Young Man Wisdom

Since the being of the Pandemic, The WHO could not have stressed the importance of Testing as the core strategy to fight the spread of the disease. “We have a simple message for all countries, test, test, test,” Said the WHO Director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But why testing is important?   Testing is important for diagnosis so treatment can begin, also for isolating the infected persons to stop the spread of the disease and to do contact tracing and isolate exposed persons. The objective from Lockdown is/was to control the spread so hospitals have time to deal with the influx of patients while at the same time health authorities can have the time to invest in building testing capacity and contact tracing and isolation facilities. As no one knows exactly the number of people who are infected, testing plays a crucial part in providing a window on how the virus is spreading and where. This information is vital to the response, otherwise, you will be acting blindly and r...

One of the great issues that occupied the imagination of health care workers, health policymakers, and as well as a politician is equal access to health. This means wherever you are, ideally, you should have the same access to at least the basic health care. What is basic healthcare? That is a discussion for another time. However, we should not mix accessibility with affordability as these are two different concepts. There are different metrics to measure access to health but today I want to discuss two metrics in particular.   The first one is the health facility density by state. It measures the number of health facilities per 100,000 population. It is a crude way to measure and compare the availability of care facilities in a certain geographical location. This includes all type of facilities private or publicly owned. Source: OCHA Sudan     As you can see from the graph, the Northern state has the most Basic health units and Hospitals compared to its population despit...

The last time I talked about the number of cases was on May 9th. on that date, Sudan reached 1000 cases. And I was planning to write another piece when Sudan reached 2000 cases but due to the rapid increase in numbers of cases, I was not able to catch up. Now, The number of confirmed cases is 3138 and of those 121 expired (3.9%). The mortality rate has declined which I hope indicates more testing. The number of cases is doubling every five days. As I said before it is not a surprise considering the lack of social distancing. However, for some reason, the situation in Sudan is worst when compared to other countries in East Africa in terms of mortality and the number of cases. Considering that some of these countries did not go all the way with the lockdown policy as Sudan did. I hope the number of new cases will stabilise over the next few days but with Eid coming and current lack of political stability, it is unlikely that this will happen.

While I was away, the last few months were quite busy for Sudan . A lot of things happened and still happing. Sudan is going over a very critical phase at present, and while some thought that the current government went through the separation of South Sudan with no major draw back locally I believe the worse is still to come. Sudan is still unstable, bankrupted, and in deep troubles with its neighbours. Nonetheless, I will focus on two events that to dominated the news about Sudan in the last few weeks.  The arrest and sentencing of Miriam Ibrahim to death for changing her believes was very sad and depressing. Sudan is a country well known for the diversity of its people from culture, skin colour, and religion. I grew up in a neighbourhood where there was two churches within a diameter of less than 1 kilometre. Hence the recent news about Miriam was a shock to me and to many other Sudanese. In my opinion I think Bashir is trying to get attention after feeling neglected by t...

I have recently had a heated discussion with a friend who was once one of those who are engaged with one of the traditional Sudanese parties. He accustomed to speak every now and then in the Faculty of Medicine main road in fashion similar to speakers corner in Hyde Park ! It is among the older traditions of the University of Khartoum. Even under the most suppressive regimes students of the university were successful in maintaining their freedom of speech for most of the time, of course it landed them in deep trouble and in some cases jail or even dismissal from college. From an outsider point of view you will admire their courage to take part , but if you took a close look at what actually been said you will be surprised! First, these students were representing their own party agenda rather than interest of the university students which I felt personally they could not be careless about. Second, most of the these events and the exchange were personal attacks rather anythi...

I really like this youtube video, it just show how wonderful and exciting the kids and the people of this continent. it is not always about war, death, or disease. we are alive like anyone else in this world.  Aid has been pouring into Africa for as long as I can remember to the degree that some people made a career out of it. it is time to depend on your own self. let's stop the stereotype buy starting with ourselves. Related articles Erase stereotypes of Africa African children's cartoon will show positive aspects of Africa, breaking stereotypes We Need To Talk About.... Kony 2012

Image by Getty Images via @daylife In the last two days president Bashir told the world that he is not going to run for re-election. It is not the first time he say so but no one believes him for very simple fact which is the ICC . The only protection against the ICC at present is his position. most Sudanese are not inditing Bashir but they are against inditing the president of Sudan . The moment he put one foot outside that area he will lose the sympathy and the support from Sudanese people . He has no choice but to stay in power.  It is kind of play. He declares he would not run for president, then his party and some others will cry out asking him to consider the future of the country and its security and that people of Sudan need him. It is the same play Jamal Abdul Nasser did when he resigned after shameful defeat by the Israelis . His party already started to play down the president statement.  Bashir is going no where, and he would not run for president...

LiveJournal Tags: Sudan , society , Africa , hypocrisy Sudan and Sudanese have always been proud of the way they stick together as a society and a community! We all heard about the story of the Sudanese who was sick in a hospital in Saudi Arabia who had no money but when they asked him to pay he just told them to go to street and find any Sudanese and when they did that Sudanese paid the whole lot! No one knows if this story is true or not but there is high chance it is not! May be we used to behave like that in the past but not any more. In the event of a social event such someone getting married or death in the family Sudanese always get together and help each other specially financially in these days! After all who can bear the cost of feeding 400 people for three days in a row?! But what annoys me is something called the "book". After each social event family and friends get together and donate money to try and lessen the financial burden. All money is reg...

LiveJournal Tags: Sudan , Arab League , Justice , Egypt , Tunis , Morocco , Islamist To be honest I so surprised by the stand of the Arab league evolving in such way towards the situation in Syria! The last time such actions were taken against an Arab nation was when Egypt reached a peace deal with Israel. There are many contradictions within the current situation. Many of members of the Arab league themselves do not hold high regards toward human rights in the first place while trying to hide their own abuses. I guess Syria is unlucky it is just really bad timing. Because of its alliance with Iran all gulf nations were against Assad. Egypt, Tunis, and Libya can not support him anymore. Even Sudan voted against Assad. Sudan vote really confused me. Is Bashir not worried that he might be in the same shoes of Assad sooner or later? Oh wait, Bashir already did the same in Darfur and south Kordofan. Instead the Arab league got behind him. But time has  changed, if revolutions co...

LiveJournal Tags: Sudan , NCP , South , Darfur , BlueNile , East , Kordofan

LiveJournal Tags: Eid , Muslims , Friday , Prayer , Sudan One of the experience I gained from living abroad is learning what does it mean to be a minority. Now that I am in Europe I become an ethnic and a religious minority! Friday is not a holiday here, people do not stop to do Friday prayers And usually it is very hard to be accommodate if you are working in a hospital. I always asked the question why Friday prayer has to be in Arabic when most of the audience in fact do not understand Arabic?! The custom in most UK and Ireland Friday prayer is the first speech is in Arabic, while the second one is in English. The all the Audience understand English but few understand Arabic. There is perception among Arabs because the Quran is in Arabic they have to lead when it come to Islam, forgetting the fact that majority of Muslims do not speak Arabic. This Eid I lost my way and instead of going to my regular mosque I ended up in a Nigerians one (I think)! it is new because as far a...

LiveJournal Tags: Sudan , NCP , Turabi , Bashir , KSA , Sufism , Salafi , Salafism most people are paying attention to the birth of the world newest state, South Sudan . While Southern know exactly who they are but we in the north still trying figuring this out! In recent years specially after the famous divide of the Islamic Front between Bashir and Turabi , The NCP sought support in radical Islamic group to confront the spiritual leader Mr. Turabi. The problem will be the rest of the Sudanese people in the north. Do they support such Salafism ? I do not think so. Sudan for long time was dominated buy Sufism which is a very peaceful in nature, more inclusive rather than exclusive. Salafism was brought mainly buy Sudanese expat who worked and lived in KSA and the gulf. The Niqab is a stranger to Sudanese custom and tradition. The NCP is in very critical situation. loss of hard currency income will lead to spending cuts and tax increases to maintain its Military spending. The n...

  LiveJournal Tags: Sudan , South Sudan , NCP , Sharia law , Bashir , SPLM , Khartoum , referendum.   My worst fears are materialising! The above sentence belong to president Bashir in a speech broadcast on the national TV on Sunday (related links) Bashir believes that  after the separation of south Sudan the issues of cultural and ethnical diversity become irrelevant. The official language of the country is going to be Arabic and state religion is, and only, Islam. similar statements were made by second man and hard liner Dr. Nafi. These kind of statements just show what are the real objectives of the NCP from the beginning, NCP was not aiming for peace and unity of Sudan as a state but rather the implementation of its ideological agendas in the first place and everything else come second to that even if this lead to the fragmentation of the country. The conflict in Darfur has nothing to do with religion  (both sides are Muslims)but has everything...

Technorati Tags: USA , Khartoum , NCP , National Congress Party , SPLM it has been emerged that the USA is offering the government in Sudan to be taken off the states supporting terrorist list if it facilitate a smooth referendum for south Sudan. The question is what Obama administration is really offering the Sudanese people? to specific what is the offer for the northern? In simple term the USA is offering a life extension for a dictator radical party in north of Sudan in an exchange for, hopefully, a free democratic south Sudan with no major conflicts. The USA could not care less about the situation in the north as long as the NCP distant it self from radical groups and keeps its cooperation with CIA on fighting terrorist groups. This will only hurt the opposition movements and weaken them and make them think that the only way to make the NCP respond to their demand is by drawing the USA attention, and the best way to do this is by starting an armed conflict. so Darfur confl...

Technorati Tags: abyei , africa , civil war , darfur , independence , khartoum , ncp , splm , south sudan , southern sudan , sudan A recent article regarding Sudan referendum by Rami Khouri showed how little knowledge the Arab elite knows about Sudan. I have to be honest and declare that  i have not read the whole article. This is remarkable because it may be the only explicit and credible case of Arab people exercising the opportunity to define their country’s shape and its ideological orientation. It is after this part when I stopped reading, it was clear to me that the author has no clue about Sudan. First of all, the people who are going to decide if they want to remain within Sudan or have their own country are not Arab! the majority of them are of African ethnicity which played a big role in the north-south civil war and the war in Darfur now. I agree with him in regard to the idea that none of the Arab states chosen their boarders, it was made by France and ...

one of the important issue need to be sorted before the independence of the south ( which is just a mater of time) is the fate of southern in the north mainly in Khartoum . during the civil war many southern were forced by the war to move to the north. they live in displaced camps scattered around the capital. the last censes estimate their population to be around 500,000 but many observers regard this figure as underestimation and they estimate their population to reach around 2 to millions at least. Sadly, in the last few days couple of statements came from NCP members including members in government, painted a dark picture for the fate of southern in the north. for example they would become foreigner instantly if the southern voted for independence. Recent roamers from khartoum is that southern in the north are apply for nationality and sudanese passport while in the same time there is instructions in the ministry of home affairs to delay the process if not to prevent it. ...

  The question is not whether south Sudan is going for independence or not, the question is what is going to happen after the month of January next year! everyone seems to be expecting the worse! the UN is already preparing for crisis when the south chooses independence. The international crisis group has predicted that the boarder between the two nation is going to be a cause of tension specially when it come to people movement between the two sides. I will focus on what i would expect to happen in the north mainly. There are very strange phenomena that is happening in the north, first the NCP suddenly woke up to the possibility of independent south Sudan! and it is trying to insure southern vote for unity in the coming four months, let us not forget the party had almost whole five years to do so and only now it start to take action against northern who raise their demand for the separation of south Sudan(alintibaha news paper). the second thing worth mention is some out o...

  I know everyone now is concerned with referendum and likely separation of south Sudan but let us go back to the election period and have a look on this video. Recently there has been this movement called “Girifna” which in Arabic means “we are fed up”, I know it sounds strange that one world translate into three worlds in English. Since the aftermath of the election the movement seems to be getting weaker and lost momentum! i guess it was inspired by arising hope of change and the possibility  that there will be a new face for Sudan politics, but the hope was shattered by the announcement of Bashir victory.  Did anyone hear anything since that time about Girifna? you can find them at http://www.girifna.com/ Sudanese Elections: Music & the Vote with NasJota and Girifna from Michal Shapiro on Vimeo . Girifna Related articles by Zemanta Activists, Journalists Increasingly Threatened in Sudan (humanrights.change.org) Sudan suspends BBC A...

There will be big changes in the north after election. The National Congress Party (NCP) will be in control of most, if not all, power positions. The NCP does not care if the result of the election is recognised by the international community as legitimate. The party will be happy with the trade off it reached with SPLM , You have your referendum and we have the north. Opposition parties would still weak and unable to mobilize the community against NCP, not because the public support NCP but mainly because they lost faith in Opposition parties. Yasir Arman was recognised by many as change and an alternative to the traditional leaders in the north, specially among the youth, but his draw was a disappointment for them. The NCP will continue to crack down on freedom of expression in the north. It will monopolise the market and maximise its profit. The dangerous alliance between money and religious stream will continue and this can only lead to more corruption. Will the NCP hold January ...