“The talk of the town,” is the phrase that describes the response of roughly 20,000 delegates at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, to news of the medical breakthrough, in the form of a gel, which can help to reduce the chances of females contracting the deadly virus.
“It was something that everybody was waiting for,” Founder and Director of the Antigua & Barbuda HIV/AIDS Network Eleanor Frederick said on OBSERVER AM yesterday. “It has the potential to alter the HIV epidemic.
“It is estimated that this gel could prevent over 1.3 million new infections and over 800,000 in South Africa alone over a decade,” she added.
On Monday, the second day of the six-day conference, it was announced that the gel had reduced the risk of HIV infections in 50 per cent of women and had also protected women from genital herpes, a disease that increases a person’s susceptibility to HIV infection.
While acknowledging that it will take years before the gel will be available on the market, Frederick said the drug industry will try to expedite the process.
The HIV/AIDS activist noted that this breakthrough will empower women to reduce their chances of becoming infected.
“In the long run, you can have young women being able to protect themselves,” she said. “That’s the bottom line behind it. It’s not just the fact of the medical breakthrough, but the fact that women will be able to have those rights now. They will be able to use this gel and in so doing, transmission will be decreased.”
But Frederick conceded that the scientists will now have to determine the factor(s) that caused the gel not to work in the other women.
The clinical trials were conducted with 445 women in Africa.
The active ingredient in the gel, tenofovir, is an anti-retroviral drug that had been used for years, in combination with other drugs, to treat HIV. (Antigua Observer)
The assistant superintendent of police who was found guilty of wounding a civilian, was given just over a year to pay a quarter of a million dollars to the victim at his sentencing hearing yesterday. While paying restitution will spare ASP Everton Francis jail time, his future in the force hangs in the balance.
Francis must pay $70,000 of the $250,000 to Damien Watson, who was paralysed by his bullet, on or before the last working day in August. Failure to do so will result in a four-year prison term.
The officer, who was found guilty after a High Court trial, must then pay $45,000 by the last working day in November. A three-year sentence would be imposed if he defaults.
The balance of $135,000 must be paid in three installments of $45,000 at the end of February 2011, May 2011 and August 2011. Default on any of the installments would result in confinement.
Asked yesterday if officers would assist Francis, Chairman of the Police Welfare Association Corporal Ray John said, up to that point, he was not aware of his colleague’s fate.
He said, however, that the PWA would have to discuss the matter and that the organisation has a history of providing financial assistance to members.
But whether ASP Francis will remain a member of the force is another matter.
Commissioner of Police Thomas Bennett told The Daily OBSERVER that once an officer with rank from inspector upwards is found guilty of a criminal offence, it is the commissioner’s duty to recommend that officer’s dismissal to the Public Service Commission (PSC).
ASP Francis will remain on suspension while the PSC deliberates.
During yesterday’s court proceedings, Justice Errol Thomas who presided over the case told the accused, “All evidence of payment must be presented to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
The judge said the offence carries a maximum of five years in jail with or without hard labour. However, he said he would use the Probation Act to guide him in deciding the form of punishment best suited.
Justice Thomas said he was “deeply concerned” by the fact that the victim is 28 years old and is paralysed “in the legs and trunk.”
“I will give you a non-custodial sentence,” he told Francis, “not because of what the community has said about you, but because of that young man, who shows intelligence and gave good evidence and can never be able to make a living the way he would have wanted to. It’ll carve out a new method for him to earn. But this doesn’t prevent him still doing otherwise.”
The judge’s latter statement referred to comments by the police officer’s lawyer, Ralph Francis, who, in asking for leniency for his client, suggested that the victim could file a civil suit to seek compensation.
“What struck me was that Mr Watson passed you and your colleague and he said good evening and you both replied and then he went under a streetlight. He did not disguise nor did he hide in a dark place; he went under a streetlight and this was about 7 pm. Notwithstanding your zeal to rid your community of criminals, your heart and conscience must have told you he is no criminal,” the judge said to the accused during the sentencing.
A social inquiry report portrayed Francis as a man deeply involved with community work, including surveillance, and as someone meticulous in executing his duties.
Residents from Jennings where Francis has lived for a long time said the officer’s vigilance made them feel safe.
Attorney John Fuller, who was a character witness, said, “The ASP is not a bad egg.”
The senior officer went on trial this month for wounding Watson with intent to do him grievous bodily harm. But on July 7, the 12-member jury found him not guilty of that charge and guilty of the lesser count of unlawful wounding. ASP Francis was placed on remand until sentencing yesterday.
The officer committed the crime on March 2, 2007 in Jennings.
Watson testified that he went to visit his ex-girlfriend in Jennings when he saw Francis, who was dressed in civilian clothes, and another man looking under the bonnet of a car.
The young man said he passed the two, exchanging salutations, before he stopped under a streetlight.
Watson said Francis approached him and asked what he was doing there.
Told that he was waiting for someone, the victim said the cop continued to probe the reason for his presence in the village. Watson said he then invited the officer to wait with him.
The paralysed man said the officer walked off and shortly after that he felt someone grab his hands from behind the lamppost, and when he turned around he saw Francis with the gun in his hand, which he discharged. (Antigua Observer)
ORLAINE COTTLE showing some of the wiring which she said had been left unfinished.()
ORLAINE COTTLE, of Vault Road, Welchman Hall, St Thomas, is accusing the Rural Development Commission (RDC) of doing a bad job on her home.
Bad tiling, bad carpentry and flooring and bad wiring are her chief concerns.
Cottle told the SATURDAY SUN she had been asking for help from the RDC since 2000 and had to start the work herself.
She said that after the current administration took over Government, the RDC sent a contractor seven months ago, but he did a bad job on the inside and “only painted the outside to look pretty”.
“I was told they had to prop the floor but they never did. They were supposed to bring in [ceramic] tiles but they brought this instead [vinyl tiles] and it is peeling off now,” Cottle claimed in her complaint.
However, Wendy Burke, public relations officer for the RDC, said they investigated Cottle’s allegations on Thursday and found some of what she was saying to be incorrect.
“The RDC does not tile bathroom floors, and with respect to her claim that the electrical wires were exposed, the housing officer explained to her that the state of the meter was to facilitate her having continued use of her electricity while the house was undergoing repairs.
“The Barbados Light & Power, and not the commission, is responsible for the removal of the old meter base,” Burke said.
Cottle said the floorboards were splintering. In response, Burke said Cottle was given a new floor “which she informed us she was taking up”. Burke said Cottle told them she still did not like what was done.
Burke added: “She offered some advice about how we should monitor contractors to ensure that the work being paid for is of high quality and done in a timely and cost effective manner. We thank her for that advice and the commission will continue, as it did in the past, to dispatch its technical officers into the field to scrutinise the scope of works being done on behalf of the clients.” (CA) (Nation News)
THE BARBADOS ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS (BAMP) is moving to mobilise its membership.
This comes just weeks after a senior official at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) said that the medical facility could not operate as it had done in the past.
Last month, the official publicly accused the QEH’s medical consultants of irregular attendance at public clinics; showing a preference for doing private cases as opposed to public ones; and giving priority to private patients who paid large sums of money; among other claims.
The official revealed then that consultants made a minimum of $350 000 annually when their private practice and public functions were combined.
In a paid advertisement on July 2, BAMP responded to the allegations by outlining several functions which consultants carried out.
However, the release did not address the accusation that medical consultants showed a preference for private work.
In correspondence to members dated July 7, a copy of which the SATURDAY SUN obtained yesterday, BAMP president Dr Carlos Chase acknowledged that “we face challenges to our profession in the public sector”.
He noted that BAMP had come to that conclusion after meeting with representatives from all the polyclinics who were “facing major challenges”.
Chase also indicated BAMP’s paid public response to accusations from within the QEH’s hierarchy “did not address all of the comments” ventilated in the June 28 publication of the NATION newspaper. Chase had initially declined to respond when contacted by the NATION.
“Please understand that we have consulted with advisors and a strategy has been outlined which we are following,” Chase wrote to members.
There have been suggestions in some quarters that BAMP does not represent the majority of local doctors. and in his letter to members Chase made an appeal to practitioners to update their membership.
“I ask that our members who may have neglected to regularise their membership of BAMP to please do so as a matter of urgency, especially those members in the public sector,” he said.
The relationship between BAMP and the QEH recently soured after the latter publicly advertised for a consultant urologist and pathologist. A QEH official said then that consultants had been ruling the hospital for too long.
The official indicated there were Barbadian urologists based overseas who would like to return home to be considered but were afraid of “the system” at the QEH.
Referring to a situation last year with a pile-up of bodies at the mortuary because autopsies were not being done, the senior official said Barbados deserved better than that. (Nation News)
Minister of Health Donville Inniss, taxes will never be enough to cover this country’s huge medical bill.()
HEALTH CARE is costly and, according to Minister of Health Donville Inniss, taxes will never be enough to cover this country’s huge medical bill.
Inniss said this while delivering the feature address at the tenth annual Professor E.R. Walrond Scientific Symposium at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital yesterday morning.
Speaking before several physicians and interns, Inniss said that each time he spoke about the cost of health care in Barbados, there were those who emerged from “their political tombs” to imply that the Government would start charging for health care in Barbados.
“My goal is quite simple – that is to remind Barbadians that health care here, like anywhere else, is quite costly; secondly that the state cannot provide all clinical interventions free of cost to all end users; thirdly, that taxes paid cannot and have never been enough to provide everything to everyone [on] the spur of the moment, especially when we factor in all the other social services that our citizens and our society continue to benefit from.”
Inniss also said it was important that every effort be made to contain costs without compromising on quality of service.
He told the medical community that a clinical audit, which involves reviewing the delivery of health care to ensure that best practice was being implemented, was paramount to medical care.
To this end, Inniss said that research and audit therefore were as inseparable as they were vital to the delivery of quality health care.
“It is important for us to understand that the research presented this week represents only the beginning.
“You researchers are delving into new theories and ideas which must be acknowledged, which must be developed, and which must be preserved for the benefit of future generations of Barbadians and other persons utilising our healthcare services.”
Inniss said that traditionally Barbados had looked to regional and international institutions to be leaders in clinical research but research should start at home.
“Research which is initiated within our community is culturally relevant and sensitive to our particular needs, which will be different to those of another country.
“That is why this symposium must be maintained and supported at all levels; we must seek to innovate, develop and implement what is ours instead of always importing foreign ideas and processes and then adapting them to suit our specifications.”
He said the ministry was supportive of the UWI’s most recent initiative to make research a high priority in all of its graduate and post-graduate programmes.
Inniss said the Ministry of Health would also continue to support training in public health as these courses place emphasis on epidemiology, biostatistics and research. (MK) (Nation News)
Minisster of Education Ronald Jones is fuming over uniforms at back-to-school fete.()
By: Wade Gibbons
SCHOOL UNIFORMS are sacred and should not be at “back-to-school fetes” covering gyrating bodies.
That was the word yesterday from Minister of Education Ronald Jones.
He was making reference to the practice around the Crop-Over period when organisers stage Back-To-School Fetes and encourage current and especially former students to wear their school colours to the event. One such fete was staged at Kensington Oval on July 14.
Addressing graduating teachers at the closing ceremony of the Teachers’ Introductory Course at Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, Jones said there were people like himself who still had their old uniforms properly secured at their homes for posterity.
“. . . Because of the profound respect I had for the uniform of my school, I am not wearing that to any fete, before school, after school, or even during school, especially during vacation; unless it was a special programme organised by my school where you ask the students to turn up in their uniforms.
“How far we have drifted. The kind of respect we hold to certain symbols that give us authority, that give us presence in our schools. There are so many things that people can do to enjoy themselves. I want them to leave the uniforms alone. I want them to leave the uniforms for the symbols of the schools,” Jones said.
The minister said there were people who came to the region from other cultures where uniforms were not worn. He noted they were often very complimentary when they saw Caribbean children dressed in their uniforms. On their return home, he added, they tried to implement similar systems.
“I have seen it in North America – the United States particularly. They learn from us, they copy from us, those positive systems. So do not let us bastardise them,” he pleaded.
Jones said children watched the behaviour of adults, including teachers, and thus great care had to be taken with the messages that were communicated to their youthful and fragile minds.
Jones has gained support from prominent Anglican cleric Reverend Errington Massiah.
Massiah, rector of St Joseph Parish Church, said yesterday though Barbadians lived in a democracy and could claim they had the right to spend their money as they liked, people who used uniforms in such a fashion made a mockery of their schools and the educational system.
Referring to the Kensington Oval fete, he said: “To see one of the patrons dressed as a nun is also a total mockery of religion, Christianity and the church.”
He added: “What can we do now, when our leaders are wearing school uniforms to fetes?” (Nation News)
Colin Spencer’s delivery was exceptional in Lyrical Master Number 2.()
By: John Sealy
EIGHTEEN calypSonians; 18 songs. But as the curtain came down on the first half of the Banks/Lime Pic-O-De-Crop contest at the National Stadium last night, there was not a clear idea of who would be going through to the finals slated for next weekend.
There were the usual flashes of genius. For the most part, however, it was just an occasion when the appreciative crowd seemed willing to give everybody a good welcome and applause.
If there were bright spots that illuminated the evening, they came from Colin Spencer’s excellent delivery of Lyrical Master Number Two and the performance of former junior monarch young Malika.
Spot on
Spencer’s treatment of Lyrical Master, a cheeky commentary on reigning king RPB who is known for his writing skills, was spot on.
I am seeking to change my image in the kaiso tent, so I done sing about politicians and the Government. For this 2010 Crop-Over I expect to be called clever. . . . . we don’t follow the news or we have bad memories and depend on calypsonians to give us a refreshers’ course annually, went a verse of Spencer. His deliberate repetitive style was unrushed and he used the stage effectively without need to jump about.
Blood, who opened the show, was shouting a bit. Interestingly, his number Not My Son is one of the better songs for the season. It is relevant as it captures the naiveté of many parents who are unwilling to accept the shortcomings of their sons. But Blood seemed to be biting his words and had difficulty sustaining his endings.
Crystal suffered the same fate in Crystal Ball. She rushed over her words and some of them were missed in the process.
Malika, who came in at No. 15 with Bajan Dream, was a total package filled with confidence. Good singer and excellent arrangement.
They tell me what you put your mind to achieve, but it’s only a dream, you have to be asleep to believe.
It was ironic that Kidsite sang about Change De Name. There was no doubt that Kidsite should take a bit of his own advice. That kind of dubstyle rhymes in the name of calypso has outlived its effectiveness.
Same mould
Classic was also cut in the same mould of the past with I Don’t Tink He.
Dre’s treatment of Entrepreneur, a commentary on the informal trading sector, was interesting. Good singer, but Dre seemed scared and ran flat at some times.
Gabby appealed to the emotions of the audience with Haiti, but there was not the intensity for which he is known.
John King’s Jackassonian lamented the poor perceived treatment that seems to be the lot of all calypsonians. But while delivered in the inimitable King style it was just the same old theme of the plight of the calypsonian.
Sheldon Hope was in good form with Hope, a song that speaks to his hope for change in the island.
Adrian Clarke showed his class, not only as a singer but an entertainer, in Crowd Response Done in the traditional kasio call and response style. Not even the rain could stop him from bringing the crowd to their feet.
Other contestants were TC with Out Of Control, Ishaika doing Tourism Plea, Jah Stone with Federation Children, Sir Ruel with Earthquake, Shaki- K with Help Me, Tassa doing Old People, and Sammi Jane with 20/20. (Nation News)
Dwayne Smith swings the last ball of the game to the deep backward square-leg boundary for six. ()
By: Haydn Gill
THE GLORIOUS game of cricket has produced countless remarkable finishes for more than 100 years, but what unfolded at Kensington Oval in the wee hours of this morning has never ever been seen before.
It was almost unbelievable – a match of unforgettable drama with plenty of twists and turns.
Barbados won against Combined Campuses and Colleges in an extraordinary finish to their Caribbean Twenty20 contest that failed to produce a winner after two attempts and had to be decided by the team that struck the most sixes.
In a match in which fortunes repeatedly shifted back and forth, the scores were tied after the initial 20 overs from either side - 180.
Under tournament rules, it required a one-eliminator over, the first of its kind in the Caribbean, and that also yielded another tie in the most dramatic circumstances.
Combined Campuses and Colleges appeared to be the overwhelming favourites with Barbados requiring seven runs from the last ball from fast bowler Gilford Moore.
It was struck with plenty of power by Dwayne Smith but headed straight into the hands of Romel Currency just inside the deep backward square-leg boundary. Currency accepted the catch but couldn’t keep his balance and stumbled over the ropes.
Initially there were celebrations among the Combined Campuses and Colleges players, but Currency, conscious of what he had done, stooped to the ground in disbelief before television replays confirmed it was a six.
It meant that both teams had scored 16 from the Super Over that was supposed to decide the match and there was uncertainty over the outcome for the second time in 15 minutes before a check of the rules revealed that the team with the most sixes from the entire contest would be the winner.
Barbados, by virtue of striking ten sixes, against Combined Campuses and College’s eight, were declared winners at 12:15 a.m.
It was more than $10 worth of entertainment for a fair-sized crowd of 3 500 that would have enjoyed the compelling exchanges under the lights.
For the Super Over, Barbados used pacer Kemar Roach, whose second ball was hooked over backward square by Floyd Reifer to set Combined Campuses and Colleges on the way.
Barbados lost Dale Richards to the first ball of their response with a catch at long-on, but Smith raised hopes with a six over long-leg from the fourth ball before the final act.
What transpired at the end made what took place earlier look like a distant memory.
But it was only a few minutes earlier that we had another piece of drama at the end of Combined Campuses and College’s run chase of a challenging target of 181.
It came down to the final over from left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn from which nine runs were needed. The momentum in a sixth-wicket partnership of 60 off 31 balls between Ryan Wiggins and Floyd Reifer appeared to give Combined Campuses and Colleges the advantage, but Benn kept things tight by limiting the batsmen to just four runs from five balls.
Six were needed from the final ball that Reifer hit down to mid-wicket where Jonathan Carter, one of Barbados’ best fielders on the night, was unable to prevent a boundary despite a desperate dive.
When Combined Campuses and Colleges started the last five overs needing to score at 12 an over to win, Barbados appeared to have the match wrapped up.
It was due to a mean spell of off spin from debutant all-rounder Ashley Nurse, who stopped a devastating onslaught in which the opponents were threatening to make light work of a challenging target.
Asked to score at nine runs an over, Combined Campuses and Colleges stunned Barbados with an assault at the start, galloping to 80 from 7.5 overs of bold hitting that was orchestrated by opener Miles Bascombe.
Bascombe bludgeoned 48 off 29 balls with three sixes and five fours, and was especially severe on Smith who was lashed for 31 runs from two overs.
It was clear that Barbados were in need of someone to apply the brakes, and Nurse responded to the challenge by hardly delivering a bad ball in four successive overs that yielded only 19 runs and included two wickets.
Earlier, Barbados’ total of 180 for six was built around opener Kirk Edwards’ measured 45 off 36 balls and Carlo Morris’ belligerent unbeaten 42 off 21 balls at the death. It appeared to pave the way for a winning total.
Barbados won in the end, but no one would have predicted how it finished. (Nation News)
Barbados’ singing sensation Rihanna is not only capturing world attention with her music and fashion, but also with the new romance in her life, after her well-publicised break-up with American rapper Chris Brown last year.
Last Wednesday, shortly after performing with rapper Eminem at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, California, during her Last Girl On Earth concert tour, she was spotted hitting the Hollywood night scene with new boyfriend Matt Kemp.
Hand in hand, she and the baseballer looked all cute and cuddly – even in love – as the paparazzi honed in on the hot Hollywood couple. (Nation News)
