Month: October 2021

As COVID-19 has spread in Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, so have myths about the virus, especially among children. A Nigerian author has written a children’s book to help them understand the pandemic and ways to avoid being infected.

A team of educators arrives at a government school in Abuja. Equipped with books, face masks and sanitizers, they’re here to educate schoolchildren about the coronavirus pandemic and personal hygiene.

The initiative is the brainchild of team leader Raquel Kasham Daniel, a Nigerian author and founder of the nonprofit Beyond the Classroom Foundation.

She started the foundation 11 years ago to help make education accessible to vulnerable children. But she said when COVID-19 hit Nigeria last year, she had to focus on teaching children how to stay safe or reduce their risk of contracting the virus through her books.

“Because COVID was evolving, I knew we’ll not have one edition of the book,” she said. “So, we’ve had different editions of the book where I’ve had to update it from time to time. The support that we’ve received has mostly come from social media and some funders who have seen our work.”

The COVID-19 children’s book is titled There’s a New Virus in Town. It contains colorful images, along with text, to help children better understand the coronavirus. It also contains a quiz at the end where children can guess the next character or topic.

Twelve-year-old Jemila Abdul read it at the Abuja school.

“I’ll wash my hands regularly, and I’ll wear face masks, keep social distances, and keep my compound clean,” she said.

Nine-year-old Peculiar Oyewole said he’ll keep safe in order to keep his friends safe.

“I was angry because the coronavirus killed so many people,” he said. “I don’t want it to kill my friends.”

Nigeria has recorded more than 200,000 cases of the coronavirus, but authorities say myths and misinformation about the pandemic continue to spread, and children are among the most susceptible.

Daniel’s program, which has reached some 14,000 children so far, is helping to address this problem not only in schools but also among vulnerable groups.

“Some will say only older people are dying because God wants to save the children, that God is cleaning the Earth,” Daniel said. “We heard all sorts of things. So, what we do with our volunteers is to teach them and arm them with information about this myth and teach them (that) when you get on the field, this is how to debunk it.”

Nigerian authorities have been making efforts to educate the public and try to overcome misinformation, which authorities blame for a slow vaccine uptake.

But in the meantime, Daniel will be having an impact on kids.

Source: Voice of America

President Joe Biden’s administration urged a judge Friday to block a near-total ban on abortion imposed by Texas — the strictest such law in the nation — in a key battle in the ferocious legal war over abortion access in the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court on September 1 allowed the Republican-backed law to take effect even as litigation over its legality continues in lower courts. The U.S. Justice Department eight days later sued in federal court to try to invalidate it.

During a hearing in the Texas capital of Austin, Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to block the law temporarily, saying the state’s Republican legislature and governor enacted it in an open defiance of the Constitution.

“There is no doubt under binding constitutional precedents that a state may not ban abortions at six weeks,” said Brian Netter, the lead Justice Department attorney on the case.

“Texas knew this but, it wanted a 6-week ban anyway. So, this state resorted to an unprecedented scheme of vigilante justice.” Pitman allowed Netter to argue for about 15 minutes before interrupting him to ask about the limits on the Justice Department’s authority to challenge state laws.

The authority claimed by the Justice Department “is pretty expansive,” the judge said.

Netter said the Justice Department does not often challenge state laws but will do so when a law violates the U.S. Constitution and is written in a way that preclude citizens from vindicating their rights on their own.

“What is unique and different about this law is that it specifically deprives those affected by the law of the ability to obtain redress,” Netter said.

In the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, the Supreme Court recognized a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. The high court in December is due to hear arguments over the legality of a Mississippi abortion law in a case in which officials from that state are asking the justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

The Texas law bans abortions starting at six weeks of pregnancy, a point when many women may not yet realize they are pregnant. It and the Mississippi measure are among a series of Republican-backed laws passed by various states restricting abortion.

About 85% to 90% of abortions are performed after six weeks. Texas makes no exception for cases of rape and incest. It also lets ordinary citizens enforce the ban, rewarding them at least $10,000 if they successfully sue anyone who helped provide an abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected.

The four Whole Woman’s Health abortion clinics across the state have reported that patient visits have plummeted, and some staff have quit since the Texas law took effect.

In an emergency motion to the court, the Justice Department provided sworn statements from doctors who described the impact of the Texas law on patients.

In one statement, Dr. Joshua Yap said he witnessed a “surge” of women crossing into neighboring Oklahoma for abortions. “One of the most heart-wrenching cases I have seen recently was of a Texas minor who had been raped by a family member,” Yap said, adding that a guardian made an eight-hour drive to Oklahoma from Galveston because the girl was more than six weeks pregnant.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s top law enforcement official, argued in a court filing on Wednesday that the Justice Department’s lawsuit must be dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The Texas law must be challenged in state court through lawsuits brought against abortion providers by private citizens, Paxton said.

Democratic former President Barack Obama appointed Pitman to the judiciary in 2014.

The hearing will also include arguments from other interested parties, including Oscar Stilley, a disbarred lawyer in home confinement for tax evasion who in September became one of the first people to test a key provision of the law by suing a San Antonio doctor who provided an abortion.

Source: Voice of America