ESPINASSE31 presents Tomasz Kucharski

[caption id="attachment_30442" align="alignnone" width="1040"] PHOTO: The associations of the network "Drepanocytosis West Africa Madagascar" accompanied by Mrs. Anne Poyard-Vatrican, Assistant Director of International Cooperation, received at the National Assembly of Niger. © DCI[/caption] The Monegasque Cooperation held a major workshop in Niamey, Niger, from April 3 to 6, bringing together five patient associations, members of the Sickle Cell Disease West Africa-Madagascar network. Participants were able to share their experiences and receive training on strategies and techniques to obtain further funding. Discussions also focused on the support of the associations for the dissemination of informative materials targeting the harmonised management of sickle cell disease, funded by Monaco, which will be launched on June 19 during the World Day dedicated to the disease. On the sidelines, the associations visited the National Centre for the Control of Sickle Cell Disease, supported by the Prince's Government, which monitors nearly 6,000 patients with the disease, 40 percent of whom are children. Finally, the associations, accompanied by Mrs. Anne Poyard-Vatrican, deputy director of the International Cooperation department, were received at the National Assembly of Niger by the deputies of the Social Commission. The delegation was also welcomed, in a private audience, by the Minister of Public Health, Dr Idi Illiassou Mainassara. The network "Sickle Cell Disease West Africa-Madagascar", created in 2013 by the Monegasque Cooperation, brings together doctors and representatives of patient associations from six countries - Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Madagascar. It aims to better manage the disease and make it known to a wider audience. Sickle cell disease, a hereditary disease of hemoglobin, is the biggest genetic disease in the world: 50 million people carry the sickle cell trait, according to the World Health Organisation, and it is estimated that one out of two children infected with the disease die before the age of five if they do not receive care.

[caption id="attachment_2480" align="alignleft" width="270"] David Lisnard has been mayor of Cannes since 2014. Photo: Frantogian[/caption]

Feiza Ben Mohamed, a spokesperson for the Muslim Federation of the South of France, has expressed great surprise at a decision by an administrative tribunal to uphold a ban on the so-called burkini on beaches in Cannes, an ordinance issued July 28 by Cannes Mayor David Lisnard “on the grounds that burkinis, which are popular with Muslim women, could risk disrupting public order while France was the target of terrorist attacks"

“This suggests that women when covered are affiliated with terrorism,” Ben Mohamed said.

The federation, who posted on Facebook “We strongly condemn the illegal and abusive use of such procedures for the unique purpose of stigmatisation and exclusion”, will now take the case to the Council of State to overturn the ruling, introduced by the town’s mayor. “One can’t invoke the war against terror in banning the burkini. “Such a ruling masks the inability of our elected officials to take concrete and effective measures against terrorism,” she added.

On August 5, the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet, Lionnel Luca also imposed a burkini ban on his beaches. Mandelieu-la-Napoule passed the by-law in … 2014.