Comments

This blog on integrated cold chain management is really interesting and very relevant for ensuring good-quality vaccines. In many low- and middle-income countries, especially in rural areas, maintaining the cold chain remains a major challenge that can undermine national vaccination efforts. For example, in Burkina Faso, technical livestock support units at village level do not have adequate cold storage equipment. As a result, vaccinators must travel long distances to obtain vaccines at the commune level and to store any remaining doses. In some cases, they temporarily store animal vaccines in the local health centres called Centre de santé et de promotion sociale (CSPS). However, during inspections this becomes problematic, since human and animal vaccines should not be stored together. This is why I find the suggestion of shared cold chain responsibilities particularly relevant. With proper coordination and separate storage units, this approach could help address current logistical constraints and ensure that potent, high-quality vaccines are delivered to animals. However, I do have one question: would such shared systems be intended only for zoonotic diseases? Human health services may see limited benefit in supporting shared cold chain management for vaccines targeting non-zoonotic animal diseases. I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this point.

Te Sikulagi is available online here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HOO7eM49iYNtnFJUH8IPB6bSamFrWEZG/view?usp=sharing. I do not believe the Kaitasi Treaty is publicly available yet. We used the Prime Minister’s press conferences to gain information about it.

I was deeply impressed by this article, which truly conveys the power small nations wield in international politics. Are the documents for Te Sikulagi and the Kaitashi Treaty publicly available? I searched online but couldn't find them.

As in other countries, men need to play their part in birth control. Vasectomies if they've had the desired number of children or the use of condoms. But sadly, men are resistant, and corruption at the top means that the country's resources are squandered. The figures for doctors and teachers per head of population are sadly reduced from when I was last there!

Is there montly fee charged on this PEV subclass 192?

I worked for MSF in Darfur in the 2004/5, and in many other places. I wonder why we never mention in these articles that it is almost 100% men who are committing all of these atrocities and women and children who are disproportionately suffering. I always wonder why it is not worth explicitly mentioning that one group of people (men) are responsible for most of the violence and hold most positions of power in the contexts in which MSF works.

Hi Colin, thankyou very much for your response. I have about 50,000 plus hectares of customary land which I have a clear title and it is also formally registered under Incorporated Land Group (ILG). In 2020 with KMS an Indian company. We are still not sure of the progress till now and waiting.

Thanks Munira for your positive comments and very important question. To answer your question, I guess we need to engage with national health services and relevant global agencies to better understand their perspectives.

Thank you, Arouna, for your insightful comments. Indeed, the importance of ensuring vaccine availability for people and animals in insecure areas is of vital importance to effective disease prevention and control.

Thanks very much Esha for your encouraging comments. It is great to see Bangladesh, once again, leading on One Health implementation.

A practical solution for improving cold chain management of vaccination in Bangladesh is to adopt a shared, One Health-based system where public health facilities support veterinary vaccination programs through jointly managed cold chain infrastructure. This includes installing separate storage units for human and animal vaccines powered by shared electrical and backup systems, offering joint cold chain training, and coordinating maintenance and monitoring across sectors. Integrating animal vaccination data with district public health reporting and using renewable energy like solar-powered refrigerators can further strengthen resilience. By pooling resources and adopting unified planning, Bangladesh can enhance vaccine safety, reduce costs, and improve disease control in both humans and animals.

I found this article powerful and moving. The firsthand accounts from Sudan are heartbreaking, and the author's call for accountability is urgent and necessary. However, there's a major problem: the article repeatedly names the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for specific atrocities—the El Geneina massacres, the siege of El Fasher. But it never once mentions the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) or the government by name. Instead, they're hidden behind vague phrases like "armed factions" and "warring parties." This matters because both sides are responsible for this catastrophe. The SAF refused to join or walked out from a series of peace talks, including Geneva last August. Reports indicate both sides are pursuing military victory rather than negotiation. Reaching peace could have saved countless civilian lives. The SAF has also repeatedly blocked humanitarian aid—so severely that the U.S. sanctioned their commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for "using food deprivation as a war tactic." They've conducted airstrikes on civilians in numerous places across the country. The U.S. has even accused them of using chemical weapons. When an article demands accountability but only names one side, it weakens its own argument. You can't end a war by pretending only half of it exists. If we're serious about stopping the suffering in Sudan, we need to name all the perpetrators—not just some of them.