Bashir said that she would not only work for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, but would also work on her mission against child marriages.

Ms. Bashir has taken the challenge of ending child marriage in her community where they are considered a norm. Very young girls are regularly offered for marriages in exchange for settling disputes among the families.

Hadiqa shared her experience of selection by the United Nations in the latest class of 17 young leaders for Sustainable Development Goals saying, “About 7,000 young leaders from 172 countries applied for the 2020 class. Luckily, I have been selected from Pakistan by the UN with 16 other young leaders from across the world.”

“It is not just an honor for me, but the whole country,” she added.

Hadiqa had been working against child marriages in the Malakand division since she was 13 years old. Under Sustainable Development Goals, Ms. Bashir will work to ensure quality education, end gender-based violence, end poverty, and empower all women and girls. She indicated that she would work actively to engage the young girls and women in achieving these Sustainable Development Goals.

“As a young leader, my mission of ending child marriages in my region will continue with my new responsibility. An educated woman can do a respectable job and she does not have to rely upon her husband on her own needs”, she added.

In 2015, Hadiqa Bashir had also received the Mohammad Ali Humanitarian Award and Asian Girls Human Rights Ambassador award in 2016.

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The Education ministry had decided to reopen schools in different phases. In the first phase, grades nine, ten, colleges, universities have welcomed students back. However, secondary and primary classes will resume later in this month.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a tweet, “It was our priority and collective responsibility to ensure that every child can go to school safely to learn”.

The National Command Operation Center (NCOC) issued instructions telling parents to ensure their children follow SOPs, which includes wearing masks. The Center also ordered that children should not go to school if they are having symptoms including cough and fever.

In that case, parents should have the child tested. If they any test positive for Covid-19, they are asked to inform the educational institution.

Usage of sanitizer and ensuring social distancing is also advised by NCOC.

Education Minister ‘Shafqat Mehmood’ said parents, teachers, and administrations have to play an active role in upholding all safety measures.

Unfortunately, after the gradual reopening schools, it has been reported that 22 educational institutions have been closed across the country.  These schools reportedly failed to follow SOPs as required by the NCOC.

The agency said that it had to close the schools that were not in compliance in order to curb the spread of Covid-19.

16 of these educational institutions are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1 in Islamabad, and 5 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

It is unclear as to when, or if, these schools will be allowed to re-open.

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While Pakistan has had issues with its overall healthcare system, the country has managed to successfully ‘flattened the curve’ as it relates to new COVID-19 cases.

Across the globe approximately 27.5 million people have been infected by Covid-19 and reports indicate that as many as 900,000 or more have died since December 2019.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus touted seven countries including Pakistan, Italy, Thailand, Mongolia, Mauritius, and Uruguay at a recent press event. Tedros pointed to these countries as examples to the rest of the world in terms of how to deal with a global pandemic.

Dr. Tedros said, “Pakistan has used the infrastructure it developed in its fight against polio to tackle Covid-19”. “Community health workers who previously were used vaccinate children from polio, have been redeployed for contact tracing and monitoring”.

Tedros mentioned that Italy was among the countries to experience a very large outbreak. He then said that it was the dedication of health workers with unity and solidarity which he believed ultimately brought the outbreak under the control.

In Mongolia, where so far there have been no COVID related deaths or even cases reported, Terdos commended the government for reacting quickly and activating its State Emergency Committee back in January.

Dr. Tedros explained that Thailand has benefited from 40 years of a well-resourced public health and medical sector which are supported by strong leadership in Thailand.

The system there centers around trust and compliance. This is achieved using one million village health volunteers who communicate and build confidence with the people.

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Pakistan is certain that intra-Afghan dialogue could help in regional stability, however, the peace process remains stalled over disagreements on a prisoner exchange.

This meeting was also attended by the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt General Faiz Hameed. Several analysts say that ISI, a spy agency, has close ties with armed groups in Afghanistan.

Pakistan is among the three countries that recognized the Taliban’s government when it ruled Kabul between 1996 and 2001. This is the second Taliban visit to Pakistan. Last year in October, a delegation led by Mullah Baradar visited Islamabad.

The main purpose of this meeting was to focus on recent developments in the Afghan peace process and the assembling of Intra-Afghan talks. Other issues, including Afghan refugees, were also discussed in the meeting.

If we trace the reasons for the slowed Intra-Afghan peace talks, the primary factor appears to be the delay in the release of the remaining 320 Taliban prisoners by the Kabul government.

Afghanistan was to release 5,000 Taliban fighters in exchange for its 1,000 security personnel held by the insurgents under an agreement signed between the United States and Taliban in February.

The Foreign Office said that FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi emphasized the need for implementing the US-Taliban agreement entirely – indicating that Afghanistan is not living up to its part of the deal.

Many diplomats say Pakistan, a leading regional active player, has been playing a crucial role for a reduction in violence and soothing the way for peace talks.

The post Pakistan Desires to Resume Intra-Afghan Peace Talks Soon appeared first on CitizenNewsWire.

Recent data has been released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showing that African-Americans have been hospitalized at a higher rate than any other racial group. According to the report, Black Americans are about 4.7 times as likely as non-Hispanic white Americans to be hospitalized due to this pandemic.

However, the CDC has pointed out some of the factors that are contributing to this situation. The major reason behind the higher rate of COVID-19 cases among Black people is that they live in highly dense populated areas.

Black people have several other health problems that increase the risk of their being affected while they also have inadequate health sources.

 There are some social determinants of health that analyze why Black Americans are more affected by COVID-19.

According to the National Center for Health Sciences, the obesity rate among African-Americans is much higher than the other social groups. Whereas, Dr. Deidra Candice Crews says there are several societal factors that accord the obesity rate among Black Americans.

Meanwhile, the higher obesity rate and other chronic diseases are not the only reasons for the higher rate of COVID-19 cases among Black Americans. Another reason that incorporates is that Black Americans mostly live in densely populated areas where it is nearly impossible to practice social distancing.

CDC reports that there are healthcare disparities along racial and ethnic lines in American society. These gaps in the healthcare system contribute towards the limited healthcare sources for Black Americans. All the factors are connected with structural inequality, racism, and segregation that had affected the lives of Black Americans for many decades.

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