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International News

Zika Spreads Through the Americas

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is projected to infect up to 4 million people across the Americas in the next year.

Last May, public health authorities confirmed a re-outbreak of the virus in Northeast Brazil. Since October 2015, the virus has spread to other surrounding areas, including southern United States, according to Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

CDC_map_of_Zika_virus_distribution_in_January_2016The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern.” Margaret Chan, director of WHO forwarded a statement to Al Jazeera on the matter—”Last year, the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now spreading explosively. As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the region.”

Though there are strong suspicions behind the causal relationship between the virus and birth defects, Chan states that the claim cannot be confirmed yet.

The first outbreak was detected in Uganda in 1947. Fifteen miles outside the country’s capital Kampala lies the Zika forest where the first case was discovered. However, unlike the cases in the Americas, most of the local cases in Africa were mild, only resulting in a “rash, fever, and red eyes” for a few days. Julius Lutwama, top scientist for Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), believes there is an alteration of the virus from the one he discovered in Uganda to that of South America. “What has happened in South America is that it has changed a little bit… and through these changes it has become more aggressive towards humans,” Lutwama said. “This small change has resulted in it posing deep problems in the human population.”

Since there is no treatment or vaccine for the virus yet, countries are focusing their efforts on preventative measures first. In the case of El Salvador, Eduardo Espinoza, Vice Minister of Health, released a recommendation to the Salvadorans to “plan their pregnancies and try to avoid getting pregnant this year and the next.”

WHO, on the other hand, is planning on taking another route of preventative medicine by helping women reduce their risk of mosquito bites. They will implement this by providing more accessible mosquito nets and repellent.

The debate over whether women should abstain from getting pregnant has also brought up the heated discussion around abortion rights. People in this defense are equating the virus to that of a similar case in the 1960’s with the Rubella disease. Like Zika, Rubella had links to birth defects and abnormalities with pregnancies. However, because this was a decade shy of Roe v. Wade, the public debate did not go on for long. But as a result of the widespread discussion, more Americans “came to empathize with those mothers who has an illicit abortion” says Jasmine Garsd of National Public Broadcasting (NPR).

In the case of El Salvador, Espinoza plans to reduce pregnancies through natural ways, such as abstinence and condoms. But unlike the U.S., El Salvador does not have abortion-rights laws. Salvadoran abortion rights activist, Angela Rivas, see the situation differently. She claims that Zika will lead to “more clandestine abortions and a higher number of women being sent to jail.”
An emergency meeting will be held by WHO on Monday to discuss possible ways to battle the Zika virus. Until then, preventative measures have been taken to reduce risk of contracting the virus.

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News

After a Two Year Decline, the Incoming Class is Up 10% From Last Year

After two straight years of decline in enrollment, Houghton’s numbers have risen again. “We are back up,” said Eric Currie, Vice President for Enrollment Management.

There are 302 new students this fall, more than a ten percent increase compared to last year’s incoming class of 277. Of those 302 students, 50 are transfers and 26 are international. China, Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda, and Venezuela are just a few of the countries represented by the new students at Houghton.

In order to bring numbers up this semester the admissions team, alongside the marketing and the communications offices, thought of new ways to advertise Houghton College. “We started with updating the branding of the college,” said Ryan Spear, Associate Director of Admission. Through things like the “Rethink” campaign, Spear said the admissions team wanted to challenge prospective students to reconsider their education and what it means to them.

In an effort to reach out to prospective students, the admissions team made appearances this summer at events such as Soulfest, Creation, and Kingdom Bound. Also, the addition of new sports teams and the Kerr-Pegula athletic facility assisted in the increase in numbers of enrollment.

JoshDuttweiler_AdmissionsAdmissions attempted to emphasize the personalization of the application process, to which Currie and Spear attribute the success of incoming new students. Things such as personalized acceptance letters and arranging a perspective’s visitation day in an attempt to accommodate their interests are a few things that “set Houghton apart from other schools,” said Spear.

Even though it is time consuming to personalize so much of the prospective student process, it is certainly worth it to Spear. Prospective students ranked Houghton very high in personal communication. “My acceptance letter was really sweet and personal, it included things from my application and mentioned my recommendations which was cool,” said freshman, Erica Barney.

Admissions counselors helped incoming students to prepare and eager to attend Houghton. Barney said that her admissions counselor was “really sweet and right off the bat and was talking to me about what to look forward to when I came to Houghton.”

It wasn’t always easy getting potential students to enroll though, Currie said economics was the largest struggle this past year. In a survey taken by prospective students, the majority said the greatest barrier of being unable to attend Houghton was finances. Spear said fear of loans and affordability of  tuition kept potential students from applying to Houghton.

Now Houghton has a partnership with the Loan Repayment Assistance Program foundation (LRAP) to help out with those financial issues. Spear said that the LRAP serves as a “safety net for students.” This program covers up to 100% of all federal, private, and Parent PLUS loans at no cost to the student or parent. Spear said, “It addresses people’s financial confidence and allows students to pursue their calling right away.”

Admissions is hoping to meet their stretch goal of 315 enrolling new students in the fall of 2015 and is already preparing for next year, Currie said,“We are already in full swing.” Admissions recently ran their first email campaign and have already started to receive applications from prospective students. Spear said admissions staff will continue the personalization that is so well known of the college.

Admissions is reaching out to the largest number of students ever, visiting over 150 college fairs and 225 high schools this fall. Though that is likely to draw in many perspectives, the admissions team is trying not to get ahead of themselves. “We are trying to be realistic on what we can attain,” said Currie.

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News

War in South Sudan

South Sudan is the newest country in the world, born in July of 2011. For the first time in history people were able to go to the polls and over 99% of them voted for freedom. It was a time of joy and excitement as people looked forward to living in a free and prosperous country. But it was not to be. For much of the past 50 years the black southern Sudanese have been at war with the Arabs of northern Sudan – over 2 million lives have been lost. Having a common enemy forced the southerners to unite. But now the common enemy is no longer there and they have turned on themselves.

To understand South Sudan it is important to realize it is made up of over 90 ethnic groups – each having their own identity and speaking their own language. The largest group by far is the Dinka, numbering about 3 million people. The second largest is the Nuer, numbering over 1 million. When the new government was formed these two groups immediately dominated the new administration. The President of the country is Salva Kiir, a Dinka. The Vice President is Riek Machar, a Nuer. These two ethnic groups have similar cultural backgrounds. They are both pastoralist societies who love their cattle. But over the centuries they have fought each other for cattle and access to pasture and water. Sadly they have brought these longstanding enmities into the new government.

Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

Many western countries have come to help get this country started. South Sudan is a country with great potential, having large quantities of oil, gold, wildlife and arable land. Juba, the southern capital, has become a boomtown with expatriate organizations struggling to find housing. When I visited there last year I saw apartments going for $6000 a month and offices renting for $80,000 a year. Money has poured in to help prop up the new government, but much of it has disappeared into the private accounts of corrupt politicians. South Sudan is presently rated as one of the three most corrupt countries in the entire world.

Several months ago President Kiir decided to do something about it and dismissed most of the ministers in his government – this included his Vice President Machar and the other Nuer ministers. This caused ill feelings and in December fighting erupted in the capital Juba. Each politician had his own unit of trained bodyguards made up of either Dinka or Nuer soldiers and they started fighting each other. The fighting quickly spread and engulfed the town of Juba. The Dinka soon controlled the town, but actively pursued and killed Nuer people. The opposite happened in other towns where Nuer dominated and they killed Dinka people. Many civilians fled to the various UN compounds for safety. The UN compound in Juba is protecting over 20,000 people who are camping on the premises.

The fighting has become increasingly ugly across Jonglei province with armed militias killing anyone of the opposing ethnic group – often targeting women, children and old people. They are even entering hospitals and shooting sick people in their beds. The latest figures estimate that over 10,000 people have been killed and over 700,000 people are displaced – hiding in the bush without adequate food and water. Even humanitarian groups trying to supply emergency aid have been attacked and been forced to withdraw their services.

There have been ongoing peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Initially these were heading nowhere as each side continued to fight. But a peace agreement has now been signed by negotiators on both sides. It is well worded and demands an immediate cessation of hostilities. However, many of the militias operate in remote areas and there is no central control over these fighting groups. So fighting continues. Word needs to get out to these militias with orders to stop fighting. There also needs to be guarantees of safety so the humanitarian organizations can get into the country and offer immediate aid.

Civilians are fleeing to Uganda at the rate of over 1000 a day – joining the 50,000 refugees that are already there. Most of them are walking and are in bad physical shape. The high numbers have seriously stretched the ability of the humanitarian organizations to feed and house them. The refugees interviewed have no faith in the peace agreement and many are stating that they want to live in Uganda and never return to South Sudan.

Sadly the atrocities and killings have renewed deep hatreds between the ethnic groups and created a desire for revenge. A diplomat stated that this fighting has set the country back 20 years. Fortunately there is a strong church in South Sudan. The church leaders are united and pleading with their people to forgive and live in peace. Forgiveness is their only hope.