MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017 HEALTH & SCIENCE Syria farmers fear IS to flood Euphrates villages

TUWAYHINA, Syria: Syrian farmers near could be under water,” said Abu Hussein, advanced to just five kilometres from the (OCHA) says water levels of the Euphrates much longer, will have serious repercus- the Euphrates river are terrified the 67. He spoke to AFP in Tuwayhina, a town. “We’re hearing that Daesh is plan- have risen 10 m since late January. The sions on the dam”. The source, who Islamic State group will literally open the small village that was recently recap- ning on blowing up the Tabqa dam,” said UN said the increase was “partly due to spoke on condition of anonymity out of floodgates to defend its stronghold tured by the US-backed Syrian Raheel Hassan Mahmoud, 58, in the arid heavy rainfall and snow”. But it also point- fear of reprisals by IS, said the dam was Raqqa, drowning their tiny villages in the Democratic Forces east of the river and village of Bir Hamad, using an Arabic ed the finger at air strikes near the dam, at risk of damage as the fighting draws process. Water levels of the Euphrates, around 10 km from the dam. Abu acronym for IS. “If this happens, it means “which, if further damaged, could lead to near - but so was his team. which snakes down through northern Hussein said “hundreds of villages and most of Raqa and Deir Ezzor will drown, massive scale flooding across Raqqa and “The technicians will be forced to flee Syria and east into Iraq, have shot up fields” could be submerged if IS opens while other towns die of thirst and crops as far away as Deir Ezzor” province to the in order to escape death. This is another over the past month near the militant the gates of the dam, which lies around and livestock die,” he told AFP. southeast. danger, because the dam cannot be left group’s de facto capital, Raqqa city. 50 km upstream from Raqqa city. “They Any further rises in the water level or without someone controlling it,” the Residents of the modest farming villages don’t even fear God. And if someone ‘Catastrophic implications’ damage to the Tabqa dam “would have source warned. Before Syria’s conflict scattered on the river’s eastern bank say doesn’t fear God, then I’m afraid of him.” Hassan, a 35-year-old in nearby Bir catastrophic humanitarian implications erupted in 2011, about 40,000 people they are afraid the jihadists will destroy The Tabqa dam sits 500 m from the Hassan, said he expected IS would flood in all areas downstream”, the UN warned. lived in Tabqa, according to geography the Tabqa dam, Syria’s largest, to slow eponymous town, an IS stronghold since the villages as a last resort. “It could open The SDF’s drive for Raqa is backed by air expert Fabrice Balanche. Another 20,000 advancing anti-IS forces. 2014 where many of its most senior up the dam’s gates to cover itself as it strikes from the US-led coalition bomb- lived in the smaller city of Thawrah, just “If IS goes through with its threat of commanders are based. Tabqa is a key withdraws, in case it’s no longer able to ing jihadists in Iraq and Syria. A member south of the dam. Construction of the blowing up the Tabqa dam, then all areas target of the SDF’s months-long drive for resist in the area,” he said. The UN’s of the Syrian team still working at the Tabqa dam was completed in 1973 with around the southern part of the river Raqa, and its fighters have already humanitarian coordination agency dam warned that “the battle, if it lasts help from the Soviet Union. —AFP Bringing water to Kenya’s drought-stricken wildlife

VOI, Kenya: In a wildlife sanctuary drink up to 190 liters of water in $200,000 - most of that in the past water pumps, they see the swirling in southern Kenya the relentless one sitting - have in recent months two weeks, as word spread about snake tracks in the sand. Desperate sun has bleached savannah grasses carried out often deadly raids on Mwalua’s initiative. “It has blown for water and a cool place to shel- and dried up rivers, turning water villages in search of water. To the my mind,” said Mwalua, who plans ter as drought and climate change holes first into muddy pits and now, majority of locals struggling to sur- to buy his own water truck and dig affect their habitat, snakes increas- dust bowls. Herds of elephant, buf- vive the failure of their crops, these a borehole in the park. ingly come into contact with peo- falo and zebra have gathered near wildlife neighbors are little more Meanwhile the David Sheldrick ple. As a result, snakebites have one of the holes, where for six than a menace and competition for Wildlife Trust - famed for rearing shot up so much in recent years months, pea farmer Patrick Mwalua land and resources. orphan elephants - has now joined that the Kenya Wildlife Service has been delivering water to them him in trucking in water to the (KWS) is trying to amend a law to in a rented blue truck. After the ‘The animals come running’ water hole. In a sign of the crisis stop having to compensate those rains failed for the third time in However Mwalua believes it is the region faces, the charity has bitten, which costs millions of November, Mwalua was so dis- crucial to protect the wildlife, argu- drilled 13 boreholes over the years, euros per year. tressed by the obviously weak and ing “we are the voice of the ani- Angela Sheldrick, who runs the thirsty animals that he began seek- mals”. He reached out to foreigners, trust, told AFP. Deadlier than poaching The main water source for Tsavo MONROVIA: James Harris, the husband of Salome Karwah, looks at pictures West is Lake Jipe, which straddles of his wedding day in his home on March 2, 2017. —AFP the border with Tanzania. According to Kipongoso, its level has dropped 10 m in a decade. “At the same rate it means in another Liberian icon dies giving four or five years it will be a swamp, in another 15 years it will birth after surviving Ebola be a dust bowl. That means Tsavo West is dead, finished,” he warned. MONROVIA: In Nov 2014, Salome Karwah and Karwah was dead shortly afterwards. He blames the water problems on of Liberia graced the cover of Time maga- “My wife was an Ebola survivor. She con- “sheer human activity” in catch- zine as a symbol of strength and humanity tracted the virus during the outbreak and ment areas. In the nearby after surviving Ebola and using her experi- she recovered,” Harris said, bouncing the Amboseli park, during the 2009 ence to help others with the virus. But last healthy new baby on his knee. “She saved drought, 14 elephants were killed month, Karwah died shortly after giving lives, she held babies who had Ebola, and by poachers, while another 99 birth to her fourth child - and her husband she helped them to get better. She did not died because of lack of water, blames the stigma attached to Ebola. “My deserve this kind of treatment.” according to KWS figures. wife died because she was not catered to Karwah lost her parents, brother, aunts, “What all that means is we need by nurses and doctors. The reason, I uncles, cousins and a niece to Ebola, now to stop focusing on poaching believe, is because she is an Ebola sur- according to Time. In an article for The and start facing the imminent vivor,” James Harris said. “I am saying this Guardian in Oct 2014, Karwah wrote of the catastrophe which is the mass because I heard some nurses telling Ebola survivors she helped: “I help them death of elephants and wildlife friends not to go near my wife because she with all my might because I understand from lack of water,” Kipongoso said. is a survivor.” the experience - I’ve been through the “The only way you can do that is The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa very same thing.” Her photograph was cho- landscape rehabilitation,” he said, starting in 2013, which hit Liberia the hard- sen for the cover of Time when those fight- referring to reverting the land to its est, infected nearly 29,000 people by con- ing the Ebola outbreak were named per- state before human activity servative estimates, killing more than a son of the year. The hospital has refused to changed it. third. Karwah worked as a counsellor for comment on her death, but Liberia’s chief Buffalo approach a watering hole after a bowser water tanker delivers water to thirsty wildlife at Mwalua’s undertaking is Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) after medical officer, Francis Kateh, told AFP that the Tsavo-west national park, after traveling 70 km from the town of Voi, approximately 400 km exhausting. Bleary-eyed, he eats a recovering from Ebola in the summer of the authorities were investigating the case. southeast of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, on Oct 19, 2016. —AFP quick breakfast of Swahili sweet 2014, helping others to cope with the psy- Karwah’s brother, Reginald Karwah, bun and tea before embarking on chological toll of the hemorrhagic fever. said her body was tested for Ebola and ing donations to bring water to the who had participated in a conser- Snakebites the 70-km journey. Delivering the One evening in February, Harris said, his the result came back negative. Many Taita Hills sanctuary. vation program he runs, to ask for While conservationists praise 12,000 liters of water is a slow, wife was admitted to hospital in the capi- Ebola survivors continue to suffer high The 41-year-old was haunted by donations to pay for the $250 (237- Mwalua’s efforts, they warn that cli- hour-long drive that he sometimes tal, Monrovia, where she gave birth by cae- levels of shame and discrimination, which the memory of a 2009 drought, euro) truckloads of water. At first, mate change and human activity makes several times a day, despite sarian section. She returned home just two has been exacerbated by findings that the which the International Fund for he would pour it into natural water have affected water supply so bad- suffering from kidney failure days later, telling her husband that some virus can stay in certain parts of the body Animal Welfare estimates led to the holes but quickly realized that ly it will take much more to solve requiring twice-weekly dialysis. But of the nurses refused to touch her. for at least nine months after a patient loss of 40 percent of the animals in much was soaked up by the baking the problem. “It is a good initiative he perks up when he sees the wait- has recovered. Liberia also has some of the neighboring Tsavo West earth, so turned instead to a but how much water can we truck ing animals. ‘She did not deserve this’ the world’s highest maternal mortality National Park. “It was so sad. I saw it cement hole near a tourist lodge. into Tsavo? How many boreholes On a February afternoon, clouds Complications soon developed, and rates, according to the United Nations. myself and I felt very bad and I said The animals “come running the can you sink?” asked Jacob gather above the savannah and a Harris rushed to hospital seeking help. His The UN’s Population Fund has said that this thing should never happen moment they see the truck, they Kipongoso, head of the Tsavo rare burst of rain fills the air with an concerns were dismissed by one doctor, access to life-saving care has deteriorated again,” he told AFP. Over his life- even know the timings. When they Heritage Foundation. Conflict earthy petrichor but doesn’t stick and he was told to go to a pharmacy to since the Ebola outbreak because of the time, Mwalua has seen the climate are really thirsty they even drink between humans and wildlife is around long enough to penetrate buy an injection for his wife. The medica- strain it has inflicted on the country’s change drastically, with droughts when the truck is emptying,” the only going to get worse, he the soil. Weeks of driving rain are tion was nowhere to be found, however, fragile health system. —AFP causing chronic water shortages lodge’s assistant manager Alex believes. One deadly clue is the needed to break the drought, and and increased conflict between vil- Namunje told AFP. A GoFundMe snakes’ behavior. forecasters are already gloomy lagers and wildlife. crowdfunding page, set up by an Every morning, in Kipongoso’s about the next rainy season due Thirsty elephants - which can American friend, has raised over village, when women go to the this month. —AFP Ouch: Taking the sting Push for healthier nail salons out of medical expenses WASHINGTON: Medical expenses are a reach deductibles sooner. You may also burden whenever they hit, but a recent want to get an estimate of costs ahead in California finding success study found they’re most common of time so you can better prepare. Some around this time of year. The study providers and insurers will help with found that one in six families makes a this or you can use Amino, a free online OAKLAND, California: It was the swag- ic and outreach program in Oakland’s workers. Last year, California lawmak- exposure in nail salons. Some busi- major medical payment in any given service that estimates the costs of many bags that convinced community health Chinatown where staffers first took ers passed legislation supporting the nesses and local groups around the year, and they tended to occur in the common health care procedures. organizer Julia Liou to redraw the battle note more than a decade ago of how certification program. US have tried self-certifying healthy first few months of the year. The study plan in a fight to reduce the hazardous many nail-salon workers were dealing nail salons. found the median payment was $1,143 Verify chemical exposures of nail-salon work- with cancer, headaches, miscarriages Certification But California’s voluntary program and most households take more than a Review all your bills carefully when ers, most of them low-paid Asian immi- and other health problems. The health complaints voiced by stands out for the local government year to recover from the hit. they arrive. About half of medical bills grant women. In 2005, Liou watched at Since then, the California Healthy the country’s more than 400,000 certification and for giving salon own- Although the reason for the timing is contain errors, said Caitlin Donovan of California’s state Capitol as dozens of Nail Salon Collaborative that Liou co- nail-salon workers, mostly immi- ers and workers the say on what health unclear, researchers at economic think the National Patient Advocate lobbyists gave away bags of lipsticks founded has spearheaded a California grants from Vietnam, the Philippines, measures salons could best afford, as tank JP Morgan Chase Institute who Foundation. Make sure you are being and other beauty goodies to excited effort to reduce the toxicants that South Korea and other Asian coun- well as the training and encourage- conducted the study hypothesize that billed only for services and goods you legislative staffers. It was part of the salon workers touch and breathe. tries and many with limited English ment to speak out on their health con- people are either putting off treatment received. If you feel like you are being beauty and chemical industries’ effort Cities and counties taking part in the or political experience, have gotten cerns. One morning this winter, TV or bill paying until tax refund time billed for something that should be to defeat a bill to ban one of the thou- program certify salon owners who vol- more attention over the last decade. crews, state and federal officials, and when they can afford it, or simply facing covered by insurance, reach out to your sands of industrial compounds used to untarily ban suspect ingredients and In New York, Gov Andrew Cuomo has salon workers crowded inside a store- a fresh new set of deductibles and oth- plan for an explanation. You can also make manicure and pedicures prettier nail products and who provide proper mandated ventilation systems and front nail salon in the San Francisco er out-of-pocket insurance expenses to appeal any decision by your insurer not and longer lasting. ventilation, gloves and masks for other measures to reduce chemical suburb of Alameda. The gathering cele- meet for the year. to pay. There are companies that will Liou and her colleagues lost on that brated the salon as one of the newest audit bills for you to make sure they are bill. But the state Capitol cluster-swag of 143 in the Bay Area and the Southern We gathered a few expert tips for correct. Some, like Remedy, will only emerged as a defining lesson for Liou, California city of Santa Monica to win managing the pain of medical take a percentage of what they save underscoring how hard it would always local government certification as a expenses: you as payment. You can also reach out be to go lobbyist-for-lobbyist against healthy salon. Save to a patient advocate organization for the US beauty industry, with its $62 bil- On the sidewalk outside, the owner It’s much easier to bear big expenses assistance. lion in estimated revenue last year. That of another salon, Van Nguyen, stood when you have some emergency sav- episode has given rise to a San and cried. In support of the program, ings. If you don’t have much set aside, Seek aid Francisco Bay Area grassroots cam- Nguyen had told California policymak- you aren’t alone. Two-thirds of If you cannot foot the bill at all, seek paign of salon workers, health workers ers of miscarriages she suffered and the Americans would have difficulty com- help as soon as possible. Hospitals are and local officials that has taken hold in debilitating skin ailments that plagued ing up with the money to cover a often willing to negotiate the amount California and is gaining increasing a son she carried to full term. Having $1,000 emergency, according to a poll you owe or set up a payment plan. Ask national support and recognition from earlier won certification for her own San conducted by The Associated Press- if they have a financial assistance plan the US Environmental Protection Francisco nail parlor, Nguyen, 46, was NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. or know of one that could help you. Agency, Harvard’s John F Kennedy proud she had spoken out to protect Start small, automate your savings and There are many nonprofit organizations School of Government and others. other workers. But she mourned the try to keep your hands off it unless you set up specifically to help people man- “I realized we need to bring the voic- harm she believes she did to her off- really need it. age their medical bills. Also consider es of the community there ... to really spring through long days working with Other preventative steps include seeking help from friends or family with articulate what was really happening, glues, removers and polishes. “I had staying within your health insurer’s net- a crowdfunding page, such as what workers were experiencing on the ALAMEDA, California: In this Nov 30, 2016 photo, Lan-Anh misfortune, but I did the best I can,” work or bundling your care so you Gofundme.com. —AP health side,” said Liou, development Nguyen said. “I don’t want anyone else director of Asian Health Services, a clin- Truong performs a manicure at her Leann’s Nails salon. —AP to suffer like me.” —AP