Let's do basic Greek indeed

All Greek in our romance

In the quandary of names or naming, the unintended occurs with the need to avoid unnecessary conflict that some are wont to stir up for it is in confusion and confrontation that they find every sense of satisfaction, you almost voice a silent prayer that peace would never find a home with their kind of hospitality. [UK Today News: Donald Trump Jr, Ted Cruz troll WHO for skipping ‘Xi’ in naming omicron variant]

Much as we have adopted the Greek alphabet as the nomenclature for the variants of the Coronavirus we could as well have used Roman numerals. However, if you thought you could learn the Greek alphabet as the pandemic reveals new ways to remain part of our globally contemporary news stories, you will be on to a bad education.

Know beyond the popular

Having done engineering subjects, many of the units of measurement or formulas for equations have Greek nomenclature, many of which I cannot care to remember at this time. The new Coronavirus Variant of Concern (VoC) has been given omicron, after we have seen through alpha, beta, gamma, and delta variants, some Variants of Interest (VoI) were given lambda and mu. It would appear some designated variants just never reached the popularity stakes and so did not become global news. [WHO: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants]

To help understand the situation, I have shared the Greek alphabet; alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega.

Names to make trouble with

The WHO skipped the 13^th Greek letter, nu just not to give the Coronavirus the moniker of new, the decision to skip the 14^th Greek letter xi can be termed political and diplomatic as it would have sent us looking east to China where the first indications the Coronavirus emerged from and it just happens to be the surname of the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The surname is first when referring to Chinese names.

I guess we would have been met with the same dilemma if Roman numerals were used, for at the time we had lambda in the Greek alphabet, it would have been XI. The WHO depends on global consensus and cooperation, which can entertain the risk of favouritism and/or bias in trying to serve all interests without offending any principal participant.

Get a piece of the pie

It might have hamstrung the WHO in tackling the Coronavirus with alacrity and most especially in determining the true source of this global pandemic, yet everyone needs to be kept on board.

One can only hope that with the emergence of the omicron variant, world leaders can come together to address the appallingly disgraceful state of global vaccine inequity and along with relaxing patent restrictions to allow the Global South to produce their own vaccines to local distribution too. In a sense, we might with that agreement finally have got a piece of the pie, to get this Coronavirus out of circulation that we would no need to get to a Coronavirus variant called pi.

#Coronavirus: A collared UK Government dumps satire

Progress of a sort

To suggest a sense of reason had finally prevailed on the UK Government’s handling of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic would be wishful at best, but it is still progress.

One could be deluded into thinking some quality of humanity however minuscule might have arrived in the corporeal embodiment of the anthropomorphic representative we identify as Boris Johnson, but would be reaching and clutching at straws for he has no capacity for principle or responsibility, even though he occupies high office.

However, the crazy ‘herd immunity’ aim that had been shot to smithereens over the weekend with one epidemiologist even thinking what he heard from the UK was satire rather than reality had changed to the health secretary insisting until he was red and blue in the face, that “The over-riding objective is to protect life.” [Telegraph]

Blog - Thought Picnic: The vulnerable to be martyred to the Coronavirus in the UK

Listen and act immediately

Whilst my government might well have been suitably chastised to suddenly be sounding the alarm to now begin self-isolation, social distancing, the avoidance of crowds, the creeping restriction of our liberties. The need to test has not gained enough importance and priority, especially for frontline staff that we have to sign petitions on why we cannot afford to leave medical staff in harm's way during a rampaging pandemic. Schools remain open too.

Change.org- Test frontline NHS staff for COVID-19 as a priority – Please sign.

The WHO Director-General is screaming from the mountain top, his compelling message if the audio-sensory organs of Downing Street can respond to the stimulus of sound, “You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected. We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test.” [WHO]

Just do more

Yet, the bombastic, blusterer characterising buffoonery to full comedic effect avers, “I have been comparing notes and talking to leaders around the world and I can tell you that the UK is now leading a growing global campaign amongst all our friends and allies.” I would have hurt myself as I fell out of bed with choking and derisive laughter. [GOV.UK]

We all know the UK Government is still not doing enough compared to our European partners, France announced strict measures whilst providing deep reaching economic support to many facets of the economy. Whilst we 'spaff' money up the wall on the folly of a Brexit of our own making amid a more critically difficult ravaging pandemic.

#COVID19france Leadership by #Macron👏🏾
☑️Total #lockdown/ #SocialDistancing
☑️Rents/Utility bills suspended
☑️No business at risk of bankruptcy
☑️No French Citizen will be without resources
☑️Tax/Social contribution postponed
☑️Solidarity fund by State for Unemployed#coronavirus pic.twitter.com/OH04hQ36UU

— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) March 16, 2020

I am probably not particularly comforted by the fact that I am also in the middle of job search whilst this is going on, the concerns about income and bills becoming a distraction. Still, this is an acknowledgement of the vulnerable with tough times ahead. As for Prof Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer of England, I wonder if the stress of looking for a way forward through this pandemic has had the effect of thinning his neck, his shirt collar seems to belong to a bigger friend. [BBC]

Thought Picnic: The vulnerable to be martyred to the Coronavirus in the UK

What is our government doing?

If anything, I do not want to be preoccupied with the rolling commentary about the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic which sometimes looks like we are have been informed of a distant earthquake whilst at the beach and before our eyes the tide ebbs away presaging the advent of a tsunami with no hills in sight to run to.

Therefore, if anything, I have been concerned about what the UK government is doing to ensure that the populace is neither overcome nor overwhelmed by the virus pandemic. For that reason, I switched my television to the news to listen to what the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson had in mind for us.

Blog - Opinion: Where they'll rather wash hands than show hands

This is as callous as it comes

Only yesterday, in the blog referenced above, I expressed my alarm of what the Prime Minister said, and I quote again, highlighting the salient points. “That’s where a lot of the debate has been and one of the theories is, that perhaps you could take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease, as it were, to move through the population, without taking as many draconian measures.”

Today, again, flanked by scientists, the words from the mouth of Boris Johnson were, “I must level with you, level with the British public, more families, and many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.”

The statements taken together informs a mindset, my government has decided they are ready to sacrifice a slice of the population to the onslaught of the Coronavirus for expediency sake without having to take draconian measures to arrest the spread of this pandemic as compared to the actions of other countries.

I take no comfort from this

The scientists presented charts and tried to explain away the thinking and wisdom behind the stance the government has taken, yet, it is important that we avoid being bewitched by fanciful and colourful charts to the point that we are inured to the reality that there are lives and people that make up the simple numbers of their projections.

I am no scientist, but as an individual and many of us in similar circumstances, if we are to be martyred to a cause of political expediency, we would at least what to be fully persuaded that all other ideas and options are exhausted before we are laid on the altar of the public good.

To make that case more pertinently, I fall into a vulnerable group as an immuno-suppressed cancer survivor, though just in my 50s. I am not comforted with hearing the Prime Minister suggest we first take a ravaging pandemic on the chin chancing on a survival wherein we might miraculously gain immunity whilst making a pre-emptive statement of comfort to our families and friends that the prospect our likely demise pertains if, by happenstance, we contract the Coronavirus.

We must demand more aggressive action

This soulless and heartless approach to the survival of the fittest with very little concern for the vulnerable except with weasel words and the surfeit of science to suggest effective action to save the many with the judicial murder of the few cannot be allowed to pass as the best the UK government can do.

For the majority, they might all be fine, but if in our comfort for being catered for, we are indifferent to those who need just as much or more succour, our broader cause called to the unity of purpose against this pandemic, would have lost the essence of its humanity. What the UK government is doing is not satisfactory, we need more to be done to protect the vulnerable too. There is no reason why anyone should die before their time just because the government mishandled the Coronavirus pandemic.

Opinion: Where they'll rather wash hands than show hands

It’s a pandemic

When Prime Minister in his usual bombastic demeanour appeared on national television to suggest that the somewhat Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic  could be dealt with in the UK with the words, “that’s where a lot of the debate has been and one of the theories is, that perhaps you could take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease, as it were, to move through the population, without taking as many draconian measures.” I felt a chill run down my spine.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has now revealed the long known open secret, the world is in the midst of a pandemic and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General is “deeply concerned by alarming levels of inaction over the virus.” He should name countries and leaders because this no more a game for politicians, politics, or propaganda. [BBC News]

Now, certain commentators would suggest the Prime Minister was speaking in a broader context of managing how we respond to COVID-19 and to forklift ‘take it on the chin’ and ‘move through the population’ from what he said, to be an unfair representation of his opinions and resolve. [FullFact.org]

We need leadership, not bluster

Within the new cycle of hysteria whipped up by commentary that offers no further information than urgency, concern, panic and fear, becomes an onerous pertinent responsibility of our leadership to be honest, transparent and calming of the public, giving useful direction and instruction to ensure we are not herded into a stampede of senselessness. It is a time to be level-headed, sensible, and unperturbed because capable hands and minds are work for our general wellbeing and safety.

Yet, Boris Johnson is no person I can attribute the sense of responsibility in a time of crisis for the common good beyond personal aggrandisement, for what is demanded of him is of the import of the time when the man is required but absent, that in the recent crises that have befallen the nation, the Leader of the Opposition riled him as a part-time Prime Minister.

Lives have no time for semantics

However, despite the inadequacies of a man that has attained high office by expediency rather than for principle and public service, this is where my concerns are. For there are many in the country who for whatever context the Prime Minister intended cannot afford to ‘take it on the chin’, because of pre-existing conditions, frailty, immune-suppression, or some other handicap that would leave them more vulnerable and needing critical care if they contract the virus.

It presents no assurance to us, that when we look at the characteristics of a looming pandemic, as high morbidity, public panic, treatment difficulty, and contagion, the government needs to be proactive rather than reactive. If gatherings need to be curtailed to contain the spread of this virus, there should be clearly outlined processes in place to scale this out with immediacy.

It would appear other countries are getting ahead of the curve whilst liaising with their neighbours, especially the Europe that we are ideologically pulled out of and every useful organisation that just happens to have Europe as a prefix. I wonder if the possibility were there if the Brexit cohort would have liked to use a continental-strength barge to tow and moor the UK just slightly west of Greenland, to distance us from Europe as much as possible.

Washing hands at critical times

None of this, augurs well, then to read that the Health Minister has contracted the virus yesterday having been amongst crowds for the past week where being asymptomatic does not mean you’re not contagious. It is the height of irresponsibility for the Prime Minister not to submit himself to testing and probably self-isolation to ensure he is not a vector having met the affected Health Minister. I hate to think that hubris on the one hand and sycophancy on the part of his coterie might just be the undoing of that clique and claque. [The Independent]

It is not much of a blessing in this interregnum between assignments that my only contact with the outside world is presently a friend who pops in at any time during the day for a chat or refreshment. We are not expendable and by God, not the irresponsibility or ineptitude of that lot will cost us more than we have endured to this time. We will survive them. Lest I forget, the WHO requires governments to take “urgent and aggressive action” against the spread of the virus, with 460 infections and 8 deaths, whilst we wash our hands, the government should be showing their hand.

Nigeria: Presumed Substandard Tyonex HIV/AIDS ARV Drugs Removed From Circulation

Click to large

I received this picture on Twitter earlier.

I am pleased to read that the concerns raised about SubStandard HIV/AIDS ARV drugs have registered with NAFDAC and they have taken appropriate action to suspend with immediate effect all the ARVs manufactured by Tyonex Nigeria Limited.

I first wrote about this in November http://goo.gl/fYINqS and then when I got hold of the said drugs in December I posted another blog and wrote to NAFDAC about the issue http://goo.gl/kQOh8t

Obviously, NGOs have been clamouring about this for months and to have a letter acting on the issue is a very successful outcome for all those whose vulnerability has somewhat been abused by failings in the drug administration system.

There is much work to be done to build on this success, it is however wonderful news.

Blog - Nigeria: These Sub-Standard ARV Drugs are Completely Unacceptable

Blog - Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

Nigeria: These Sub-Standard ARV Drugs are Completely Unacceptable

Until now

Just over a month ago, I wrote about the issue of sub-standard anti-retro viral drugs (ARVs) in Nigeria, and when some of my friends contacted people who were supposed to be in the know about the management and distribution of ARVs in Nigeria, they appeared to pooh-pooh the idea.

Blog - Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

The message coming back was that the complainers were not interested in using drugs manufactured in Nigeria, that they wanted foreign-sourced drugs.

Handling the ARV drugs

Well, this afternoon, I handled with my own hands the drugs, a bottle from India and Nigeria of the same formulary of ARVs (Zidovudine [AZT] 300mg, Nevirapine 200mg, Lamivudine [3TC] 150mg), but that is where the similarity ends.

It is important that we clarify that the drugs are not fake, they are sub-standard, and I would illustrate what I mean with pictures to follow.

The Indian manufactured bottle is on the left, the Nigerian manufactured bottle is on the right, and the first thing that you see is the poor quality of the labelling.

By comparison the shelf-life of the drugs is 35 months for the Indian version and 23 months for the Nigerian version – A first indication of a difference in quality or standards.

The question of Storage

The problem seems to come down to information on this part of the bottle label. The Indian version is to be stored below 30°C and protected from light and moisture, the Nigerian version should be stored in a dry place below 25°C and protected from sunlight.

A double-take to the World Bank website for the average temperature and rainfall in Nigeria  and in India for the 110 years to 2009 suggests the average temperature in Nigeria only dips below 25°C in December and January, and it has a higher average range than that of India. [World Bank Group][World Bank Group]

Besides this, whilst Nigeria does not have as much rain as the monsoons of India, the rainfall is spread across more months suggesting the climate in Nigeria is broadly humid resulting in more months of precipitation.

It goes without saying from this basic observation that the instructions on the bottle of the Nigerian manufacture ARVs must at least be the same as the ones for India – Store at below 30°C, in dry place, protected from light and moisture.

Between English and French

It is also interesting to note the difference been the English and the French instructions on the Nigerian bottle. Apart from the typographical errors where the obvious one is physician spelt as pyhsician, why Anglophones should be concerned about sunlight and the Francophones are more affected by humidity, escapes me.

A French-speaking observer of this said, “It is full of typos, and badly translated from English.” In other words, this is patently shoddy work and that is just the labels on bottles on life-saving medication.

With the permission, my French-speaking friend, reviewed the French part of the label and his comments appear below:

Chaque ma' dicament contient:
[...]

La prescription des pyhsician seulement.
Gader tout medicament hors de la portes des enfants.
Mettax su frais bas de 25°C. Protegez de l'humidite.

It is just about understandable.
It should be:
- médicament not ma'dicament
- physician, wrongly spelt is an Anglicism, in French it should read: Seulement sur prescription médicale
- gader (keep) is misspelled = garder
- la portée (reach) misspelled
- Mettax misspelled = mettre (keep/store) but should be "conserver"
- su misspelled = au (at)
- bas: poor translation of "bellow" = en-dessous

All the accents are missing and overall it say on prescription only, keep away from children store below 25°C, protect from humidity.

It does not make any reference to sunlight.

Why Tyonex could not get a French speaker in Nigeria to properly translate the English portion of the label to French escapes me. I am sure Google Translate would have done a better job. It is unprofessional, shoddy and really dampening in confidence.

Inside the bottle

Opening the bottles, the quality becomes evident, the Indian version has a desiccant, the Nigerian version does not, the tablets or caplets as the label indicates are in a cling film bag all coated with the white dusty powder of the pills.

The Indian version remains intact to the touch whilst the Nigerian version leaves a chalky residue on the fingers when touched and when held firmly between the thumb and a finger, it disintegrates as seen below.

I note that in the blog I wrote last month, this is what the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said – ‘The press release suggests the drugs “are brittle, break easily and dissolve in one's mouth before swallowing, and furthermore the package presentation is substandard, with poor labelling that resembles the work of professional counterfeit drugs peddlers.” [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]’

The standards are poor

It goes without saying that poor manufacturing standards without consideration for the socio-economic and climate conditions in which the drugs would be used can inform the rapid deterioration of the medications leading to sub-par efficaciousness of the medicines, the consequences which can be dire and life-threatening to patients who need these drugs to survive.

Even if the drugs were to be kept in a fridge, the power situation in Nigeria precludes that, it only means that standards should be significantly raised to improve the quality of these drugs, and one cannot say what other drugs are poorly packaged and distributed as these.

This ARV is Manufactured by, Divine Essential Formulations and Distributed by Tyonex Nigeria Limited at the same address in Igando, Lagos State, Nigeria. [Other Tyonex Anti-Retro Viral Drugs]

What is NAFDAC doing?

It is more shocking to read from the label that these copies of the ARV drugs are manufactured under licence from the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under the auspices of the MDGs 2009 Conditional Grant Scheme. [UNDP NIG (PDF)]

The label also has a NAFDAC Reg. No: A4-6854, which begs the question of what standards of inspection and quality that organisation imposes on drug manufacturing companies to ensure the general public are not put at risk.

There is every reason to believe that the manufacture of short shelf-life, poorly labelled, badly packaged and low integrity ARVs means corners have been cut in the system, somewhere between the bureaucracy and the businessmen who are probably paid to do a better job than this.

Act now!

It is the duty of everyone to ensure that the chain from sourcing of formulation through dispensing to the patient ingesting the drugs is maintained to the highest standard of manufacture and integrity for us to be confident that drugs meant to save lives are not placebo effect dummies with no efficacious value.

I also hope everyone involved including activists ensure that they are compromised and bought off by the system where the lives of ordinary people are impacted.

When I was contacted about this issue last month, the person had suffered a precipitous fall in their CD4 count to 25% of what it was 6 months before. That is just unacceptable, and it indicates a sense of urgency and an emergency that needs to be addressed with immediate alacrity.

There were no other indications in the bloods that could account for that result apart from the Nigerian manufactured ARVs, and it would appear more of the Indian manufactured ARVs are now being distributed in Nigeria.

Additional Information:

NGOs Condemn the Supply of Sub-standard ARVs at Treatment Centres in Nigeria: http://youtu.be/YO4r1sZffrM

Nigeria: The issue of sub-standard ARV drugs is a critical emergency

The drugs are not working

I was contacted this morning about a grave and critical issue where the person believed their life was imperilled by the use of therapeutic drugs meant to manage HIV/AIDS.

My first reaction was one of shock before I collected my thoughts to determine where I could get more information about critical pharmaceuticals in Nigeria, the management of their standards, the organisations that cater for HIV/AIDS sufferers and the supply chain that governs the acquisition and distribution of anti-retro viral drugs (ARVs).

Sub-anything is serious business

It is important that we differentiate between fake drugs which is not the issue and sub-standard drugs. Fake drugs would be the passing off of different chemical concoctions as the real medication, whilst sub-standard drugs will pertain to potency, quality, shelf-life, efficacy and utility of the medication.

These elements raise serious issues where sub-standard or possibly sub-strength drugs might well not manage the virus in the blood leading to a rapid deterioration of health presenting AIDS.

The other aspect of this is where sub-strength drugs might lead to drug-resistance if the commensurate dosage is not adjusted for potency needing the use of second-line and more expensive non-generic drugs. The environment in Nigeria will probably leave many at greater risk if their normal medications are not working and the bleeding-edge medications we have access to in the West are out of reach.

No excuses are satisfactory

The worst situation to be in is not so much to have no access to ARVs, but to be given ARVs that are effectively placebo drugs, and that is both unacceptable and a health emergency.

Now, there are organisations in Nigeria that may want to easily explain this away and link it with some social response to the provenance and pedigree of the drugs.

The “Made in Nigeria” label may not lend itself to sophisticated goods, but I doubt those on the receiving end of these life-saving treatments have carried their everyday hedonism to the level of refusing to use their drugs because they do not have designer labels.

A known problem

Searching for “Sub-standard ARVs in Nigeria” on Google, I found a YouTube video highlighting that this is an emergency and Treatment Action Movement (TAM), a coalition of HIV treatment activists across Nigeria, in collaboration with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF-Nigeria) gave a press release on the matter. [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will probably put a few backs up with their advocacy and activism. They are more than a necessary organisation in the fight against the scourge of HIV/AIDS, the inertia of the government and other vested interests in the face of unacceptable statistics and paucity of programmes to get more people tested and treated, especially in Nigeria. [AHF - Nigeria]

Old but useful drugs

The TAM-AHF press release mentions a company but more importantly, the drugs in use are the AZT/3TC/NVP and the TDF/3TC combinations.

The WHO recommends the use the AZT/3TC/NVP combination for the treatment of Antiretroviral therapy (ART), ART-eligible pregnant women in developing countries, which also means that we cannot afford substandard drugs or episodes of recidivous decline to drug apathy for whatever reasons and the reasons appear to be many.

Besides treating HIV/AIDS patients, it is critical we prevent the transmission of the virus in-vivo to the foetus during gestation.

Really poor standard

The press release suggests the drugs “are brittle, break easily and dissolve in one's mouth before swallowing, and furthermore the package presentation is substandard, with poor labelling that resembles the work of professional counterfeit drugs peddlers.” [AIDS Healthcare Foundation]

This is just unacceptable either from the perspective of quality and quality controls to giving the HIV/AIDS patients the confidence to ingest their medication and have the medication be efficacious.

Whether binding agents or preservation agents are poor used or corners are being cut for profiteering, I expect the people who are the public faces of HIV/AIDS advocacy to be at the forefront of pushing for improved standards rather than present excuses for this seeming atrocity.

One voice for many

The person who contacted me had both the opportunity and the options; there are millions who do not have any of the opportunities and the options, that person has but they must be heard too.

It is a cause of our wider humanity beyond Nigeria and its local problems or politics to ensure that either these people have a voice. The Federal Ministry and other agencies must arrest an untenable situation by demanding better standards of drug-formulary or we have to embarrass them for unconscionably allowing avoidable deaths through the dereliction of responsibility, their diminished oversight functions and their lack of purpose towards managing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Once again, the issue is about sub-standard drugs and not fake drugs, it is an emergency; shoddy quality controls just would not cut it, and the raising of standards must be of the utmost urgency.

We obviously need to research this issue more to appreciate the extent to which people might be put at risk, but one person on sub-standard ARVs drugs is one too many presaging avoidable and preventable tragedy.

Thank you.

Egyptian Grand Mufti - FGM is forbidden by Islam

Tell on those people

It can only be welcome news as a £20,000 reward for information on practitioners of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK is accompanied with a law that expressly forbids the practice in Egypt.

The practice had already been banned in Egypt since 1997, but a UNICEF report in 2005 indicated that 97% of Egyptian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have been circumcised.

It is heartening to know that the Grand Mufti (Highest Official of Islamic law) of Egypt has clearly stated that there is no religious basis for FGM that it is forbidden by Islam and there is no Christian law on the practice either.

This is a rotten "tradition of men" that has become a kind of doctrinal belief system such that there are people who think there is a religious obligation to commit what is literally a heinous mutilating crime against the humanity of pre-pubescent girls.

Patriarchy denying women's rights

As one commentator did state, this thing thrives in highly patriarchal societies where the rights of women are suppressed in servitude to men and where the premise is about keeping the women pure - that kind of purity however, does not seem to pertain to men.

Now, Christianity and Islam does support male circumcision and this is part of the Abrahamic covenant which God made with Abraham - all of his male seed were to have their foreskin cut off - this religious practise does also have health benefits and has been advocated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an anti-HIV/AIDS drive.

None of the beneficial experience can be alluded to the same barbaric practice on girls apart from sexual dysfunction, psychological trauma, tetanus, blood poisoning and irreparable damage to the urethra, bladder and vulva.

One in five girls are said to die during this procedure to keep up with tradition.

No safety in formal medicine

This "rite of passage" which presumably keeps girls chaste got its worst publicity just over two weeks ago when astute parents decided to use the medical profession rather than traditional charlatans to perform the procedure on their 11-year old daughter.

The hapless and helpless girl was given too much anaesthetic - now this is humane compared to videos of girls shrieking with utter terror being held down by their mothers and other related woman folk as her genitalia is being cut and sliced in the fulfilment of some long held tradition.

Cautionary Viewing - FGM Mutilation Information Video

The girl died, but not in vain, there was such uproar about it that this law would also make the medical profession liable to prosecution for performing the procedure on anyone, it is hopefully a fully enforceable ban .

Vengeful mothers on helpless daughters

I wrote about the banning of FGM in Eritrea in April and the more this practice is explicitly outlawed in societies that think their traditions are dying out if they do not continue to practise barbarity and savagery the better the chance for the more amenable parts of their traditions to survive.

The problem is however growing in immigrant communities in Diaspora where some tend to be greater adherents than those in the indigenous homelands because of the nostalgic complex that beclouds the judgement of some in societies that appear alien to them.

Any information leading to the stoppage of these acts as well as the naming, shaming and prosecution of FGM practitioners must be very welcome, women who have lost their things should not vengefully visit this thing on generations after them, their daughters and grand-daughters, there is no use or benefit from this practice and it most stop forthwith in all societies civilised or uncivilised.

I am sorry if anyone has suffered this kind of mutilation, but it must stop with you and go no further.

Reference

Making trouble in the name of mutilated women