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Eruption of long-dormant Ethiopian volcano subsides

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: Volcanic activity in northern Ethiopia’s long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano subsided Tuesday after an eruption over the weekend that left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths.

Villages in the district of Afdera in the Afar region were covered in ash, officials said residents were coughing, and livestock found their grass and water totally covered.

India’s flag carrier, Air India, said it canceled 11 flights, most of them international, on Monday and Tuesday to inspect aircraft that may have flown over affected areas, acting on a directive from India’s aviation safety regulator.

Another Indian operator, Akasa Air, said it had canceled flights to Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi scheduled over the past two days.

At least seven international flights scheduled to depart from and arrive at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Indian capital of New Delhi were canceled on Tuesday, while at least a dozen were delayed, according to an official at the airport.

An official in charge of health in northern Ethiopia’s Afdera district, Abedella Mussa, said the residents were coughing and mobile medical services from the larger Afar region had been launched in the remote area.

“Two medical teams have been dispatched to the affected kebeles (neighborhoods) like Fia and Nemma-Gubi to provide mobile medical services,” he said.

Another official in charge of livestock, Nuur Mussa, said animals were unable to find clean water or grass. “Many animals, especially in the two affected kebeles, cannot drink clean water or feed on grass because it is covered by volcanic ash,” he said.

Atalay Ayele, a geologist at Addis Ababa University, said such eruptions occur because Ethiopia is situated along an active rift system where volcanism and earthquakes are frequent.

“This is the first recorded eruption of Hayli Gubbi in the last 10,000 years,” he told the AP. “It will likely continue for a short period and then stop until the next cycle.”

The ash cloud is moving towards China and is expected to clear Indian skies by 1400 GMT Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement.

The high-level winds carried the ash cloud from Ethiopia across the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, the Arabian Sea and then towards western and northern India, the weather office added.

Gulf news

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KSrelief Provides Winter Clothing Aid to Vulnerable Yemenis

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has concluded its winter clothing distribution project in Yemen’s Hadhramaut Governorate, providing 6,255 vouchers to vulnerable groups to purchase essential winter attire and cope with harsh seasonal temperatures.
This project is part of a broader humanitarian campaign by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide relief and improve living conditions for those in need across nations during the winter season.
— SPA

world

Tanzanian Conjoined Twins Arrive in Riyadh for Treatment

Following the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Tanzanian conjoined twins Lightness and Loveliness arrived today at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.
Accompanied by their parents, the twins were transferred to King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital for medical evaluation and to determine the possibility of separation surgery.
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) Supervisor General and head of the medical team Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah emphasized the Kingdom’s commitment to humanitarian values.
He expressed gratitude to the Saudi leadership for their ongoing support of the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program and global humanitarian efforts, highlighting the program’s excellence and the Kingdom’s prominent international standing in the medical sector.
The twins’ parents expressed heartfelt appreciation for the warm reception and generous hospitality extended by the government and people of Saudi Arabia, as well as for the prompt response to their children’s needs.
— SPA

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World is short of nearly a million midwives

A global shortage of nearly a million midwives is leaving pregnant women without the basic care needed to prevent harm, including the deaths of mothers and babies, according to new research.

Almost half the shortage was in Africa, where nine in 10 women lived in a country without enough midwives, the researchers said.

Anna af Ugglas, chief executive of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and one of the study’s authors, said: “Nearly 1 million missing midwives means health systems are stretched beyond capacity, midwives are overworked and underpaid, and care becomes rushed and fragmented.

“Intervention rates rise, and women are more likely to experience poor-quality care or mistreatment,” she said. “This is not only a workforce issue, it is a quality and safety issue for women and babies.”

For all women to receive safe, good-quality care before, during and after pregnancy, an additional 980,000 midwives would be needed across 181 countries, the study found.

According to previous research, universal access to midwife-delivered care could prevent two-thirds of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths, saving 4.3 million lives annually by 2035.

The ICM said the issue was not only a lack of training places for midwives, but also a failure in many countries to employ trained midwives where they were needed and to retain those who were working in health services.

Prof Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, ICM’s chief midwife and another of the report’s authors, said: “In many settings, midwives are educated but not absorbed into the workforce or not enabled to practise fully, compounding this already serious and universal shortage of midwives, and still leaving women without access to the care that midwives are trained to provide.”

More than 90% of the global midwife shortage was in low- and middle-income countries.

Africa has only 40% of the midwives it needs, the eastern Mediterranean only 31%, and the Americas just 15%, researchers found. Shortfalls were much smaller, although still present, in other regions including south-east Asia and Europe.

The study, published in the journal Women and Birth, estimated the number of midwives who would be needed to carry out a list of basic midwifery tasks for all eligible women and babies in 181 countries. The tasks included counselling on contraception, antenatal care and screening, and care during childbirth.

It then compared that total with current workforce numbers. The researchers noted some uncertainty because of the lack of adequate data.

Although midwife numbers were increasing, the gap between what was needed and the available workforce looked likely to “persist well into the next decade”, the researchers said – beyond the 2030 deadline set by global sustainable development goals to reduce maternal mortality and end preventable deaths of newborns and under-fives.

The ICM called on governments to take urgent action to strengthen midwifery workforces in their countries, calling for signatures on a global petition urging investment in the profession.

“When midwifery is a respected and well-supported profession, more women are motivated to train and stay in the workforce,” said af Ugglas. “That is how countries improve health outcomes and build stronger, more sustainable health systems.”

The Guardian