Religion, environmental ethics and global climate change

In the past two decades, the global environment and community worldwide has reached great compromise that human activities for government earning more economically are causing changes to the global climate. Increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4)' sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other greenhouse gases in the last century have raised temperatures around the planet, as diminishing glaciers, melting icecaps, and record-breaking heat waves support evidence. Records show that surface temperatures have risen about lAO F (0.7 0c) since the early twentieth centuty, and that about 0.9 OF (0.5 0c) of this increase has occurred since 1978. There were some observed changes in oceans, ecosystems, and ice cover are consistent with this warming trend. Unless of course,the mission, vision and ethics are strategies, average global temperatures will probably increase by several degrees Celsius in the next few years, with disastrous environmental consequences: desertification, flood of low-lying coastal areas, an increase in powerful hurricanes, decreased agricultural productivity, and loss of biodiversity. Although there remain some scientific uncertainties and disagreements about the extent of expected temperature increases, the magnitude of the environmental impacts, and how to mitigate global warming, there is now believe that humanity plays a significant role in changing the climate

Environmental and safety: Sustainable development

Great number of verses in Qura’n and multiple sayings of the Prophet Muhammad indicate the great importance that has been given to safety. Qur’an and Sunnah are the certainty that is never mixed with doubt, the light that dissipates darkness and the correct guidance that repels misguidance and prevents loss and failure for all of mankind. Allah (SWT) says: “Verily, this Qur’an guides to that which is most just and right.” (17:9). The concept of safety issue as of sustainable development in Islam can be defined as “absolute safety of mankind in his-self, property, blood and wealth in addition to the balanced and simultaneous realization of consumer welfare, economic efficiency, attainment of social justice, and safe of socially interactive based process”. Based on teaching of Islam, the universe has been created by Allah (God) with a specific purpose and for a limited time to enjoy and survive. The paper will highlight sustainability of safety to mankind in consuming all natural resources – land, water, air, fire (energy), forests, oceans – that considered the right and the joint property of the entire humankind. Since Man is Khalifatullah (the vicegerent of Allah) on earth, he should take all preventive measure to ensure the interests and rights of others, and regard his mastery over his allotted piece of land as a joint ownership with the next generation

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Islamic insurance in the global economy

Islamic insurance industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth in terms of its net contributions and profit, however, at the same time, the development of this industry is still faced with tough obstacles and constraints due to the Shar'iah issues in some certain aspects. Islamic insurance operations need to be fine-tuned to meet the Islamic direction and the needs of Muslims. There are many different operational models with various Islamic jurisdictions trying to meet the needs of Muslims in general as regard Islamic insurance in the global Islamic economy. The two challenging issues that are studied are the ownership of the Islamic insurance risk fund and the surplus distribution accumulated from the risk fund. The findings reviewed that insurance principles contribute substantially to Islamic insurance operation (β = 0.405) justification in terms of Islamic features and operator fees (β =0.925) and (β =0.255) respectively

Environmental and safety:Sustainable development

Great number of verses in Qura’n and multiple sayings of the Prophet Muhammad indicate the great importance that has been given to safety. Qur’an and Sunnah are the certainty that is never mixed with doubt, the light that dissipates darkness and the correct guidance that repels misguidance and prevents loss and failure for all of mankind. Allah (SWT) says: “Verily, this Qur’an guides to that which is most just and right.” (17:9). The concept of safety issue as of sustainable development in Islam can be defined as “absolute safety of mankind in his-self, property, blood and wealth in addition to the balanced and simultaneous realization of consumer welfare, economic efficiency, attainment of social justice, and safe of socially interactive based process” . Based on teaching of Islam, the universe has been created by Allah (God) with a specific purpose and for a limited time to enjoy and survive. The paper will highlight sustainability of safety to mankind in consuming all natural resources – land, water, air, fire (energy) , forests, oceans – that considered the right and the joint property of the entire humankind. Since Man is Khalifatullah (the vicegerent of Allah) on earth, he should take all preventive measure to ensure the interests and rights of others, and regard his mastery over his allotted piece of land as a joint ownership with the next generation

Environmental Ethics and Sustainability During Pandemic Era

The relationship between human beings and environment is not new, it started with the creation of mankind and his availability on earth, the communication between them was at a high level of trust, but with wrong doings of human on earth and for his selfishness, the earth started to change her face, as such many disasters happened as earthquake, flooding, and the worse was the pandemic diseases. Water, solid and air are the main components for environment, and misbalance in them may result to sort of crises, but the serious one among the three environmental components is the air, without it all livings will be affected, and this is what happened at this serious COVID-19 pandemic and lock down to the people’s life on earth. This paper focused on why such pandemic crises happened on earth, who is responsible for it, and why it may continue to happen and how can we sustain our living on earth with ethics, values, and norms

Pandemic preparedness and COVID-19: an exploratory analysis of infection and fatality rates, and contextual factors associated with preparedness in 177 countries, from Jan 1, 2020, to Sept 30, 2021

National rates of COVID-19 infection and fatality have varied dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. Understanding the conditions associated with this cross-country variation is essential to guiding investment in more effective preparedness and response for future pandemics. Daily SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 deaths for 177 countries and territories and 181 subnational locations were extracted from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's modelling database. Cumulative infection rate and infection-fatality ratio (IFR) were estimated and standardised for environmental, demographic, biological, and economic factors. For infections, we included factors associated with environmental seasonality (measured as the relative risk of pneumonia), population density, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, proportion of the population living below 100 m, and a proxy for previous exposure to other betacoronaviruses. For IFR, factors were age distribution of the population, mean body-mass index (BMI), exposure to air pollution, smoking rates, the proxy for previous exposure to other betacoronaviruses, population density, age-standardised prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer, and GDP per capita. These were standardised using indirect age standardisation and multivariate linear models. Standardised national cumulative infection rates and IFRs were tested for associations with 12 pandemic preparedness indices, seven health-care capacity indicators, and ten other demographic, social, and political conditions using linear regression. To investigate pathways by which important factors might affect infections with SARS-CoV-2, we also assessed the relationship between interpersonal and governmental trust and corruption and changes in mobility patterns and COVID-19 vaccination rates. The factors that explained the most variation in cumulative rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection between Jan 1, 2020, and Sept 30, 2021, included the proportion of the population living below 100 m (5·4% [4·0–7·9] of variation), GDP per capita (4·2% [1·8–6·6] of variation), and the proportion of infections attributable to seasonality (2·1% [95% uncertainty interval 1·7–2·7] of variation). Most cross-country variation in cumulative infection rates could not be explained. The factors that explained the most variation in COVID-19 IFR over the same period were the age profile of the country (46·7% [18·4–67·6] of variation), GDP per capita (3·1% [0·3–8·6] of variation), and national mean BMI (1·1% [0·2–2·6] of variation). 44·4% (29·2–61·7) of cross-national variation in IFR could not be explained. Pandemic-preparedness indices, which aim to measure health security capacity, were not meaningfully associated with standardised infection rates or IFRs. Measures of trust in the government and interpersonal trust, as well as less government corruption, had larger, statistically significant associations with lower standardised infection rates. High levels of government and interpersonal trust, as well as less government corruption, were also associated with higher COVID-19 vaccine coverage among middle-income and high-income countries where vaccine availability was more widespread, and lower corruption was associated with greater reductions in mobility. If these modelled associations were to be causal, an increase in trust of governments such that all countries had societies that attained at least the amount of trust in government or interpersonal trust measured in Denmark, which is in the 75th percentile across these spectrums, might have reduced global infections by 12·9% (5·7–17·8) for government trust and 40·3% (24·3–51·4) for interpersonal trust. Similarly, if all countries had a national BMI equal to or less than that of the 25th percentile, our analysis suggests global standardised IFR would be reduced by 11·1%. Efforts to improve pandemic preparedness and response for the next pandemic might benefit from greater investment in risk communication and community engagement strategies to boost the confidence that individuals have in public health guidance. Our results suggest that increasing health promotion for key modifiable risks is associated with a reduction of fatalities in such a scenario