PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Friday May 11, 2018 – While Chikungunya and Zika which swept the region in 2014 and 2016 are not expected back anytime soon, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is warning residents to “gear-up for the possibility of a major outbreak of dengue fever in 2018.”

It says that’s because the pre-conditions of abundant mosquito vector levels still exist and increased levels of dengue are being reported in Latin America and elsewhere.

The Trinidad-based CARPHA says it is imperative, as rainy season begins in many countries, that efforts to stop mosquitoes breeding be stepped up, especially for pregnant women and vulnerable populations, noting that dengue remains a global health problem and, like Zika and Chikungunya, there is no specific treatment for the disease.

“Although dengue is not new to the region, we need to gear up for the possibility of a severe outbreak. This virus has been increasing in frequency over the past 30 years. Reports from Latin America elsewhere show markedly increased dengue in recent months, so we in the Caribbean can expect it will soon be here,” CARPHA Executive Director, Dr James Hospedales said yesterday in observance of Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week 2018.

RECEPTACLES LIKE TYRES AND DRUMS ARE BREEDING GROUNDS FOR MOSQUITOES.

Under the slogan “Fight the bite, destroy mosquito breeding sites”, Caribbean Mosquito Awareness Week is being marked May 7 to 13, and focuses on mosquito borne diseases and risks associated with them.

The measures used for controlling the spread of dengue are the same as those for Zika and Chikungunya as these diseases are transmitted by the same mosquito, Aedes aegypti.  CARPHA said that as the rainy season approaches, mosquito control and awareness activities need to be intensified.

It says the most effective way to avoid getting sick from viruses spread by mosquitoes is to prevent mosquito bites. Research by CARPHA and the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) shows that drums and tyres are the main mosquito breeding sources in Caribbean countries.

“We need to clean up our surroundings.  The two most important things to manage mosquito populations in our Caribbean countries are to manage water storage drums and tanks, and properly dispose of used vehicle tires to prevent mosquitos breeding,” said Dr Hospedales.

Actions that can be taken include covering drums and tanks, checking the guttering, removing stagnant water sources and individuals protecting themselves and their family from bites.

Infants, young children, older adults and women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant should take extra precautions to avoid mosquito bites and enlist the help of family, friends and neighbours to destroy breeding sites.

Dengue is a flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults, but can be severe and cause death.  Symptoms typically begin four to ten days after infection. This may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash.  This illness can evolve to severe dengue, characterized by potentially deadly complication due to intense and continuous abdominal pain or tenderness, persistent vomiting.

Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/caribbean-warned-to-prepare-for-possibility-of-severe-outbreak-of-dengue-fever#ixzz5FV5GPCyO

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Monday May 14, 2018 – Two days after the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC) stoutly defended the integrity of the electoral process and openly dismissed allegations of discrepancies on the preliminary voters’ list of just over 256,990 people, investigations by online newspaper Barbados Today have revealed over 500 irregularities, the majority of which affect four constituencies in St Michael.

These are St Michael South, currently held by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, St Michael North East which is held by Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader Mia Mottley, St Michael West Central in which the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP’s) James Paul is the incumbent and the City of Bridgetown where the BLP’s Jeffrey Bostic is seeking his second straight term.

However, errors were also identified  in 27 of the 30 constituencies across the island.

In all 592 cases found, voters had the same address and the same house number but ended up in different constituencies.

For instance, in one of 50 discrepancies which have been linked to the Prime Minister’s constituency, four members of the Haynes family all reside at #15, Old Quarry Road, Bayville, St Michael. However, according to the preliminary voters’ list released on April 30, three members of that household are down to cast their ballots at polling station BA3 in the City of Bridgetown and one in St Michael South at polling station UA1.

The same situation has occurred at #22 Rockhampton Road, Grazettes, St Michael with the Maynard family, with two members of that household slated to vote at polling station KB1 in St Michael North East, where 40 discrepancies were spotted, and the other at DB1 in St Michael North where the BLP’s Ronald Toppin is the incumbent.

With that said, the majority of the discrepancies have been identified in St Michael West Central (77) where Paul defeated the BLP’s Ian Gooding Edghill by 193 votes in the last election, and The City (69) where Bostic scrapped home just ahead of Patrick Todd by 124 votes. Over 30 errors were also identified in St James Central which the BLP’s Kerry Symmonds won by 68 votes.

When presented with the data, Chief Electoral Officer Angela Taylor admitted that there were problems which the Commission was seeking to resolve by the time the final voters’ list is released just ahead of the May 24 poll.

“In terms of the challenges, we have identified more than 60 to 75 per cent of them to our updating unit. So a good 75 per cent of these things have already been picked up and are in the updating unit to be completed,” she told Barbados Today, while revealing that one candidate had submitted a list for investigation this week.

“Some are West Central, some are North East and some are St Michael North, so the list of the corrections have come in and it is in the updating unit for those to be updated and the other registering officers have some to investigate, but they are all going to be right in the register of electors that is going to be published on May 18,” she said.

Asked to explain the errors, the elections supervisor said: “It is a bit of us, and a bit of the information given by the persons when registering.

“We had a few of these cases last election that were rectified and we have a situation again where we have to tidy them up,” she added.

However, in defence of the integrity of the voters’ list, she was adamant that the incidence of error was miniscule – less than one per cent on a list that contained 257,995 registrants – which she felt was “not worth frightening the entire Barbados public over”.

Taylor was also quick to assure that there was nothing political about the situation.

“We are working with a computer, we are working with humans. I don’t want to talk too much, but we got this,” Taylor said, even though a spokesman for one of the minority political parties who first alerted Barbados Today to the errors said he was concerned that such discrepancies, if not rectified in time, could skew the eventual election result, particularly in those marginal areas where incumbents had barely scrapped home last election with a razor thin advantage.

Earlier, the BLP had complained that the preliminary list released by the EBC on May 2 was riddled with errors. (Barbados Today)

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Monday May 14, 2018 – The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has given the Chief Electoral Officer in Barbados, Angela Sealy, until midday today to put St Lucian Professor Eddy Ventose on register of voters for next week’s elections.

And if she doesn’t, CCJ President Sir Dennis Byron warned, she may face contempt of court proceedings, which could result in imprisonment and/or fines.

In an unprecedented emergency Sunday session, the CCJ handed down the order in a live link-up between Barbados and Trinidad, after Ventose challenged a decision by officials of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission not to include his name on the list of persons eligible to vote.

The CCJ said it was satisfied that Ventose, a professor at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), had satisfied the necessary legal and regulatory conditions for registration as an elector.

Professor Ventose had stated that he was qualified and entitled to be registered to vote but his registration was consistently refused. The Court of Appeal in Barbados last Tuesday ruled that he was qualified to be registered to vote, but stopped short of compelling Sealy to enroll him on the register of voters, only giving the electoral chief 24 hours to make a determination on his application.

When the CEO failed to register him, Professor Ventose asked the CCJ to declare that he was entitled to be registered to vote and to order the CEO to enter his name on the final voters’ list ahead of its publication this week.

In delivering the ruling of the five-member panel, the CCJ president expressed the view that the Court’s decision should also resolve the matter for other Commonwealth citizens, resident in Barbados for the relevant qualifying period, who are also claiming a right to be registered as voters under the Barbados laws.

Costs for the CCJ proceedings, and the hearings in the courts were also awarded to Professor Ventose.

20:35, UK, Monday 14 May 2018

America’s First Lady is in hospital for a kidney condition and will stay there for the rest of the week, the White House has said.