lola AKOMATSRI

French-speaking journalists from the West African sub-region took part in a training course in economic and financial reporting in Dakar, Senegal, from 10 to 14 October. The aim for the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation was to reinforce their knowledge about economic news and their approach to covering it.

This 2011 edition of the Thomson Reuters economic and financial reporting course brought together 15 broadcast, print and online media journalists from Benin, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Togo and Senegal. They received tools for dealing with various key topics, notably stock markets, exploitation of natural resources, economic governance and capital flight from developing countries. The training was facilitated by two expert instructors – David White, a former Financial Times correspondent, and Diadié Ba from the Thomson Reuters regional bureau in Dakar.

For them, it was important for reporting in Africa to move beyond political clichés and focus equally on economic issues, and for journalists to do this by taking a more human and wide-ranging perspective in their reports.

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Women are at the heart of health concerns. Whether it’s on the field of reproductive health or children’s and family’s health, women have a great role to play. However, they are particularly vulnerable and weakened by huge constraints regarding health care access. 

 According to the 2008 report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) entitled “Etat de la Population Togolaise” (state of the Togolese population),   “complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth are leading causes of death and disability among women in reproductive age in developing countries”.

According to studies conducted within the framework of the reproductive health and child survival in Togo, it is estimated that “one woman dies every 8 hours, following a complication related to pregnancy or childbirth”.

In fact, because of the precariousness of care provided in hospitals, assistance during pregnancy is nonexistent. In rural areas, many women are reluctant to consult and prefer to give birth at home by lack of resources.

A situation that is confirmed by the 2009 report on the monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which reveals that, “only 6 out of 10 women in Togo deliver in health facilities”. These figures gradually decrease when moving inwards of the country, due to the non-proximity of health infrastructure.

With regard to antenatal clinics, the results show that in 2000, on 372 consultations noted, 139 women were able to complete a review of pregnancy, 73 were able to do it partially, and 104 could not do anything at all.

A situation that represents the main cause of the vulnerability of maternal health, the disengagement of the state and the impoverishment advanced. Also, the non-free caesarean at the national level increases to 50% risk of death from childbirth.

Also pregnant women in Togo are particularly threatened by other diseases such as HIV / AIDS and malaria. HIV / AIDS prevalence is 5.2% in 2006 among pregnant women aged 15 to 24. If there is a Prevention Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT). Few are the women who benefit from it. It is the same for the Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT) for malaria with nearly 60% of recipients. These diseases also constitute a threat to other vulnerable groups such as sex workers and widows. The prevalence rate among this social group is respectively 30 and 12%.

Lola Akomatsri 

In areas of Aneho, Agbodrafo, Kpeme, Goumou-Kope and Aglome at 30 Km from the capital of Togo Lome, we can see more and more children and adults bearing yellowed teeth. It is remarked in at least 70% of residents, the appearance of small yellow spots on their enamel or brown spots and tooth gap. People in these areas suffer from fluorosis since their infancy and the yellow color appears immediately after the fall of milk-teeth, around six (06) years.When we asked about the cause of this dental fluorisis, populations respond vaguely that “the factory of the National Phosphates mining Society (SNPT) is perhaps for something”. But, they could never imagine, how much they are right.According to studies conducted by local scientists, liquids and solids waste and dust from the treatment of phosphate mining in the area, is the cause of serious environmental problems including the contamination of seawater, well water and soil with fluoride and other toxic metals such as copper, zinc, nickel, chromium. All these forms are at the cause of certain diseases including dental fluorosis which are related to these metals contained in ores. Lire la suite »

Among the opportunistic infections that occur among people living with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis is in the front line. HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) are commonly called the “deadly duo” and are the most threat for the life of people living with HIV. And studies have shown that TB is the leading cause of death among Africans living with HIV / AIDS.

Due to the weakness of their immune system they are more susceptible to catching TB if they are exposed. People with HIV/AIDS are up to 50 times more likely to develop active TB in a given year than HIV-negative people. In fact, when someone begins to develop symptoms of tuberculosis, the first suspicions always go in the direction of the existence of the AIDS virus because TB bacteria accelerate the progression of HIV to AIDS.

According to official statistics, two billion people are infected with TB bacteria worldwide. “Each year, 8 million to 10 million new people contract TB and 2 million die from it. Nearly 40 million people are living with HIV Lire la suite »

Le rapport présenté sur la situation des Droits de l’Homme par le gouvernement lors de la 101ème session du Comité des Droits de l’Homme dans le cadre du quatrième rapport  périodique du Togo à New York n’a pas du tout convaincue le conseil des experts. En effet, le comité des experts de l’ONU a été particulièrement tatillon sur les dérives et violations des droits humains perpétrés au Togo.  

Les experts du Comité des experts en Droit de l’Homme des Nations Unies ne se sont pas fait prendre au jeu de la complaisance du gouvernement togolais. En effet, les questions épineuses relatives au projet de loi sur le droit de manifester et la liberté de rassemblement, au fonction de la Haute Autorité de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication (HAAC) et de la détention arbitraire ont fait l’objet de sérieux critiques.Le Togo a été enjoint à accélérer le rythme de ses réformes juridiques afin de donner pleinement effet aux dispositions du Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques. 

Les expertes de l’ONU demandent la révision expresse du projet de loi sur le droit de manifester et la liberté de rassemblement 

Le récent projet de loi sur le droit de manifester et la liberté de réunion n’a pas été avalisé par le Conseil des Nations Unies. Le Conseil a rebuté le projet de loi liberticide malgré les arguments et alibis du Ministre des Arts et de la Culture Yacoubou Koumadjo Hamadou, et de Léonardina Rita Doris Wilson-De Souza, Ministre des droits de l’homme, de la consolidation de la démocratie et la formation civique du Togo. Pour Zonke Zanele Majodina la présidente du Comité et experte de l’Afrique du Sud, «  le projet de loi sur le droit de manifester et la liberté de rassemblement doit être Lire la suite »