He made this assurance recently at The Gambia National Petroleum Company (GNPC) office’s in Kotu during an orientation ceremony for a group of 49 Gambian students who were about to leave for Taiwan for further studies.

Ambassador Shih noted that The Gambia and Taiwan share a lot in common. “There Gambians in Taiwan are as well Taiwanese in The Gambia,” he stated.

He said that his country appreciates the support and relations with The Gambia.He revealed that as of now there will be 97 Gambians studying in Taiwan as well as those on short term courses.

Mr. Momodou Badgie, Director of GNPC, said that capacity building is key to national development of any country. We cannot depend entirely on foreign expertise to develop our country. This is a good initiative in realising vision 20202,” he concluded.

The study, titled Action Aid Study on Women and Islam, aims among other things to clearly demonstrate the position of Islam pertaining to gender and to challenge some misgivings about Islamic gender policies.

The findings of the survey results show that the professional level, responses from Islamic religious leaders vis-à-vis Islamic law and covering of a women’s face in public, obligation of the female circumcision in Islam, and Islamic law and women’s inheritance of land are somehow disturbing.

In general, the findings show that although much needs to be done, if the present Gambian gender attitudes and policies are read against the background of the researcher’s theoretical framework, The Gambia can be characterised as a country on the right track.

Recommendations of the findings suggest that there is a need for more funding for research like the one being launched in order to bring to the fore the comparison in a more universal sample size.

It further suggested that government should establish a bureau comprising a male and female scholars at the level of the Qadi Appeal panel, whose jurisdiction would be to investigate complaints from couples with regard to the abuse of power in divorce or khul. It also highlights the need for capacity building for Qadis as well as strengthening of the recording techniques at Qadi courts in order to facilitate the due process of family law matters.

Speaking on the occasion, the author of the report, Dr Jah, said that the study demonstrates that every legal, political, or sociological complication at any age, Islam can give a proper solution if handled properly based on a pure Islamic worldview and agenda. “The issue of gender is cross cutting, and to demonstrate the Islamic perception to the gender discourse a refined handling of the Qur’anic and the Sunni injunctions is need to cause a proper orientation of attitudes and policies,” he said.

Dr Jah commended all individuals and institutions who supported him during the research.

Participants at the launch of the study all applauded Dr. Omar Jah for a job well done.

The first microbicide candidate to reach the final phase of testing has failed to prevent HIV transmission, researchers announced on Monday.

Testing of the microbicide, Carraguard, was carried out over a three-year period on 6,000 women in South Africa, and was completed in March 2007. But there was no difference in HIV infections between women in the group using Carraguard compared to the placebo group.

"The trial ... was unable to demonstrate Carraguard's efficacy in preventing HIV transmission," noted Dr Khatija Ahmed, principal investigator of the trial.

The microbicide developed by the Population Council, an international non-profit organisation, contains carrageenan, which is derived from seaweed and widely used in the food and cosmetics industries as a gel, stabiliser and thickening agent.

Laboratory, animal and early human tests suggested it might prevent HIV and other sexually spread infections, but Ahmed admitted that "what Carraguard showed in the lab couldn't be converted to humans".

She suggested that the low adherence rate could have been a factor: women who participated in the study used Carraguard less than half the number of times they had sex, and only 10 percent said they used it every time as directed. However, condom use shot up from 33 percent when the study began, to 64 percent.

While acknowledging that the news was a disappointment, Ahmed stressed that the Carraguard trial was a "major milestone for microbicide development", as the trial had been completed with no safety concerns being raised.

This is another setback in the race to develop an effective microbicide - applied via a range of products like gels, films and sponges - that could help women prevent the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

In 2000, a large full-scale trial showed that nonoxynol-9, a potential microbicide, was unsafe after women in the study developed a higher risk of HIV infection.

Seven years later, microbicide research was dealt another blow when the US-based reproductive health research organisation, CONRAD, announced the premature end of trials of a cellulose sulphate-based microbicide after the data safety and monitoring committee found a higher number of infections in the active group compared to the placebo group.

Advocates and researchers are reluctant to describe this trial as a setback. Fiona Scorgie, programmes coordinator at the Gender AIDS Forum, a non-governmental organisation monitoring microbicide trials in South Africa, told IRIN/PlusNews that although the end result had been disappointing, the trial had been "successful on another level".

The women participating in the trials had benefited from regular health screenings, while the safety of Carraguard meant that it could be used in future microbicide trials as a "vehicle for more specific substances, like antiretrovirals", but further development was needed.

According to Scorgie, communities also had to be involved in the process, rather than being passive recipients. "Communities have a very important role to play ... it's important that we inform ourselves and remain critical".

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected, according to a new study published in Tuesday's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study said that rising levels of CO2, the main greenhouse gas blamed for climate change, threaten to accelerate global warming. The study attributes the change in CO2 levels to increased use of fossil fuels and a decline in the amount of gas being absorbed by the oceans and land.

CO2 emissions have increased by an average of 3.3 percent per year since 2000, compared with 1.1 percent per year in the 1990s. The rate has increased 35 percent more than scientists had anticipated based on economic growth, according to Corinne Le Quere, one of the paper's authors.

"The causes of the acceleration are surprising," Le Quere said. "One is that we are not as efficient at using CO2 as we had anticipated, and the second cause is that it appears that the CO2 sinks are weakening." The main natural CO2 sinks are the oceans and plants.

The study attributed approximately half of the unexpected growth to an increase in the carbon intensity of the global economy, a measure of the amount of carbon emissions per unit of economic activity. "For 30 years we were becoming more efficient at using CO2 for producing energy and wealth, and this has completely stalled since 2000," Le Quere said, adding that increased use of coal by developing countries such as China and India was partially to blame.

The remaining unexpected growth was attributed to a decline in the ability of the oceans and land to absorb CO2. Most climate models do not account for a weakening of CO2 sinks, Le Quere said. Alan Robock, associate director of the Center for Environmental Prediction at Rutgers University, called the reduction of the oceanic CO2 sink "really shocking".

The study "raises some very important issues that the public should be aware of: Namely that concentrations of CO2 are increasing at much higher rates than previously expected and this is in spite of the Kyoto Protocol that is designed to hold them down in western countries," said Kevin Trenberth, the head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a lead author of the 2007 assessment report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC predicted in February of this year that temperatures would rise by up to 6.4 degrees Celsius over the next century. However, Le Quere suggested that this scenario might be overly optimistic. "There’s quite a significant difference from what was forecast,” she said. "It’s rather scary and the IPCC scenarios are, therefore, rather too optimistic — as if they weren’t bleak enough already. The whole thing is likely to mean mitigation is rather more difficult than was thought."

The second batch of 25 students selected for the Taiwanese government scholarship package are scheduled to leave for Taiwan on September 13th to study a special BSc elite degree programme in Information Technology at the National Taipei University of Technology, NTUT.

Addressing students at the initiation ceremony held at the Gambia National Petroleum Company office in Kanifing on Friday, the Taiwanese Ambassador to The Gambia, Dr. Patrick Chang, encouraged the students to work hard when they go to Taiwan, adding that that way they could help attain President Jammeh’s Silicon Valley objective. “The president has the development of this country at heart,” he said.

Musa Touray, Principal Higher Education Officer deputising for the Secretary of State for Higher Education, advised students to comport themselves well and serve as good ambassadors of The Gambia. He said that the students were selected by a special committee before being approved by the president.

Mr. Lamin Saho, the Principal Assistant Secretary at the Department of State for Communication and Information Technology, who also deputised for the department’s Secretary of State, described Information Technology as vital in the attainment of the Silicon Valley project.

The occasion, attended by Mr. Fafa Sanyang, Commissioner of Petroleum, was chaired by Mr. Mam Sait Ceesay, Press Officer Office of the President.

It could be recalled that in 2006, the first batch comprising 25 Gambian students were sent to Taiwan to pursue studies in Petroleum Engineering

In another development, Ambassador Chang last week donated three vehicles to the Department of State for Agriculture at a ceremony held in Banjul, and another vehicle to the women of Banjulinding.

In presenting the vehicles Ambassador Chang said the development of the agricultural sector would contribute to the attainment of food self sufficiency in the country.

Kanja Sanneh, the Secretary of State of Agriculture, thanked Ambassador Chang for the donation, adding that the vehicles would ease the problem of mobility at his department.

The West African Bird Study Association (WABSA) has recently launched its newsletter. This initiative emanated from the ambition to participate actively in the sensitisation of the general public on issues pertaining to environment. In their maiden edition, an emphasis has been put on desertification, one of the growing threats to the African continent and the planet.

In the editorial, Lamin Jobaate, WABSA Executive Director, pointed out that ‘there is a general understanding that desertification problems are most severe in the semi-arid, Sudano Sahelian zone of the country which constitutes 75% of the total land area, especially in the north of the River Gambia.’ 

Pursuing in this alarming tone, he argued that the southern part of the country is being menaced by the advance of the desert, as so many factors continue to contribute to the deterioration of the existing ecosystem. ‘‘The growing demographic pressures, coupled with 30% drop in rainfall over the last 20 years, contributed to the extensive destruction of the forest cover’’, he noted. According to him, such a situation caused drastically the decline of the rate of production in the cash crops, horticultural crops and wildlife species.

He further commended the reaction from the general public, government departments and Non-Governmental Organisations and indicated that it has over the last years, witnessed some positive developments and challenges. As such, they must be extolled ‘for the giant strides they have taken to minimise the negative environmental impacts.’ He then added: ‘‘The Department of Forestry, the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management, the National Environment Agency and the Gambia Tourism Authority have been in the forefront of the desertification control in The Gambia.’’

Taking into consideration the international environment conventions that The Gambia has ratified, he outlined government’s commitment to take the lead in the domain of conservation. Among the conventions that necessitate the political support of the government, he enumerated the United Nations Conservation on Desertification (UNCD), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), the Climate Change Convention and the Bonn Convention. In other words, The Gambia is in the right track in tackling the rising challenges and adversity faced by the environment sector.

He concluded by drawing people’s attention to the fact that the achievement of these goals depends on the full participation and support of all Gambians. ‘‘It is our duty therefore, particularly the youth, to ensure the protection and conservation of our remaining flora and fauna’’, he hinted.

Every year almost 23,000 South African babies die in their first month of life, yet one in five of these deaths could be avoided with better education, and relatively inexpensive and easily implemented changes in healthcare, says a new study by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

"The bad news is that, according to the report, 'one in five deaths could have been clearly avoided', and inequalities are also highlighted, with avoidable deaths being twice as common in rural areas," said Joy Lawn, Senior Policy and Research Advisor at Saving Newborn Lives, a programme run by Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation for children's rights, in the foreword to the report.

"The good news is that these deaths are not complex or expensive to prevent - improving the quality of care during childbirth is a top priority that would also save mothers' lives and reduce long-term disabilities in children," Lawn commented.

The report, 'Saving Babies 2003-2005', was compiled the MRC, based on data voluntarily submitted by healthcare workers across the country to the Perinatal Problem Identification Programme, and covers about 20 percent of births in South Africa.

The data shows that each year, out of every 1,000 babies born alive, 21 will die within four weeks. This is better than the neonatal mortality rate of 41 babies per 1,000 in sub-Saharan Africa, but still nothing to be proud of. Infant mortality in South Africa is higher than other countries with a similar per capita income, such as Mauritius, where only 12 babies per 1,000 die.

Worldwide, approximately four million babies die within their first month of life. In Africa it is estimated that half a million babies do not survive the day of their birth, which often takes place at home and is not included in official statistics.

Missing the goal

Over the last two decades there has been almost no improvement in the chances of survival of a child born in Africa, but some individual countries have managed to cut the death toll among infants.

A 2006 World Health Organisation report, Opportunities for Africa's Newborns, found that six countries: Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Eritrea and Burkina Faso, had managed to reduce infant deaths - by 47 percent in Eritrea, and 20 percent in Tanzania and Malawi.

In South Africa there has been no evidence of a decline in either neonatal or perinatal (neonatal deaths plus stillbirths) mortality rates since 2000, although there is a dearth of fully representative national information.

The authors of the study said the number of newborn deaths would have to be cut if South Africa is to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing the mortality rate of children under five by two-thirds (MDG Four). The MDGs are a set of development goals agreed in 2000 by 192 UN member states, to be achieved by 2015. Mortality among mothers is also to be reduced by three-quarters over the same time period (MDG Five).

"Achieving MDG Four and MDG Five necessitates significant improvements in the coverage and quality of care received by pregnant women and their infants, as well as ensuring that the health system is appropriately structured and functioning properly," the report said.

"The lack of progress towards achieving MDG Four in South Africa is disturbing ... Similar progress towards MDG Five is not on track and is being retarded by the HIV epidemic."

Something can and should be done

A "striking feature" in the data was the number of avoidable stillbirths. The most common perinatal cause of death (the period before and immediately after birth) was unexplained stillbirths, which accounted for just under 21 percent of all deaths among babies weighing more than 1kg at birth.

"Almost all women who gave birth to fresh stillbirths, identified as being caused by intrapartum asphyxia [a lack of oxygen during birth] and trauma, were admitted with live babies and probably failed by the health system. Similarly, examination of causes of neonatal deaths shows a significant contribution by intrapartum asphyxia and birth trauma," said the report.

The MRC's Prof Anthony Mbweu said educating mothers, communities and healthcare workers would be key to reducing the death toll: patient-associated factors, such as ignorance about monitoring foetal movement, were the biggest contributors to preventable infant deaths, followed by factors related to healthcare workers, such as failure to monitor a mother's progress during labour, and "administrative" issues, such as a lack of facilities and staff.

Mbweu pointed out that there were "really glaring disparities between provinces, with the Eastern Cape, Mpumulanga and Limpopo having child death rates that are much higher - twice as high in some cases - as the Western Cape and Gauteng [the two richest provinces]. Issues of socio-economics and education are key to child survival."

In response to 'Saving Babies 2003-2005', a national Department of Health official commented: "We welcome the report and have noted its contents, and that it involves 20 percent of babies delivered in the country. We will discuss it, as the Department of Health, to identify areas that require further attention."

Researchers say that new, 10 million year old fossils found in Ethiopia, prove that the theory that humans may have evolved from a species of great apes 8 million years ago, may not be true, but that humans may have split from apes as long as 10.5 million years ago.

At least nine fossilized teeth, one canine tooth and 8 molars, of a previously unknown species of apes found in Africa were discovered by a team of researchers from Ethiopia and Japan who then compared the 3-D make up of the teeth to other fossils that date back as far as 8 million years and found that the fossils are likely a "direct ancestor" of apes currently living in Africa and that the new ape fossils were that of a species of gorilla who ate mostly plants high in fiber.

Current fossils and research say that the evolutionary split from apes to humans occurred at least 8 million years ago. The new fossils say that the split may have happened as long as 10.5 million years ago.

"Based on this fossil, that means the split is much earlier than has been anticipated by the molecular evidence. That means everything has to be put back," said researcher at the Rift Valley Research Service in Ethiopia and a co-author of the study, Berhane Asfaw.

Despite the finds, other researchers are not convinced that the findings are correct.

"It is stretching the evidence to base a time scale for the evolution of the great apes on this new fossil. These structures appear on at least three independent lineages of apes, including gorillas, and they could relate to a dietary shift rather than indicating a new genetic trait," said a Professor at the London Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom, Peter Andrews who also added, "but the fossil evidence for the evolution of our closest living relatives, the great apes, is almost non-existent.

Researchers have named the newly discovered species Cororapithecus abyssinicus whose remains were found in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, the same place where the remains of Lucy were discovered in 1974.