Features
International Women’s Day: UN Secretary-General urges “sustainable feminist recovery”
As the world moved ahead to mark International Women’s Day, the clock on women’s rights is still moving backwards. All of us are paying the price.
The cascading crises of recent years have highlighted how women’s leadership is more crucial than ever. Women have heroically confronted the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors, nurses, and public health and social care workers.
But at the same time, women and girls have been the first to lose out on jobs or schooling, taking on more unpaid care work, and facing skyrocketing levels of domestic and cyber abuse and child marriage.
The pandemic has highlighted even more starkly an age-old truth: the roots of patriarchy run deep. We still live in a male-dominated world with a male dominated culture.
As a result, in good times or bad, women are more likely to fall into poverty. Their healthcare is sacrificed, and their education and opportunities are curtailed.
And in countries enduring conflict — as we see from Ethiopia to Afghanistan to Ukraine — women and girls are the most vulnerable but also the most compelling voices for peace.
As we look to the future, a sustainable and equal recovery for all is only possible if it is a feminist recovery — one that puts progress for girls and women at its centre.
We need economic progress through targeted investments in women’s education, employment, training, and decent work. Women should be first in line for the 400 million jobs we are called to create by 2030.
We need social progress through investments in social protection systems and the care economy. Such investments yield huge dividends, creating green, sustainable jobs, while supporting members of our societies that need assistance, including children, older people and the sick.
We need financial progress, to reform a morally bankrupt global financial system, so all countries can invest in a woman-centred economic recovery. This includes debt relief and fairer tax systems that channel some of the massive pockets of wealth around the world to those who need it most.
We need urgent, transformative climate action, to reverse the reckless increase in emissions and gender disparities that have left women and girls disproportionately vulnerable.
Developed countries must urgently deliver on their commitments on finance and technical support for a just transition from fossil fuels. The successful, stable economies of the future will be green, gender-inclusive and sustainable.
We need more women in leadership in government and business, including finance ministers and CEOs, developing, and implementing green and socially progressive policies that benefit all their people.
We know, for example, that having more women in parliaments is linked with stronger climate commitments and higher levels of investment in healthcare and education.
We need political progress through targeted measures that ensure women’s equal leadership and representation at all levels of political decision-making, through bold gender quotas.
Gender disparity is essentially a question of power. Uprooting centuries of patriarchy demands that power is equally shared across every institution, at every level.
At the United Nations, we have achieved — for the first time in the organisation’s history — gender parity in senior management at headquarters and around the world. This has dramatically improved our ability to better reflect and represent the communities we serve.
Every step of the way, we can take inspiration from women and girls pushing for progress in every sphere and every corner of our globe. Young women climate campaigners are leading global efforts to pressure governments to live up to their commitments.
Women’s rights activists are bravely demanding parity and justice, and building more peaceful societies as peacekeepers, peacemakers, and humanitarians in some of the world’s trouble zones and beyond.
In societies where women’s rights movements are vibrant, democracies are stronger. When the world invests in expanding opportunities for women and girls, all of humanity wins.
As a matter of justice, equality, morality, and plain common sense, we need to turn the clock forward on women’s rights. We need a sustainable, feminist recovery centred around — and driven by — women and girls.
Features
The global challenge of medical malpractice
Introduction
Medical malpractice is a significant concern worldwide, with far-reaching consequences for patients, healthcare providers, and the overall healthcare system.
It is defined as a deviation from the standard of care that results in patient harm, and can take many forms, including misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication mistakes, and inadequate patient care.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of the issues surrounding medical malpractice, its consequences, and potential solutions.
The prevalence of
medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice is a widespread problem that affects patients in many countries. According to a study published in the Journal of Patient Safety, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, resulting in an estimated 251,000 deaths per year. Similarly, a study published in the British Medical Journal found that medical errors are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the UK.
Types of medical
malpractice
Medical malpractice can take many forms, including:
1. Misdiagnosis: Failure to accurately diagnose a patient’s condition, leading to delayed or inappropriate treatment.
2. Surgical errors: Mistakes made during surgery, such as operating on the wrong body part or leaving instruments inside a patient.
3. Medication errors: Prescribing or administering the wrong medication, dose, or route of administration.
4. Inadequate patient care: Failure to provide adequate care, including neglecting to monitor patients, provide necessary treatment, or respond to patient concerns.
Consequences of medical malpractice:
Medical malpractice can have severe consequences for patients, including:
1. Physical harm: Patients may experience pain, suffering, and long-term health consequences.
2. Emotional trauma: Patients and their families may experience anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
3. Financial burden: Patients may incur significant medical expenses, lost wages, and other costs.
Solutions to medical malpractice:
To address the issue of medical malpractice, many countries have implemented reforms aimed at reducing the number of claims and improving patient safety. Some potential solutions include:
1. Tort reform: Limiting the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice cases.
2. Alternative dispute resolution: Using mediation or arbitration to resolve disputes outside of court.
3. Communication and Resolution Programs (CRPs): Encouraging open communication between healthcare providers and patients, and providing fair compensation for injuries.
Conclusion
Medical malpractice is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted approach to address.
By understanding the prevalence, types, and consequences of medical malpractice, we can work towards creating a safer and more compassionate healthcare system.
Potential solutions, such as tort reform, alternative dispute resolution, and CRPs, offer promising approaches to reducing medical malpractice claims and improving patient safety.
References:
[1] Makary, M. A., & Daniel, M. (2016). Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US. BMJ, 353, i2139.
[2] Vincent, C., Neale, G., & Woloshynowych, M. (2001). Adverse events in British hospitals: preliminary retrospective record review. BMJ, 322(7285), 517-519.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
Features
Life is like a quiz competition
I watched a quiz show on TV last Sunday, between two schools, Okuapeman and I think University Practice. After the first round, University Practice was leading with about 30 points and Okuapeman had nothing.
Then comes the second round of the intended four rounds of competition and at the end of the round, surprise, surprise, Okuapeman had 60 points and University Practice had either zero or 10.
In the final analysis, Okuapeman won the competition with 95 points to University Practice’s 90 or 93 points. Such is life and the mysteries of life, are difficult to fathom.
There are classmates that we thought could not amount to much in life and yet we become pleasantly surprised as time passed, about the vast improvement in their lives.
There were other mates who were obviously destined for the top, based on their academic prowess but became complete failures later on in life.
When I was in the primary school, there was a classmate who most of the time came first in the end of term exams. He was very brilliant and so he going further up the academic ladder through Secondary school, Sixth form and ending up at the University was a forgone conclusion.
However, life’s mystery set in and he ended up as a teacher in a technical school owned by his brother-in-law. He did not amount to much, became an alcoholic and eventually passed away.
The day I heard that he had passed away and his general circumstances, I felt so sad. Such is life and sometimes it is like the quiz competition I witnessed, full of uncertainties.
There was another senior in Middle School, who also was very brilliant. In fact he got a score of 254 out of 300 in the Common Entrance Examination. Many years later, in my early years at the University, I met this guy at the Tarkwa Train Station and got the shock of my life. This guy was wearing a dirty, loosely fitting singlet and his state was pitiful.
Naturally after expressing pleasantries, I asked him what he was doing in Tarkwa after telling him that I was a student at the university. He then narrated how he was dismissed from the most prestigious Secondary School in the Kwahu area after some smoking and going out without exeat issue.
He further indicated that as a result, he was then hustling and doing Galamsey to make ends meet. I would have had a hard time believing that he was doing Galamsey and not working in a reputable organisation or institution if it was told me by someone. Indeed life can sometimes be like a quiz competition, if God is not involved.
Since we are not God and therefore do not have knowledge of what the future holds, we need to treat people who come across our paths well because you never know.
When I went for the funeral of one of my aunties, on my father side, with my SUV many years ago, a lot of my relatives were surprised because they never imagined that.
When it comes to say wealth, it has nothing to do with one’s academic qualifications. We have some of the wealthiest people who were school dropouts and so we need to be careful how we treat people, because life is like a quiz competition and you never know until the competition comes to an end.
I have seen someone who was not that nice looking, the nose being flat and all, and then 12 years later, such a huge natural transformation; so never write anybody off, because life is like a quiz competition. God bless.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
