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MoAg exempts cooperatives from laboratory fees

23-10-2020

Upon instructions issued by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoAg), the chair of the Authority for Agricultural and Scientific Research, Michel Ephrem, released Tuesday a circular exempting agricultural cooperatives from laboratory analysis fees. This move comes as part of the ministry’s support for said coops, in general, and specifically, for women led rural coops, that process all kinds of rural foods. This measure will help coops conduct the required tests and receive their corresponding certifications for compliance with quality standards at no fee, hence facilitating their marketing and export. (Al Diyar, October 23, 2020)

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30,000 breast cancer patients at risk because of shortage of medications

20-10-2020

The head of the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation (LBCF), Dr. Naji Saghir, disclosed in a statement yesterday that the foundation and all oncologists in the country are receiving calls from patients who are concerned about the shortage of Tamoxifen. The latter, the statement said, is one of the drugs on the WHO’s list of essential medicines which is given to breast cancer patients to reduce the probability of its recurrence, and is also prescribed in hormone therapy. Dr. Saghir revealed that Lebanon witnesses around 2500 new breast cancer cases every year, noting that the overall number of cases exceeded 40,000.  70% of the patients who have estrogen receptors on breast cancer cells are in need of Tamoxifen and Anastrozole or Letrozole for five or ten years, Saghir explained, warning that the shortage in these anti-cancer medications puts the lives of more than 30,000 patients at risk. He finally appealed to the authorities, drug and pharmaceutical importers and the Order of Pharmacists to work to secure the relatively cheap medicine. (Al Diyar, October 20, 2020)
 

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Only 26% of women in Lebanon participate in labor market

19-10-2020

The World Bank released a report entitled, ‘Women’s Economic Participation in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon’. The report, which is the result of an initiative between WB and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in collaboration with the governments of Canada and Norway, comes as part of a facility that provides technical assistance to the countries covered by the report, with the aim to boost women’s economic empowerment and prospects. On the Lebanese front, the report saw that women’s economic participation reached 26.3%, placing Lebanon in the 17th position among MENA countries (above Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and outside the region (India and Pakistan). Younger women, the report said, have a higher participation rate than women aged above 45, with women aged between 15 and 44 being twice as likely to participate in the labor market as compared to women aged between 45 and 64. The report also indicated that two-thirds of Lebanese women with higher levels of education are either employed or are seeking jobs, noting that this group makes nearly 31% of the total female population of Lebanon. Working Lebanese women, the report stated, tend to engage in less productive jobs, with over two-thirds working in the services sector (particularly, the public sector and domestic employment). The report also mentioned that Lebanese women tend to take lower paying jobs on a fixed contract basis, adding that they are less likely to reach management or senior positions. On the female workforce in the MENA region, the WB report found that increasing female economic participation to the same levels of men could increases the GDP in the region by 47%, noting that the latter has recorded the lowest Female Labor Force Participation in the world (21%). (The report can be found on the following link: https://bit.ly/3of4EdY). (Al Diyar, October 19, 2020)

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Sayed Fadlallah and Amal unwarrantedly denounced ban of veiled nurses

19-10-2020

News about the banning of veiled nurses studying at LAU from training at Mount Lebanon Hospital has sparked wide controversy on social media on Friday. Sayyid Ali Fadlallah described the measure as racist and harming the image of Lebanon and threatening co-existence and national unity. He appealed to the authorities to condemn and withdraw the measure. At the same time, Amal Movement-Health Office denounced what it termed as an irresponsible act, calling on concerned departments at the ministries of education and health to take the appropriate measures to prevent the recurrence of similar fanatical decisions. In turn, Mount Lebanon Hospital Administration categorically denied such accusations considering them as void and contemptible, reminding of the history of the prestigious health care institution. It made clear that the hospital never discriminated between doctors, nurses and administrative staff, stressing that its doors have always been and will remain open to diverse skills and capacities. The statement said that it is sad to engage the name of the hospital in unwanted disputes at this difficult time of the nation. For his part, the minister of health in the caretaker government, Hamad Hassan, disclosed in a tweet that all that’s been said about the hospital refusing veiled nurses is inaccurate. (Al Diyar, October 18, 2020)

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Four women bridge Nobel Prize gender disparity

14-10-2020

An Nahar today published a survey prepared by AFP on Nobel Prizes in which it drew attention to women’s modest share in the awards. Four women reportedly won out of eleven winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize and they are: Emmanuelle Charpentier (Chemistry, from France), Jennifer Doudna (Chemistry, USA), Andrea Ghez (Physics, USA) and American Louise Gluck won the Nobel Prize in Literature. This represents nearly 36.4% of total winners, which is better than past years, AFP said, adding that this year which saw 3 prizewinning women in the mainly “male” categories of physics and chemistry, was an achievement. Statistics indicated that since the first edition of the Swedish Nobel Prize in 1901, the Physics category went to four women out of 216 total winners in the field (equivalent to 1.9%), while seven women received the Prize for chemistry out of 186 total winners (3.8%). On female shares since the inception of the award, AFP pointed out that the rate of women winners increased significantly over the past decades, from to 5.4% and 2.6% in 1900 and 1910 respectively, non-existent in the 1950s, to reach 9.2% and 11.1% in 2000 and 2010 respectively, jumping to 36.4% in 2020. (An Nahar, October 14, 2020)

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Nathalie Khoueiry wins Shoman Award for Arab researchers

14-10-2020

Dr. Nathalie Khoueiry Zgheib from the AUB Faculty of Medicine received the prestigious Abdul Hameed Arab Researchers Award in the Medical and Health Sciences Category (Pharmacogenetics). Khoueiry, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology, was selected from about 460 outstanding nominees for the above award. She is a distinguished pharmacogeneticist known for her pioneer work on pharmacogenetics (a study of how people respond differently to the drug therapy according to their genetic makeup or genes), in addition to pharmacoepigenetics. Her name also appeared in more than 80 research studies published in academic journals. Noting, that Abdul Hameed Shoman Award is granted every year since 38 years for men and women scientific researchers in six main fields: medical and health sciences; engineering sciences; basic sciences; literature and humanitarian, social and educational sciences, agriculture and technology and economic and administration sciences. (An Nahar, October 14, 2020)

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‘Paths of Women in a Revolution” in commemoration of October 17

13-10-2020

Ahead of the first anniversary of the October 17 Uprising, the Lebanese Observatory for the Rights of Workers and Employees will launch tomorrow a documentary by Reine Mitri entitled, “Paths of women in a revolution”. The 60-minute film portrays a group of women speaking about their participation in the uprising. The film to recall, is part of Women Behind the Lens activities, in collaboration with the Arab Resource Center for Popular Arts, Al Jana. It will be streamed at 6 pm, on Wednesday, October 14, with English subtitles, on the Observatory’s Facebook account https://bit.ly/2GR7Taw and on YouTube https://bit.ly/34VItAq . (Al Akhbar, October 12, 2020)

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Awareness video on early detection of breast cancer

13-10-2020

In a feature published yesterday, Al Diyar newspaper reported that 1 of 8 women in Lebanon are at risk of breast cancer. Citing the latest epidemiological statistics, Al Diyar underlined the importance of awareness campaigns for early detection of breast cancer, pointing to one campaign launched in Beirut at the beginning of October, the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, by the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation (LBCF) and the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC). The campaign released a video of popular traditional baker Um Ali who was trained by a gynecologist. Using the dough, Um Ali indirectly demonstrated the breast self-exam to help women get the gestures out there and overcome the taboo while respecting women’s intimacy and traditions. LBCF vice president, Mirna Sabbah Hubbalah, said the aim of the video tutorial is to explain the self-exam, particularly in the time of corona which prevented many women from leaving home for the annual mammogram. Noting that the ministry of health did not provide free screenings this year due to the situation, Hubbalah reminded women of the importance of early detection, the self-exam and the X-ray once a year, especially for women over 40. (The video is found on the following link: (https://bit.ly/2Fnf4GD). (Al Diyar, October 12, 2020)

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Public, civic initiatives to build youth capacities

12-10-2020

ESCWA Executive Secretary, Rola Dashti and the caretaker minister of labor, Lamia Yammine, launched on Thursday the “Li an al ilm miftah, lazim nit’alam” (because education is key, we need to learn) initiative. The latter, according to a statement released by ESCWA, allows some 25,000 Lebanese to benefit from free of charge certified training courses on the e-learning platform Coursera. Yammine described the initiative as a window of hope for young Lebanese people that helps them develop their skills and acquire new ones that are in high demand by the labor market. She asked them not to miss out this opportunity and to apply now by selecting their desired courses within a list of more than 3,000 specialties. (More on the following link: (https://mol.unescwa.org/). Concurrently, and in an interview with An Nahar, the CEO of Park Innovation, Diana Jumblat, spoke about the youth targeted Chouf incubator which was founded in mid-2019. The initiative, she explained, keeps up with labor requirements and modern technology or the so-called knowledge-based economy, which gives students and the youth access to global markets and allow them to develop new skills. Park Innovation, Jumblat maintained, offers beneficiaries free and intensive programs to build their capacities and improve their skills, in addition to a start-up accelerator. It also provides dedicated workspaces, offices and hot desks with high-speed internet to attract young people and talents, as well as promote innovation in rural areas. (More on the link below: (https://bit.ly/34RRkmG). (An Nahar, Al Diyar, October 8, 9, 2020)
 

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Lebanese woman university graduate joins street cleaning team

9-10-2020

In a bold move, Lebanese Lea Nurpetlian, decided to be the first woman to join the cleaning workers team at “Ramco” cleaning company. With her motto, ‘El Sheghel mish 3eib’ (no shame in work), Lea defied unemployment and the economic collapse in Lebanon and chose this occupation as a means of subsistence instead of sitting idly at home. Lea, who holds 2 university degrees in accounting and tourism, could not find a job in her field, and hence set to challenge the way Lebanese people think of street cleaners or how they discard their own trash.

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