venture in the pandemic. you're watching live from there's more news coming up at the top of the hour up next a special edition on the coronavirus crisis in our breaking keep up to date on our website. stay with us. on. the phone against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection in developing what does the latest research say. information and context around a virus update. on t w. w's crime fighters are back africa's most successful radio drama series continues in this season the stories focus on hate

speech prevention and sustainable charcoal production all of a sow's are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters tune in now. the fight against covert has been immense but it's setting back years of progress in the battle against other diseases a pandemic appears to be reversing the global gains we've made in the fight against hiv aids tuberculosis malaria malnutrition and maternal and child mortality the crisis has seen a 25 percent decrease in diagnosis and treatment of tb in south africa indonesia and the philippines health officials say it's time to. tuberculosis again.

disease is usually transmitted person to person through the air and thrives in crowds it primarily affects the lungs can also occur in any other organ the world health organization says 10000000 people develop tuberculosis every year deaths amount to about one and a half 1000000 and sadly that's often in adequate treatment the problem of the moment is access to health care to lock down supply chain disruptions and recruiting of global health resources into covert countries like mexico of paying the price. here in dr alberto medina's private practice they used to vaccinate babies against tuberculosis but since september new government rules means they haven't been able to get a new batch of b.c.g. deliveries. but it won't. because of the gun when you ask the people who are supposed to deal with importing vaccines they say

a date hasn't been set yet they told us it would arrive in january but now some articles are saying they won't arrive until spring. there's been a public sector shortage of t.v. vaccines since the start of the year in 2019 the shortfall was between 76 percent and 96 percent the number of tb cases jumped from 17245000. health specialists estimate the lack of tb vaccines will affect between 200300000 newborns. mexico isn't the only country where tb is still a health threat around 85 percent of all newly infected people live in africa inside these days with india indonesia and china particularly affected. in mexico the vaccine shortage is mostly down to the current government changing

the system of how medicines that required and distributed but vaccine shortages began under the previous government. this prompted the reemergence of diseases such as measles which went from being almost wiped out to $60.00 to $200.00 cases annually. this is according to a study by the mexican association of facts and ology which also reported complaints against the current shortage. so look at all it might be good. news we've had a shortage of some vaccines for the last few years. look witness we're referring to vaccines like b c g m m or m to double vaccines. the living. according to dr medina young families needn't lose hope because the tuberculosis vaccine can be administered during the entire 1st year after birth not just the 1st 10 days but

the extended vaccine shortage continues to increase the overall public health risk . by khan is medical director at eye on the global and international health n.g.o.s active in asia and africa what impact would you say to 1000 has had on the diagnosis and treatment of tb so far thank you for having me here i it's been a journey for tb it's been devastating 2020 gend we recently had data that came out and which showed that about 20 percent decline in t.v. diagnosis and and treatment which is huge for when you look at infectious disease which has similar you know as a rescue package and just like over it but however who's so visible rebook was because of. all the you know infrastructure was started to get used to fork over it as well whether it's a lab infrastructure or service delivery

a community work everything so there has been a huge impact and no doubt the lockdowns really affected the service delivery so you know you crave it back all you hear is covert covert covert in a lot of young people i guess would never have even heard of tb would you say though that this setback for tuberculosis has been a fair trade off for the inroads that have been made in the fight against that. not at all and i think it's not a fair trade off it or the we're going to see further decline if we don't do something you know something quickly adapt as well if the new normal whatever that is and i hope i just do hope that we're going to realize how similar the 2 diseases are in terms of you know some of the case finding as well as in other strategies and so that we can find synergies and optimize you know you can use you know things like contact racing and other workforce as well so that we can tackle both diseases

so the threat to tb from cold is real but what about opportunities are there any opportunities coming out of this all of the research all of the focus on the medical fields absolutely still there has been agreement back like i mentioned but then there has been amazing amazing collective you know knowledge that we have now for infectious diseases as a result of this global collaboration which itself is an opportunity just learning that you can still be corroboree whether it's for vaccine development and having something in a year which certainly we haven't seen and then there is the data that has come out that's or some prevention knowledge and dissemination of prevention the case finding started genes like using more bio health to as you know drive through. it's amusing to see all of these things also the screening having noise that disease are so similar and you can screen it like i mentioned earlier so there's a lot of contact racing like i mentioned as well not to forget because there's so

much that you can learn in terms of what to do and what not to do which we can do with t.v. because we don't have a lot of resources is there more that we can learn from co the 19 to improve tb care as well. absolutely i mean service delivery methods like there are there is you can have we have been using delhi health for tb as well but for but also you know showed us how to use some digital help platforms as well and can dextro because one thing that's really important is to understand that countries have developed some of these tools and it's not something a global tool that has been standardized saw the lots of things that can adapt and used to local you know context so yes. iniquities have been uncovered through this covered 1000 pandemic which is a. it's a lot of inequities i mean everywhere in infectious disease is something that i have seen and i keep on you know as an advocate of tb advocate i keep on seeing is

that tb we were is that you know it's an intimate a disease a farm you know it's an intimate disease our indians are far you know related to poverty and therefore it's all about human justice and. ethics around how you treat people with corbin we've seen the same thing all the tb is a disease of the poor but over the affected everybody and then you saw that you know people who were at the most vulnerable got it you know suffered and in domes of accessing gary having food support they don't nor what social distancing means and you know how do you do that when you're living in crowded you know homes so your last name is is there a message you'd like to get across on this well tb day just just in a sentence or 2 for us. so i think the border message is to land back to the important learning is around social inequities and i would like to talk about

that because when we talk about scientists and researchers and people nor everyone has of the knowledge globally we have a lot of tools and collective wisdom barge what we don't have is we work in silos and i wish we would collaborate on these kind of infectious diseases that are borderless and whether it's in block countries or whatever it should it does help us reinforce the idea that it shouldn't take up and then require us to realize things and we should get our collective wisdom on for science as well as become advocates for people who point was a conduit to medical director and i r g global thank you very much for joining us today thank you very much. and time to head you over to derrick williams a science correspondent is still cooped up in his home study looking into your questions that. one of the vaccines is less potent could it help to take different kinds. with vaccines still

scares and in high demand it'll take a while for this to to really become an issue but but let's take a theoretical approach for a minute say from the perspective of next year when at least in some places it's fair to expect that a wide range of vaccines will be available more or less on demand. but you've got to look back to look forward so a little history 1st in the last few decades the idea of mixing and matching vaccines to trigger a more powerful immune response has gained a lot of traction in the field of immunology it's been explored in experimental hiv vaccines for instance the concept is known as had a raw legace prime boosting and the aim is to capitalize on the fact that different vaccines can stimulate the immune system in different ways so so taking more than

one kind could help strengthen immune memory by causing your body to make a wider variety of defensive cells against the disease so mixing and matching back scenes might prove to be a good idea in the fight against hiv at 19 but it could also potentially have harmful consequences when it's been done in the past with other diseases the mixing and matching mostly took place with vaccines that were pretty similar but some of the covert vaccine. approved so far are based on very different platforms so to rule out potential risks we'll have to perform controlled testing with specific combinations of products i think that we'll see a lot of trials like that in the long run some are happening already but they'll take time

a lot of time so for now even in places where mixing and matching do happen it's only in rare circumstances and authorities still try to avoid it as much as possible. eric williams there are benches all in thanks for watching stay safe and secure against it. to. ensure the conflict zone results are back on between afghanistan's government and the taliban with renewed urgency as the u.s. increases pressure on reaching a political solution before a may 1st troop withdrawal that caught my guest this week is afghanistan's ambassador to the u.n. nato the last time is the government strong enough to deliver on feel the right to speak another unfulfilled promise conflicts of.

childhood like no other. for years romana mia was sexually abused by his father. is not an isolated case but the victims have the courage to speak out about incest . the frenchman has decided to break through the wall of silence on the world. in 60 minutes on d.w. . they've been robbed of their soul that's what a people experiences when their heritage is taken from them. countless cultural riches were brutally stolen from africa and carted off to europe by colonialists. each artifact has blood on it from wounds that have yet to feel.

what should be done with the stone or from africa. this is being hotly debated on both continents. stolen soul. people 13 want d.w. . peace process is a lengthy process what will you sacrifice for a political solution there is a strong goodwill on the part of the word leadership to promote women who are you powerless to protect your civilians i wouldn't say that there might not be in the interim and peace talks are back on between afghanistan's government and the taliban with were nude urgency as the u.s. increases pressure on reaching a political solution before a may 1st troop withdrawal deadline amid a surge in violence there is concern over what a power sharing arrangement with the taliban could mean for human rights and especially for women and girls my guest this week is afghanistan's ambassador to

the e.u. and nato for the still dark side is this government strong enough to deliver on human rights or will it be another unfulfilled promise. ambassadors to largs i welcome to conflict zone thank you thank you for having me the government of afghanistan is at the negotiating table with the taliban to find a political solution to decades of war your leaders have promised the compromises would not include basic rights how credible is that guarantee when at last week's conference in moscow your delegation included 2 warlords who themselves are accused of grave human rights abuses. thank you sarah the question here is about how to make sure the hard wound gains of the last 20 years

are preserved protected and to the best possible case they are. promoted i think that's what we are focused today and that's what our people want from us that's the monday that people give us so i think you are with that in mind we will go ahead and in gauging in a meaningful discussion to bring about a sustainable peace will be clear mr ambassador you expect to warlords at the table one of whom is known as the butcher of kabul accused of shelling civilians assassinating intellectuals torture to advocate for human rights for your country. see i think the. peace process is a lengthy process and that includes. let's say a number of events to come together so that we can come to a conclusion of the peace process and i think those sitting around the table the

reality of afghanistan and let the people of afghanistan decide on that who do they want to see that on the table and who do they trust to deliver them the peace that they have been the light again or almost 40 years but again what will you sacrifice for a political solution this is the symbol that you are sending and i'd like to mention i mentioned one of the laura learn more lawrence the other martial dostum is accused of rape and murder in a deal to shore up support for your unity government he was awarded the highest possible honor in your military the honor of martial what signal does that send not only about how weak your government is but also how principled. see i think when it comes to the question of sacrificing for peace in afghanistan i think we have already sacrificed a lot and we have endured. the most difficult time that one can

imagine but when it comes to as i indicated earlier to the hard work and gains of the last 20 years i think we are standing firm tall to defend those rights and i think that's going to be the case i'm not going to engage in let's say that who was there who was not there i think i can speak for the. delegation of the government of the islamic republic off afghanistan that include in that included a woman who is let's talk about strong defender and a champion of women right let's talk about that because a lot of people are looking at who was there and who wasn't there and you mentioned difficult times women paid very much so the highest price under the taliban's rule on the delegation of $12.00 in these moscow talks that we have been discussing included just one woman as you haven't mentioned one woman to represent the

interests of half of your population is that the right proportion to reflect your vision for peace for the new afghanistan. well i think if we're talking about numbers i think of the 4 people that have been invited from priya to pre-approve prison the government of the slums developing off of on the sunday edition one of them was women 25 percent of women good presentation there but i think that doesn't mean that yes we have to be complacent with. how we were represented there but important is that she was there she is she was there to present the best possible way that what the women of afghanistan expect from those negotiations human rights cited says it is ridiculous to expect a single woman in a room full of not just men but in many cases men with long track records of abusive attitudes and conduct toward women to carry all the rights of women on her

shoulders the head of your independent human rights commission goes one step further calling the move on acceptable saying it is a worrying sign for the future it's setting the tone for things to come in terms of inclusive they were afraid. well. i think we're like again. reiterated the fact that it's a it's a pity that we don't have many women sitting there and frankly speaking we are very much for. to see many women from from different parties or from different delegations attending. those those talks. but i think again i think what happened what happened in moscow but let's look at what what came out of that i think what came out of that was a strong signal in the same direction that we all wanted to see which was that none

of the. participants wanted to see. an embrace or they didn't agree or they reiterated on the 2513 this illusion of the u.n. security council it turned acid and that's i think important that's what should come mr ambassador how about what is going on in your country right now there was recently an attempt to partially ban schoolgirls over the age of 12 from reciting poems or singing a coed gatherings your government eventually said the move quote did not reflect the policies of the ministry of education but it reportedly took days to issue that statement. how does this move breed confidence that you are serious about women's rights. well i think the seriousness of woman of this government i think speaks for itself i think that was a. simple misunderstanding between the leadership of

a small educational district and the ministry i think it was clear that day. and everything is back to. normal i think it was just a small thing on paper so we shouldn't we shouldn't generalize that single incident that was again misunderstood your trying to frame it as a c s a small thing but the bottom line is that somebody in a position power of power sent out this directive it has sparked outrage one human rights activist calls it the taliban talibanization from inside of the republic. it's a worrying sign isn't it of how quickly the rights of women and girls could be under threat could be taken away. i don't disagree with what you said i think the situation is when it comes to the issue of.

women and human rights in afghanistan i think it is a difficult situation and some of those what you see is unfortunately some have roots in the. social norms and behaviors in codes that are unsupportive of women in political life but i think i would again tell you about this this single incident let's do not to generalize it then let's look at the again the track record of this. the last 20 years that what we have done right for women and the unprecedented and we did not have these fox that if you see how if you look at them they are sitting in the parliament in the politics in business i think in every aspect of life you can see that it's it's a growing. trend and i think we have to look at that from a pause defines you say you want to look at it from

a positive angle not to generalize however there are other conservative moves that have been introduced by your government on these are some proposals to amend some laws the 1st and i'd like to walk through them was a change to the education system that would have children study in sudden in mosques for the 1st 3 years of school the 2nd a proposed change to the family law that would allow under age a marriage with the consent of male relatives and the approval of a court so you have people in power who don't want teenage girls to say but want them to marry. well again if you look at in the last 5 years we. were 480 laws and regulation passed and i think if you go after one or 2 single incidents which were which have not been implemented they were just there they were the bottom line is these are limits on what iraq to the being put

forward by your government these are the policies being put forward it's not your government it's how it was proposed by your education ministry how could that bode well for women's rights when you are sitting across the table from the taliban who among other things want to decide when girls can and cannot go to school who are known for their violent practices. well i think again it's not our government policy again let's not generalise single incident. here and there one or 2 you i think i'm not saying that you will not see them in the future there no not be the last there will be. again attempts. to silence the wives of women or somehow impede the empowerment of women but i think what you need to look at is think the bigger picture the bigger picture states that there is a strong goodwill on the part of the leadership to promote women to protect the to

preserve their rights and to promote their rights and again if i if i get you through the numbers of women that today we have in. position of authorities in the government in where they are equally sitting with men on the other side of the table whether it's the cabinet whether it's the. ambassadors like mr ambassador these are the deputy ministers so much i just like to sit briefly ask you you know some analysts they are looking at this move they're seeing it as as a bid by the government to get support from conservatives who think that the taliban potentially might win here and this is what the international crisis group one of their analysts has said he says that it looks like you're saying to these conservatives look you don't need to go over to the taliban to get what you want is your government right now so weak that you have to play politics with the future of women and girls in the country. i think if it's about mean that

everyone has the right to live the way they want things but the way we look at it is i think it's not the question about that the taliban are coming back i think if you talk to anyone. in afghanistan to women to girls to men to their lead to anyone. i think nobody likes taliban to return and it's not only us i think if it's about the question of a unified democratic and peaceful afghanistan that's what we want the people of afghanistan this is what our international partners one i think there is no question of that well i think again if people go out and to to just express their wheels on certain things in social social media i think they can do that but that shouldn't be the benchmark for our judgment about the entire let's say that those critical and vital process is that we are leading in the gulf other

groups are under threat in your country as well there's been a recent surge in killings especially of journalists human rights activists the traditional workers doctors clerics the u.n. reports $700.00 people were murdered in targeted killings last year an increase of 45 percent over the previous year are you powerless to protect your civilians. no i think that's a reality that we we know that they exist but we also know that who is doing that. and i think. i was disappointed to see. there was this kind of mixed feeling about the u.n. security council statement that a few days ago was issued on exactly the same thing and condemning these these acts but the statement failed to name who were behind that and i think if the state state the statement needed an outburst they can easily go to the to the unanimous

report on it clearly mention who are behind it and get it done. when it comes joe or no when it comes when it comes to our commitment to protecting them i think every every action of small or big action of our security forces are to protect the citizens of afghanistan the afghans and i think those good though those those journalists those doctors those 7 society activists they are part of that and you know and rights groups they're looking at the situation and the approach of your government and saying that it appears that investigations are either not happening or the government is sharing very little information that there have been you know very little support to help mitigate the risks the afghan journalist safety committee calls the failure to offer meaningful information on the killings reprehensible on the part of your government is this a lack of will or lack of capacity. no i think it's it's none of them.

but i think you have to look at the complexity of the situation. when when we. are asked. our security forces to assume. active defense posture i think that has been clearly misused and abused by the taliban who have also agreed to that so instead of. gauging in large scale attacks i think that's what they tend to do so these are for them they are soft targets and it's just a good life headline but we're tired of grabbing incidents and they will continue continue to engage in what we're talking about the efforts of your government so let's focus on that the president issued a decree more than 3 months ago to create a joint commission for the protection of human rights defenders amnesty international says the following no practical steps have been taken to make it effective to make it an effective protection mechanism to protect your civilians

a lack of information on any plan or strategy to address the escalating threat has has been presented they say that this de lay that this has cost lives in the country so you set up a commission instead of really doing something. but i think the commission is set up for a purpose and i think it takes time that until. until that commission is fully fully operational lives and i think and then the let's again i think to look at the reality on the ground i think you conned. by many of your civilians who don't have those people it's time that many of your civilians don't have that 700 of your civilians didn't have well i again i think you you are engaging the security forces. are doing the job of the 150000 international troops they were doing prior to 2000 and. 15 i think that's the job of.

fighting taliban plus more than 20 other internationally recognized mr ambassadors groups in afghanistan so it's not about again i'm not saying that they shouldn't be protected they should be protected it's it's it's a work in progress the commission has been just set up so it takes time but again. and again i think if if if if the other side which is the taliban and they continue to target them. i would write it that there might not be any incidents so tell us then about corruption and your efforts in that regard this is one of the biggest campaign pledges of ghani promise to stamp out corruption which has been described as in demick in your country and influencing security as well very much so the u.s. says that you only take action when donors are engaged in that you are often making

just quote paper reforms such as drafting regulations or holding meetings and that's indeed what we saw ahead of a donor's conference in geneva in the fall president ghani after years of promising at finally introduced and establish an independent anti corruption commission did you only set this up because your donors forced you to. well i think again. there are a number of security reforms in the security sector in afghanistan and. the main idea behind those. reforms word that our forces are not on li. able to protect our cities citizens but also works on about russia right there instead that region and international i'm coming to that when. corruption that has been described as in demick in your country spends described by a un report as metastasize as

a cancer in the country even if from the inside what i think i'm not saying it that it doesn't exist i think. that again i think you need to be formed in order to get rid of that corruption whether it's in the government institution or anywhere else in the country and i think on that when if you look at what we have presented in geneva conference was. it was a mutually agreed document with the 3. to 2 to look to to to take off on a stunt to do a 4 year old what you're presenting mr ambassador is not lining up with what you're delivering again i mentioned earlier that the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction in the us said that you've taken limited steps on this

is that there are thousands of cases they they have found that have not even been evaluated you know one of the cases where your president made a very big promise he said that there would be meaningful action on recovering the funds for the kabul bank case the theft of almost $1000000000.00 from the largest bank in the country that led to the fiscal crisis in 2010 this was one of his biggest promises of the beginning of his presidency the us says that more than half of the money has not been recovered where is the money where is the justice. well i think. working with president knew when he 1st started the national unity government in late 2014 i think i personally witnessed how difficult this task was and i did all shoe witness that how strong president is resolved in tackling that problem well i think i would say that half of

those funds have been. think again. you have another stone sitting in prison when you look at the top brass from the kabul bank for example the former c.e.o. owing 196000000 according to the head of the kabul bank recovery department he's paid 14000000 to the department merely a fraction the late founder also in 272000000 what you need to look at this i think is the difficult circumstances and the complexity of dealing with an issue like kabul bank case because of the too many stakeholders in the point mr ambassador is that this has been described as part of a bigger trend of trend and i'm quoting here from the us report of impunity of powerful afghans as an ongoing issue people that are politically connected politically connected to your government the u.s. inspector general spoke out said the following and i'd like to read this for you he

said little progress if any made in combat in corruption is critical oxygen to the insurgency so we're talking also about a security issue here the taliban other terrorist groups they point to the warlords points a corrupt officials the fact that there's immunity if you're a high official in afghanistan you ain't going to jail. no i think that's that's not the case i think. the if you look at the government i think from the top level there is. a strong well to in the culture of impunity from day one of. this government and i think you can you can see that number of ministers a number of the putin ministers generals all have been deferred to the. attorney general's office and i think again. just like you said as good workmen we

also need a number of before i just like to ask you before we go there's signs of fragmentation in your government for example you fail to complete your cabinet you have had as of the beginning of march 7 ministers that have not been confirmed by parliament you have just last week the interior minister sacked. and we have developed a list saying the following about that move saying the decision is against the interests of the country it's unacceptable it's without consultation without justifiable reason. you know if you can't even work together in the current government structure if this is what the dynamic is how do you expect to take on the taliban. well i think these are 2 different issues i think or the mystical ear i think. any replacement or changing go of.

authorities or ministers i think it's within the. jurisdiction of the president i think. given by the constitution to him and i think these are. normal and i think. you need to see who best fits the job and i and i think that that's you know but what's the point is that that the president and the chief executive in a so-called unity government are displaying anything but well i i think unity government doesn't mean that there won't be any any issues of difference i think it's it's again it's normal it's healthy and i think. this is what our get will continue to have to see to see so ambassador not easy for us allies that we have to leave it there thank you for joining us on conflicts on. thank you .

thank you for.

coming. thanks. charles had like no other. for years roman let me i was sexually abused by his father. is not an isolated case but only a few of the victims have the courage to speak out about incest. the frenchman has decided to break through the wall of silence of the world. 30 minutes on d.w.

. island country is a superlative. skyline like from the thin to. a stick tackle a combination of jungle anti-tank. past and future. the one your soul singer. goes faster. in 75 minutes on t.w. . devastated the towers the stuff garlic in the lawsuit cars carrying the effects of climate change i mean felt lucky for a station and the rain forest continued carbon dioxide emissions have risen into. the people all over the world are committed to climate protection i am

so much impact will the health. because change doesn't happen on its own. make up your own mind. w before mines. children to come to. one giant problem and nearly get in on it as a period. in 5. days in a foolish town. how will climate change affect us and our children laugh. at dot com slash water. has a virus spread. why do we panic. and. just through the time. and. if you would like.

information on the coronavirus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you go your podcast you can also find us at . science. this is news and these are our top stories. german chancellor angela merkel has made a surprise you turn and canceled a street east coronavirus shut down the decision overturns plans for 5 days of closure as previously agreed with leaders of the 16 regional states merkel apollo.