BOHONIKI, Poland: Maciej Szczęsnowicz cried when he saw migrants at the border for the first time, hungry and exhausted from the ordeal of being stuck while trying to enter from Belarus.
The chairman of the local Muslim community in the eastern Polish village of Bohoniki, Szczęsnowicz saw people so tired they could no longer stand, so hungry that they picked mushrooms from the ground to eat and when given an apple, ate the seeds.
But what hurt him the most was hearing the sounds of their suffering.
“It’s the sound of the crying and screaming of the children,” he said. “It’s the worst thing.”
As Poland has seen migrants from the Middle East crossing from Belarus into an area of forests and swamps, Szczęsnowicz has gotten to work helping to collect clothing and prepare food for them.
A large number of migrants appeared this week at Poland’s border, intensifying a political standoff between the European Union and Belarus. With a buildup of forces on the border, Szczęsnowicz is also helping to feed soldiers and other service people protecting the country.
The AP visited him on Saturday in a restaurant where he and other volunteers were preparing a large pot of steaming chicken and vegetable soup. It was destined for soldiers and other guards on the border, but he hopes that some also makes its way to the migrants.
While the border zone is off-limits due a state of emergency in force since early September, his delivery of soup to the border has given him access others do not have — and a view of the suffering of the people just across razor wire fences in Belarus.
Thousands of migrants have been trying for months to slip through Poland’s eastern border from Belarus, hoping to make their way toward Western Europe.
To Polish and EU politicians, the arrival of the migrants, most of whom are Muslims from the Middle East, is viewed as a problem to stop.
But there is a significant number of Poles who simply see human beings in need of a helping hand and have been seeking ways to help them. Medics have been going into the woods to provide medical help to those who manage to slip through. They are often sick or injured. Meanwhile, people across the country have been donating money to organizations taking food and other help to the migrants in the forests.
Most of the volunteers are Roman Catholic, as is their country, but Szczęsnowicz heads the Muslim community in Bohoniki, where a tiny minority still lives that is descended from a population of Muslim Tatars who settled in the area 600 years ago.
Still, he says his Muslim identity is only secondary when it comes to helping migrants.
“We are supposed to help everybody who entered the Polish border. Everybody, yes, because they are human,” he said.
Already the situation in the region can be deadly, with nine deaths reported so far, including the death of a young Syrian man reported on Saturday. The risks grow as winter approaches.
Szczęsnowicz fears that “here will simply be more deaths.”
Polish Muslim leader helps feed migrants and soldiers
https://arab.news/gw3ry
Polish Muslim leader helps feed migrants and soldiers
- The AP visited him on Saturday in a restaurant where he and other volunteers were preparing a large pot of steaming chicken and vegetable soup
94 million need cataract surgery, but access lacking: WHO
- Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision
GENEVA: More than 94 million people suffer from cataracts, but half of them do not have access to the surgery needed to fix it, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Cataracts — the clouding of the eye’s lens that causes blurred vision and can lead to blindness — are on the rise as populations get older, with age being the main risk factor.
“Cataract surgery — a simple, 15-minute procedure — is one of the most cost-effective medical procedures, providing immediate and lasting restoration of sight,” the WHO said.
It is one of the most frequently performed surgeries undertaken in high-income countries.
However, “half of the world’s population in need of cataract surgery don’t have access to it,” said Stuart Keel, the UN health agency’s technical lead for eye care.
The situation is worst in the WHO’s Africa region, where three in four people needing cataract surgery remain untreated.
In Kenya, at the current rate, 77 percent of people needing cataract surgery are likely to die with their cataract blindness or vision impairment, said Keel.
Across all regions, women consistently experience lower access to care than men.
Of the 94 million affected, fewer than 20 percent are blind, while the rest suffer from impaired vision.
- 2030 vision -
The WHO said that over the past two decades, global cataract surgery coverage had increased by 15 percent.
In 2021, WHO member states set a target of a 30-percent increase by 2030.
However, current modelling predicts that cataract surgery coverage will rise by only about 8.4 percent this decade.
To close the gap, the WHO urged countries to integrate eye examinations into primary health care and invest in the required surgical equipment.
States should also expand the eye-care workforce, training surgeons in a standardised manner and then distributing them throughout the country, notably outside major cities.
The WHO was on Wednesday launching new guidance for countries on how to provide quality cataract surgery services.
It will also issue guidance to help support workforce development.
Keel said the main issue was capacity and financing.
“We do need money invested to get rid of this backlog, which is nearly 100 million people,” he told a press conference.
While age is the primary risk factor for cataracts, others include prolonged UV-B light exposure, tobacco use, prolonged corticosteroid use and diabetes.
Keel urged people to keep up regular eye checks as they get older, with most problems able to be either prevented or diagnosed and treated.
The cost of the new lens that goes inside the eye can be under $100.
However, out-of-pocket costs can be higher when not covered by health insurance.
“Cataract surgery is one of the most powerful tools we have to restore vision and transform lives,” said Devora Kestel, head of the WHO’s noncommunicable diseases and mental health department.
“When people regain their sight, they regain independence, dignity, and opportunity.”
