harness nanotechnology, biotechnology and bioinformatics to transform Indian agriculture, including creating a national institute of nanotechnology in agriculture.

The report says nanotechnology such as nano-sensors and nano-based smart delivery systems could help ensure natural resources like water, nutrients and chemicals are used efficiently in agriculture. Nano-barcodes and nano-processing could also help monitor the quality of agricultural produce.

The report proposes a national consortium on nanotechnology R&D, to include the proposed national institute and Indian institutions that are already actively researching nanotechnology.

It also recommends that Indian universities and institutions develop suitable graduate and postgraduate programmes to train young scientists in nanotechnology.

Vandana Dwivedi, coordinator of the subgroup and an advisor in the Planning Commission, says implementing all the report’s recommendations will take time, though she hopes to see some of the aspects rolled out in the 2007–2012 five-year plan. No specific initiatives on nanotechnology have yet been announced.

But not everyone is impressed by the government’s plans. India should be cautious about rushing for technologies, says M. S. Swaminathan, a former head of the National Commission for Farmers and widely considered the father of India’s green revolution. 

“If technology has applications, it has limitations too. Right from the beginning it is advisable to have a national regulatory commission on nanotechnology so that people don’t get into litigation later,” he told SciDev.Net.

Swaminathan believes transferring existing technologies to farmers should take priority, saying, “We should first disseminate ordinary technology to the farmer. Even the basic know-how has not reached fields yet. The gap between scientific know-how and field level do-how remains as wide as ever.”