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Arab News
4 hours ago
- Health
- Arab News
Pakistan reports new polio case in northwest, raising 2025 tally to 12
KARACHI: Pakistan's polio eradication program on Friday said a new wild poliovirus case had been detected in the country's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total tally of 2025 cases to 12. Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, making prevention through vaccination critical. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine, along with the completion of the routine immunization schedule for all children, are essential to build strong immunity against the virus. The country conducted three nationwide vaccination campaigns in February, April and May, aiming to immunize around 45 million children across Pakistan with the support of over 400,000 frontline workers including 225,000 women vaccinators. 'The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, has confirmed a new case of wild poliovirus in District Bannu, South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,' the body said in a statement. 'The 33-month-old male child from Union Council Shamsikhel, District Bannu is the sixth case of polio reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year.' Pakistan has reported 12 polio cases so far this year, including six from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four from the southern Sindh province and one each from the populous Punjab province and the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. Pakistan, one of the last two countries where polio remains endemic along with Afghanistan, has made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. However, the country reported an alarmingly high number of 74 cases in 2024, after six in 2023 and only one in 2021. Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Thursday claimed that Pakistan has recorded a 99 percent decline in polio cases, as he urged global vaccine organization Gavi to invest more in efforts to 'train and retain' vaccinators. Pakistan launched its polio eradication program in 1994, but its efforts have repeatedly been hindered by widespread vaccine misinformation and resistance from hard-line religious groups who claim immunization campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children or a front for espionage. Militant groups have also targeted polio workers and police officials providing them security, often with deadly attacks that have hampered vaccination drives, particularly in the country's remote and conflict-prone regions.
Irish Times
17 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Nurses risked everything for us during the pandemic. Now many are abandoned to its awful legacy
It's not a question of if, but when. Scientists are warning that a new pandemic is lurking over the horizon poised to pounce on us. 'It's an epidemiological certainty,' says WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 'Are we ready for the next one?' asks everyone from Boston College and Johns Hopkins University to the Economist and the United Nations. 'No,' is the straight answer for this country. READ MORE Ireland's grubby treatment of its Covid-19 heroes will cause some frontline workers to think twice the next time before they risk their lives for the greater good. Specifically, the nurses – those people who did not have the luxury of working from home, who imperilled themselves by caring for the infected, who self-isolated while off duty and eschewed public transport to avoid transmitting the virus, who hesitated to touch their own children but held the hands of the dying when their families could not be with them in the final days of their lives and who then zipped them inside body bags and phoned their kin to inform them the one they loved had gone. They did it in terrifying circumstances under the claustrophobic weight of protective gowns, hairnets, shoe covers, gloves, face shields and masks. In the early days, the masks were the standard surgical type and sorely inadequate. There were no vaccines for the first 10 months. Nurses and other hospital workers saw colleagues fall ill and be taken away to ICU to be put on ventilators. More than 20 healthcare workers died from Covid. What thanks have they got for all that? A €1,000 crisis bonus that their union representatives had to beg for before it was eventually paid. [ My battle with long Covid: I was in disbelief. Was I making it up? How could I not stand up while the kettle boiled? Opens in new window ] To this day, there is a cohort of forgotten heroes whose abandonment brings shame on us all. They are the ones who went out and defended the barriers for the rest of us and now they are living with that awful legacy called long Covid. While normal life of honking traffic, construction sites, children in school uniforms, packed restaurants and pubs and big weddings has resumed outside their front door, they remain trapped in a post-pandemic freeze frame. Extreme fatigue, brain fog, weakened immunity, headaches, muscular pain, palpitations and shortness of breath have left them unable to go back to work. Some days, they cannot even get out of bed. One young nurse who was assigned to a Covid ward in a big Dublin hospital told me she has cardiac complications and has been on antibiotics four times in the past seven months. Another said she contracted Covid in January 2021, that zero hour following the Government's 'meaningful Christmas'. Four and a half years later, she is attending a long Covid clinic and is being treated by an infectious diseases consultant, a cardiac consultant, a GP and an occupational therapist. She is on daily medication for tachycardia (fast heart rate) as well as low-dose naltrexone (LDN), aspirin for micro-clots, painkillers and numerous supplements. [ The healthcare workers with long Covid: 'I'm living with the consequences of a 'meaningful Christmas'' Opens in new window ] She is one of 20 nurses with long Covid who are suing the HSE, the Department of Health and their employer hospitals for compensation. They issued the High Court proceedings two years ago. The State is fighting them. Simultaneously, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) was in the Labour Court last week seeking to extend a long Covid special payment scheme for public health workers who are still suffering the consequences. The scheme, which has been extended three times already following public controversy, is scheduled to expire on June 30th. Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has told the Dáil it will definitely be terminated this time. The departments of Social Protection and Public Expenditure maintain it is not possible to definitively identify the source of infection for each of the 120 nurses affected. The last time the State was so ruthlessly parsimonious was when Charlie Haughey precipitated the 1989 general election rather than sanction £400,000 compensation for 106 individuals who had been infected with the Aids virus by State-supplied blood. It's an attitude that brings to mind Oscar Wilde's definition of a fool as one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. An asinine State is one willing to pay €335,000 for a politicians' bike shelter but repays its true champions with the threat of impoverishment. Ireland and Greece are the only EU countries that do not recognise Covid and long Covid as an occupational illness for patient-facing workers If the special long Covid payment scheme ends in two weeks, its current recipients will be switched to the normal public service sick leave scheme. It means that for the first three months they will receive their basic wage – with no allowance made for the night-duty premiums and overtime many nurses rely on. They will get half their wage for the subsequent three months. With rents or mortgages to pay, their worry amid a national homelessness crisis raises the stress levels long Covid thrives on. During the pandemic, our cocooned communities gathered outside our homes in the grim lockdown evenings to applaud the country's frontline workers for caring for us. Even TDs stood in the Dáil chamber to clap. How would we have reacted had we known then that this would be the thanks they would get? 'It's gone from a round of applause to a middle finger from the Government,' said a nurse identified as Siobhán on RTÉ radio last year. Ireland and Greece are the only EU countries that do not recognise Covid and, ergo, long Covid as an occupational illness for patient-facing workers. That anomaly means nurses, doctors, porters, caterers, paramedics, fire fighters, gardaí and everyone else who contracted long Covid while protecting the rest of us are ineligible for occupational injury benefit payments. A Department of Social Protection report in November 2023 suggested that uncertainty about the condition's longevity in individual cases was a prohibitive factor. What a callous calculation that must be to ponder if you cannot get out of bed and don't know when you ever will. Our culture takes nurses for granted. We'll pat them on the head and call them our angels of mercy, because tokenism works when you are dealing with people motivated by a vocational duty to the greater good. They deserve better.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Zebra Technologies Unveils EM45 Android-Based Enterprise Mobile Computer
Zebra Technologies Corporation ZBRA recently introduced EM45 Enterprise Mobile, an Android-based handheld mobile computer. The new solution is part of the broader EM45 series, which also features the EM45 RFID EM45 Enterprise Mobile supports multiple user profiles with separate professional and personal settings. This allows the users to carry a single device to their workplace. The device is equipped with an AI-capable Qualcomm processor. It features one-touch push-to-talk communication and three actionable buttons for quick barcode scanning and emergency alerts. The EM45 Enterprise Mobile supports ZBRA's Workstation Connect, which enables the device to function like a ZBRA solution also comes with a high-capacity battery that is capable of delivering up to 25 hours of uninterrupted power. The company's DNA software suite makes it easy to set up and manage the device. This slim and durable solution is aimed at improving productivity for frontline managers and workers across industries such as retail, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing and EM45 Enterprise Mobile is designed to handle a wide range of tasks. In retail, it is capable of reading digital wallets, scanning products and accepting payments. This facilitates efficient inventory management for users and reduces product loss. For users across the postal, transportation and logistics sectors, this solution improves route management and provides product delivery proof. Its 50MP camera also captures clear photos and videos and quickly scans barcodes. In the healthcare sector, the device helps medical staff to monitor the location and condition of patients and medical equipment. Zebra Technologies is benefiting from an increase in sales of mobile computing and data capture solutions within the Enterprise Visibility & Mobility segment. Higher sales of RFID products are boosting the Asset Intelligence & Tracking segment's performance. However, the company has been dealing with the adverse impacts of the increased cost of sales. Foreign currency headwinds may affect ZBRA's top currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). In the year-to-date period, the stock has lost 25.1%, in line with the industry. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Some better-ranked companies are discussed below:Life360, Inc. LIF currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 425%. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Life360's 2025 earnings has increased 9.1%. Holdings, Inc. ALRM presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). It has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 15.7%.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALRM's 2025 earnings has increased 1.3% in the past 60 Inc. BWEN presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 61.1%.In the past 60 days, the consensus estimate for BWEN's 2025 earnings has increased 14.3%. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Broadwind Energy, Inc. (BWEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Holdings, Inc. (ALRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Life360, Inc. (LIF) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Actor Noah Wyle plays a doctor on TV. He's also advocating for health care workers like his mom
Noah Wyle, who stars in medical drama, wants more support for health care workers like his mom Actor Noah Wyle, known for playing medical professionals in TV shows from "ER" to "The Pitt," is using his career experiences and personal connection to the health care industry to help advocate change for frontline workers. Alongside his mom — who had been a nurse for more than four decades — he says he's lobbying for legislation to improve their lives when it comes to staffing shortages and burnout. "A lot of these people have been in these tours of duty nonstop for five years without a break," said Wyle, who stars as Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch on "The Pitt." Wyle and his mom, Marjorie Wyle-Katz, are on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., this week with a group organized by FIGS, a health care apparel company, advocating for three bills. "One is to pass and fund the Lorna Breen Act … it is geared towards making evidence-based mental health resources available to frontline workers," Wyle explained. A second bill would offer a tax credit to frontline workers, he said, "where there hasn't been one before to offset some of the pay disparity." The third piece of legislation would relieve the administrative burden put on health care workers. "This is not just a workforce problem, this is a patient care problem. The trickle down of these things not being enacted will affect all of us eventually," Wyle said. Wyle-Katz told "CBS Mornings" that nurses are advocates for their patients, and that she believes they are not adequately compensated. "Nurses can't bill for their time and their skills. Whenever there's a budget cut, the nurses are the first to go." Beyond finances, Wyle-Katz expressed concerns about safety in the workplace for nurses and health care workers. "When patients come to the hospital, they're either injured or sick, and they're very afraid. They're not seen often in a timely manner, which leads to frustration, which escalates to anger," she said. Wyle's career on health care TV shows Wyle, who starred in "ER" for more than a decade, said he wanted to create "The Pitt" to show what it's like to work as a frontline health care worker and the toll it's taken on medical professionals, both mentally and physically, following the COVID-19 pandemic. "This was intended to be a love letter to frontline workers, health care workers, to let them feel very seen and heard right now," Wyle said. "'ER' was a wonderful depiction of health care in America pre-COVID, but there hadn't really been a show that was addressing what was happening post-COVID yet." Wyle said he is thankful for his mom, who he jokingly said has always been there to ensure accuracy. "She's got a whole army out there working on her behalf to point out my discrepancies," he said. "He always says that I called him at 11:01 p.m. and told him what he did wrong. Now since, through the internet, now he has about 16 million moms who can tell him," Wyle-Katz added. "I want to tell you how much I admire Noah, and all the people on "The Pitt," for bringing health care to the forefront and all the crises happening now in our health care system and for making their show a platform for change," she said.
National Post
01-06-2025
- Business
- National Post
Union Remains at the Table - WSIB Stalls as Strike Continues
Article content TORONTO — The union representing frontline workers at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) remains fully committed to reaching a fair deal and ending the ongoing strike. Union negotiators have been at the bargaining table every day this week, prepared and available to bargain in good faith. Article content Article content Despite our continued presence and dedication, the WSIB refused to meet to engage in discussion yesterday (Saturday) about the issues affecting the membership. The WSIB continues to use stall tactics and delays in responding to outstanding issues in any substantial capacity while our members are on strike. Article content On the heels of the union's repeated demands to engage in face-to-face meaningful negotiations, the WSIB has responded with silence or delay. The latest offer from the employer falls short on addressing workload and includes wages of 2.5%, 2.0% and 1.5%. WSIB employees are worth more. Article content As our members continue to walk the picket lines and as injured workers across Ontario face increasing hardship, the WSIB's actions, or lack thereof, are deliberately prolonging this strike, with little regard for the real-world impacts on injured workers and frontline staff. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
