stories by Paul James

The Joint Action Committee of Unions at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) recently declared full scale strike following the non-release of Dr Usen Uwah, abducted last Friday.
Uwah, who is a consultant paediatric surgeon, was kidnapped Friday night on his way home from duty at the hospital.

Newsday reports that doctors have since Monday been on work-to-rule action to press for the release of their senior colleague.

“Since Dr Usen Uwah has not been released and nothing is heard about his wellbeing, we wish to inform you that a decision has been taken to embark on strike from 8 a.m. of Wednesday 14 July, 2010 until our co-staff, Dr Usen Uwah, consultant paediatric surgeon is released,” the unions said.

In the circular signed by Chairmen of six unions, including Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), which rarely go on strike, the unions regretted any inconvenience the action might cause members of the public.

Newsday reports that the teaching hospital is the only viable and comprehensive public health facility in Uyo, the state capital.
When Newsday visited the hospital recently morning, the pharmacy, different cash points, administrative offices, the laboratories and even Accident and Emergency Department were deserted.
At the hospital, only contracted security men, staff members of the Chief Medical Director's office and key senior staff members were seen discussing in small groups.

At the men surgery ward, Miss Grace Etim, attending to the father, told Newsday that since morning the father, who was due for injection had not been given any yet because of the strike.
She said that she was worried about the situation and prayed that the absence of medical personnel at the ward should not worsen the father's case.

Etim, who claimed to know the abducted Uwah, described the victim as a caring, considerate, experienced and mature medical doctor and prayed for his quick release given his age at this wet season.
Speaking with Newsday, a clinical consultant at the hospital, Dr Memfin Ekpo, called on the Nigerian government to protect the life of the least person in the society just like what obtained in America .
Ekpo, who a member of MDCAN, decried the spate of kidnapping of doctors in the state and called on the government to put a stop to the ugly trend.

“If I have my way, there will be no elections in this country, if we can't get rid of kidnapping,” Ekpo said.
At the office of the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Etete Peters, series of meetings were on with the Director of Administration, the Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee and others on how to solve the crisis.

In his earlier reaction to this abduction, the Secretary General, Association of Residents Medical Doctors, Dr Dolapor Shittu, said that the situation was becoming unbearable and urged government to protect the doctors.
He alleged that in all 10 doctors had been kidnapped in the state and one killed so far.
Shittu said that it took much for one to read to become a medical doctor and that the ugly trend if not checked could lead to brain drain in the state.

Some Resident Doctors in Gombe abandoned the ongoing strike recently to treat victims of a petrol tanker accident.
Newsday reports that the tanker had rammed into some buildings and parked vehicles opposite the hospital and went up in flames, killing and injuring several people.
Sources in the hospital told Newsday that the situation was so pathetic that some striking doctors rushed to the hospital to assist in treating the injured.

Some of the doctors, who spoke to Newsday on condition of anonymity, said they were touched by the incident and had to respond to save lives.
``By our calling, we cannot standby watching people die helplessly, especially under such emergency situations,” said one of the doctors.

Another one explained that the nature of the accident was peculiar and that no responsible doctor would look the other way when confronted with such a situation. .
``We are talking about people brought with severe burns from a tragic accident like this one. Under such condition, our human nature will take a better part of us,'' he said.

They prayed that the contentious issue that resulted in the strike would be resolved in earnest to pave way for the calling off of the industrial action.
Newsday reports that 11 persons were burnt beyond recognition and nine seriously injured in the accident.
As at the time of filing this report, several other dead bodies were still trapped in burning buildings and shops

UNDP, Oxford Varsity Unveil New Index To Measure Poverty

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UK-based Oxford University have launched a new index to measure poverty levels which they said gave a "multi-dimensional" picture of people living in hardship.

They also said that the index could help target development resources more effectively.
A UNDP statement said the new measure, known as the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index or MPI, was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with UNDP support.

It said that the index would be featured in the forthcoming 20th anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development Report and would also replace the Human Poverty Index which had been included in the reports since 1997.
`` This year's Human Development Report will be published in late October, but research findings from the MPI
were made available on Wednesday at a polic y forum in London and online on the websites of OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report.

`` MPI assesses a range of critical factors or deprivations at the household level: from education to health outcomes to assets and services.
``Taken together, these factors provide a fuller portrait of acute poverty than simple income measures,'' the statement said.

It said that the measure revealed the nature and extent of poverty at different levels from household up to regional, national and international levels.
``The MPI is like a high resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households, OPHI Director Sabina Alkire, who created the MPI with James Foster of George Washington University, said.
The statement also disclosed that the UNDP Human Development Report Office was joining forces with OPHI to promote international discussions on the practical applicability of the multi-dimensional approach to measuring poverty.

`` We are featuring the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index in the 20th anniversary edition of the Human Development Report this year because we consider it a highly innovative approach to quantifying acute poverty,'' Jeni Klugman, Director of the UNDP Human Development Report Office and the principal author of
This year's report, said.

``The MPI provides a fuller measure of poverty than the traditional dollar-a-day formulas.
``It is a valuable addition to the family of instruments we use to examine broader aspects of well-being, including UNDP's Human Development Index and other measures of inequality across the population and between genders.
OPHI researchers analysed data from 104 countries with a combined population of 5.2 billion or 78 per cent of the world's total.

About 1.7 billion people in the countries covered a third of their entire population live in multi-dimensional poverty, according to the MPI.
``This exceeds the 1.3 billion people, in those same countries, estimated to live on $1.25 a day or less, the more commonly accepted measure of extreme poverty," it said.
It said MPI also captured distinct and broader aspects of poverty, noting that 90 per cent of people are MPI poor in Ethiopia compared to the 39 per cent who are classified as living in extreme poverty under income terms alone.
Conversely, it said 89 per cent of Tanzanians are extreme income-poor, compared to 65 per cent who are MPI poor.
The MPI captures deprivations directly in health and educational outcomes and key services such as water, sanitation and electricity.

In some countries, these resources are provided free or at low cost while in others, they are out of reach even for many working people with an income.
Half of the world's poor as measured by the MPI live in South Asia (51 per cent or 844 million people) and one quarter in Africa (28 per cent or 458 million).

It stated that Niger had the greatest intensity and incidence of poverty in any country with 93 per cent of the population classified as poor in MPI terms.
The MPI also revealed great variations within countries: Nairobi has the same level of MPI poverty as the Dominican Republic, whereas Kenya rural northeast is poorer in MPI terms than Niger.

The recently released 2010 UN Millennium Development Goals Report stressed that the MDGs would be fully realised only by addressing the needs of those most disadvantaged by geography, age, gender or ethnicity.