Newsletter9

Bolivarian Government of Venezuela

Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs, Office of the Deputy Minister for Africa

Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Kenya Concurrent to Rwanda, United Nations Environment programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Uganda,Tanzania and Somalia Settlements Programme (UN Habitat).

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Vol. 3: Issue 9, 6th March, 2017

Pico Bolívar

Pico Bolívar is the highest mountain in Venezuela, at 4,978 metres.

Located in Mérida State, its top is permanently covered with granular snow and three small glaciers

Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our Americas (ALBA-TCP) welcomes World Conference of people for a world without walls From the Palace of Miraflores, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, announced the declaration of the 14th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA-TCP), which was held this Sunday 5th in the Venezuelan capital.

During the plenary, the Head of State informed that among the decisions of the final document, the reactivation of the fund for legal support and advice to Latin American and Caribbean migrants in the United States was highlighted.

In the same way, he indicated that the regional integration body welcomed the call made by the president of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Evo Morales, to the World Conference of People for a World without Walls towards universal citizenship, to be held on 20th and 21st of June in the city Cochabamba.

In this regard, President Maduro said that from the Non-Aligned Movement Countries (NAM), whose Pro Tempore Presidency is led currently by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, will be incorporated "with force" by the 120 countries that make up the bloc.

Inside This Issue In addition, he added, the G77 + China countries will joined by the Republic of Ecuador.

Choquehuanca assumes the General Secretariat Maduro also announced the appointment of former Bolivian foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, as secretary general of the regional organization.

"To put itself at the forefront of this intense agenda of integration, unity, brotherhood and dignity," added the Bolivarian Dignitary.

With regard to Venezuela, the multilateral body reaffirmed its support and solidarity in the face of arbitrary US sanctions against the South American country, which "must be annulled."

The XIV Summit of Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA-TCP) was held in the city of Caracas in commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the sowing of the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Commander Hugo Chávez. www.mppre.gov.ve

1. (ALBA-TCP) welcomes World Conference calling for a world without walls 2. The 41st Anniversary of the Saharawi State 3. Communiqué

4. Hugo Chávez 4th Anniversary

5. Venezuela denounces the nefarious effects of capitalism which deny Human Rights 6. Promoting the unknown about Africa

The 41st Anniversary

of the proclamation of the Saharawi state commemorated in Venezuela On Thursday 2nd of March, the Ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic accredited to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Mohamed Salem Daha, together with the Minister Counselor, Hadi Laroussi, laid a wreath before the Sarcophagus that holds the mortal remains of the Liberator, Simón Bolívar, in the National Pantheon of Caracas. This was to commemorate the 41st Anniversary since the proclamation of the state of Saharawi.

The director general for Asia, Middle East and Oceania, Roger Echeverría, the cultural attaché Marisol Formoso, and part of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in the country participated in this solemn act in which the people of Saharawi celebrated 41 years after their independence when they emancipated from foreign powers.

Venezuela and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic deepened their relations of friendship and cooperation thanks to the commander Hugo Chávez, who at all times expressed his unconditional support for the Saharawi people, a legacy that continues today through President Nicolás Maduro. www.mppre.gov.ve

2

BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA MINISTRY OF PEOPLE’S POWER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMUNIQUÉ The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects the illegitimate report “International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2017”, prepared by the US State Department, which violates fundamental principles of Public International Law, such as the Judicial equality of States and non intervention in other states internal affairs, and through which the Government of the United States of America seeks to become a worlds gendarme.

It is serious, questionable, and absolutely undemocratic that the United States of America, in its alleged role as supranational police, do not recognise and impairs the systems of crime prevention and control of sovereign States, and international organizations specialized in the subject, whose responsibilities are not delegable.

It is incredible in its eagerness of extraterritorial hegemony for a country to try to impose on the world its policy of double standards by pointing out to nations that are genuinely committed to controlling and combating illegal trafficking in illicit drugs, while failing in its own territory in fulfilling its international responsibility.

Also, it is questionable if the country that exercises global financial hegemony, whose banking system executes a false policy to control money laundering from drug production and trafficking, tries to give lessons to the international community ignoring the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the State. Even more serious, considering that the United States, the world's leading drug market, has consistently failed to protect the right to health of its citizens.

The failed "war on drugs" deployed by the United States of America beyond its borders has only served to expand a bellicose and interventionist policy that massively violates the Human Rights of the people and increases both drug production and trafficking and the legitimation of assets arising from this crime.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reaffirms its absolute rejection of this illicit and illegitimate report and calls on the United States of America to make sincere and effective efforts in international cooperation to allow effective action in the control of drugs.

Caracas, March 4th, 2017 3

Hugo Chรกvez 5th of March Our tribute to your respectful and solidary effort towards Africa Africa ''returns back to itself, it rumbles itself as so we feel it''.

4

Venezuela denounces the nefarious effects of capitalism which deny Human Rights President Nicolas Maduro's diplomatic spokesman endorsed Bohoslavsky's thesis that, in order to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis, a social security system should be created and strengthened to meet the needs of the workers, allocating the necessary resources to Such purposes.

Venezuela will not bow to neoliberal power.

A strong questioning Venezuela presented against capitalist financial voracity and its harmful effects on the enjoyment of Human Rights affecting millions of people on the planet.

This statement corresponds to the Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the UN Geneva, Ambassador Jorge Valero, during his speech at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Valero represented his country in the interactive dialogue with the independent expert, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, on the consequences of foreign debt and related international financial obligations of States for the full enjoyment of all Human Rights.

The Bolivarian diplomat also spoke during the interactive dialogue with the special rapporteur, Leilani Farha, on adequate housing, as an integral element of the right to an adequate standard of living.

Both aspects are dealt with in the Human Rights Council's agenda on the promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development.

Most Southern countries advocated humanist and fair financial policies, while Neocolonialist countries advocated the supremacy of capital over the right to development of people.

External debt and mechanisms of domination.

"We endorse the report submitted by the independent expert on foreign debt and labor rights in the context of economic reforms and austerity measures," Valero said.

He said that Venezuela agrees with this rapporteur when he says that the international financial institutions have promoted legislative reforms in the labor sphere, based on cuts and austerity policies that create - in many countries - false expectations of economic growth.

"These reforms negatively affect the human rights of people, particularly workers. It increases inequality and discrimination in the labor market," added Valero.

"Venezuela suffers a multifaceted economic aggression. Internal and foreign factors are conspiring and seeking to erode our participatory democracy, affecting the quality of life of our people." However, our government maintains its social justice policies, to provide the greatest amount of happiness possible to our people," Valero said.

In this sense, he emphasized that the Bolivarian Revolution guarantees the rights of workers, with a broad and sustained social investment, reinforcing programs to protect the family.

"Venezuela will never implement neoliberal programs, which impose the financial institutions of Bretton Woods on many countries, as they seek to broaden the benefits of capital, to the detriment of the demands of working people".

Venezuela: A world example of housing.

Referring to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, Valero praised that the same report warns of the dangers of housing commodification and its negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights. "The rapporteur, Farha, has also stressed that a huge amount of world capital has been invested in housing, with mercantilist criteria, and as a means to accumulate wealth in the hands of a few," said the ambassador.

Valero said that the right to adequate housing is, in Venezuela, a fundamental human right, with a constitutional rank, which has become a priority policy of the State.

"In Venezuela, ambitious programs are being implemented, such as the ‘Great Program Housing Venezuela’. In the last six years we have built 1 million 500 thousand free homes for the popular sectors at solidarity prices. Millions of homes, in a country that today has approximately 30 million inhabitants. These figures are a record in the world”.

At the end of his address he quoted President Nicolás Maduro's words: "Everyone has the right to adequate, safe, comfortable, hygienic housing with essential basic services that include a habitat that humanises family, neighborhood and community relations”.

"This presidential statement is now a reality in Bolivarian Venezuela”, concluded the Venezuelan ambassador. (Venezuela Mission to UN Geneva).

5

www.mppre.gov.ve

KENYA:

RWANDA:

UGANDA: TANZANIA: SOMALIA:

Ugandans invent ‘Smart Jacket’ to diagnose Pneumonia

PROMOTING THE UNKNOWN ABOUT AFRICA

"The processed information is sent to a mobile phone app (via Bluetooth) which analyses the information in comparison to known data so as to get an estimate of the strength of the disease," said Turyabagye.

Telecommunications engineer Olivia Koburongo fits a child with the mama-ope kit at the Makerere University of Public Health in Kampala.

The jacket, which is still only a prototype, can diagnose pneumonia up to three times faster than a doctor and reduces human error, according to studies done by its inventors.

A team of Ugandan engineers has invented a "smart jacket" that diagnoses pneumonia faster than a doctor, offering hope against a disease which kills more children worldwide than any other.

"The problem we're trying to solve is diagnosing pneumonia at an early stage before it gets severe and we're also trying to solve the problem of not enough manpower in hospitals because currently we have a doctor to patient ratio which is one to 24,000 in the country," said Koburongo.

The idea came to Olivia Koburongo, 26, after her grandmother fell ill, and was moved from hospital to hospital before being properly diagnosed with pneumonia.

Global ambition

"It was now too late to save her," said Koburongo.It was too hard to keep track of her vitals, of how she's doing, and that is how I thought of a way to automate the whole process and keep track of her health."

Turyabagye said plans were underway to have the kit piloted in Uganda's referral hospitals and then trickle down to remote health centres.

"Once you have this information captured on cloud storage, it means a doctor who is not even in the rural area, who is not on the ground, can access the same information from any patient and it helps in making an informed decision," he added.

Koburongo took her idea to fellow telecommunications engineering graduate Brian Turyabagye, 24, and together with a team of doctors they came up with the "Mama-Ope" (Mother's Hope) kit made up of a biomedical smart jacket and a mobile phone application which does the diagnosis.

The team is also working on patenting the kit, which is shortlisted for the 2017 Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize.

Pneumonia -- a severe lung infection -- kills up to 24,000 Ugandan children under the age of five per year, many of whom are misdiagnosed as having malaria, according to the UN children's agency UNICEF.

"Once it is successful (in Uganda) we hope it is rolled out to other African countries and major parts of the world where pneumonia is killing thousands of children," said Koburongo.

A lack of access to laboratory testing and infrastructure in poor communities means health workers often have to rely on simple clinical examinations to make their diagnoses.

According to UNICEF, most of the 900,000 annual deaths of children under five due to pneumonia occur in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

This is more than other causes of childhood death such as diarrhoea, malaria, meningitis or HIV/AIDS.

Bluetooth diagnosis With the easy-to-use Mama-Ope kit, health workers merely have to slip the jacket onto the child, and its sensors will pick up sound patterns from the lungs, temperature and breathing rate.

www.newvision.co.ug

6