Articles tagged with: Swine flu
Image by neweurasia's Schwartz (CC-usage). Click on it to read the story by the Chronicles of Turkmenistan.
This year, more than two million people across the world are heading, as if pulled by a magnet, to one single spot on earth: Mecca. But no Turkmen will be joining this great human current. Although approximately 90% of Turkmenistan’s population is Muslim, the Turkmen government is not issuing exit visas to would-be pilgrims.
A map of the internet bearing a curious reminiscence to a neural virus. Image by the Opte Project, courtesy of Flickr user curiouslee (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: Has Turkmenistan come down with a bad case of the swine flu? neweurasia’s Annasoltan investigates in this fifth part of a post series on Turkmen healthcare. Previously, neweurasia’s Timur and Bakhrom debated whether the disease in Kyrgyzstan is a serious threat. Read the rest of our ongoing coverage on the disease here.
Yesterday I explored the similarities between 2003′s avian flu crisis in China and today’s on-going swine flu crisis in Turkmenistan. To review: In 2003, when the Chinese government tried to cover up the avian flu outbreak, the result was a public relations disaster. History is now repeating itself in Turkmenistan.
But there is a deeper level going on here. Just as in China, as the Turkmen government tries to repress information about swine flu, the Turkmen people are turning to the internet for answers. The results could be perilous for the future of the regime.
The internet is not sanitary: in the face of their government's obtuseness over the swine flu, Turkmens are turning to the internet for answers -- and for each other. Image by Flickr user larksflem (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: Has Turkmenistan come down with a bad case of the swine flu? neweurasia’s Annasoltan investigates in this fourth part of a post series on Turkmen healthcare. Previously, neweurasia’s Timur and Bakhrom debated whether the disease in Kyrgyzstan is a serious threat. Read the rest of our ongoing coverage on the disease here.
Last week I reported on the Turkmen government’s faltering attempts to repress public reaction to the swine flu. They have tried several bizaare and almost comical methods, but most of all, consistent with established practice, they have tried to simply deny the crisis into non-existence. For example, on 5 November the Turkmen State News Agency proclaimed,
All services of the health system of Turkmenistan have every means to prevent infiltration of particularly dangerous infections from neighboring countries, as well as other countries. The Ashgabat International Airport and the seaport of Turkmenbashi have been fitted with thermo-scanners, and medical services have been put on alert.
I believe we have seen this process before. In 2003, during the height of the avian flu outbreak, the Chinese government tried to cover up the disease. Their attempts backfired and resulted in a domestic public relations disaster that still dogs the government.
Indeed, the outbreak took two forms — the disease itself, which spread rapidly, and the panicked reaction to it from the public — and it seemed to have a life of its own. A key player in the crisis was the Chinese internet community, who, in the face of their government’s obtuseness, began a desperate hunt for information, trying to find out if the disease was truly a threat to human life. Rumors rapidly spread via e-mails, quickly reaching the eyes of reporters and triggering what some academics now call the “Chinese Information Technology Revolution“.
Today, we are seeing something very similar in Turkmenistan, with a small but intrepid online community turning to the internet for answers.
The H5N1 virus is a far more dangerous variant of the H1N1 "swine flu". Yet, somehow, pigs have caused more terror in the citizens of Turkmenistan than chickens -- a terror seemingly beyond the control of one of the world's most repressive regimes. Image courtesy of Flickr user Quiplash (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: Has Turkmenistan come down with a bad case of the swine flu? neweurasia’s Annasoltan investigates in this third part of a post series on Turkmen healthcare. During this past weekend, neweurasia’s Timur and Bakhrom debate whether the disease is a serious threat. Read the rest of our ongoing coverage on the disease here.
In yesterday’s post I discussed how the Turkmen government’s incompetent attempts to suppress the truth about swine flu deaths — whether any have occurred in Turkmenistan and, if so, how many — has backfired and actually sparked a greater panic in the country. Yet, this is a government known for its efficient methods of repression. This bumbling is profoundly uncharacteristic — or is it? Today I will explore more of everyday Turkmens’ reactions to the swine flu, as well as the question of what may be going on behind the closed doors of the government.
The Turkmen government is having difficulty suppressing the terror that swine flu has evoked across the world. Image by Flickr user Phamous (CC-usage).
Editor’s note: Has Turkmenistan come down with a bad case of the swine flu? neweurasia’s Annasoltan investigates in this second part of a post series on Turkmen healthcare. During this past weekend, neweurasia’s Timur and Bakhrom debate whether the disease is a serious threat. Read the rest of our ongoing coverage on the disease here.
The Turkmen government loves information blackouts. There are too many examples to count but if you’ve been reading neweurasia these last few years you’ll know what I mean.
This time, however, the attempt to suppress the truth about swine flu deaths — whether any have occurred in Turkmenistan and, if so, how many — has backfired. Public confidence, already eroding since September, is dissipating further. In fact, and quite ironically, the government’s attempts to prevent panic have had the opposite effect.
The Turkmenistan government wishes the swine flu would just go away. Image by Flickr user Ben Chau.
Editor’s note: Has Turkmenistan come down with a bad case of the swine flu? neweurasia’s Annasoltan investigates in this new post series on Turkmen healthcare. Meanwhile, neweurasia’s Timur and Bakhrom debate whether the disease is a serious threat. Read the rest of our ongoing coverage on the disease here.
The Turkmen authorities haven’t reported a single case of swine flu in the country. Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 200 countries have reported cases of pandemic influenza H1N1, including over 6,000 deaths worldwide by mid-November. Is Turkmenistan an oasis of health?
Don’t be fooled by this “miracle”. The American author Mark Twain once said, “There’s lies, damn lies, and statistics”, and Turkmenistan is a country that proves him right.
But for once there’s a new twist to the same old story: of all the pandemics to sweep the globe in the last twenty years, this one seems to be giving the Turkmen authorities a serious headache.
This post is more or less in direct opposition to Bakhrom’s post on Swine Flu. I agree with Michael Hancock here, but I’m going to go a little bit further and try to flesh out an argument. This is not an attack on Bakhrom, whose work I respect. However, I do not agree with the post that he published, and as I have the power to post my own opinions, I will do so.
Lack of information is the greatest threat to the human psyche. The United States prides itself as being ahead of the game in the Information Age, with fast developing countries like China, India, and Brazil still considered by most Americans to be still in the dark ages of the pre-Internet Era. There are many reasons for this, one of which is ignorance of modern scientific medicinal procedures and processes. The reason I bring this up is that much the same is true in most of Central Asia and across the former Soviet Union. I would have included Russia in the list above with China and Brazil, but I don’t consider it to be developing all that quickly at all.
Let’s take this apart in several steps. Read the full story »
Days were passing without any hysteria until the recent news. Discovering swine flu from two citizens of Kyrgyzstan made many people scare. This disease which is also famous with name H1N1, already has taken lives of many people in foreign countries. The first discovery of flu was made in 1918, but that time it wasn’t considered as a disease after 30 years it was recognized, and at that time it killed a lot of people. The previous one, the bird flu also has taken many lives and it cost a lot for people who lost their beloved ones and family members. I guess many people were not paying attention to this disease until it was registered in Kyrgyzstan. For personal protection many people began to wear masks.
In all public places of Osh, one may see people wearing masks. School children, students, adults even young kids are wearing masks. It seems majority of school children are wearing masks with some kind of interest and it has become number one requirement at schools. Every second school student of school #4, named after Kirova is wearing mask. However the higher educational establishments like Osh State University, Technological University or Kyrgyz-Uzbek Universities did not make any official meetings or warnings and are not demanding from students to wear masks. Nevertheless, professors of these universities are consulting students about the flu. Read the full story »
Translation of Kkreator’s post (RUS).
In November, as part of the Hajj, many Muslims will travel to Saudi Arabia, where, doctors say, Type A flu (H1N1) has been spreading. So far, 600 cases have been registered, with the first fatality coming in July.
Uzbek media report that in response to these developments, “a special committee has been formed to implement a series of measures for the protection of pilgrims and of the general population from the virus.”
Thus, the government will take measures to prevent what has been colloquially referred to as “swine flu” from crossing the country’s borders during the Hajj.
A park ride attendant in Astana wears a face mask. Photo by Chris Merriman.
Bus driver in Astana with face mask pulled down around his chin. Photo by Chris Merriman.
Reuters India reports that there are now six cases of Swine Flu in Astana (ENG):
Kazakhstan on Thursday reported its first H1N1 flu cases, saying three students had been diagnosed with the virus after returning from the British capital.
“Three people have been confirmed to have it (H1N1),” Vitaly Sheyanov, a senior healthcare official, told Reuters.
Natalya Buyenko, an advisor to the Central Asian state’s healthcare minister, said the students felt unwell after returning from London where they studied.
According to the news agency Trend Capital, all the diagnoses are of children the ages of 12-15 years who were in the United Kingdom during the period June 18 – July 19 for acadmic study (ENG); the news agency Kazakhstan Today concurs (ENG).
Chris Merriman, an expat who is living in Astana with his family, wrote the following account on his personal blog (ENG):
[...] I noticed that bus drivers and conductors were wearing face masks. One driver was indeed wearing the mask, just not actually using it – the mask was done up behind the head, but hanging below his chin!
I’ll leave the discussion on whether face masks are actually much use except when worn by people who may have already been infected, or in societies where (some) people spit in the street and regularly cough and sneeze without covering their mouth, for another day.
[...] So, am I worried, about to go and buy a dozen boxes of face masks? [Given] that Britain currently has approximately 100,000 new cases declared each week, and that the current variant of Swine Flu hasn’t yet mutated to be highly deadly and/or drug resistant, I’m not about to seal all the windows and doors and demand temperature readings from anyone we come into contact with.
[...] OK, just been for a walk in Astana park. Out of a sample size of approximately 200 people, five were found to be wearing masks. That is if you include another bus driver who had it on, but slung under his chin.
More bulletins can be found via Google News (ENG).
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