Women at a Crossroads: Sudanese Women and Political Transformation

The ‘Arab Spring’ is a nuanced phenomenon of significance to African democracy and women’s rights in Sudan – north and south. Political transformation processes underway in postrevolution Arab states simultaneously give voice to human rights advocates and rise to Islamist political groups. The reverberating trend presents a risk of deepening Islamist governance in Sudan and reinforcing patriarchal patterns of kinship in South Sudan. It also offers opportunity, north and south, for Sudanese women to form a common agenda, engage politically, promote a vibrant civil society, challenge human rights violations and develop a voice through participation. Given the Islamist upsurge in the region, a review of literature highlights what women in post-revolution Arab states have reported back in terms of the effect the popular uprisings have had on their rights. In light of the outcomes, approaches are advanced that will strengthen Sudanese women’s movements and better position them to exploit opportunity for progress in the period of political transformation on the horizon in Sudan and South Sudan

Costs and Collateral Damage of a Failure to Protect in Syria

This article reviews humanitarian intervention and Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Syria arguing that inaction has had greater repercussions than action would have had. It begins by engaging a wide range of policy literature on humanitarian law and broader international relations theory to locate R2P and Syria’s case. Using the Kosovo precedent, it shows an intervention was justifiable and then explains why one did not occur. The consequences of failing to act (when it was possible) is said to have undermined respect for human rights and R2P. The article concludes that the failure to protect in Syria has had international reverberations, which are intensified by concurrent global trends. The damage Syria has done to the human rights regime has bearing on the post-WWII (especially post-Cold War) liberal and normative world order because central values were left undefended. Regionally, inaction destabilized the Middle East and created problems in Europe – and beyond. Inside Syria, the costs of the war will last generations. Unintended collateral damage created by the failure to protect in Syria includes less future respect for human rights, R2P, US global leadership and the liberal world order as well as challenges to Middle Eastern stability, European refugee policy and counterterrorism policy

Theologia: Quaker Youth Ministry and Theopraxis in a Multicultural Context

I am convinced by my own life and by wide observation of children that mystical experience is much more common than is usually supposed. Children are not so absorbed as we are with things and with problems. They are not so completely organized for dealing with the outside world as we older persons are. They do not live by cut-and-dried theories. They have more room for surprise and wonder. They are more sensitive to intimations, flashes, openings. The invisible impinges on their souls and they feel its reality as something quite natural.” —Rufus M. Jones, “Finding the Trail of Life”1 In 2015, faculty of George Fox University applied for the Lilly Endowment Youth Theology Initiative. The goal of this grant initiative was to deepen the level of theological engagement among young people in ways beyond standard evangelical church youth groups. During that year, a group of faculty and ministry leaders gathered to plan and submit a proposal to build a high school theology camp, hosted by George Fox University, in alignment with our historical heritage as a Quaker institution. We developed the idea of a week-long camp, a summer institute held on campus where a small group of 25 high school students would engage in theology not only in the classroom, but primarily through experiential learning. In accordance with the grant, we were committed to running our camp with the values of our university’s Quaker heritage in two specific ways: an egalitarian structure and the acknowledgement of the “Inner Light” of Christ in everyone. Now having completed three years of the theology camp, “Theologia,” from 2017–2019, this article offers a reflection on these values and experiences as a report of our findings on doing youth ministry in a multicultural context as informed by Quaker values. Each author of this article carried a major role in the design and execution of the camp; though our own theological and ecclesial backgrounds cover a wide range of traditions, we have endeavored to remain committed to distinctive Quaker values. Following an overview of a typical day in the camp and our reflection on the two specific values, we address the impact of the camp, both for the students and for our vision of how this camp impacts our Christian Ministries department at George Fox University. It is our aim that this paper will catalyze a greater dialogue on Quaker values and the praxis of youth ministry

An agriculture and health inter-sectorial research process to reduce hazardous pesticide health impacts among smallholder farmers in the Andes

Authors are also recipients of the Teasdale-Corti grant (103460-068)Work with multiple actors is needed to shift agriculture away from pesticide use, and towards greater sustainability and human health, particularly for vulnerable smallholder farmers. This research in potato and vegetable farming communities in the Andean highlands worked with partners from various sectors over several projects. Increased involvement in organic agriculture was associated with greater household food security and food sovereignty. More diversified, moderately developed agricultural systems had lower pesticide use and better child nutrition. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health has rolled out pesticide poisoning surveillance modeled on this research

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden